Where he pulled his gun from no
one ever knew; it was all over in a flash. It seems a cowardly thing to
shoot a man in the back, but it was a case of 'dog eat dog.'
Luke was arrested next day, and Noel and I gave our testimony before the
coroner's jury, and he was bound over for trial before the next term of
the circuit court to sit six months hence. There is an old and very
trite saying in Texas that, "a dead witness is better than a live one."
This was gently whispered into our ears, and accordingly one night about
a month after this, Noel and I "folded our tents, and like the Arabs,
silently stole away."
Luke was acquitted on the plea of self defence.
Spring time having come, and with it the good hot weather, I continued
to move northwards and finally brought up in a good office in Nebraska,
where I was to copy the night report from Chicago. We had two wires
running to Chicago, one a quad for the regular business, and the other a
single string for "C. N. D." and report work. My stay in this office
was, short, sharp, brilliant and decisive.
The first night I sat down to work at six-thirty, and in a few minutes
was receiving the worst pounding I had ever experienced, from some
operator in "CH" office who signed "JL.
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