Show WAITING TO BE ROBBED the passengers were all heady for the b but ut they caine came not nou A gentleman from kansas tells a it rather interesting story of a sensation to which he an aal 1 his fellow passengers were treated a short distance from vicksburg tho the train was flag nagged 9 ed at cleveland a small station in a comparatively uninhabited section at which passenger trains are not scheduled to stop the station officials boarded the train with a badly frightened negro who informed conductor clark that as he was walking along tho the track about two miles below I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 h t I 1 k ys ai the station he be had bad re seen en six masked men working at tho the track trao k with a crowbar evidently bent on displacing the tha rails raila and ditching tho the train they had their ponies tied to trees near the track and every saddle had a winchester rifle slung slang across it the darky did dill not caru rare to disturb them but as ho be was trying ti to steal oteal away unobserved ono one of the would bo be trat tram nw wreckers called out to him commanding him to halt this was just what the negro did not wish to do and j plunging into the thicket he scrambled through tho the thick underbrush and ov over er fallen logs as rapidly as bis his legs would carry h him im ile had just reached cleveland in time to warn tho the station agent to flag tho the down express this was startling news and conductor clark at once made preparations to guard his train against attack every light even to the headlight of the locomotive was extinguished and winchester rifles were placed in the bands hands of the train officials while the negro porter was armed with a revolver and placed in tho the baggage car to guard its contents contenta before the lights could be extinguished in the passenger coaches it was necessary to inform the passengers of tho the reason why such an extraordinary precaution had been rendered necessary and then it was that some curious curious scenes were enacted some put their money in their boots others pulling off their coats stowed away small rolls of bills in their shirt sleeves others appeared to think that the lining of a mans hat made a sung little pocket in which to stow away aw ay small sums of paper money but the disposal of their valuables did not appear to the passengers a matter of such vital importance as the defense of the train and the lives of those upon it money jewelry and watches were quickly hidden away but when it came to fishing their pistola pistols out of valises vali ses grip sacks and hip pockets tho the business of biding hiding away valuables was not in it it the kansas man who told the story said that in his day be he had seen a great deal 0 of t rough life on tho the frontier but ho he had never seen anything approaching such a show of firearms as waa was sudden ly displayed on that passenger train in peaceful and prosperous mississippi sip rl all the money he said on the train would not serve to male make the first payment on that grim array of firearms even on the weekly installment plan one ono man had no weapon but ho be was promptly supplied by a mississippian who bad had three 44 caliber colts in bis his valise the stranger accepted tho the loan rather timidly and walked to tho door of the car with it in his hand lie ile put his head out into the darkness and the first object that met his eyes were three solemn looking men with winchesters Win chesters it was dark and he took them for robbers fortunately he did not open fire on the contrary ho he dropped his pistol and running back to the middle of the car tried to crawl under a scat seat in the meantime all being ready the darkened tram train ran slowly down the tho track to within yards of the spot in indicated by the negro and stopped no robbers appeared and then lanterns were lighted and a party of armed men went ahead to search for them but they had made their escape tho the advance guard found the hoof prints of their horses in the he thicket where the negro had seen them tied to tho the samplings sapp lings and the track though left in good order gave evidence of having been tampered with something bad had evidently disturbed the wr wreckers possibly the escape of the negro whom they knew to have seen them but at all events the train reached vicksburg in safety new orleans times democrat |