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Show I DETECTIVE HAS I NARROW ESCAPE B William Knowles of Logan, 8peclal Agent For Short Line Is Captured H and Tortured by B Tramps H William Knowles of this city, em- H ployed as special agent by the Ore- H gon Short Lino Railroad company. H hail a thrilling experience at McCain- H mon on Friday night according to a H story which appeared in the Tribuno H Sunday morning. The facts about H tho case wore related by D. P. Col- H lett, secretary of the Manufacturers H Association of Utah. H On Thursday night, a box car cu M a siding at McCammon was broken 1 Into by tramps and a large quantity H of merchnnd'po, Intended for McCmu- 1 mon stores, was stolen. Knowles wns H assigned to tho caso and on Friday m afternoon ho went to nn open air H camp often used by tramps about a H quarter of a mllo fronf the McCam- H mon station. Tho weeds, were tall H and It occurred to the ofllcer that the H merchandise might be hidden among H them. As ho was tramping through H the dense growth n faco suddenly ap- H peared, rising out of tho waving H weeds It was followed by a gun H leveled at tho ofllcer. Another face H and another gun appeared. The H tramps had tho "drop" on tho officer H and he complied with the premptory H order to throw up h',s hands. Threat Made To Kill H The captors marched the detective H to a clump of willows that edged a H creek not far distant. H "We've been looking for you for a H long time,' one of the tramps said, H "and now we're gdlng to kill you." H Prom a pile of refuse the tramps I found n number of rags. Some of --i these were stuffed In tho railroad Lf man's mouth, forming nn effective H gag Other rags tied together form- .H ed thongs wUh which the bound tho H luckless ofllcer 1 Mid and foot. Then H they searched h"m, socurlng his gun B and ammunition, his watch, and $21 H in cash. H Tho railroad man was then rolled I to the bank of the creek nnd tho I tramps set down besldo lilm and dls- cussed hla fato. With fiendish cm-Pi cm-Pi elty tho robbers nrgued about tho (Continued on pago five) DETECTIVE HAS NARROWJSCAPE (Continued from page ono) best way to kill their victim. Ono wns for shooting htm and the two discussed the best location for a burying bury-ing placo. "We'ro going to kill you all right," said one of tho robbers, addressing Knowles, "but wo want to torture you , a whllo first." Detective Shows Nerve Then they both laughed nnd poked Knowles In tho ribs wtlh their guns and chaffed him about being a great detccthe. Finally Knowles was able to work the gag partially out of the corner of hls mouth. "Don't bo cowards," ho said. "Go nhend and kl'l mo. I'm not nfrald to die. But quit torturing mo. Tho robbers shoved tho gag bnck Vito his mouth nnd fnstencd it more" securely Then they cont'nued to discuss dis-cuss n way of killing their victim. Ono of tMcm Bald: "Lets throw him In tho creek. He Is tied bo tightly that ho won't bo able to get out. He will drown quickly quick-ly and no one will find IiIb body." This fnto for Knowles wns approved approv-ed by tho other tramp, and they pnus e'd to permit tho officer to contemplate contem-plate such an end. For three hours they continued to torture him. They left hurriedly nnd dlsnppenred over the brow .of a nearby hill when they heard the westbound train approaching. approach-ing. Knowles perceived nn oppo-tunlt ,to escape 'from hlB fiendish tortures and' ho started to roll toward the tracks a hundred ynrds distant. Ov-,er Ov-,er and over ho went down a slight grado toward tho track. Discovery Is Made As the train whlst'cd for McCam-mon, McCam-mon, a passengo glanced casiia'l out of tho window. His attention wns nttrncted. by a strange appearing bun dlo coming tumbling toward tho track As tho train slowed down for the sta tion ho noticed that the bundle wns a man rolling slowly toward tho rnl'- ' road track When tho train came to a slop the passenger told tho conductor con-ductor and several passengers and i tho members of tho train crow walked i back. Besldo tho track,thoy found Know- I les still gagged nnd tightly bound. Ho wns lying near tho track comp-letely comp-letely exhausted from his exertion in j rolling under such handicapping circumstances cir-cumstances from tho clump of wll lows near tho creek. After tho gag nnd bonds had been removed nnd his crnmped and numbed members straightened out, Knowles told his 1 story. W'Uhln half nn hour a largo pesso of deputy sheriffs, constables nnd residents of McCnmmon nnd vicinity hnd been orgnnlzed and was in pur- ' su't of tho ramps. All night long the stf'rchera worked scouring every locality lo-cality within n dozen' miles of Mc-Cnmmon, Mc-Cnmmon, but without success. Do-c-,otlons of tho robbers hnvo been wired brondenst by the rnllrond com-pany com-pany and train crows arc keeping n closo watch for the men among tho , tramps who try to bonrd their trains. As yet no trace of tho robbers has I been found. |