The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-09-03

any intention OF going back on her,
which would make him start up
again like sixty. I think that old
boy standing there In his silk hat
and bare feet. playing his little
French harp. was tho funniest sight
| ever saw. ope little red headed
woman In the line broke out hugh.
Ing at him. You could have heard
hor In the next car.
Then Jim held them steady while
I searched tho b~rthA | grappied
around In those beds and filled a
pillow case with the atrangest assert
m~nt Of stuff you ever saw. Now
ana then Id come across a little
.pop-eun pistol. just about right for
plugging teeth with. which I'D throw
out the window. when | finished
with the collection, dumped the
pillow-cane load In the middle of the
aisle. There were good tnany
watches. bracelets. ringn. and pocket.
books with "A aprinkiing OF FALSE
teeth. whisky TASKS. face powder
boxes. chocolate carnm-ln and heads
OF hair of various coioru and lengths,
There were also about dozen ladies'
stockings into which jeweiry.
watched. and rolls OF bills had been
stuffed and then waddod up tight
and stuck under the mattrcsses
offered 10 return what I called the
"scalps." saying that we were not In.
dams on the war path. but mono OF
the ladies seemed 10 know 10 whom
the hair belonged.
one OF tn. wom~n--and a good
booker she was-draped In a striped
blanket. saw m. pick up one OF the
stockings that was pretty chunky
and heavy about tho toe. and she
snapped out:
That's mine. SIR. You're not In
tho business OF robblng women. are
your
Now, an this was our first hold up.
We hadn't agreed upon any code of
ethics. 40 | hardly knew what TO an.
swcr. But anyway. replied: We'll.
not as a speciality. II this contains
your personal property you can have
II back"
1T just doe..- rhe declared eager.
ly. and reached out her hand for IL
You'll excuse my taking a look
Mt the cont-nrs.- I said. holding the
stocking up By the toe. Out dumped
a big gents gold watch. worth two
hundred. a gents leather pocket. book
that ". afterward found 10 contain
-. 4Att N.sf.
calibre revolver. and the only thing
Of the 10, that could have been a
iadys personal property was a silver
bracelet worth about nifty cents
said: Madame. here's your prop.
crty." and handed her the bracelet.
Now went on. how can You en-
peci va 10 &C. square With you when
YOU try to deceiv. us In thl. man.
ncrY I'm surprised at such con.
duct
The young woman flushed up as II
she had been caugh, doing some
thing dishonest. Some other woman
down the line called out; The mean
thing never knew whether she
meant the other lady or ma
When we finished our Job we
ordered everybody back 10 bed. told
en- good night very politely Mt the
door. and left. We rode forty miles
before daylight and then divided the
stuff Each one OF us got u.Tsss5
In money. We Jumped tho Jcwelry
around. Then We scattered. each
man for himself
That was my first train robbery.
and ., was about as easily done AZ
any OF the ones that followed. But
that was III. last and only time I
ever went thru the passengers. I
don't like that part OF the business
Aftcrward | stuck strictly To the cx.
press car During the NEXT eight
years handled n good deal Of
money.
Tho best haul 7 made was just
seven years after the first one. We
found out about n train that was
going TO bring out lot OF money
10 pay off the soldiers at a Govern.
mcnt post. We stuck that train up
In broad daylight Five OF us lay
IN the sand hills near a little station.
Ten soldiers were guarding the
money on the train. but they might
lust as well have been at home on
furlough. We didn't even allow
them 10 stick their heads out the
windows to see the fun. We had no
trouble at all in getting the money.
which was all in gold. OF courre. a
big howl was raised at the time
about the robbery. II was Govern
ment stuff. and the Government got
sarcastic and wanted to know what
the convoy OF soldiers went along
for. The only excuse given was that
nobody was expecting an attack
among those bare sand hills In day.
time. don't know what the Gov
eminent thought about tho excuse.
but I know that IL was good one.
The surprise-that In the keynote OF
the train-robbing business. The pa.
pers published all kinds OF stories
about the loss. finally agreeing that
II was between nine thousand and
ten thousand dollars The Govern.
ment sawed wood. Here are the cor.
rect figures. printed for the first
ume--forty. eight thousand dollars.
III anybody will take the trouble to
look over Uncle Sans private &C.
counts for that little debit 10 profit
and loss. he will find that am right
TO a cent.
by that time we were expert
enough to know what TO do. We
rode due west twenty miles, making
trail that Broadway policeman
could have followed, and then we
doubled back. hiding our tracks. on
the second night after the hold.up.
while posses were securing the coun'
try in every direction, Jim and |
were cauas supper In the second
story OF friends house In the town
where the alarm started from. our
friend pointed out TO us. in an office
across the street. a printing press
at work striking off handbills offer
Ing a reward for our capture.