Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-01
TOLD BY AN EXPRESS MESSENGER.
Thought He Saw n wOuId-Be Robber
In Box.


From the New Orleans Times Democrat
The murder of an express messenger
near columbus, Ohio. the other day re-
minds me of curious experience of my
own said veteran employe of one of the
Dig companies. 1t was a good many years
ago ana L mad a messengers run at the
time in and out of Des Moines. Iowa
"One evening on my return trip I took on
a large-sized box at a desolate little conn
try station about forty miles from the citv.
The box was fully six feet long bv a ward
broad and high and was entered as .mer.
chandise' on the waybill The stationmas-
ter and dumped it in one end of the car
and 1 gave it no further thought until
about half an hour later, when 1 happened
to glance in that direction and caught a
CLEAN of something bright shining through a
small hole in the side. There was a kno,
in of the boards at that point and T
suppose that the humping of the train had
Jared 1t loose. Anyhow it had fallen ont
leaving an orifice the size of a half dollar
and when | bent down to peer In I was
thunderstruck to see a section Of a human
hnger. The CLEAN had come from a gold
ring. During the next few seconds I did
some mighty fast thinking. 1t was clear
there was a man in the box and I was
equally certain that he had planned TO rob
and murder me. The lid was no doubt ar
ranged to be opened suddenly, and he prob
ably calculated that my surprise and con-
sternation would make me an easy prey
when he emerged. / remembered in a IA sh
that this Identical scheme had been worked
In one or two express robberies in the early
days, and although my heart was going
like a drum, l managed to control myself
and before L arose L had mapped out a
plan of action
There was pile of trunks In the corner
next to the box continued the ex-messen-
ger, anu grabbing the upper one suddenly
by the handle, L snatched it down right on
top Of the lid. In twinkIing / had another
one by its side, and then two more on ron
of those. They We're big, massive trunks
sucn as travelling statesmen use, and never
nave been able to understand how l tossed
them around the way / did, but I suppose
fear must have made me regular Sandoyy
When l got the Saratogas in place | STOLE
another glance at the knot hole. The finger
hadn't budged q hair He's playing pos
sum-. l said to myself, and | hustled like
mad to complete the barricade. | dragged
up everything movable in the whole car
and by the time l got through l had the
long box buried under about ten tons of
solid express matter ard miscellaneous fur
niture. The robber couldn't have blown
himself out with a dynamite cartridge Then
sat down on the floor, wiped my fore
head and chuckled merrily to think how I
had outwitted the villain.
Han an hour later we pulled into the
city and III leave you to imagine the wild
sensation "hen nung open the door and
explained the situation to the bows in the
depot. The next question was how to take
out the prisoner, and you may well believe
we went about ii cautiously, for II was
fair to presume he was desperate fellow.
and we didn't know exactly how much fight
there might be left in him. When the box
was at last uncovered we were astonished
TO find that the lid was nailed down tight
Neverthe ess. the finger was still plainly
visible, and one OF the men poked il with a
pencil. Holy smoke! he shouted, this is
the best joke OF the season. Why, it's moth
Ing but a corpse, and as stiff as a poker
too! If he's dead it's because 1 smothered
MIN. l retorted Indignantly. for / swear I
heard him breathing just before I pulled
down the trunks! That was small 1ib. of
course. and half minute later when they
had pried open the lid, l would have given
an arm to recall It, What do you think
was INSIDE? A corpse? Not your shirt
waist. 1t contained four tailor's dummies
made out of papier mache. The one nearest
the knot hole wore a brass ring"