The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-01-29

He departed, leaving me alon
again to fight the battle single hand
cd until another mendicant could b
found.
I tried hard to keep this youngste
from Chicago with me, for I wa
ambitious of making him first elias
cook. / used to remain up until i
o'clock each night telling him pleas
ant tales Of life on the plains an,
cheering him up with stories of til,
coyotes; of how they once congre
gated in band of several hundred
and stole in upon one poor nigh
operator at that same station, ant
after devouring him they hung the
red lantern upon the crane on the
side of the Office, and when the next
train arrived and stopped for train
orders the coyotes ambushed the en-.
tire crew, and not man was left to
tell what had become of the other
four comprising the crew.
But all this did not have the effect
of quieting his fears, and the migra-
tory spirit, so strongly prevalent in
the race of telegraphers, asserted it.
self in his case, and, to use the YER
nacular of the profession, he flew. T"
The new relief" was young
man who had grown up on the road
and was Injured to the rough life and
readily fell into two-thirds of the
housekeeping work. The adventure
l am about to relate occurred about
ten days, or, correctly speaking, ten
nights after the new man commenced
work.
AS I said awhile ago, our station"
was only side track and water sta
ton, and we were located there not
for the purpose of accommodating
the dear public, for there was no
public in or near K, but for the
benefit of the train service, as all
trains stopped there for water, and
the Office was known to the opera
tors as "hot train order office" by
reason of the fact that the train dis
patchers took advantage of the nec-
essary stop for water and made a
large number of meeting points with
trains from that station.
1t was generally known that No. |
8, due at K about l :30a. M, car
ried a large amount of silver and |
gold bullion as well as regular ex-
press money packages, for such in
formation i generally in possession
of the public, Notwithstanding the
efforts of the railroad and express
companies to keep such matters a Sc
cret.
On the night of which I speak l
had remained up until about II 80
p. M. chatting with the night man
md reading n city newspaper some
three weeks old and had retired with
he feeling of relief only experienced
~ those poor mortals who have
'pent years at night work and sud
lenly find themselves accorded the
blessed privilege of sleeping during
he hours nature intended man and
Yeast to rest.
had not been asleep moro than an
lour and half when 1 was awaken
d by voices behind the board parti- {
ION which separated the Office from
ur sleeping room. The unusual ex-
erienco of hearing strange voices in {
= was enough to cause me to sit
olt upright in bed and listen, and l
he first words that came to my ears
7ere: Now, young Teller, we want I
on to tell us how No. 6 is tonight, {
efore we put this cork in your G
louth and tie you up for awhile, un- L
l we finish our business with that a
Spress car in No. 6, and, Hank, you u
nd Dan hang out that red glim to
jop the train and go hunt for this q
ty chaps pardner in the bedroom" II
hat was enough for me, and with $,
'ery sense alert 1 rapidly tore from
fastenings "box relay" which n
'sted on small shelf which had n
zen erected at the side of my bed II
hen 1 was doing double duty, while d
aiting for man to relieve poor .
and which was connected
the train dispatching wire to en- p
lie me to receive orders for trains
lring the nighttime without leav- 81
g my bed M
There was small trapdoor in the W
of"of the box Car, which had not III
en nailed down when the box car III
rs raised to the dignity of an office "
ID dwelling house, and this trap
or was used in warm weather as a w
ntilator and was sworn at during u
Id weather for the drafts which 4
me through it. The ventilator was al
w open, the night being very q
lrm, and as it was located directly pa
er the head of my bed l lost no m
ne in passing upward through it Ike
the roof, taking with me the box ia
ay and what clothing l could an
atch from q chair ar INV bodei5o