THE TIMES, NEW BLOOM FIELD, PA., SEPTEMBER 3, 1878. An Express Messenger's Story. ABOUT eight years ago, when I had not railroaded It as long as I have now, I was employed as a messenger on a Western railway. I don't know as It la necessary for me to say Just what Hue It was, but I will call It the B. T. A O. It. It., just to save myself the trouble of pronouncing the whole name. I had been on the run more than a month previous to the date of the occur rence of w hich I am going to tell you. I had been running on a branch route for more than a year, and I might have staid there a good deol longer, If I had not been chosen to take Faxon's place when he went off. You see two or three attempts had been made to rob the ex press car, and at last, at the end of a long run Faxon was found dead In the car with a bullet hole In his head. But the safe was closed tight and secure, though an attempt had been made to blow It open, which proved Ineffectual. But the strangest part of it was that the key was missing from Faxon's pocket, and was not found till a good six weeks afterward. Then it was discovered at the side of the track, with a card tied to it, on which it was written that robbers were in the car, and he expected they would murder him if he refused to give up the key. He was true to the last. Well, you may suppose that I felt just the least bit squeamish about accepting such an uninviting berth ; but the superintendent gave me orders, and I meant to do myduty,howeverdisagreea ble it might be. Then the pay was larger than I had ever received before; and as I was acquainted with a good girl, who was ready to help me inhabit a house whenever I should be able to own one, that was quite an object to me, I can assure you. Well, everything passed off smoothly enough for several weeks, aud I had be come accustomed to the route, aud 'made a dozen or more very pleasant ac quaintances, and was growing to be pret ty well contented with my life. I had al most begun to thing the robbers, who ever they might be, had given up all thought of ever making anything out of my car, and had sought another field of operations. One day I was informed by the agent at It that sometime within a week I would have to take charge of about $SO,000 in specie in its transit over our road, on its way from Washington to San Francisco. The officers of the ex press company had been advised of this intended important shipment in order that they might exercise redoubled vigilance in view of the great risk in curred in the transportion of such a valuable consignment. The evening after my -conversation with the agent he called me into the office, and told me the specie was to go over the road the next day but one. He produced an envelope, and handed it to me, saying as he did so : " There, Bill, are your orders, direct from the superintendent, with his own signature attached. Bead them care fully, and obey them to the letter, for a little mismove might cause a great loss to the company, and cost you your posi tion." " I shall do my duty to the very let ter," I replied. " I am sure you mean to do so," re turned the agent, " but you can't be too careful. Some of the members of the light fingered profession are as quick as lightning. The plans they can't devise ain't worth thinking of, and they are as fertile in expedient as the evil one himself. I thought I'd Just put you on your guard in a friendly way, and" There was a slight sound at the door. If the depot hadn't been deserted by every one except us two, and the switch engine hadn't been up at the yard .where we couldn't hear its incessant puffing, I don't believe we would have heard the sound at all. But we both noticed it at once, and as I looked out of the office into the large room beyond, I saw a man standing just inside the outer door, with his head inclined towards us as if he was trying to overhear our conversa tion. "He saw me about the time I first noticed him. I knew it from the little start of surprise he gave me as his eyes met mine. He was all over his awkwardness In a minute, for he drew his face down to an expression of the utmost unconcern,and came boldly forward to the window of the office, through which the agent transacted any business he might have with persons without. He was a Very fair appearing man, apparently about 40, though he might have been a little older. He was dress ed in black, and wealing a high hat, he might have paoBed very weU for one of the cloth, if his nose hadn't been Just a trifle luminous. The other peculiarity I noticed about the man was that he had a queer sort of a red-looking eye. It appeared fixed and staring, and, as he came nearer, I concluded it was glass. It was so strange and unnatural in its expression that I should know it if I should see it peering at me over the great wall of China. " Is there a small package here for Isaao O. Van Scoter," he araed in a business-like way, in answer tv the in quiring glance of the agent. The agent referred to one of the big registers on the desk, and answered in the negative. " Queer," said the man with the red eye. 11 It ought to have come yesterday. Have you read the "Evening Chroni cle V" And after this abrupt Interrogation the stranger stood quite motionless, eye ing the agent intently for as much as a minute. We both answered "No." The man took a paper out of his pocket, and spreading It open before us put one of his slender forefingers on the following paragraph : " Fatal Accident. This afternoon as two men, named respectively Henry Van Scoter and (J. 11. Urlggs, were at work chopping timber in the pineries nearHcanton, a tree fell upon them, killing Van Scoter Instantly, and in flicting Injuries upon the person of Griggs from which he died In less than an hour. They are residents of G , and it is understood that their remains will be sent to that place for burial." " Henry Van Scoter was my only brother my twin brother who re sembled me very much, and Charley Griggs was my sister's husband. It's a sad blow ! a sad blow I I don't know how my poor sister will bear it. It's about this sad affair that I came here chiefly. I want to send the two bodies through to G by express, Thursday, by the 11.40 train. What will be the charges ?" " The charges will be $25" answered the agent. The stranger only bowed solemnly in recognition of the reply. Then he was silent for a minute or two, during which time he appeared to be struggling with his grief. " The bodies will be here Thursday morning," he said. " I hope you will make all arrangements to preventdelay, I gue9s my package wont come this week." The agent assured him that there would be no delay, and he might depend on having the bodies go through to G with the greatest possible expedi tion. The man bowed again politely, then he said : " Is the telegraph office near V I must break the sorrowful news to my poor sister, I Buppose, though it's anything but a pleasant duty." I told him how to reach the place he sought, and with a polite "thank ou," the sad man with the red eye walked out of the office, and in a couple of minutes the sound of his foot-steps died away in the distance. " A queer sort of a chap," said I. " A little odd," answered the agent. " I wonder if he heard us talking about the specie V" I queried. " He seems honest enough." " Yes," said I ; "but I am sure he was listening to our talk when I first saw him." " Are you certain of it f" " the agent asked eagerly. " Well no, not altogether certain, be yond all mistake, but it looked mightily like it, I can tell you." "Suppose you go to the telegraph office, and as I went in the man came out. He did not seem to recognize me at least, he did not look at me and I thought it prudent to appear not to notice him. "Did that preacher-looking fellow send a message to G " I asked of the operator, when I had gone in and closed the door after me. "Yes. Why do you asky" "Oh, only out of curiosity," I replied. " Was it anything of importance t The man said that his brother and brother-in-law were both killed this afternoon." The operator took the copy of the message from a file on the table and laid it before me. It was addressed to Mrs. C. H. Griggs, G , and signed Isaao Van Scoter. It said : " Henry and Charles are both dead. They will be sent home Thursday." Everything seemed consistent, and any doubts which I had entertained of the good intentions of the stranger were speedily dispelled. I didn't go back to the office, but turned my steps towards my boarding place, thinking, as I walk ed along, that Thursday would be an un common one for me with two corpses and $80,000 in my car. The money was safely deposited in the car an hour before the time for the train to leave, Thursday morning. It was se curely locked in two strong iron-bound chests, and when they were stowed away in the large safe and the heavy doors made fast, I thought everything was pretty well fixed. A few minutes before we pulled out two wagons passed by the car, one of them containing two coffins aud the other six men, who were evi dently acting as pall-bearers. I looked around for the bereaved brother with the peculiar eye, but be was nowhere to be seen. I thought it a little strange that he should be absent at such a time, but I forgot all about it in a moment. The coffins were placed in one end of the car, and after it had been arranged that one of the men should come into the car and take a look at the bodies when we arrived at Bedwood, he shook hands with the others and entered one of the coaches. As the door closed on him, the bell rang and we went steaming away. I was pretty busy for an hour or more, and we had passed three or four stations before I had time to cast more than a casual glance toward the quiet passen gers at the end of the car. But after a little, when I had more leisure, an un controllable wish took possession of me to look at the faces of the two dead men. It wasn't mere morbid curiosity, and I can't describe It In any way better than to say It was a sort of vague desire which I could not quiet without satisfying It. I noticed that the lids were not fasten ed down. My next discovery was that the screws were gone. This struck me as strange, for I was sure I had noticed them when the coffins were lifted into the car. I remembered that 1 had given the attendants permission to arrange the caskets to their own satisfaction, and that they had been a long time doing it. If they had removed the screws unobserv ed at that time, what possible object could they have had In doing so t With this question In my mind I rais ed the upper portion of the lid of the coffin nearest me and took a look at the face of the occupant. He was a young man with a full face and square features. His cheeks were not sunken, and he had a decidedly freBh appearance for a young man who had been dead nearly two days I thought. Replacing the lid, I passed away to the other coffin. Here a new and start ling surprise met me. The man in the coffin was the man whom I had seen in the express office 1 The red eye was staring straight at me, and I was not mistaken. For a moment my conster nation was too great for words. I could uot have uttered a sound had my life de pended on it. This man who was alive after the ac cident which the paper said caused the death of Van Scoter aud Grlgg's, and who had made arrangements for the transportation of their remains, was now here in this coffin, to all appear ance dead 1 Then I remembered that the bereaved stranger had said that his dead brother resembled him very closely. But two brothers are not apt to have red glass eyes 1 Such a coincidence as this was beyond the pale of reasonable probability. While yet I gazed at the supposed corpse, the other eye opened a little and I was Bure that it was looking at me. I was convinced that there was fraud here, but to show that I had discovered it might cost me my life. So I very qui etly replaced the lid of the coffin and took a moment's time to think the mat ter over. I remembered my conversation with the express agent, which he feared had been overheard by the clerical appearing stranger, and could only come to the conclusion that the whole thing was a deliberate plan to murder me and gain possession of the $80,000 in my charge. There was no denying that the man with the red eye was alive, and I had no doubt that the other man was also. Kneeling down I placed my ear close to the side of the coffin and could hear him breathe quite distinctly. I remembered that it was the inten tion of the attendant who had boarded the train to enter the car at Redwood, ostensibly for the purpose of seeing to the bodies, and I could not doubt that the three men intended to attack me after th6 train pulled out from the sta tion, and the rob the car before our ar rival at the next stopping place. There was but one station between us and Redwood, and I knew we would be there in ten minutes more. I had no time for hesitation. Instant action was my only chance for safety. If I could secure myself against an at tack until we reached the next station, I felt that all would he well. In one instant I had decided upon a plan of action. As quietly as possible I plied several heavy boxes of merchandise on top of the two coffins, and then I knew I was safe. Scarcely was this accom plished when we ran into the station. I immediately found two or three officers. First the man in the coach was secured. He was highly indignant that he should be disturbed on such a solemn mission. But it was no go. He was hand-cuffed in less than two minutes and marched out on the platform. It was an easy matter to secure the two quondam dead men. They were taken greatly at a disadvantage, and were deprived of all power to resist al most before they became aware how their nice little scheme had terminated. All three had been well armed. Bound and guarded the three miscre ants were taken to Redwood and lodged in the county JaU. Before I left I took a look at them through the grated doors of their cells. When I paid my respects to the man with the red eye, he smiled a little and remarked patronizingly : " You're a pretty sharp young man. It takes a middling keen boy to outwit us." " Permit me to sympathize with you in your sorrow at the loss of your dear brother, Just a little," I said, "and more at your failure to get the $ 80,000." They all broke JaU In less than a week, but not before one of them, the youug est corpse, was recognized as the notor ious Jesse James. There is no doubt that it was the James boys or some of their crew who killed poor, honest, brave Faxou. The Women Clerka at Washington. AMONG the clerkships at Washing ton, the poorly paid drudging places are filled by women, the lighter, better paid offices by men. That is because the women can not vote. Copying and figuring is the work mostly done by the women. In the Department of the Interior 600 girls and women are em ployed. Their wages range from $50 a month to $1,400 a year. Few get the latter price. One young lady, Miss Cook,a stenographer in the Indian office, gets $1,000 a year, the highest price paid to a woman official In Washing ton. But lest all the bright young lady short-hand writers who read this should at once start off in a body to get $1,000 a year at the Capital, It may be as well to state that there are only places for about six stenographers in the whole Interior Department. These six places are filled, and the ocuupants are healthy. They do not intend to marry. They are afraid every man wouldn't be worth $1,000 a year to them. Women clerks are more troublesome to manage than men. This is the verdict in most of the departments. They are more regular and faithful in their duties than the men; at the same time they are more quarrelsome among one another. A standing cause of war among them, ridiculous enough, is the opening and shutting of windows. This one wants ventilation, while the one next to her is dead sure to be afraid of a draft. This one slaps the window up, and that one runs after her and slams it down, and so the game goes on slap, slam, while the ladies' eyes dart fire, and their little throats choke up too full for speech. This cattish quarreling went so far in the Post Office Department that at last the United States authorities had to in terfere, and make the rule that windows should not be raised till a certain time of day ,so that the windows of theUnlted States General Post Office are now opened and shut according to Govern ment orders. A more contemptible thing about womankind it has never been my painful duty to record. Many unjust stories have been circulated in the newspapers about the women clerks at Washington by correspondents who were not half or quarter as good as they. The simple fact is that the great majori ty of them are modest, faithful, hard working women. They are quite as good and intelligent as the same num ber of women anywhere else in the world. Most of them have families or relatives to support. The stories that have been told about them are not only wicked lies, but under the circumstances they are extremely cruel. At the same time the conduct of a few incompetent women, who get their places through political favoritism, really has been such as to give color to the newspaper stories. They do their work indifferently or not at all, come together and gossip by the hour in thedresslng-rooms,8quabble and raise petty rows in the departments, until it is even wished that they were dead. Such women are kept in their places because they have masculine re lations at home that can vote, and the men who keep them there are honorable Senators and Representatives who de clare that civil-service reform is a hum bug. Intelligence of Animals. A famous naturalist has decided that animals have much more capacity to un derstand human speech than is generally supposed. The Hindoos invariably talk to their elephants, and it is amazing how much the latter comprehends. The Arabs,he says, govern their camels with a few cries, and my associates in the African desert were always amuned whenever I addressed a remark to the big dromedary who was my property for two months; yet at the end of that time the beast evidently knew the meaning of a number of simple sentences. Some years ago, seeing the hippopotamus in a menagerie looking very stolid and de jected, I spoke to him in English, but he did not even open his eyes. Then I went to the opposite corner of the cage, and said in Arable : " I know you j come here to me." ' He instantly turned his head towards me ; I repeated the words.and thereupon he came to the corner where I was standing, pressed his huge, ungainly head against the bars of the cage, and looked in my face with a touch of de light while I stroked his muzzle. I have two or three times found a lion who rec ognized the same language, and the ex pression of his eye, for an instant, seemed positively human. All animals seemed to have the home Instinct Im planted in them, and languish in cap-tlvlty. VEGETINE Purines the Blood AGItcs Srength, .. o DuQtroi. Ill Jan. 21,1878. Mr. H. E.BTVMH:-Ier Hlr- Your Vegetlne has been doing wander lor me. Have beeu hav lng the Chills and Fever, contracted la the swamps ot the South, nothing giving me relief until I began to use your Vegetrne, it giving me ImmedlaU) relief, toning up my system purifying my blood, giving strength; whereas all other medicines weaked me, and tilled my system with poison i and I am satisfied that II all families that live In the ague districts of the South and West would take vegetlne two or three time a week, they would not be troubled with the Chills or the malignant Fevers that prevail at certain times of the year, save doctors' bills, and live to a good old age. .Respectfully yours. J. K. MITCH EM,, Agent Henderson's Looms, St. Louis, Mo. Am, Diseases or thbUlood. If Vegetlne will relieve pain, cleanse, purify, and cure such dls eases, restoring the patient it perfect health, after trying dlftereut physicians, many remedies, sullerlng fur years, Is It not conclusive proof, if you are a sufferer, you can be cured? Why Is this medicine performing such great cures? It works In the blood, In the circulating fluid. It van i, my m cauea me ureal mood Purifier. 1 he great source of disease originates lu the blood : and no medicine that does not act directly upon It, to purify and reuovate, lias and Just claim upon public attention. VEGETINE Has Entirely Cured Me of Vertigo. i it c Cairo, III., Jan. 23,1878. Mn. H. It. Stevens: Dear Blr-I have used several bottles of Vegetlnei It has entirely cured me of Vertigo. I have also used It for Kidney Complaint. It Is the best medicine for Kidney Complaint. 1 would recommend it as a good blood purlUer. N. YOOUM. Pain and Diseash. Can you expect to enjoy good health when bad orcorrupt humors circulate with the blood, causing pain and disease: and these humors, being deposited through the en tire body, produce pimples, eruptions, ulcers, Indigestion, costlveness, headaches, neuralgia, rheumatism, and numerous other complaints? Itemove the cause by taking Vegetlne, the most reliable remedy for cleaoslng and purifying blood. VEGETINE. 1 Believe it to bo a Good Medicine. Xenia, O., March 1, 1877. Ma. A. K. Stevens: Dear Sir I wish to In. foim you what your Negetlne has done for me" I have been allllcted with Neuralgia, and after using three bottles of the Vegetlne was entirely relieved. I also found my general health luutu Improved. I believe it to be a good medicine, lours truly, FKU. IIAiiVEltSTICK. Vegetine thoroughly eradicates every kind of humor, and restores the entire system to a healthy condition. VEGETINE. Druggist's Bcport. n. It. Stevens. Dear Sir We have been selling your Vegetlne for the past eighteen months, and we take pleasure In stating that In every case, to your knowledge. It has given great satisfaction. ltespectfully, BUCK&COWOILL Druggists. Hickman, Ky VEGETINE IS TUB BEST SPUING MEDICINE. VEGETINE Prepared H. R. STEVENS, Boston, , Mass. sept Vegetlne Is Sold by all Druggists. jyjUSSER & ALLEN CENTRAL STORE NEWPORT, PENN'A. Mow offer the publlo A RARE AND ELEGANT ASSORTMENT OF DRESS GOODS Consisting sf all shades suitable for the season. BLACK ALP AC CAS AND Mourning Goods A SPECIALITY. BLEACHED AND UNBLEACHED MUSLINS, AT VARIOUS PRICES. AN ENDLESS SELECTION OF PRINTS) We sell and do keep a good quality of SUGARS, COFFEES & SYRUPS, And everything under the bead of GROCERIES I Machine needles and oil for all - makes of Machines. To be convinced that our goods re CHEAP AS THE CHEAPEST, 13 TO CALL AND EXAMINE STOCK. No trouble to show goods. Don't forget the CENTRAL STORE, Newport, Perry County, Pa. E9TATK NOTICK Notice Is hereby given that letters testamentary on the estate of I.ydla A. Mader, late of Peun twp.. Perry county. Pa., deo'd.,have been granted to the undersigned, residing In same township. All persons Indebted tosald estate are request ed to make Immedlatepaynient and those having claims to present them duly authenticated for settlement to . I. J. HOLLAND, July 10, 187s-6tpd. Executor. V, fH
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