Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-10-22
EXPRESS MESSENGERS TALE.
Thought He Saw n wouId-Be Robber
Concealed in "a Box In
His Car.

Inc Inuruer OF an express meSeSn-
ger near Columbus, o., the other day
reminds me of curious experience
of my own" said veteran employe
of one of the big companies, relates
the New Orleans Times-Democrat
1T was good many years ago and /
had messengers run at the time in
and out of Des Moines. la.
"One evening on my return trip
took on large-sized box at desolate
little country station about 40 miles
from the city. The box was fully six
feet long, by a yard broad and high
and was entered as merchandise on
the waybill. The station master and
/ dumped it in one end of the car and
l gave it no further thought until
about half an hour later, when l hap
pened to glance in that direction and
caught CLEAN of something bright
shining through small hole in the
side. There was knot in one of the
boards at that point, and I suppose
that the humping of the train had
Jared it loose. Anyhow, it had fallen
ont. leaving an orifce the size of a
half dollar, and when ! bent down to
peer in / was thunderstrnck to see a
section of a human finger The gleam
had come from a gold ring. During
the next few, seconds | did some
mighty fast thinking. 1t was clear
there was man in the box, and was
equally certain that he had planned
to rob and murder me. The lid was
no doubt arranged to betopened sud
denly, and he probably calculated that
my surprise and CONSERVATION would
make me an easy prey when he
emerged. / remembered in a fash
that this identical scheme had been
worked in one or two0express rob-
berries in the early days, and although
nay heart was going like a drum
managed to control myself and before
I arose / had mapped out a plan of
action. sI
"There was pile of trunks in the
corner next to the box" continued the
ex-messenger, "and. grabbing the up
per one suddenly by the handle. I
snatched it down right on top of the
lid, In twinkling i had another one
by its side, and then two more on top
of those. They were big, massive
trunks, such as travelling statesmen
use, and l never have been able to
understand how tossed them around
the way ] did, but suppose fear must
have made me regular Sandow.
When got the Saratogas in place I
stole another glance at, the knot hole.
The finger hadn't budged . hair.
He's playing possum.' Iisaid 70 my
self, and ] hustled like mad 10 COM
plete the bnrricade. dragged up
everything movable in the whole car,
and by the time I got through l had
the long box buried under about ten
tons of solid express matter and mis-
cellaneous furniture. The robber
couldn't have blown himself out with
n dynamite cartridge. Then l sat
down on the floor, wiped my forehead
and chuckled merrily to think how l
hnd outwitted the villain.
"Ilnlf an hour later we pulled into
the city, and I'll leave you to imagine
the wild sensation when flung open
the door and explained the situation
to the boys in the depot. The next
question was how TO take out the pris-
oner, and you may well believe we
went about it cautiously, for it was
fair to presume he was n desperate
fellow, and we didn't know exactly
how much fight there might he left in
him. When the boN was at last un-
covered we were astonished to find
that the lid was nailed down tight.
Nevertheless, the finger was still plain.
!, ly 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 nothing but a
corpse, and as stlif as poker. tool
IF he's dead it's because smothered
him!' l retorted. Indignantly, for
swear | heard him breathing just be.
fore | pulled down the trunksl' That
was small tib. of course. and half a
minute later when they had pried
open the lid | would have given an
arm to recall it. What do you think
was inside? A corpse? Not on your
shirt waist. 1t contained four tailor's
dummies made out of papier mache
The one nearest the knot hole wore a
brass ring"