Evening star., 1925-10-18

Curly promised to be sure to look
him up at Cincinnati the coming Fall
Harper's brother Tom kept we'll
| known sporting hotel in the tender
loin Of the big Ohio city and Curly
would always find a cordial welcome
| there.
Curly's last few days behind the
! bars were given over to dreams of
how he would use his freedom. He
had a bit OF money in the warden S
safe, would walk out with a hundred
and f1fty-odd dollars. While that
lasted, for perhaps couple of
months. he would harden his body.
tougher his muscles, by living the
open-air carefree life Of a freight
| riding hobo. And so he did.
After that let Fate decide And so
| it did.
| The two and a half months follow
ing his release from prison. Of soil
tary, aimless drifting liberty under
soft. Southern skies had a pleasing
! effect Of bronzing the decent coun-
tenance Of Powell. And not only did
he regain the pink Of physical con-
dition. but his steady brown eyes re-
| flected the vigor of a well-developed
| mental poise.
Always careful of his appearance.
| his dark well-cut clothes surprisingly
| free from travel stains, the casual
observer never suspected that this big,
clean-looking chap was an eX-convict
! who had curled up to sleep night
after night at campfires he built be-
| side the right-of-way ~of various
railroads.
He had made no attempt to earn
or steal a dollar, and one cold, cloudy
midnight in late October found him
riding in West Virginia on a {. & o.
freight train bound for Cincinnati and
the friendly sight of Big Bill Harper,
the counterfeiter.
Back in hilly Lynchburg, two days
before. he had run into one "Jlgger'
Cassidy, an old-time craftsman he
knew. "Jigger" was in the last stages
of tuberculosis, pitifully ragged. and
Curly had cheerfully staked him with
his last greenback; the bill he had
been counting on with which to buy
his eats along the c. & .. to Gin
cinnati and Harper.
In the course Of his activities as
yeggman. Powell had often ridden on
the cushions of passenger coaches In
comfort and ease. But he had travel
ed many more hundreds of miles un-
der cover and secrecy OF darkness In
all sorts of weather on the outside or
both freight and passenger trains.
So it was nothing new to him TO be
wind atop of the swinging, swaying,
jolting box car this midnight in
October.
But it was new to be fiat broke.
ravenously hungry, as well as chilled
TO the bone. He had gone without
food all that day on account OF his
generosity to old "Jigger." "Cincy"
was still another days travel ahead
Of him. He was hungrier than ever
before in his life.
THE laboring engine ahead whistled
L for q crossing and he could feel
the train slackening speed. They
must be nearing town. He made up
his mind to get off, build fire and
see If he could round up something
for his empty stomach.
A few minutes later, the long
train of loaded boxcars. moving along
at about 10 miles an hour, rolled its
creaking way through the middle OF a
small, sleeping town, Curly, with ex-
pert swing, dropped lightly from a
side ladder to the cinder path beside
the tracks. He stood, a motionless,
dark shadow, while the train passed
him, rumbled on without stopping, on
into the open country beyond.
He stepped forward in the wake Of
the faSt-dWindling twin red llghtS on
the rear of the caboose. On either
side of him a few scattered street
lights dimly winking in the murky
darkness were the only signs of life
or movement on the unpaved streets
Of the tiny burg. Soon he heard the
departed engines iron throat deepen
it's steamy cough and his understand
ing ear told him the long train had
reached heavy upgrade about a mile
away.
4 quarter hours brisk walk brought
him to hilly farmlands. Continuing
farther, picking up stray bits of wood
as he went, he chose a spot beside the
tracks where the roadbed ran upgrade
between high, sloping banks, and after
collecting more wood from a field he