The Secret of Petticoat Falls

Chapter 1 –

The locomotive was named A. N. Wigginsworth, after a former master mechanic of the New York & Western Ohio Railroad.  The line began in Hoboken, New Jersey and stretched across the midlands of America, serving Binghamton, New York and Youngstown, Akron, and Marion, Ohio before terminating in Dayton.  In Dayton, the railroad had a friendly connection with the Baltimore & Chicago Railroad, and their passenger trains were pulled south on that road to Cin-cinnati, on the north bank of the Ohio River.

December 1871 had been a cold and snowy month in Ohio, and the eastbound Hoboken Express pulled out of the city of Akron almost one hour late.  Behind the Wigginsworth trailed a combina-tion mail/express car, a baggage car, two coaches, a buffet lounge car, two sleeping cars, and the exclusive private car Enrond, occupied by the president of the road, Kenneth Lake.  Lake was alone in the car save for his bodyguard, a man named Gibson who had ridden with the guerrilla leader Quantrell during the Civil War.  Gibson habitually wore a long coat to conceal his pride and joy, a long-barreled Colt revolver he had taken from a dead Federal officer (Gibson had wounded the officer, then slit his throat before taking the weapon).  Ken Lake had reason to need a bodyguard on this trip, for in his car was a particularly important piece of luggage.  You see, Kenneth Lake was a till robber, and he planned for this trip in Enrond to be his last.

Chapter 9 –

“Come in,” said White at the knock on his door.  The school’s three new custodians entered the room.

“Spread out,” ordered Max Howell, the small group’s leader.  He saved money by cutting his own hair by placing a soup bowl over his head for a pattern to cut by.

Harry Pine was bald on top of his head but made up for it by growing a bushy fringe around the sides.  The third new janitor was the youngest Howell brother, Curry.

Curry’s real name was Jerome.  He got the nickname Curry because he had worked as a waiter in an Indian restaurant during high school.  He was a big man who shaved his head down to fine stubble.

The three Howell brothers and Harry Pine waited nervously as John White took them in.  He was well aware that the physical plant manager at nearby Slippery Stone College, Ted Meany, had fired the trio over unspecified problems.  However, the previous Midland State janitors had been too efficient for White’s tastes – they had been transferred by the State of Ohio to a Columbus university.  Not that White blamed them.  Midland State was the backwater of Ohio