Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1907-07-03
THE REPORTERS STORY.
A Dream That Might Have Ended In
Unconscious Suicide.

A Dream That Might Have Ended In
Unconscious Suicide.
'Do you know / came pretty near
committing suicide one time, and l
wouldn't have known it if / had,"
remarked the fat scribe as he broke
into a conversation of night police
reporters at central. At the time
the startling affair occurred / was
engaged in sort of day police
stunt-that is, the editor kept me
on criminal stories as a sort of spe-
cialty. An express car holdup
came off, and | was sent to report
the chase of the bandits. 1t was
long, hard game.
"One day | got telegram to
come home, and there never was a
guy that packed his grip with such
Joy. / had been gone month, and
what with the life l lived and the
excitement of the hunt and all that
| was about all in. | had been in
the habit of staying up late at
night, and | knew could not sleep
comfortably in a berth, so | threw
myself down on the long leather
seat in the smoking apartment Of
the Pullman. Travel happened to
be light, and | was not bothered.
81 had a revolver with me in my
right hip pocket. 1t hurt me as |
rested upon it, and | raised up and
took it out of the hip pocket, plac-
ing it in the left coat pocket. Then
with my overcoat and right arm un-
der my head, l made a try for a lit
tie sleep.
pretty soon 1 snoozed off. Then
I dreamed. | dreamed that the
train was being held up and that
three masked men, armed with RI
Aes or shotguns, appeared on the
platform Of the car. | had got 1t
into my head that the bandits IN
tended to kill me, and in my night
mare | thought | sprang up and
tried to barricade the door with
chairs and seats. But my efforts
were useless. The robbers pushed
their way in and jeered me. | heard
one of them say: Kill him. That's
the guy that has been after US
81 felt that my hour had come,
but something made me want to die
game. | reached for my revolver
and got it and stroye desperately to
fire it at the villains. But strangely
enough the revolver would not dis
charge. l pulled and pulled at the
trigger, but it was no go.
"Just then there was a crash
thought | had been made the pres,
ent of a load of buckshot, but II
was simply the porter closing the
door-and | awoke, covered witt
perspiration. | was half dazed, anC
| It took me a moment or two to gel
my bearings. Then l found | ha(
my revolver in my right hand, ant
nv index finger was gripped arounC
the guard as if it were frozen there
so intense had been the strength
had applied to the weapon; II i
had been the trigger instead OF the
guard-oh, my
81 then figured it out. l hat
reached into my left pocket witt
my right hand, transferred the re
volver to my right, which was un
der my head. The angle of the weap
on was directly over my heart whei
I strove to discharge it. The re
yolver was heavy bulldog, and
wouldn't have known what hurt nj
had it gone off. But some kind o
good fairy saved me-"
F'That amt bad yarn" remark
ed a listener. "Your friends woul'
have certainly said you had takel
the suicide route"
"Sure they would" approved tn
fat reporter. "All of which goes t
,, show that circumstantial evidenc
is sometimes a very uncertain quan
tity."-Chicago Record-Herald.