The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-04-16
give you push along when your luck

| SA'O JOu push ilOuR WHICH your luck
has been very bad.
"Solly and had struck a lot OF
tame ducks. and it seemed rs if there
was some sort OF hoodoo going along
with us We were running ON n
stretch for months when there was
not dollar came our way, and then
all of sudden came the boom that
gave us u little fame and n big Doodle.
| was in Mullins billiard parlors in
Ehst , Fourteenth street one night
when there was n nice-loolzing young
fellow got into trouble with n tough
young scrapper from the east side over
! game of billiards. The good bow
had been drinking little. When L
! saw that the thug was trying to talxe
an unfair advantage of him and was
| getting up n muss SO that in the con-
fusion he could win the lads watch,
why, interfcred in my usual polite
manner and dumped the sport into the
soup The young fellow whom I had
stood by told me that his name was
Hoffman and he took liking to me
right away. l stuck to him a bit to
lind out whether or not he had any
wealthy relations that it might pay
me to get acquainted with, and I
found out that he was the assistant
secretary of the New England Ex-
press company. That was good news
for me, for l was an expert in tho
handling of express packages, and I
became quite intimate with young
Hoffman.
II knew that this company used to
have the handling of about all the
heavy money shipments between this
city and all points east, and in nv own
polite way, which some people might
call coy game, began to pump nv
friend about the business. He was a
very talkative chap, and when he saw
that J. was so deeply Interested in mat
ters pertaining to railroad transporta-
ton, he was delighted to tell Inc all
that he knew. led him around grad
ually to the handling of the money
packages SO as not to mako him sus-
piclous. knew that it was eouiya-
lent to n discharge from the company
to be found talking about such mat
tiers, but l had gained Hoffman's conf
dencc and he did not hesitate for n
moment to tell all that he knew. He
described in detail how the money was
counted in the office before being put
into little burglnr-proof boxes. Then
the seals were put on over the locks.
and they were taken to the cars and
put into large fireproof safe In the
express car. There had never been n
robbery on the road. and for that rea-
son only one express messenger was
sent to guard the doodle In the chr.
The time when the valuable packages
were shipped was kept profound Sc
cret, but Hoffman knew all about it
because he had to sign the reccipts
after the money hnd been counted in
the office. l learned from him who
the messengers were, and where the
express car was kept while lying in
this city, all OF which information l
gave to Solly, with instructions to find
the car and look 1t carefully over from
the outside, and inside, if possible.
Solly did his part of the work in great
shape, and the next time saw him he
had complete diagram of the car.
The car was provided with only ordi-
nary outside locks md an inside bar
over the rear door, and did not present
the slightest obstecie to n couple of
experts.
Il kept careful tabs on my young
friend after all the preliminary work
had been done. and to draw him out |
said to him one evening that his
fingers looked as if he had been han
ding stack of the long green. To
my surprise and delight he said that
my guess was day ahead, and on tho
next day there was going to be n
heavy shipment OF money and iewelrv
for the holiday trade. got from him
the time when the train would start.
and I invited him to have supper with
me the following evening This was
done, so that he would not suspect
that / had anything to do with the
work, and to be sure that the goods
had gone. We had supper down town,
and he told me that the company had
sent out the most valuable shipment
of the year. While we were eating /
told him that had received word that
my mother was very i'll in Baltimore.
About the time 1 would have to start
to reach the Center street depot, n
telegraph message, which l had ar.
ranged for, was delivered to me- 1t
was to the effect that my mother was
dead. left my dear young friend and
started for baltimore by the way OF
Boston.
II joined Solly and lingo Horn at
the depot. We went singly to the
smoker and went out on the front
platform at the first station. There
the lock was knocked off on the inside
of the door, and n hole was cut with
an nuger on line with the CROSS bar.
The bar was pushed inside, and the
door opened into small room. There
was door from this that was not
locked. threw it open and found the
messenger asleep. I apologized for
waking him up, then tied and gagged