“Struggling to my feet by a mighty effort I tottered to the door through which the feeble rays of a lantern in the hands of one of the crowd were gleaming. Reaching the door, I stumbled over the threshold and fairly fell into the arms of several men who were apparently too startled to follow the example of the rest of the crowd, which had scattered the instant my form appeared in the doorway. “I was immediately thrown to the ground and pinned there by a big strapping fellow, who in his excitement very nearly finished the bandit’s work by squeezing what little breath I had remaining completely out of me. “‘I’ve got him, boys!’ cried the man, who I afterward learned was the station master. The crowd recovered its nerve, returned to action and proceeded to inspect the capture, apparently losing all interest in further investigation of conditions inside the station. “In the crowd were several women, who, with the curiosity and enterprise characteristic of the “weaker” sex in mobs, succeeded in pushing themselves in front of the men. As the man with the lantern turned the light full upon me, there was a cry from one of the women. “‘That’s him, that’s the big robber! I seen him through the winder of our house when they passed by. I’d know him anywhere!’ “I began to realize that I was in danger and, fully aroused, endeavored to make myself heard. My efforts were futile, however, and I merely received a choking for my pains. “‘Let’s string him up, boys; it’ll save the county a lot of expense!’ shouted some one. “‘Hang him! Hang him!’ chorused the crowd. “‘Somebody get a rope!’ cried the man who was kneeling on my chest. “‘Take him to a telegraph pole!’ cried another. “I was half dragged, half carried to the nearest telegraph pole and assisted to my feet beneath it. A rope was speedily found and tied about my neck. A boy was ordered to climb the pole with the other end of the rope and pass it over the arm that supports the wires. [Illustration: “A ROPE WAS SPEEDILY FOUND AND TIED ABOUT MY NECK”] “My situation would not have been so bad if I had lost the power of thinking and with it the capacity for mental suffering. My mind was never so acute as at that moment but, with the treatment the bandits had given me and the mauling and choking I had since received at the hands of that ignorant mob, I had absolutely lost my power of speech. But think!--My God! man, of what did I not think, as I stood there in the shadow of death at the hands of a lot of ignorant farmers and railroad hands who were about to offer me up on the altar of their own cowardice and brutality? A mob feels but it does not reason. I had seen enough of mobs to know that only a miracle could save me.