Chapter 6

Dammit, how does that man do it? Jubal Atkins escaped again! I got a telegram from Asa Blackman telling me ta be on the lookout fer that crazy man. Jubal had been out fer the last week, an' everybody wuz sure he wuz headed fer the T&G, again. Lord, he loved ta bedevil that railroad.

About a week later, I got word that Jubal had struck, this time down around Brownsville. I now had a pass for free rides on the T&G so that I could get ta trouble spots faster, soz I hopped a train fer Brownsville. Jubal had pulled his usual stunt of loosening a rail so that the train would jump the track, but he made it harder ta spot by leaving the rail in place, jus' loosening the spikes enough ta let the rail roll over when the weight wuz put on it. This made it a whole lot less work fer Jubal, an' it made it almost impossible fer the train crew ta spot the sabotage 'til it wuz too late.

This last train wuzn't robbed, jus' wrecked. The obvious reason wuz that there wuzn't no express car with this train. Now, I wondered what wuz goin' on? Did Jubal wreck a train jus' out of meanness, or did he screw up? Wreckin' express trains wuz bad enough, but ifen he wuz gonna go after any train, it wuz gonna be a hell of a lot harder ta stop him. If I had ta bet, I would of bet on a goof up, but there wuzn't no way ta be shore 'til he hit another train.

The next train wreck came up four days later an' a little farther north. This time, it wuz an express train, an' Jubal wuz back ta robbin' the express car. I had an idee: I suggested ta Asa that he put the express car at the rear of the train jus' ta see what Jubal did. This way it wuz very unlikely that the express car would be wrecked in one of Jubal's escapades, so he would have a hell of a lot harder time stealin' from it.

Asa wuz again' the idee at first, cuz it wuzn't the way railroads did things. I told him that makin' trains easy ta rob ought not ta be the way railroads did things, either. I think that got through ta him, so that's the way the T&G started runnin' their express cars. He also started puttin' armed guards in the express cars with the regular express messenger.

I couldn't help laughin'—Jubal wrote a letter ta several newspapers complainin' that the T&G wuz cheatin'! It did stop the train wrecks fer a while, which made Asa happy, but I had a feelin' that Jubal wuz workin' up ta an unpleasant surprise fer the T&G any time now.

Yep, Jubal pulled a cute one on the T&G this time. Every train has ta make frequent water stops ta refill the tender; they usually take on wood at the same time, but not as often as they do water. This means that the train is stopped at out-of-the-way places for 10-20 minutes. Jubal picked one of these long stops ta pull his trick. He sneaked up on the train an' uncoupled the last car, the express car, from the rest of the train. Nobody noticed when the train pulled out that the express car didn't move out with the rest of the train. The train had gone 'bout 11 miles afore anybody noticed, an' that wuz plenty of time fer Jubal ta steal the money from the safe in the stalled express car.

Jubal blew the door open with half a stick of dynamite, an' that wuz enough ta stun everybody what wuz in the car. While they wuz laid out cold on the floor of the express car, Jubal waltzed in an' took all of the money from the safe. He had a full set of keys, again, so he had no trouble gittin' the safe open. Where DOES he git those keys? Jubal also left a nice letter thankin' Mr. Asa Blackman fer makin' it so easy fer him, this time!

The T&G had a quick answer fer that one, a brakeman rode in the express car an' checked the coupler afore the train started back up after each water stop. This did a good job of countering Jubal's uncouplin' trick, but Jubal wuzn't through, yet.

Jubal slipped up on the train and stuffed a dynamite cap under the uncoupling bar of the Janney coupler. The dynamite cap had a fairly short fuse, so Jubal lit the fuse an' ducked out of sight just after the coupler had been inspected. The brakeman climbed back into the express car, an' the train started off. It hadn't gone 10 feet when the cap went off and lifted the bar, letting the coupler open. The express car coasted a few feet an' stopped. The cap had made so little noise that nobody heard it go off, so the express car wuz left in the lurch, so ta speak. Jubal opened the door the way he had afore, and left with the contents of the safe.

Now this wuz gittin' serious. Not only wuz the T&G losin' money cuz of the thefts, but the T&G wuz bein' laughed at, an' that couldn't be tolerated by Mr. Asa Blackman. The last car in line ahead of the express car wuz always a passenger car, an' all passenger cars had platforms at both ends, so the obvious thing ta do wuz ta station an armed guard on the platform over the coupler what Jubal wuz interested in an' order the guard ta shoot anybody what tried ta mess with the coupler.

This last ploy worked fine fer almost three weeks, then the battle escalated ta another level. Express cars don't have platforms or door at the ends of the car, so that the only way in or out is through the side doors. As a result, there is very poor vision out of the car. At one of the stops, Jubal sneaked up on the rear of the express car an' laid in a big charge of dynamite. This time, he went too far! Just as the train started off, the whole rear of the express car blew up an' sent splinters of wood an' metal flyin' everywhere. Unfortunately, Jubal had stuck his head up from his hidin' place ta watch the explosion, an' a large splinter of wood caught him in the neck an' drove right through, killin' him on the spot. There wuz more misfortune associated with this: three of the men in the express car were also killed by the explosion.

That wuz finally the end of Jubal Atkins' crusade against the Texas & Gulf Railroad. Jubal's death left several questions hanging, foremost wuz where he wuz able ta get those safe keys? That question wuz never answered.

Even though I did not have anything ta do with the final resolution of the Jubal Atkins case, Asa Blackman wuz convinced that I wuz responsible for the satisfactory end from his point of view. He gave me much more credit than I deserved, but the $5,000 bonus wuz gratefully received. My reputation as a detective wuz made with this case, an' I often had jobs among the Texas railroads after that.

Business with the railroads slowed down on occasion, so Pa suggested that I branch out inta general detective work. For example, I could hire some accountants an' branch out inta cases of bank fraud, which were becoming more of a problem. His bank wuz doin' OK at the moment, but he had a friend who wuz sufferin' from a bad case of embezzlement.

I wuz at a loss when it came ta the details of financial transactions. I asked Pa fer he'p, an' he came up with a couple of names of young guys who were reputed ta be first class accountants, but not happy with a regular job doin' that. Pa suggested I talk ta them an' see ifen they would be interested in doing some detective work. The detective work would still involve accounting, but they would be lookin' fer stolen dollars, not lost pennies.

I had the two young men come out ta the ranch fer interviews. Andy Thomas wuz the first one I invited out, an' he impressed me right away. I didn't try ta discuss accountin', since I would let that be his job, anyway. Instead, I talked ta him 'bout using his accountin' knowledge ta cotch crooks. I told him 'bout a couple of cases I had worked on what sorta reflected the kinda work I would want him ta do. He got excited 'bout the possibilities an' wanted in. I hired him before he left that afternoon.