Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-10-31
TRAPPED BY WIRE.

IN 1878, when but a girl Of Is, |
left my home in Omaha and came ont to
fill the lonesome position Of night oper-
ator at a small station on the Pacific
railway, in this territory. 1t was a
dreary, desolate spot i'll the midst Of a
desert The only buildings at the sta
tion, aside from the depot, were a sec
tion house, occupied by track foreman
and a few Chinese laborers, a water
tank and coal shed. The day operator
and agent, mere boy, slept at the sec
tion house, 200 yards distant, so that
during the long and dreary nights was
alone in the depot.
No express train, bound east, was
due at :15 in the morning, but it never
stopped unless signaled, and as this
was the only train during the latter por-
tion of the night you can imagine my
lonely situation upon the desert wild. |
had my books and guitar for compan-
ions and passed much of the time read
ing, and when the doleful bowling Of
the wolves was borne to my ears from
the distant sand hills l would pick up
my guitar and endeavor to drown their
cries with music and song.
The superintendent Of the division,
buoyant. light spirited young gentle
man, came over the road at frequent in
tervals and cheered me up with promise
Of a better position when a vacancy
should occur. He often found me on the
very brink of despair, almost on the
point of resigning my position and re-
turning to my humble home and the
mother who depended ON my salary for
the necessaries of life, but his promises,
his genial conversation and words Of en-
couragement drove away the gloom, and
l came to look for his visits with a sense
of the keenest pleasure. / began to re-
gard him with a sisterly affection, he
was so kind and tender and so solicitous
for my welfare and comfort.
One night shortly after midnight, as
sat at my table reading late novel, l
thought heard shutfiing footstep on
the depot platform, but as it was not
repeated / concluded it was but wolf
more daring than his cowardly fellows
and resumed my book. A few moments
later | heard low knocking at the door,
which l always kept locked, and
strange feeling came over me. During
my several weeks stay at the station /
had never had visitor. and che sudden
knock, so low, yet so startlingly clear
in the stiffness of the night, caused my
form to tremble and my cheek to blancn.
Ny first thought was Of Indians, and
then reaso,4ed that it might be some
tramp desiring shelter. While sat there
in alright the knock was repeated loud
er than before, and, mastering all my
courage, I approached the other door
and asked:
"Who's therei"
A gruff voice replied:
"a traveller who desires to take the
east bound train.
1t was my plain, unmistakable duty
to admit him, and, with trembling fin
gers, drew the bolt.
Instantly the door was pushed vio-
lently open, and sprang back to the
table and sank into my chair in terror,
when seven burly men, wearing cloth
masks on their faces and armed to the
teeth, entered the Office. One of them,
evidently the leader, walked up to me,
and pointing a large revolver at my
head said il a low, firm voice:
"Gal, we don't want to hurt you, but
if you make suspicious move or scream
or give any alarm, SO that any O. the
men in the section house kin hear you
I'll spile the looks o. that purity face
with bullet Be quiet and sensible
and behave yourself, and yer Hhan't be
hurt. Whar's yer red signal lamp?"
"What would you do?" l gasped.
ftNone o. yer business. We don't
want to hear any unnecessary back talk
nor no impertinent questions. Whar's
the red lamp?"
A chill of horror swept over me when
the truth burst upon me that I was in
the hands of band of desperate train
robbers, whose evident intention was to
signal the train and rob the express Car
at my station. What could do? 1t was
yet three hours until the train was due,
but / could not elude my captors to
rouse the section men, and | knew by
the ugly gleam in the leaders eyes,
through the holes in his mask, that if /
made the least outcry he would not hes
itate to carry out his threat and murder
me. l knew they could find the lamp
easily by searching for it, and in a
trembling voice I told them it was
hanging just inside the door of the
freightroom. One of the men got it, and
after examining it to see that it was in
order the rough band took seats to await
the incoming train.
The leader lit pipe, and looking at
me steadily for few moments said:
"Young gal, when that ar train toots
her whistle, we've got some work for
you, an official duty, as you might call
it. You must get out thar on the plat
form and signal the train to stop and
take on some first class passengers. And,
lookee here, if you make suspicious
move or don't swing the red lamp in the
proper way, we'll just ventilate that
graceful body with bullets and jump on
our horses and git. Do you understand"
A desperate resolve had been taking
shape in my bewildered brain. Ireplied
that fully understood him, and with
piteous cry, 'tOh, you will make MUIR
derer of mew l threw my arms and
head down ON the table and began to
cry as if my heart was breaking. Had
he seen my face he might have noticed a
total absence of tears. was crying for
purpose.
When my arms dropped upon the ta-
BILE, l allowed my hand to fall upon the
armature Of the telegraph instrument,
so that / could hold it to prevent it
from ticking. while my right hand rest
ed upon the key. Sobbing, so that any
slight clicking the key might make
would not reach the robbers, opened it
and slowly made the telegraphic char
acters:
Fl L l. p
These l repeated several times, hop
ing they might reach the ears of some