The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-02-07

marked the detective dryly.
mot With u going the gait we was
that night" protested the conductor.
"Ali right-here goes. I'll have to
drop down to the ground atgl get on
from the outside to make 1t more real
istic. you know. Just go down and I'M
lock the gate to that coach. will you.
old man."
The conductor numbered through the
train. stopped here and there In his
course by the anxious inquiry Of inn
patient passengers. but be was able
now to promise them Il start In ten
minutes and there was n renewed
cheerfnlness on board.
As the conductor quietly unlocked the
gate to the last car he heard the faint
clank of metal and his ear was instant
~ alert.
whats that?' he muttered into the
darkness.
Nothing but the clank of your gate.
old man." treasured the detectives
voice from the step.
II thought It sounded different" re-
marked the conductor as be went back
through the train and left the rear
coach In the hands Of the detective.
It had been planned that the detec-
tive should array himself like a bandit
and hold up the passengers Of the last
coach, thus forcing them to give up
what jewels they had. hoping thus to
discover the thief II he was among
the eight passengers in the last coach
Ten minutes afterward. just a the
engine shrieked a warning blast that
they were once more in running order
and the air was filed with the sound
Of rushing steam. the door Of the rear
coach suddenly opened and the eight
passengers faced a genuine holdup.
Hands up" ordered the masked man
in the doorway rs he held a big re-
volver in either hand. There was in
slant obedience on the part Of the eight
passengers.
The masked man drove the four
moody passengers down to the other
end Of the car. where the card players
sat like statues. their hands high
above their heads. Quickly. deftly.
the man stripped them of their jewels.
ordered them to open their bags and
deliver their money and valuables.
Like a fash his weapons were here.
there and everywhere. Once he
caught the little brown man edging
away toward the door. and only the
cold Of the steel barrel brought the
writhing passenger to a realization
that he must give up more than he
had lost before.
The highwayman left the brown
man for the last. One by n he had
stripped the others of everything that
was Of value. but still the missing
watches had not come to light. Three
revolvers sagged the pockets Of the
bandit. for the bankers had been arm
ed. Now they huddled. a frightened.
nervous looking group, against the
rear door, while the brown mans turn
came at last.
Hands up" ordered the masked man.
"They are up" protested the brown
man.
SWAY up!!' commanded the other.
The brown man stretched himself
on tiptoe. and the masked man held a
| revolver to his ear while with the 9th.
er hand he deity went over the cloth
ing of the irate passenger. When lie
concluded he had collected in his peck
cts eight gold watches.
Immediately wrath broke upon the
brown mans head. The sever travel
ing companions told him in language
more or less carefully chosen what
they thought of him. The bankers
told what would become of him when
he reached the next station. and the
bankers wives said they had known
from the beginning that he was a des-
! perate character.
Meantime the masked man was max
ing a slow backward retreat for the
door. He still held the two revolvers
leveled at the heads Of the twice in
jured passengers and was quite deaf
to their appeals for the return Of their
property.
The brown man was explaining vol
.ubly that he was a detective and that
instead of the masked man removing
the stolen watches from his pockets
they had come from the pockets Of
, the masked man. who had skillfully
used ledgermain to plant the guilt on
the innocent passenger. None Of the
other passengers believed him. and so
they fell to talking and protesting UNI
til the slam of the door brought them
to a realization that the masked man
was going. and so was their property.
With belated valor, the bankers
sprang to the platform to witness the
form of the bandit vanish in the shad-
ows of the plain. They ven heard his
hooking laugh as he vanished. but they
did not care They were too engrossed
In another amazing fact.
Their coach stood solitary in the
midst rOf the plain. The remainder Of
the train had gone on and left it be-
hind. Afterward they knew that the
masked man had uncoupled the car
just before he entered.
When the conductor discovered the
loss of his Pullman coach the train was