The Oblong Box

Monday, February 23, 2004

On this date in 1905, the Courier Democrat of Cavalier
County ran a story about a paymaster who got spooked at the railroad station
in Drayton.

Before heading for Drayton, Willard Bugbee went to the
bank to withdraw $12,000 so he could pay off the section’s railroad
workers. At the train station, he noticed that one of his fellow passengers
was a squinty-eyed man he had seen earlier at the bank. He also noticed
a large oblong box about the size of a coffin being loaded into a freight
car.

Bugbee arrived at the Drayton Station at about six that
evening, locked his money in the office safe, went to the hotel and had
supper. Then he went back to the station where he used the office as a
counting room. It was about 11 o’clock, the station agent had gone
home, the windows were barred and the doors were locked. He took his cash
out of the safe and sat down to work.

Sitting on a high stool in front of the office desk,
he could see through the door into the dimly lit freight room where, among
barrels, packages and crates was the oblong box he had noticed earlier.
It was standing up on end.

Half an hour later Bugbee looked up from his work and
noticed that the oblong box wasn’t there anymore. He leaned to the
side and saw it was standing in the shadows about two feet from where
it had stood before. He got scared, thinking that either his mind –
or worse, ghosts – were playing tricks on him. He took his pistols
out of their holsters and laid them on the desk in front of him.

Bugbee finally convinced himself that he was seeing things.
He went back to work, and then suddenly heard something fall in the freight
room. He picked up a pistol and leaned to have a look… the oblong box
was gone. His heart stopped; he was beginning to think the box had supernatural
powers. He took several minutes to screw up his courage, then picked up
his lamp, cocked his revolver and tiptoed into the freight room.

Behind some crates, Bugbee found the oblong box tipped
over onto its side. There was a crack in the wood, and the cover was loose.
He pried it open far enough to see there was a man inside. A live one.

With Bugbee’s gun on him, the man squeezed his way
out of the box and admitted that he was there to relieve Bugbee of his
moneybags. The box had a cover that was designed to open from the inside,
but it had been set up on end, and the cover was pushed up against another
crate. The guy had to squeeze his hand out and push on the adjoining crate
bit by bit until he could ease his box out of Bugbee’s sightline.
Moving inch by inch, he suddenly lost his balance and toppled over, trapping
himself inside.

The robber explained he was supposed to throw something
over Bugbee and then let his partner in. Bugbee locked the robber in the
freight room, dimmed his lamp, went to the door and whistled. When the
partner came in, Bugbee threw a cover over him and called for help. The
partner turned out to be – who else – the man from the bank
that morning… the squinty-eyed one.

Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm