The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-09-03
: :s. 0. HENRY STORY %s"

they generally go far away 20 one OF
tho big cities 10 spend their money.
Green hands. however successful u
hold-up they make, nearly always
give themselves away by showing
too much money near the place
whore they got IL.
! wns In job In - where we got
twenty thousand dollars We fol
lowed our fhvorite plan for n get.
away-that IN. doubled on our trail
and laid low for n time near the
scene OF the trains bad luck. one
morning ! picked up a newspaper
and read m article with big head
lines stating that the marshal, with
eight deputies and a posse Of thirty
armed citizens. had the train robbers
surrounded In n mesquite thicket on
tho clmRrron. and that II was n
they would be dead men or pris'
onera. While WINS reading that
article was sitting at breakfast In
one OF the most elegant private red'
dences In Washington City. with a
flunky In knee pants standing be-
hind my chair. Jim was sitting
across the table talking 10 his half
uncle, a retired naval officer. whose
name you have often seen In the
accounts Of doinga In the capital.
We had gone there and bought rat
Ting outfits OF good clothes. and
were resting from our hbors among
the nabobn. We must have been
killed In that mesquite thicket. for !
can make an affidavit that We didn't
surrender.
Now I propose 20 tell why II In
oasy TO hold up train. and thcn.
why no one should ever do H.
In tho first place. the attacking
party has all the advantage. That
Ia. OF courr-. supporing that they are
old timers with the necessary expert
onoo and courage. They have The
outside and are protected by the
darkness. while the others are In the
light. hcmmed into small space.
and exposed. the moment they show
a head AT a window or doe. 70 the
aim Of a man who In a dead shot and
who won't hesitate To shoot
But. In my opinion. the main con.
dition that makes train robbinr easy
In the element OF surprise In con
nection with the Imagination Of the
pas~rngcrs. II you have ever seen
"A horse that ha. eaten loco weed you
will underntand what mean when
| say that the passengers get iococdI
That horse gets the awfuileai
ina rination on him In tn. world,
You can't coax him to cross a little
branch stream two feet wide. II
looks as biz 20 him as the Mississippi
river. That's jus, the way with the
passenger. lie thinks there are
hundred men yelling and shooting
outside. when maybe there src only
1.-TWO or three. And the muxzic OF "a
forty .fiv. looks like the entrance 20
a tunnel The passenger In all right.
aitho he may do mean little tricks.
like hiding a wad OF money tn his
shoe and forgetting 10 dig up until
YOU jos;lc his ribs some with the end
~ your sis shooter. but there's no
harm In him
As 90 tho train crew. VIC never had
any more trouble with them than n
they had been no many sheep.
don't moan that they are towards.
mean that they have got sensc.
They know they're not up against
bluff. Its tho same way with the
officers. I've seeu secret service
men. rnryhais and railroad d~secs
tiv~~ fork over their change an meek
as Moses. raw one Of the brayert
frarNhals I ever knew hide hiH gun
under his sea, and dig up along with
the rest while I was taking toll He
wasn't afraid: he simply knew that
We had the drop on the whole outfit
Besides. many Of those officers have
families and they feel that they
oughtnt TO take chances. whereas
death has no terrors for the man
who holds up train. He expects to
get killed some day. and he generally
does. My advice 10 you. II you
should ever be IN n hoid.up. ia to line
up with the towards and save your
bravery for an occasion when II may
be OF some benefit 10 you. Another
reason why officers are backward
about mixing things with n train
robbcr Is a financial one. Every
time there In scrimmage and some
body gets killed. tho officers lose
money. II the train robber gets
away they swear out warrant
against John Doe ct al. and travel
hundreds os miles and sign vouchers
for fAnffua. A. ~. ~ hA
fugitiyes and the Government foots
the bllla. SO. with them. Il ia
question OF mileage rather than cour.
age.
| win give one instance 10 support
my statement that the surprise IL
the best card in playing for a hold
UP.
Along In % the Daitons were cut
ting out hot trail for the officers
down In the Cherokee nation. Those
were their lucky days. and they got
20 reckless and sandy. that they
used oannounce beforehand what
job they were going TO undertake.
once they gave II out that they were
going to hold up the NJ. X. & r. flyer
on certain night at the station OF
Pryor Creek. In Indian Territory.
That night the railroad company
got fifteen deputy marBhals in Mus
cogee and put them on the train.
Besides them they had fifty armed
men hid In the depot at Pryor Creek.
When the Katy Flyer pulled in
not a Dalton showed up. The next
station was Adair, ak miles away.
When the train reached there. and
the deputies were having good
time explaining what they would
have done to the Dalton gang n they
had turned up, all at once II sounded
III. a nm LII. -.