They will place rails and ties on the track to wreck train if
they don't heed signal. Warn train to watch out and bring gang out from
Sicklen. This is Dick Durstine."
All was quiet for a minute and then he started again, but soon he
stopped short and we heard no more. The line remained open.
We raised Sicklen on a commercial wire and told him to turn his
red-light and hold everything. I was in somewhat of a quandary; the
sending had been miserable, sounding unlike any stuff Dick had ever
sent, and then the stopping of the whole business made it seem rather
suspicious. Still Ashley's cut was an ideal place for a hold up, and the
weather was dark and stormy. Everything was propitious for just such a
job.
In the meantime, Ashton, the first office south of Sicklen, had reported
on the commercial line that the despatcher's wire was open north of him.
That would place it near the cut in all probability. Anyway I didn't
intend to take any chance, so I sent a message to Sicklen telling him to
notify the sheriff of all the facts and ask him to send out a posse on
the flyer, and, also, for him to get the day man to go out and patch the
lines up until a line man could get there in the morning.
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