Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-09

and water. and by u simple trick that
n child ought to have dctcCtcd-the
trick of drinking the water and leav-
ing the gin-hc was always sober.
When She proceeds of Docs raid had
boon expended together with the 81 re-
ccivcd for the Jays watch. the gang
determined to rob a hardware store.
The job had been undertaken once, but
had failed. The time arrived. the store
was entered and when they were all
in Doc duckcd down behind the
counter and reached the rear end of
the store. Now n big bulls Y was
turned upon the gang, who arose from
their work 10 look down the dark bar
rcls of u half dozen shot guns. One of
the gang. seeing Doc with the sheriff's
party, made a play for his pistol, but
the sheriff showed his shotgun yet
nearer the robbers face and said,
softly, "Bc quiet" and he was calm.
Young Pippin's success in this now
celebrated case won for him the full
confidence of the agency, and before he
had reached Chicago other important
work was mapped out for him, but to
llI' SUI III lNt vi llt dStll'N lt ltluStu
to accept another assignment.
81 could not bear" he said to me,
"thc thought of living a whole life that
was n lie-to appear always to be that
which | was MOTTO mix and mingle
constantly with the wicked of this
world, in which there should be so
much happiness. 1t is a great and i'm
nnrtpnt Nvorl. vvhiph nt1plt tn ho damn
but it is not for me-"
Returning to the west again Pippin
entered the service of Uncle Sam as a
railway postal clerk.
Finding n letter in the mail marked
to me he took his blue pencil and wrote
on the back of the envelope, Hello
DOOR. NJ. s." and | knew then that
he was in the railway mail service.
1t was some time after the receipt OF
this brief message that the meeting
in the sleeping car, already referred
to. occurred. and it was during his
many visits to me at Denver that he
related the detective stories herein re-
told.
How is It," I asked one day, chat
" = b'N'io'aAh' F'l''A ~ VI tii'
mail service in the west when you are
under 80 and new, comparatively new,
at the busincss?'
Hard luck" said Doc, smiling sadly,
coughing and humping his chest,
Then it was he began to tell me some
of his experiences in the postal car,
but he did not tell them all. lie vas
as modest as he was honest and would
not tell me. his friend, the real tales
of hcroism in which he was himself
the hero. He told enough. however, to
cause me to find out more, and | learn
ed that his loyalty. bravery and devo-
ton to duty had been warmly com
mcndcd in autograph letters from the
highest officials in the mail service.
1t was. indeed. hard luck that
brought him promotion and an easy
place. One night. when the train came
roaring down the canyon, the engine
jumped the track, the mail car went to
pieces against the locomotive. the
coaches piled upon the pieces. and the
wreck began to burn. When the train
men and passengers came forward to
look for 1.-THE fellows up ahead they
saw large and small envelopes sailing
out of the burning debris, and they
knew at once that the mail agent must
~ fast in the wreck. The whistle
valve had been forced open, and now
the wild. ceaselcss cry of the wounded
engine drowned all other sounds and
made it impossible for the men to heal
the cries of the imprisoned postal
clerk. All this he knew, and while
way to where he lay he pulled the reg
lister bag to Kim and began to shy the
valuable mail out into the sagehrush.
When the steam was exhausted anC
the cry Of the engine had hushcd, there
came no sound from the enginemeu
for their voices were hushcd in death
Above the sound of the crackling
flames they could hear Doc calling tc
them from his place below the wreck
and the brave train crew worked des
pcrately right in the very face Of the
fire TO rescue the unfortunate.
Gradually the voice of the prisoner
grew fainter and fainter, and before
the rescuers reached him it hushed en-
tirely.
At last, just as they were about tC
give him up, as he was now appar
, emily dead, they succeeded in dragging
Doc from the wreck, and to the joy OF
all he soon revived. He was yet alive
but had breathed so much of the
flames that his left lung was almos'
ruined, and he was never able to re
sumo his place on the road.
1t was this unfortunate wreck anC
the story of his herOism that gave hin
the important position of assistant
clerk of the western division of tn,
United States mail service when ht
was not yet 30Fycars old. 1t was tn,
burn in his breast that made hin
cough and beat his left lung. tina.
-. pinched his face and made his eye,
;, look larger than they We're. He wen
on silently, almost cheerfully, doin.
, what he could, but we who watched
, knew that the hidden scar he haC
there was wearing his life away.
. Not long ago | returned to Denver
= and, meeting the chief clerk in tn,
: street. asked him about Doc. | hat
, been wandering over the face Of tn,
earth for nearly two years. and now
= ms my friend looked at me his fac,
y took on a saddcr shade, and he answer