Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-17
The Daily
Short Story
LOST AND FOUND.
By Alan Hinsdale.

| exist any more, and, in the second
| place. passengers worth robbins u.s.
ually travel by rail.
am an old man now, but I had per-
sonal experience in one of those Oil
| fashioned stage holdups. l went west
when was about 20 years old and
dug and dug and dug for five years
| never made strike. but in one way
or another | accumulated a little
money. A girl was waiting for me In
the east-indeed, she had been waiting
for me for the five years l had been in
the west My pile was big enough to
set me up in small way In an east
ern town. and concluded to 90 home.
get married and settle down to a
/ regular business.
There were not the facilities for
sending money from the far west in
those days there are now, and l was
in a quandary how to transport nv
| little fortune. l finally decided to
have it melted down int a small brick
and carry it with me. In the mold
had my initials inserted so that the
] brick showed the impression. l car
ried it in my breaches pocket where
could easily get my hand on IT,
Well. | started out with my fortune
travelling with coach full of passen-
lgers. There was road agent-that's
what they called stage robbers In those
days-known as Simmons, who was
terrifying the country at that time,
/ and there was no knowing but that he
would hold up our coach. He did, and
he got nay gold brick. My heart sank
at seeing it go, but | couldn't help my
self. After he had got all we had he
let us go on.
When | got to the end of the stage
line | concluded to turn around and 20
back There was no use going home
as poor as when I left five years be-
, fore | couldn't marry my girl, and
) without her | preferred to remain ID
i the west.
RI When | was about to enter the coach
/ the next morning they weren't going
8 to let me in, but when I told them how
i had lost my five years profit and
had to begin all over again where
had first started they gave me a seat
!, | The passengers consisted Of a parsen,
! a big. coarse looking woman and lit
tie red headed feller who locked very
nervous.
I We talked over coach robberies on
/, the way. 1t didn't make any difference
8 to me whether we were robbed or not
b considering that / hadn't anything to
!. lose. | reckoned the little red headed
: Teller had a good deal to lose, he was
J. so timid about it, The parson talked
2 the doctrine Of nonresistance, and
I concluded he was Yankee. The big.
D coarse woman said she had a revolver
: where she could get at it easy and il
any man got anything out OF her he'd
get some lead first.
u True enough there was another
; holdup.
. Whether Simmons did it or not /
: couldn't tell. The man who did the job
was masked mean the man who
: opened the coach door and told US 10
tumble out, for there were two others
: in the gang, one to cover the driver
- and another to watch the road for an
- interruption.
= The first one to get out was the
ii woman. She stood behind the rohber,
:, but she didn't shoot him in the back.
y She was covered by one OF the other
ii robbers. The parson got out next and
nonresisted The little red headed fei-
Ter and | remained inside The robber
70 told him 10 come along, but he cringed
hack in corner, begging piteously fol
If his life The robber reached forward
!. and caught hold of him to drag hin
"a out
IN | heard two shots and saw the rob
" her fail dead. He was killed by tbs
as noDresistant parson The ether she
Id came from the big woman, who saT
rs an opportunity to take the man wh'
was watching her. There was thir'
shot a few seconds after the other two
X fred by the little red headed feile
&c that had Just been yanked out OF III
~ coach He felled the man who va
lg lookin' out for Interruptions.
N The big woman bounced on the fslls
Or man who had taken us ont Of III
th coach and pulled off his mask
a We've got him. she said. at
s Andy Simmons
Then / understood that Id bee
travelling with party made up fo
. the purpose of Kidding the country c
W. the desperate. The woman was
os man, and the parson was the sheriff {
Oh the country. The red headed felle
was one of the gang. | was the oni
enc in the coach who wasn't.
- The robbers, one of whom va
! killed and the other two badly woune
ue ed, had on them the plumber of Ii
~ = coach that had been robbed the ds
~ before. Among other yaluables ! va
- delighted to see my nugget Luckily
cd had told the story OF its loss. and n
y initials on it enabled ME TO prove Ii
property. The consequence was TIL
they handed it over TO me without
word.
ua Possessed again Of my fortune.
~ turned my face eastward. / found II
no girl expecting me, for | had writte
.ca her that was coming, and she vi
he mighty glad to see me But she vince
To when1 told her how had lost and r
'e- gained my gold brick.
pc The first thing | did was to buy o.
nd business that was for sale, and Il
iys next thlng was 10 get married WI
Ter more successful as business ma
than as hunter for gold in the groHr
and some years ago retired rich.
7or vas all due to luck in regaining L
nd capital.
fl - -.------.----
aid
he his regular calls. 1t is expected IN
for the mayor will make public his tim
re- book at some future council meetln
IL