Arizona state miner., 1925-05-30
Old Frontier Station Agent
in Texas Tells Of Har-
boring Bandit.

Galveston, Textile recent taking
over of the San Antonio and Arkansas
Pass railroad by the Southern Pacific
calls to mind the fact that when the
transcOntinentaI line of the latter sys-
TEN was constructed through Texas
laWless conditions existed in the from
tier region.
Jess Fry, who is we'll known to the
shipping and business interests of
Galveston, was a sort of advance man
for the Southern Pacific in those days,
He performed the duty of opening all
new stations as the road progressed
through western Texas In this. ca
pacity he served as station agent, ex-
press agent and telegraph operator,
and incidentally he had many unusual
experiences.
One Experience.
"One night" said Mr.. Fry, "soon
after the station of Dryden, 395 miles
west of San Antonio, was opened and
l had been put in charge Of it, some
thing occurred that did not impress me
much at the time as it did later.
''The west-bound passenger train
came in. l had gone up to the express
and baggage cars The train porter
and l were getting off a trunk when
a young man who evidently had left
the train came up and assisted me
with the trunk.
After the train pulled away he
oclyn6 20 Ii, fol
l told him there was no hotel in Dry
den. The station house was the only
edifice in the place, except a few Mexi-
can jacals of mud and straw. All the
other habitations were tents. AS soon
as l had handled the train and had a
chance to draw an easy breath the
young man said:
6 Is there a box here for me? My
name Is Raymond Pacheco.'
He said he was expecting a small
box by express to Dryden from ST.
Louis. He said he thought it might
have reached Dryden ahead OF him.
No box had come for him.
Stranger Taken In.
"As there was no other place for him
to stay that night and | could not turn
him out, invited him to spend the
night inside the station with me.
found him an agreeable, entertaining
and exceedingly well bred young man.
He told me he was the son of for
mer governor of California and a
graduate of Yale. l had no reason to
doubt either statement.
MY guest was highly educated and
he also played the mandolin and sang
well. We spent the night pleasantly,
neither of us going to sleep until late
His coming to the lonely place
broke fit of loneliness that had been
increasing with me as the new sta
tions on the railways got farther away
from San Antonio. / was glad to learn
that he intended to remain a short
time. He said he was likely to stay
until the box he was looking for came.
Camp Near Station.
Next morning he built camp not
very far from the station house. l
would have been glad to let him stay
in the depot, but the company rules
would not permit my having a perma-
nent guest. He seemed to be used to
camp life. He was an all-around handy
sort of fellow. He soon had his camp
In good habitable shape.
HE had a good Winchester rifle and
pair of six-shooters and he purchased
q horse and other necessaries of out
of-doOr life in that region. / asked
him what his occupation was and he
told me he was a miner. He likewise
told me he intended to prospect for
paying minerals in the mountains in
Mexico. These mountains were just
across the Rio Grande and only