Night Acts Puzzle
Overland Manager Wonders if men mean trouble.
Car is stopped Twice.
Midnight Run in order to Avoid Bad Roads leads to Thrilling Experiences for party Returning from Portland.
Sunday Oregonian
September 30, 1917

Bert Eling, manager of the Portland branch of the Overland Pacific Company, is still unable to figure out whether or not he was on the very verge of being held up by highwaymen on his return from a trip to Mount Rainier National Park in a Willys-Knight car recently. With the idea of getting back to Portland before the heavy rains had made the roads of Southern Washington too heavy for comfortable travel, Mr. Eling decided to drive all night and reach Portland early in the morning rather than stop over night and give the rain another lead on his chances.

While bowling along the muddy road at a merry clip not far south of the town of Toledo, shortly after midnight, Mr. Eling's eye was caught by a red lantern being swung across the road a short distance ahead. Naturally he slowed down in the hope that he might be of material assistance to someone in distress. As he neared the lantern he observed that it was held by rather rough looking character, standing alone at the side of the road.

Eling Kept In Dark

The man peered rather boldly into the car, but didn't say a word, as if to give the impression that he was surprised to see the car so fully loaded. Rather than take any chances Mr. Eling decided to drive on, but he has not yet figured out what object the man had in mind, could he have planned a hold up and lost his nerve at the last minute? If he had any lawful purpose why did he not express himself.

While the occupants of the Willys-Knight were still discussing the man and the red lantern, as the car approached the town of Castle Rock an hour or two later on that same night, they noticed a man's hand waving frantically from the tonneau of a Ford car, parked on the right hand side of the road about 300 yards ahead. The Ford was facing toward Castle Rock, the same as the Willys-Knight.

This time Mr. Eling was a trifle more cautious than on the former occasion and carefully avoided turning off the motor, though he was almost in the act of doing so when he pulled up alongside the Ford, just a trifle behind it. There were at least two men in the Ford, but neither of them would give Mr. Eling and his trip companions a chance to see their faces, except the profiles. Instead of turning to look at Mr. Eling as they talked, they kept their faces ahead and mumbled their remarks, as though they were drunk or pretending to be drunk.

Quick Getaway Made.

After asking how far it was to Tacoma, how far it was to Kelso and explaining that they had wandered from the highway off onto the Spirit Lake road, a strange thing happened. One of the men suddenly darted from behind the dark side of the Ford and ran towards Mr. Eling'a car, holding one arm up, and the other at his side in such a way as to give any man room to imagine that he had a revolver and was about to stage a hold-up.

As quick as a flash Mr. Eling threw his gears into place, stepped on the foot throttle and was off, while the mysterious man was chasing along the road shouting, "Wait a minute, wait a minute." Inasmuch as all of the questions put by the men in the wayside car were answered satisfactorily and there was nothing left to discuss, why. Mr. Eling has been asking himself, did the man dart around the car? The lights of Castle Rock were less than half a mile distant and relief could have been sought there if the men were in a sorry plight.

Caution is Advised

Coupled together in the short space of one early morning, his recent road experiences have led Mr. Eling to the conclusion that a motorist cannot afford to take too many chances when
driving late at night. Veteran motorists say that it is never wise to allow any man along the road to get the drop on you. If you ever stop to pick up an erstwhile passenger, they advise, make him sit at your side in the front seat, if you are alone in the car, and be careful not to let him sit directly behind you in such position that he could whack you over the head with a lead pipe and make off with your money and your car, while you were still unconscious.

These same veterans of the road also point out that the motorist driving by himself should never take two passengers aboard, as this would place the driver in a position of helplessness. In the event harm was attempted.