midnight
The plot was frustrated by the decisive action of the station official , who jumped on the passing train and warned the passengers . Unfortunately , the robbers succeeded in escaping , but the Umatilla police have started in pursuit . The majority of the bandits are said to have been Japanese . '' In these words the attack on Swallowtown was wired to New York , and when John Halifax went to the office of the _ New York Daily Telegraph _ at midnight , to work up the telegrams which had come in during Sunday for the morning paper , his chief drew his attention in particular to the remark at the end of the message , and asked him to make some reference in his article to the dangers of the Japanese immigration , which seemed to be going on unhindered over the Mexican and Canadian frontiers . John Halifax would have preferred to comment editorially on the necessity of night rest for newspaper men , but settled down in smothered wrath to write up the highwaymen who had committed the double crime of desecrating the Sabbath and robbing the train . But scarcely had he begun his article under the large headlines `` Japanese Bandits -- A Danger no longer Confined to the Frontier , but Stalking about in the Heart of the Country , '' -- he was just on the point of setting off Tom 's brave deed against the rascality of the bandits , when another package of telegrams was laid on the table . He was going to push them irritably aside when his glance fell on the top telegram , which began with the words , `` This morning at ten o'clock the station at Connell , Wash. , was attacked by robbers , who -- '' `` Hm ! ''