Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-02-05
DAILY SHORT STORY
HOW HE GOT HIS START.

| took Oalt q tin box and, on raising The
cover, saw on top of the pile one ad
| dressed to- himself In his fathers hand
writing. breaking the seal, he read:
when, kmy dear sou, you receive the
| shocktin store for you contained in this
papertI shall be removed from any re
proaclAes you may feel like casting up
ON me- l have always intended to tell
you what L am telling you now, but
as you grew older and our wealth in
creased 1 shrank from doingso. Know
now kmy son, that the father whom you
havekaiways loved and reverenced was
once \a common tramp. My father
would Smake farmer OF me or appren-
tice me, TO tradesman. 1 had no fancy
for eitl rer occupation. What was fit
ted for twas thensnot apparent. and the
result was that II was considered fit
ted for nothing, and this was partly
my owntOpinion. One day. frenZied at
the restraint and humdrum life OF 4
saddler's apprentice. broke away from
him and ibecame a tramp.
zone night l was stealFng-I wish
could use some other woINl-a ride I'M
der a car on an express train, when the
breaks were applied suddenly and the
train came to quick stop. l heard
several shots ahead ami surmised that
the traini had been iheld up by robbers.
/ was under the front end of the smok
ing car. Behind We're the passenger
cars, nexttbeforeime was the baggage
and express car and next the locomo-
tive. Two lmen, whom i could see by
the dim light were masked passed rap
idly from the front to'the rear ears. /
let myself down and ran into the woods
close beside, the track. The ground
was higher ION that side and, going
forward. could look right into the 10
connective.
'"The engineer was lying dead on the
cab floor. A masked man stood be-
tween cab andttender. leaning out and
looking backward. Two men came for
ward, and / heard them tell their own
engineer that the express agent had
been too quick for them and had lock-
ed the doors Of the car. The engineer,
who seemed to be their leader, swOre
at them and, pointing to a pile OF ties
beside the track, told them to take one
of them and burst open the door. Seiz-
ing a tie. they began to batter at the
door. the engineer Watching them from
the cab impatiently 1t was plain to
me that he wished TO go and do the
work himself, but dared not leave the
cab. Presently his patience gave way
and with smothered growl he jump
ell down and ran to them.
Then 1t occurred to me that were
l I'm his place / could not restrain my
self from doing just what he did. l
saw an opportunity for me to save the
express car. If i could uncouple the
car and get into the cab 1 might run
it off before they could stop me. 1t
was slim chance, for even If got the |
car uncoupled unobserved and started |
the locomotive they had only to go half |
a cars length to get on the cab, kill me |
and turn off the steam. The danger |
only made the plan more fascinating to |
me. Within q few seconds all these |
things passed through my brain, and |
my resolution was formed.
Sliding down the incline, I got under |
the express car on the opposite side |
from that on which the men were |
working. though by this time they were |
at the rear door. i ran along beside |
the car and stopped under the very |
platform Oh which they were operat-
my position. Just as 1 came beneath
them they drew back for another blow
with the tie. which, by the way, was
hard to work between the two cars,
and when they pushed forward reach
ed up and seized the coupling pin.
Now. II cars had been coupled then
as they are now, 1t would have been
impossible for me TO separate them.
Had the coupling pin been held by
their being jammed together or pulled
too far apart this also would have
blocked my game. With the scuffiing
going on above i could not know
the pin was loose or tight till
tried it. My heart stood still as, taking
advantage of the, thickest of the tur-
MOL, l reached up and was overjoyed
that L could remove it easily.
Now came the second part of my
plan. Dashing forward, L climbed to
the cab, threw back the reverse lever
md as gently as / could opened the
throttle. My next move was to look
FOR weapon. There were iron coal
rakes I'm the tender, and l grasped one
Df them. 1t was impossible that the
'obbers should be unaware OF the move
nent of the express car for any con-
time. l stood with one hand
III the throttle, the other grasping the
.oal rake, my eyes watching my rear.
the engineer came running
Onward. / covered in the cab, where
le couldn't see me. He had his revolver
n Mis- hand as he came up, but, quick
Is flash, raised the coal rake and
brought it down on his skull. He was
good pluck and climbed into the cab
rying to shoot me, but it was hard for ,
him to climb and shoot at the same .
line. He got into the cab, but slipped ,
It his last step and fell. 1 gave him |.
mother blow that finished him.
81 grabbed his revolver, and i'm the !
lick of time, for the robbers had bro