Chapter 9: A train robbery

Jake had other plans that required him to leave Hips Junction the next day. I had a feeling that I would be seeing him again one of these days. Anyway, I remained at Hips Junction for a total of seven months before I ran out of things to do. Mr. Hopkins canceled my contract because I had done such a good job that rustling had become a great rarity for the members of the Cattleman's Association and my services were no longer needed.

By this time, I had accumulated a great deal of money and would not need to work except to assuage my boredom for a number of years. I figured that I had a five-year cushion at my usual standard of living, so I thought that I would do some sightseeing. With that in mind, I decided to continue my interrupted journey to Fort Worth.

This time, I got smart and bought a ticket on the train. Travel by rail was reputed to be so much better than travel by stagecoach that I decided to give it a try. Well, let me tell you, the reputation of train travel being better than by stagecoach was certainly justified, even though there was some swaying from side to side.

Them sleeping cars that Mr. Pullman had invented were probably a great idea, but the Fort Worth & Great Western Railroad must not of heard of them, yet. All they had to ride in were coaches. I did buy a first-class ticket so that I would get a cushioned place to sit. The second-class seats were plain wood, and I was not looking to traveling over a hundred miles on one of them, much less trying to sleep on one.

I climbed aboard and found a seat that I did not have to share. I was facing toward the engine and was looking out the window. I guess I had as good a seat as you could hope for if what you wanted to do was look at scenery. Frankly, I did get damned tired of looking at the scenery after about 20 miles.

The only time I was really interested in looking out was when we were stopped for water. Then I could see the fireman wrestle with the water spout on the water tank as he filled the tender. It must of been hotter than Hell in that engine cab because he always stood under the running water until his clothes were soaked. He even sprayed water over the engineer without drawing any ire, so it looked to me like both men were glad for the water stop.

That was when I spotted the trouble brewing. Everybody had settled into the routine of picking up water when I saw several men run out of the brush near the track. One man ran to the engine cab, four men ran to the express car, and one man ran to each of the four passenger cars. They ignored the baggage car. I knew there was Hell to pay when there was the sound of a gunshot and the fireman fell. The water was still pouring out of the water spout and running down over the wood stacked in the tender. I could tell that this train was not going anywhere for a while!

I was relieved that I still had my two revolvers and my pouch of extra ammunition, but my Henry was stowed in the baggage car. I quickly decided that this was going to be the last time that happened!

I was still trying to come up with a plan of action when a man burst into the passenger coach I was riding in. He was brandishing a gun and was obviously up to no good. I did not hesitate! I drew and fired just as he was swinging his gun in my direction. Thank God for the double-action of my Starr revolver. I put a bullet into his chest, and he reflexively jerked the trigger of his Colt. His bullet went into the ceiling, and nobody was hurt by it.

To be on the safe side, I put another bullet into his head and reloaded before I left my seat. I was in the car next to the baggage car, so I ran down the center aisle to the next car toward the rear end of the train. I was afraid of a galoot coming in from that end of the car and catching me in the back. These were all cars with open platforms between the cars, so I was going to be exposing my skin to a bullet when I tried to enter the next car.

I could look through the glass in the two doors and see a man walking down the aisle with a gun in his hand. I decided to shoot through the glass of both doors so that he might not know what was going on. The door glass was kind of milky so that it was hard to see detail, so he was likely to think that I was his partner working my car.

I steadied my aim by holding my revolver with both hands and fired at the man in the other passenger car. My first bullet shattered both windows and hit the man somewhere on his body, but I could not tell exactly where in the short time I had before I fired the second and third time. All three of my bullets hit his body, but I am not certain which was the fatal bullet. It really did not matter—the fact that he was dead was all that counted. I reloaded again before taking another step.

I ran into the next car and told everybody to remain seated while I went after the other bandits. To my surprise, I got no arguments. I guess that there was no man in there what wanted to demonstrate his bravery. I ran to the end of the car and looked through the door to see what was going on in the next car.

I guess that the bandit in that car had heard the shooting and figured that something bad from his point of view was going on, or maybe I was just wearing the wrong color hat. Whatever the reason, he fired at me as soon as I got close to the door, and I was very lucky. The glass shattered and I was cut slightly by a shard, but the bullet went who knows where. He was using a cap and ball Colt Navy, and that there round ball was deflected by the thick glass.

On the other hand, my .44 bullet plowed into his chest, and it was followed by another one as quick as I could recover my aim. Those two bullets were all it took to put him down and to eliminate him as a problem as long as I did not trip as I stepped past him. Again, I told everybody to remain calm as I ran down the aisle.

I did not see anybody standing in the aisle of the next car so I dashed through the connecting doors as fast as I could move. As I entered the last car in line, a woman shouted, "THE BANDIT JUST RAN OUT THE REAR DOOR!" I turned around and ran to the platform I had just crossed and looked around the cars. I saw the man running toward the brush where I supposed his horse to be. In any case, I fired three shots at him and missed, but my fourth hit him somewhere and knocked him down. His gun went flying away from him, so I had time to reload.

He did not move in that time, so I figured that he was no longer a problem and ran through the other cars toward the baggage car where I figured to find the train conductor. He was in charge of the train, so I figured that I had better introduce myself before he took a shot at me.

The baggage car did not have a platform on the end of the car, but it did have a door. I banged on the door while standing to one side just in case a bullet was the answer to my knock. Yep, it was. The bullet must have come from a rifle because of the way it so easily drilled its way through the door. I yelled, "HEY, MR. CONDUCTOR! I AM ON YOUR SIDE! LET ME IN!"

The door opened and I found myself facing one man holding a Henry and another man holding a shotgun. I had holstered my gun and raised both my hands, and that was what saved me from getting my guts filled with lead. The man with the rifle asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"I am The Twin Oaks Kid, and I just killed the four bandits what were robbing the passenger cars. What else can I do to help?"

"Dammit, Man, come on in! Well, Mr. Twin Oaks, I sure as Hell am glad to see you! Right now, four men are threatening to blow open the door to the express car with blasting powder. Do you have any ideas?"