River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-05-04

| tooh Soou look at the couplings Wnlcn
united MS to the carriage which was
to be dropped off at Salterton and
watched them put into position ready
for work. In less than five minutes
later we were off, and Braggs and
| were congratulating ourselves that SO
far nothing had happened TO interrupt
our plans We had observed a little
parcel being placed in the rear carriage.
which seemed to excite a slight interest
even in the languid porters and guards
who were hanging about There was
also detective surveying it with a
coldly professional air; and if they had
only known that two-but that is ian
other story" as a celebrated author
has said somewhat frequently.
Now came the real work Braggs
quickly unfastened one of the bags and
began to extract from it various arti-
cles which | had instructed him to pro-
cure. There was a Jenny" skele.
ton key or two, good, stout cord of
several yards length, with few fair
sized weights attached to il at intervals,
another bundle of cord and tiny bot
tie of chloroform.
When all was ready and / had peck
eted what / wanted, | buttoned up my
coat, and, quietly opening the off-side
door, stepped out on to the footboard.
You do not realize, on simply reading
it in cold print, what this means, but
| can say with perfect confidence that
it requires pretty good nerve to travel
in that position.
Fortunately the night was so dark as
to render observation of my movements
a matter of.ditficulty, if not impossible.
! Braggs handed the weighted cord to me
through the window and, thus equipped,
1 | proceeded with gingerly steps along
the narrow ledge, bending low as |
passed the windows of the next COM
partment. The great feat was getting
from the carriage on which was to the
slip" vehicle in rear of it; and ii was a
/ few seconds before / could nerve my
self to take the little jump which was
necessary. did accomplish it at length,
| and Immediately made fast the cord to
/ a rail on the door, so that / could easily
obtain possession of it again when |
needed it.
Braggs, l should explain, retained
the other end and paid out the cord as
| walked; and the weights served the
/ purpose of keeping it low and prevent
| ed tapping against the windows, which
might have attracted attention we by
no means coveted.
! The next thing l did was to break the
bottle of chloroform over my hand
| kerchief, and | was then ready for ac-
| ton. | took peep through the win
| dow at the guard in the carriage. He
was calmly reading a newspaper, and /
| chuckled as | saw how the game was
| playing into our hands. Gently turned
| the handle and allowed the door to
open. He looked up as the draught of
cold air caught him but l was too
! quick for him, and had the handker-
chief to his nostrils before he had time
to think, much less make any attempt
at resistance. AS he sank in an uncon-
scious heap to the floor | pulled the
door to again, with a sigh of inward
thankfulness and the hope that no
watchful signalman had noticed the
| temporary irregularity.
TO gag and bind him was not task
that took up much time, and this did
with the bundle of cord in my pocket
| was sorry for him, certainly, but SEN
timent is misplaced when it interferes
with business. and, anyhow, the incon-
venience would be only temporary.
The next step was to secure the
booty. knew, of course, that it would
be placed in the special locker which
-. e.,
aid of my tools / soon had this open.
My heart gave a little thump of excite
ment as l saw the package which had
been the cause of SO much solicitude.
neatly tied up and addressed to 81.
Chalcraft, Esq, Salterton," and re-
splendent in blue and red seals; but
there was no time to indulge in self-con-
graduation.
Dropping the window, / pulled in sew
eral yards of my cord and attached the
parcel firmly to it, after which | gave
two pulls, the agreed signal for Braggs
to commence hauling in. l felt it slip
through my hands as he did so; and
soon the return signal came, telling me
that he had received the precious con-
signment safely. | had now to perform
another delicate operation, namely
attach the end of the cord which was
in my hand to the chain which the
guard pulls when he wishes to release
the carriage.
Doubtless you can divine my inten-
ton. The guard, being obviously I'M
able to slip the vehicle himself. and it
being equally obvious that it must be
slipped at the usual place unless !
would have my little escapade brought
under notice, | proposed to do II my
self, though not exactly in the usual
way BY this time we were not far
from Salterton. / knew the line fairly
well, having been over it several times,
but there was a good chance that at
this point | might ruin all by false
move. However, Nothing venture,
nothing have" There is risk in every
thing, and it had to be done.
| put on the hand brake in the
guards compartment just sufficiently
to impart slight drag to the wheels
when the vehicle was running alone,
but not enough for the engine driver to
notice during the brief time he would
still be connected to tiff he did, fer
vently hoped he would think the guard
was steadying the vehicle just prior to
slipping it-and then ] stepped out and
closed the door behind me. With a lit
tie spring | regained the vehicle which
held Braggs and the booty, and now
now came the crisis. Where ought | to
detach the carriage? All had gone well
up to now; would it continue to do so?
| had very little previous experience
to go upon; but | guessed the distance
as nearly as i could, allowing fer the
fact of the line being on slight falling
gradient.
Another so ds-20-now! took
hold of the cord and gave it sharp
ierk-and held my breath Was it to
be failure or success? There was a
slight swerve, "clink-clank" as the
couplings parted-and ! knew that my
good luck had not deserted me. The
carriage had separated from the train
and the whole length of cord flew swift
ly past me into the darkness
/ do not know that | need say much
more. 1t only remained for me to get