Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-06-09
CHAPTER III

and, after EOltirg the rear door, tool
down my Winchester from its rack
"Tm going forward" / told her
"and viii tell my boys TO lolt the from
door; so you'll be as safe III hero us il
Chicaco"
In another rinutc was on my frcn'
platform. Dropping down bCtwccn tn,
two cars, l crcpt along bcsiG"-indcct
half mndCr-Mr Cullcu's special After
my previous conclusion, ny surprise
can lie judged when at the farther end
found the two Britishcrs and Albert
Cullen standing there, in the most OK
posed position possible. joined them,
muttCring to myself something about
Providence and fools
"Aw," drawlcd Cullen, heres Mr..
Gordon. just too lato for the sport, by
Joyc. "
Well" said Lord Rallies "wc'vc
had hand in this deal. Mr. Supcrin-
tcndcnt, and haven't been pottcd The
scOundrcls broke for cover the moment
we opened FIRE.
By this time there were 30 passcn-
gers about OR group, all of them ask
ing questions at once, making it diff
cult to learn just what had happened.
but SO far as could piece the answers
together the poker players curiosity
had been aroused by the long stop, and,
looking out, they had secna single man,
with n rifle, standing by the engine.
Instantly arning themselves, Lord
Rallies let fly both barrels at him, and
i'll turn was the target for the first four
shots l had heard The shooting had
brought the rest Of the robbers tulbling
off the cars, and the captain and Cullen
had fired the rest Of the shots ut them
as they scattered. l didn't stop to hear
more, but went forward to see what the
road agents had got away with.
found the express agent tied hand
and foot in the corner of his ear, and.
telling brakeman who had followed
ne TO set hin at liberty, | turned my
attention to tie safe. That the diversion
bad not come Il moment too soon was
shown By tn" dynamite cartridge already
i'll place and by the fuse that lay on the
floor, rs if roppcd suddenly. Dut the
safe WAS met
Passing i o the mail car. found the
clerk tied I, q TCSt, with Il mail sack
pulled over lis head, and the utmost
confusion a: 1ng the pouches and sort
ing compartments, while scattered over
the floor were II great many letters Set
ting him at liberty, l asked him if he
could tell whether mail had been taken,
and. after glance at the confusion, he
said he could not know till he had cx-
amincd
Having taken stock of the harm done,
| began asking questions. just after we
had left Sanders two masked men had .
entered the mail ear and while one Gov
cred the clerk with n revolver the other |.
had tied and sacked" him. Two more
had gone forward and done the same to
the express agent. Another had climbed
over the tender and ordered the runner
to hold up. All this was the regular pro- !
yrammc, rs l had explained to Miss
Cullen, but here had been a variation
which had never heard Of being done
md of which l couldn't fathom the OBJ
lcct. When the train had been stopped.
he man on tho tender had ordered the
ircman to dump his fire, and now it was
ylng in the roadbcd and threatening to
ourn through the ties, so my first order
vas to cXtlnguish it and my second was
o start new fire and get up steam as
quickly as possible. From all l could
earn there were eight men concerned
n the attempt, and I confess shook
ny head in puzzlement why that num-
'cr should have allowed themselves to
Ne scared off so easily.
My wondcrmcnt grew when l called
m the conductor for his tickets. These
bowed nothing but two from Albu-