The record-union., 1899-04-23
Thrilling Tales
Told by Photographers.

| There was printed last Sunday, says
the Chicago Chronicle the story OF 4
telegraph operator who dragged nlm-
self to his instrument, after his skull
had been mashed in, was lifted up by
his brother, and licked to another sta
ton intelligence which resulted in
passenger train being held and a col
lision with tremendous loss of lille avert
ed. The tale set the telegraph opera
tors of Chicago to talking and below
are condensaIions of some of the many
remarkable things that came from their
stored memories:
In 1887 Jim Oliver, Is years old. was
night and day man at the little station
of Mcneil, Texas, on the International
and Great Northern road. He was at
work as usual at 8 O'Clock in thc even
| ing of August 18th. 1t was not much
of job-hardly enough of job in fact
! to keep him awake-and after the
northbound passenger train had stop
ped for minute ait 1O:40 and pulled
out, he put in the long hours until day
light dreaming how he would spend his
money when he got rich. At . o'clock
he WAS stopping over his instrument
talking with a girl operator at Tyler,
sixty miles up the line, and making love
in the most approved telegraph fashion.
The girl had never seen James and had
an idea that he was 80 years cid and
had saved money. Suddenly he heard
the door open, then, the shuft,lng OF
feet. He rose to confront four large
bearded men, each of whom wore a
black mask over the upper part Of the
face. They grasped him withol; say
ing a word, threw him to the floor, tied
his hands and feet with cowboy skill
and, when he was in the condition of a
trussed fowl, threw him upon the tele-
graph table. Leaning over him one of
them stuffed a particularly coarse and
dirty handkerchief into his mouth. Then
they fell to talking of what they would
do to the passenger train when it got
there. divers wits had been mussed
a little by his fall and subsequent
| rough treatment and he found breath
ing difficult, but he rallied in a little
while.
AS his possession came to him, he
realized that, although his arms were
strapped tightly to his sides, he had
fallen in such position that his right
hand rested ON the key. His body lay
over it and by moving it softly he
began Immediately a noiseless, bur zap
i'd call to Austin. Soon the Sounder
clattered out a response. 1t took him
less than a minute to tick off:
-Four train robbers in the office Have
got me tied. For Gods sake stop No.
20. They are waiting for 1t.
In five minuteSeit seemed to him five
hours-he got the response: "All right
matter will be fixed
Meanwhile the four men stood about
the room and talked. 1t was evidently
their intention to board the train as
soon as it stopped. terrorize the engineer
and go through the passengers. For
one hour and a half Oliver lay upon the
table breathing heavily Through his
nostrils and wondering if he would be
forced to remain there all night. At
1910 he thought he heard the hum Of
an approaching train, but wes sure
that he was mistaken. Two minutes
later there was no longer room for
doubt. No. % was coming in on time
1t came in. AS it stopped the four
train robbers made a break fer the
door. Fifteen deputies rolled out Of
the mail and express cars at the same
instant. There was rapid exchange
down, shot through the leg, and all four
of them were taken. The rescuers re-
moved the handkerchief from divers
mouth, united his arms and legs
thought he was strangely silent and
discovered afterward that he had faint
ed as soon as the first shot was fired
Out in Sanderson, Ariz., on the South
ern Pacific Railway, the operator was
a. In
known to brother knights of the key as
Windy Smith" His office was IN a
little two-story frame house that had
been a section house, and his newly
welded wife slept, cooked and lived up
stairs.
Train robbers showed up one even
ing just at dusk, entered his office and
bound him. They were expecting a
through train from California in a half
hour and were counting on a rich haul
from the express car They tied Smith
because they did not want him to tele-
graph news of their arrival and have
the train sent through Sanderson, in
stead Of stopping there for thirty sec
onds, as was it's custom. When they
tied him they went out on the depot
platform for a smoke. His sobriquet
voice and he cursed them until the air
was blue, but they only laughed at him.
AS they went out one of them extin-
gushed the only lamp, saying that he
thought Smith would be more comfort
able in the dark His bride, a strong
minded little Western woman of deep
ly ingrained religious principles, heard
his sulphurous language and came
down to talk to him about it. He, whis-
pered to her am explanation of his sit
uation and gave her some directions
Feeling her way in the dark she had
the lariats off MIN in five minutes. He
laid his hand on the key, wired to the
next station the condition of affairs
and was assured that the train would
be rushed through. Then his wife tied
him up again in the dark and stole
back to her room. Five minutes after
ward one of the train robbers, feeling
uneasy, came in, struck a match, lit
the lamp, found his man bound upon
the floor and went out again. The east
bound train struck Sanderson travelling
sixty mile an hour gait 1t was go
ing faster than it ever went before or
since The robbers spent their time
furiously dancing on the platform and
damning their luck. Then they rode
away. The Southern Pacific Company
gave Mrs. Smith the handsomest tea set
west of the Rio Grande-
Jack Kennedy in 1894 worked the key
at Fair Oaks, Ark. To him one evening
came a half dozen masked men a half
hour before the arrival of the south
bound passenger train over the Cotton