The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1909-02-25
THE BOY WHO
RAN AWAY
A Story That Turned Out
tho Other Way.

more.
Anyhow. he figured It that his folks.
namely his father and mother, were
handing it out to him pretty hard
They declined to permit him to play
with the gang They interfered with
him In lots OF ways
Consequently. after giving the mat.
ter due and proper thought the boy
decided that there was hc. o.v thing
for him to do, and that was to run
away.
Away from home. he felt he would
be- able to indulge In his natural pro
pensities without let or hindFanee.
Now, his most natural propensity,
as II seemed to him, was for the
robhing OF trains-far western trains.
The boy had a profound feeling that
he was modelled. cut out, fashioned,
devised and intended by nature to be
the greatest robber Of trains that ever
crawled over the tender OF an engine
and put the engineer and fireman un-
der sawed on shotgun filled with
slugs.
He felt, too. that his folks would be
liable 70 thwart such an ambition on
his part were he to mention II to
them
He figured, therefore, that In view
Of these Considerations the only prop.
er thing FOR him to do was to get his
few things together and beat It. He
had read many pieces Of iiction-all
Of the fiction, however, as he under.
stood, founded upon fact-which re-
lated how famous train robbers had
started on upon their distinguished
careers By running away from home
just as he meant TO do, and HON some
thing always turned up pretty soon to
put them In a way OF achieving a
mastery Of their chosen profession.
And so the boz. working very Sc
cretly and deliberately, gathered to-
gether all his little possessions and
wrapped them up in a big silk muf-
fer belonging to his father There
wasn't much to be packed in the muf-
fer but still he didn't elect to leave
his lew little possessions behind, since
ho vas very certain that he would not
lr-tura TO his boyhood home for many,
many years, If ever.
Il was a beautiful moOnlit night
when he decided to make the iump.
He went to bed, or pretended to go to
bed, and waited for his parents and
grown-up brothers and sisters TO turn
in. Then with his little bundle slung
over his shoulder at the end of a stout
stick he softly stole down the stairs,
opened the front door noiselessly, tip
toed out after closing the door. and.
reaching the front gate, turned to gaze.
as he felt. upon the hcme OF his youth
for the last, last time.
He made directly for the freight
depot at the other end OF the town,
bis idea being that as he had often
read in connection with other runaway
heroes. be might be able 10 catch an
outgoing freight train. As there
wasn't any outgoing freight train that
night, daylight found him still hang
ing around the freight yard
By this time he was pretty hungry,
and he thought OF the usual ham and
eggs and hot mullins and things that
he'd been accustomed to eat for break
fast Somehow in the clear, sunny
light OF morning IT looked a heap more
difficult TO get a start as a train rob
Der than It had seemed while he was
planning the great expedition. He
stood and watched the freight hands
making themselves some coffee on a
little stove in a signaling shack, and
his hunger became something fierce,
and he thought of The nice clean table
cloth and
.io97.vc9 'ust 2 minute Just one
Idnne
Here is he spot where it is Gus
.oniaIy 10 get in swift cimactic ac-
lion.
VI is he usual thing to narrate how
the hungry would-be runaway boy who
hankered 10 be train robber liz.
zled out In his desire as he thought
about the home grub and how he be-
gan TO whimper around the freight
yard. and how two or three kindly,
grizzled freight yard hands asked him
what was chewin on him. and low
they finally got his story out of him.
and how they sympatheticaPy advised
aim to beat il for home and paw and
NAV jusl as fast as he could 60. and
how he. OF course. hated to go home.
cause he didn't know how he was
going to square things for having re-
manned out all night, but how. event
ually. he BECAME so blasted hun
gry that he had to just nachully aban-
don all thought of becoming a train
rcbber. and how he skunk into the al
ley back OF his home after dark. and
how he got nailed by his dad as he
tried to nudge through the kitchen
door. and how his dad got out the old
trunk strap and whaled him good and
plenty, and how that eternally killed
his ambition to become train robber,
and
Well, and all like that-a-way, lot
of It. always and infaIlibly just Ike
that.
But ii didn't break that way at
AL