Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-11-30
EXPRESS MESSENGERS TALE.
Thought He Saw n wOuld-Be RObber
Concealed In n Box In
His Car.

"The murder 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.
''It was good many years ago and /
had messengers run at the time in
and out of Des Moines. la.
"0ne evening on my return trip
took on large-size6 box at a desolate
little country station about 40 miles
from the city. The box was fully six
feet long by yard broad and high
and was entered as merchandise on
the waybill. The station master and
1 dumped it in one end of the car and
/ gave it no further thought until
about half an hour later, when | hap
pened to glance in that direction and
caught CLEAN of something bright
shining through a small hole in the
side. There was knot in one of the
boards at that point, and / suppose
that the humping of the train had
Jared it loose. Anyhow, it had fallen
out, leaving an orifice the size of a
half dollar, and when / bent down to
peer in l was thunderstruck to see a
section of human finger. The CLEAN
had come from a gold ring. During
the next few seconds 1 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 be opened sud-
denly, and he probably calculated that
| my surprise and CONSERVATION would
make me an easy prey when lie
emerged. 1 remembered in a fash
that this identical scheme had been
worked in one or two express rob-
berries in the early days, and although
my heart was going like a drum
managed to control myself and before
I arose 1 had mapped out a plan Of
action.
"There was pile of trunks in thu
corner next to the box" continued tn,
ex-messenger, "and, grabbing the up
per one suddenly by the handle.
snatched it down right on top of th
lid. In twinkling had another on
by its side, and then two more on to-
of those. They were big. massiv
trunks, such as travelling salesme
use, and / never have been able t
understand how tossed the m aroun
the way I did, but / supposr, fear mu.
have made me regr lar Sand, i.
When I got the Saratc gas in ,oI,ce
stole another glance at the knot bo,
The finger hadn't budged a hal
He's playing pos.sum.' ! said to m
self, and / hustled like mad tn co,
plete the barricade. / dragged :,
everything movable in the whole "a
and by the time I got through I hd
the long box buried under about te
tons of solid express matter and mi
cellaneous furniture. The robb,
couldn't have blown himself out wi,
a dynamite cartridge. Then s,
down on the floor, wiped my forhea
and chuckled merrily to think how
had outwitted the villain.
"Jialf an hour later we pulled ;pt
the city, and I'll leave you to imaSir
Tie wild sensation when flune one
I the door and explained the siIuatio
to the boys in the depot. The ne,
question was how to take out the pri
oner, and you may well believe "
went about it cautiously, for II wa
fair to presume he was despera,
fellow, and we didn't know exactl
how much fight there might be left 4
him. When the box was at last mr.
covered we were astonished to fin
that the lid was nailed down tiebt
Nevertheless, the finger was still pl1in
ly visible. and one of the men poke,
it with pencil. fHoiy smokel' h
shouted, this is the best joke of tn
season. Why, it's nothing but
corpse, and as stiff as poker. too,
If he's dead its because / smotbere,
him! | retorted. Indignantly. .for
swear heard him breathing just be
fore pulled down the trunksi, That
was q small fib. of course, and half ,
minute later when they had .pr;ef
open the lid I would have given an
arm to recall it. What do you think
was inside? A corpse? Not on vour
shirt waist. 1t contained four ta;lor,s
d, dummies made out of papier mache.
The one nearest the knot hole wore |
brass ring" ''''s' -" FaIs :