The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-15
HOW WATCHED THE BOX.

| was, as SO many young men before and
since have been. anxious to find some
profitable form of work for my vaca-
| tons.
One day during the winter / received a
note from a cousin of mine, who was a
section master of telegraph service on the
Big Four railroad, saying that If be-
| fore the first of June l could learn tele-
| graphy he could place me in an office for
the summer ar a hundred dollars a
| month This appeared to be great good
luck, and l resolved TO try.
Two days after commencement he sent
for me to go to Crossline. Indiana, where
| | was expected TO spend two weeks in
| an office taking instructions from the
| man | was 10 succeed, and after that do
| regular duty as might operator and sta
| ton master"
| This all sounded very large until / saw
| how small the town of Crossline was.
| Three houses, two stables, one small no.
| tel with a barroom, a country store, in
which was the postoffice. and the station
| building, containing under one roof. de-
I pot, freight room. express and telegraph
| office These made up the sum total of
| the buildings. 1t was one of those queer
| functions where one large railroad crosses
| another with which it has no dealings.
! The service on each line is heavy, but
the rival companies pay no attention TO
! each others schedule.
| One day late in June / received a letter
| from the express company's agent In
| Washington saying that on the night of
the eth of July a box of gold would be
| shipped over our lines to town in I'LL
| nois. where q new national bank had been
| chartered. The box would be on train
| No. II, w. c. I. & st. L. r. r. due In
| Crossline LA a. m; would naturally be
| forwarded on train No. 5, Big Four route.
| leaving the junction 1:S9 a.. m. Would l
| use some caution" watch the
box" etc. Here. at last, as something
TO look forward TO. and ! counted up
| the days until the It'll of July.
On the night in question ! was on the
| platform early. lantern in hand. awaiting
the arrival of train No. II. 1t was a
dark, wet. dismal night. There was no
moon. the stars were hidden, a heavy rain
was falling. and everything was wrapped
in mist and blackness Promptly on time
the whistle of the incoming train sounded
above the curve. and. in few minutes
the baggage car came to stop by my
side.
I looked for my charge and, sure
enough, there came tumbling out on the
platform a small. rough, strongly made
box, with the address printed on one side.
But there was also another article placed
upon the platform which for a moment
took my attention from the first. 1t was
coffin. At the same time three men.
acting as settlement mourners, stepped
from the forward coach. Those were the
only packages and these the only pas
sengers
The signal was given, the train moved
on and We were left standing on the plat
form. The three men at once came for
ward, through the rain, muffling up their
collars, and suggested that we put the
coffin in the station. 1 could not object.
a. ;,,iy,
we carried it into the office. I then re-
turned for the box. carried it in and
placed il on the floor beside the coffin
,One of the men began to make inQuf-
ries about the time of trains and asked
how long they would have to wait / re-
piled that II the up train was on time
they should have only fifteen minutes.
but even while we talked my instrument
struck the three dots, then two dots.
dash and a dot. which meant, IS. o."
which was my call, and while l listened
spelled off the message aloud to the
party and they were evidently much an
noyed at this sudden confusion of their
plans.
After consulting together for while
in whispers they asked me II there was
not some place where they could spend
those three hours with more comfort to
themselves and less annoyance to me
than in my office. 1t was really embar-
RAISING. The room was only dozen feet
square and there were seats for only
four people. / knew that the old man
who kept the small hotel across the way
had been in bed for hours. knew too
how surly he would be if he were walked
up now but ! suggested that X they
cared to rouse him they might go there
They decided to try. and five minutes later
l saw lights moving in the lower windows
and knew they had gained admission at
Uncle Dams"
| closed the door, hung up nv lantern.
and seated my self in my chair. l tried
to read, but it was no use; the sounder
made noise. l laid down my book and
turned to look out of the window
Perhaps the folks are eating thought,
"or perhaps they have gone to bed
Again 1 settled myself in my chair
This time / looked at the clock There
was no train due either way before No s.
This meant that for three hours nothing
would happen. Three hours to sit here
at the dead of night, in a dingy twelve
foot room, with a sounder. a box of gold
and a corpse. Surely. this was not very
delightful; nor was it even very exciting
If this was to be my adventure" / felt
that once more | was being cheated
l settled myself in my chair and took I'D
my book again. but still there was no in
terest. After while IL dropped to the
floor and l did not even care to pick II
up Everything was so dull and uninter-
esting the night was so dreary the place
so lonely. and ! was so tired
l had no idea how long / sat thus be-
fore | was startled by my instrument be-
ginning TO talk to me- 1t spoke to me a
message set on the wires at Washington:
Watch that box" l looked at the box.
but saw nothing 10 watch. / looked a
long time. however and then said IN NV
self; Come to think of it. there is some
thing strange and grewsome about all
this; / don't like il. / don't like TO be
alone with box of gold, I don't like to
be alone with a corpse. and especially /
don't like coincidence. Why should thew
come on the same night. and why should
five people come along? Why should all
this happen on so dark a night and why
should that up-train be so late tonight2
Why has it suddenly grown so quiet here
and why are all those lights gone out2
Besides. why were the men so anxious to
get that coffin into this room and why
did they crowd together in a corner and !
whisper when they found that the train |
was late7'
a second time the instrument called me.
and when threw the switch the sounder
said: Watch that box Again looked |
at the box and stili everything was all /
right. ] wondered II 7 would feel any
easier II l put IL IN my chair and sat on 1
II. l decided that I would. remember 1
now in what an uncomfortable position I 1
was sitting. when for the third time the |
soundeI fairly yelled TO me: Watch that |
box Involutarily I glanced toward the 4
place where the box had been. but this 4
time. OF course saw only the coffin
I was sitting there looking at what I /
saw. and seeing only those fingers when l
suddenly ! heard voices and the sound 1