The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-20
TROUBLE AT THRJUNCTION
TIE ADVENTURE WHICH GOT THE
STATION AGENT PROMOTED.

NNCEG ~ wv NaNA
take OPENED zip the Rox or Addcrs.
~ never had but ono real adventure in my
whole railroading experience" remarked the
route agent of the Jersey road. at was when
I was a station agent down in the pines, the last
place on onrth that any ono would look for any
thing out OF tho common run. Mine vas a
little %livolier than some OF the stations because
IL was a junction, but tho local traffic did not
amount to anything to speak OF, except in the
hucklebcrry or cranberry shipping seasons, The
rest of the frcighting and expressing was oys-
ters and fresh fish from the shore road nnd
mari and general supplies coming down the road
for general distribution. We had eight trains
n day on tho min limo and two on the shore
branch. The junction consisted OF n station
between tho tracks, with a waiting room. ticket
| office, and freight house ali under ono roof. l
slept in the ticket Office and took my meals at
one of tho six houses In the neighborhood, and
! you can imagine that tho life was about as mo-
notonous as anything a young fellow could DO
assigned to. There was scarcely enough work
at times to keep me awake in the daytime, ana
! such q thing as q holiday was not to be thought
of. I put in three years at 1t before / had my
adventure, and that got me a change.
along early in September a tramp steamer
came ashore about eighteen miles down tho
beach in q thunder squall and became a hope
less wreck. Then came the work Of stripping
her and sending her cargo to New York. 1t
had to DO done from the shore, because she was
almost high and dry ut low tide. and tho stuff
all camo up by the shore branch and was trans
ferred at the junction. Most of 1t was In solid
carloads, such as coffee and hides, but there
was some light stuff which the owners ex-
pressed, and one night Billy Baker. tho baggage
master of the shore train. camesinto the Office
with u box about q foot long all covered with
seals and turned 1t over to me, saying: Look
out for that, Ike. That's money, and I guess
you had better sleep on 1t until the owl comes
in looked at the waybill he handed me and
saw that he had rcceiptcd for value $4,000. /
never had that much money In my charge be-
fore, and it made me nervous, hut l recoipted
for tho box and stood it behind the door inside
of the ticket office. Five minutes later two
strangers spoke to mo on the platform and
asked tho road to Newbury., I told them and
they went away. A moment later Jack Thomp-
son, who lived about four miles back in the
nnloaded a small box. saying: I guess that's
the last this season, There's four nice big ones
there's plenty OF air holes, and l reckon they'll go
all right. Send them up on tho owl tonight
md This : Y, Tss so one nn,,o OF lake w rSsI ma h sh,pt thints
ing of the money. package; and somehow the
visit Of the two strangers kept coming up in
could want in Ncwbury or whether they had
them that 1 began to listen for noises ind to
really expect a visit from them before lao,
in the money drawer. but now that thought
I might need 1t began to realize what q worth
it i found that It would not 60 &C Off and / had in,
tended to send 1t to town by one of the train.
men and have it fixed. inst then | was startled
by u noisc and found IT was my landlady's little
girl come TO tell me that was lntc getting to
supper. l told her that could NOT leave and
asked her to bring something over. | felt much
drawer after getting something to eat and began
to look around for q place to hide the box, of
money until the train came. There was a big
pot stove in the waiting room and l concluded
that was just the thing, but the box would not
IN lit the tor off the stove to get it in. then
l stuffed old papers, around IT and put the top
and Pipe in place. felt easier Is, then and went
wire with a friend down the line. telling him
about my trouble. He promised to tell the
! then sat down and read a novel, for ! did not
dare to lie down for fear of going to, sleep. IT
heard footsteps on tho platform. and then tho
door of the waiting room was pushed open and
and looked through the window at me. Ono
OF them asked about the late train for New YORK,
and as looked up to answer him saw the
{" Just unlock that door quick and don't
yawp or I'll put n bullet into your head. Move
lively, now. You know. what VIC want. We've
come after that box that come up from the
| wrack this afternoon and were going to get it
Il we have to kill you and everybody else in
Il unlocked the door quick enough, and they
both cam. in and looked around. Not seeing
tho box anywhere, they asked me where it was,
and l told them didn't know what they were
on the jaw that knocked me over my bed. and "A
minute later | was tied hand and foot and had
my lantern, and the other dragged me into the
freight room, where they tied me to a stanchion
denly one Of them stumbled onto Jake's box,
and said; Here it is. He hain't even hid it;
1t did not take them n n minute to rip the cover off
that box, and then they jumped back with q
Sadders that ever grew on Jersey soil, where they
grow seven feet long. Ben dropped the lantern
and the other fellow threw down the hatchct as
the snakes ran out their red and black tongues
and raised their heads as II to strike. Rattle.
snnkes!" yelled Ben, and they both dug out of
Now. | never did like snakes, and used to
handle Jnke's freigh; with more care than I did
anything else, that passed through my hands
Here l was. tied to a post, with four Of the rep.
tiles crawling around the room. and although,
know but What / Would have preferred the
ce9onpany Of the robbers who had fed and shut
the o door after them ima Tho l o GSGld 1 hegr Ib then b SnTsi
the door OF the waiting room shut and their foot.
steps going down the platform. The snakes
but the lantern. which luckily righted itself as
cheer me with its light. | knew that | had
over two hours to wait, and my only doubt was
Wnctncr l COulu hlunu the strain WltnOut IhlnI-
ing. | don't know which hurt most, the gag
or the tightly tied cords on my wrists and
ankles. soon found that II was no use trying
to get loose. and that the best thing to do was
to keep quiet and try t., bear the ever-increasing
pain. Then | heard tho soundcr family, as it
licked away in the far.off room. i could Just
make out that 1t was my friend down the road,
and that he was alarmed about me because he
got no answers to his calls.
THE time dragged YEARLY after he stopped.
and finally ! lost all knowledge OF affairs. I
guess l swooned, but came TO in time to
catch The sound of the instrument again AS it
told that the owl was only twelve miles AWAY,
and that the crew was ready for trouble at tho
junction. Twelve miles meant not more than
fifteen minutes In that case, hut the fifteen
minutes seemed like u month to me. Then /
heard the welcome whistle, and n moment later
half a dozen railroad men were searching for
me or my dead body. They found. me hanging
limp bv my cords and cut me loose. The train
WAS held twelve minutes before ! could tell my
story and they could pull the stove apart and
60, the boyi Then was dossd With 2 big
was pretty sin. but sent word to Jake to
came I told him how the rcDtileS had sayed NV