Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-01-09
II here Is 4 ide IN
the Affairs of Men !
BY OSCAR COX
~ sas,f ~ 81. ~, ( . 10 4, a;

Lam not an educated man and have
no knowledge Of literature, but once
heard or read the following state
ment: There Is tide In the affairs Of
men which. taken at the food, leads on
to fortune" THIS Is my literary stock
in trade. Since 1t applies especially
to my case 1t is quite sufficient for me.
From my boyhood I was averae' to
hard work. By hard work 1 mean
drudgery. think that If i had been
born the president Of manufacturing
company might have managed It ad-
mirably. I question II even lack Of
experience would have downed me-
The reason I believe this Is that when
fate finally boosted me into respon-
sible position took to the duties az
duck does TO water. =. = -:
Ny inclination, so far as / was
aware >of what l wanted, led me to
adopt the profession Of a. tramp. i
began my career In this line at eight
cen years Of age and followed 1t for.
four years. There was something SO
attractive for me in it that even now.
l don't look back to 1t with the hor-
ror it merits. Its very discomforts
were at times attractive. Real tramp
ing-I mean on foot-did not interest
me. Ny favorite method of getting out
Of district I had worked dry into
one sufficiently far from 1t that
would not DO recognized as an old Of.
fender was hanging on to the under
part Of railway car!
And it was here that the tide of my
affairs took me up and carried me on
to fortune.
One day was riding on the bottom
of a car. 4 was located under the bag
gage car, which was next behind the
express car. Suddenly while passing
through an open field the brakes were
applied and the train came to a stop.
I expected that it would proceed In a
few moments, but it didn't. I heard a
shot forward. This suggested to me
that the train might have been held
up. / put my head out where I could
get glimpse Of what was going on.
l couldn't see much before or behind,
but one thing saw very plainly-a
masked man with an enormous revolt
yer in his hand hurrying past to the
rear.
A short distance ahead Of me-the
express car was directly over twas q
cattle guard. 1t occurred to me that
from it I could see without being seen.
I made my way to it, dropped down
and hid behind a fence beside It.
From between the boards had a good
view of what was going on.
The engineer and fireman were climb
Ing down from the locomotive, cab, be-
Ing induced to do SO at the point OF
two pistols I'm the hands of one man.
He drove them back, where he was
Joined by another man. could see
no more train robbers and believed
that the rest of the, gang were going
through the passengers for their valua-
bles. One man was hammering at the
rear door Of the express car. 1t was
evidently locked, and he could not
open 1t. Another man climbed up be-
side him, and they consulted as to
means Of forcing the door. Both scan
ned the ground beside the train for
some implement by which to effect
their purpose. One of them spied about
100 yards from the car log.
Both men jumped down and hurried
toward this implement. "
Here came the opportunity Of my
life. What other robbers there were
were in or about the rear cars. The
engine and express car were unguard-
ed. Like flash Of lightning an idea
entered my head. was not ten yards
from the rear end Of the express car.
Leaving my hiding place, / got under
the car, crawled to the rear end, mount
ed the platform and released the brake.
This I accomplished without the men
who were going for their battering ram
seeing me, for their backs were still
toward me. = -. =
Jumping down on the side of the
train that put it between them and me.
| made dash for the locomotive.
climbed into the cab and turned on the
steam. The men had reached the tie
and were-lifting it on to their shoul-
ders. They had barely succeeded in
doing so when they saw widening
gap between the express car and the
train. Dropping theft burden, they ran
f<%ps< t1<%v nysk %H~k