Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1911 — HE SAVED THE TRAIN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HE SAVED THE TRAIN

STATION AGENTS PRESENCE OF MINO ANO BRAVERY. Hls.Action Meant Imminent Risk of - Life and- Limb, but He Did Not Hesitate—Robbers Frustrated, but Escape.

“More often than not common sense and bravery are combined in

railroad employes, writes H»L. Rennlck in the Chicago Tribune. I once knew a station agent and telegrapher at a little town in Missouri, a number of years ago, who j and thwarted a

gang of train robbers by his presence of mind and daring. "His name was Wilson. He was working nights. It was a little after midnight, one morning in October, when Wilson, sitting at his instrument, glanced around at a masked man pointing a revolver at his head. “Wilson took it rather calmly. ‘What the’ h ,’ he said. ‘O, nothing,’ said the robber, ‘only you’d better disconnect all those instruments. I know the code and I know how to deaden every wire on the line. So,,don’t try anything funny. Just pull out all those plugs.’ "Wilson obeyed. After he had finished the job of putting the wires out of business at his station, he was. bound by the robber and a companion. "He heard them discussing their plans outside the station and learned they had piled ties on the track a mile down the right of way and that they intended to rob and wreck the express train, which was due in a few minutes. “Wilson struggled to loosen his bonds when he heard the robbers walking away toward the scene of the expected wreck. He succeeded in freeing himself just as he heard the whistle of the limited coming down the grade. He ran to the door, saw it would be too late to flag the train, as he could not reach a semaphore in time. “Fortunately the engineer had slackened his speed down to twenty-five

miles an hour or so, as he always did when going through the town where Wilson worked. He ran to the edge of the platform and just as the observation car passed, made a lunge for the brass railing—and held on. "He afterwards told me that it nearly tore him to pieces, but he stuck, gained breath and pushed open the door. He didn’t wait to call the conductor, but grasped the bell cord and jerked the signal for the engineer to stop. “The express slackened its speed and finally came to a complete standstill. The conductor came running back through the cars to learn who had dared to pull the bell cord. "Then the dispatcher explained. The conductor told the engineer, and, between them, they arranged a plan. The train would back into the station and Wilson would connect the wires and inform the superintendent, who would send a train from the other direction to trap the robbers. “The plan worked—just so far. The other train was sent, but the robbers must have been ‘wise’ that something was wrong. They skipped. The relief crew found the pile of ties, but no train wreckers. "Wilson’s presence of mind got him a new job, twenty dollars a month more, I believe. He’s chief dispatcher now.”

prevented fatalities

“Discount Those Instruments.”