PRICL lO CENTS BY THE YEAR. $199
MAGAZINE
Funny Side
JAN U A RY Favorite
There is one thing thai is
always fashion's first favorite, j ft and that is beauty. Style of dress, of coiffure, of head- gear, and so on, may change with every month or season, as whim, fancy, or milliners' decree may dictate, but beauty of skin
and complexion is of the fash- ions that remain permanent from age to age. This explains the fact of the enduring popularity of Pears' Soap
which, being all pure soap, possessing unique emollient properties, that preserve, refine, and improve the beauty of the skin and complexion, never ceases to be the leading soap wherever beauty holds her enchanting sway.
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REFINEMENT—The skin is refined, softened, anil beautified by the exquisite soothing influence of PEARS.
It is far more economical to use r ^9 PEARS than it is to use ordinary toilet soaps.
"All rif/iti tecured" OP ALL SCENIEU SOAI'S PEARS' OTTO OF ROSE IS THE BEST. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION.
The world's greatest singers make records only for the Victor The world's greatest singers! The greatest tenors; the greatest sopranos; the greatest contraltos; the greatest baritones; the greatest bassos. Not among the greatest, but the greatest of all nationalities.
all sopranos Caruso, the greatest of all tenors Melba, the greatest of McCormack, the greatest Irish tenor Tetrazzini, the greatest Italian soprano Martin, the greatest American tenor Eames] Dalmores, the greatest French tenor the greatest American sopranos Farrar j Scotti 1 Calve, the greatest French soprano ,hc 8rca,est Italian baritones BaHUUni°I Gadski, the greatest German soprano Ruffo J Sembrich, the greatest Polish soprano Gogorza, Spanish baritone de the greatest Michailowa, the greatest Russian soprano Renaud, the greatest French baritone
Schumann-Heinle, the greatest of all contraltos }the greatest French bassos Homer, the greatest American contralto Gerville-Reache, the greatest French contralto Witherspoon, the greatest American bass These famous artists—universally acknowledged the greatest, and commanding the highest salaries—make records only
I brings out their for the I 'idor because only the 'it- tor ^^g^^^. voices as clear and true as life itself. Jj& And be sure to hear the
New Victor Records are on sale at all dealers on the 28th of each month
/h answering this advertisement it is desirable that you mention Tun Hailiio.ii> Max's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MACA/I X K—ADVERTISING SECTION. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE CONTENTS FOR JANUARY SERIALS.
Mason, the Grizzly. Part II Chauncey Thomas . . . . 597 In the Hornet's Nest. Part III Dan Duane 649
Through by Sunrise. Part II William S. Wright . . . . 694
The Steeled Conscience. Part IV George Allan England . . 741 SHORT STORIES. The Death Tide Robert T. Creel .... 585
Jethra Riker's New Year Robert Fulkerson Hoffman . 617
Flagging a Flirtation. (Illustrated ) Lillian Bennet-Thonipson 628 Smith's Last Game. (Illustrated ) Sumner Lucas 644
Getting Easy Money, (Illustrated ) Emmet F. Harte . . . . 669 Winning a Widow Frank Condon 684
The Boes and the Babies. (Illustrated.) Augustus Wittfeld . . . . 705 Lazy Bill Bentak S. O. Conley 719 Reddy Flagg's Regrets Peter Mulligan 737 SPECIAL ARTICLES.
The Funny Side of Railroading. (Illustrated.) Walter Gardner Seaver . . 577
Europe's Old-Fashioned Railroads Charles Frederick Carter . 591
Observations of a Country Station-Agent. No. 32. (Illustrated.) J. E. Smilh 608
Naming 1,248 Pullmans a Year Felix G. Prentice . . . . 633 Heard Around the Water-Tank Tom Jackson ..... 637 On the Middle- West Main Lines John Walters 657
The Fine Art of Bridge Building. - Part I Otto Schultz 664 Helping 'Em Over the Hill Charles Frederic .... 677 When Bill Was Boss Cy Warman 687 Told in the Smcker Richard Maxwell Winans 689
The A.B.C. of Freight Rates— Part I John C. Thomson . . . . 711 " Holding Up the Cannon Ball."— True Story No. 52 . . Sam Henry 724 Ten Thousand Miles by Rail. No. 8. Stone- of the St. Louis Union Station. (Illustrated.) Gil.-on Willets 727 VERSE AND DIVERSE.
The Call- Boy. (Poem ) J. Edward Hungerford . 590 By the Light of the Lantern 623 Flannigan's Report (Poem.) W. C. Deuel 701
The Railroad Woman. (Poem.) Lydia M. Dunham O'Neil . 702 The Sunny Side of the Track 703 MISCELLANEOUS.
To Save the Flanges 589 Swarming an I C. Locomotive 683
Bill Nye's Appeal for a Pass. . . . 616 An Interurban Sleeper .... 723 Origin of Horse-Power 627 Balloon-Power Railroad .... 726 New Tunnel Boring- Machine .... 643 Pigeon Acts as Pilot 726 Boys Face Death on Engine Pilot 656 From the Letter File of the Santa Fe 736 Campaign Against Trespassers .... 663 Another Railroad Dog .... 758 To Tell Steel From Iron 668 On the Editorial Carpet .... 759
ISSUED MONTHLY BY THE FRANK A. MVNSEY COMPANY. 175 Fifth Avenue. New York, and Temple House, Temple Avenue, E. C. London Pb.mi A MOKftir, PnaMwit RienAan II. TrnirmNOTti*. StatUrf. Cimimn-iitn H. Pop*. Tm»Uf*r. Single Copies. lOc. Isht, l»io, SjrThe Frank A, lllmaay C&mptny Bv the Year, Si. 00
..,.f-\'.i'-- matter, Septnuber 6. 190fi, of the Pcgt-9J}lre, at Mm York, N. Y,, under the Art of r^m/rtf* oj Mart* 3, 1879. A DEPARTMENT maintained for the small advertiser and for the convenience of the reader in quickly locating a wide variety of necessities AdYOFtising for the home, the office, the farm, and In the Munsey Magazines for the man or woman who seeks busi- Line Kate Munsey'? Magazine $3.50 ness opportunities. There is virtually |
Scrap Book I The Special The Argosy tl.50 no want that may arise which cannot The All-Story Magazine 1.(10 Combination The Railroad Man's Magazine .75 Rate be supplied in these classified adver- The Cavalier -SO $5.50 tising pages. Senrl for iiitereBting booklet Feb. Railroad -Van's Ulagn- J6.25 ou na&glUed AilvertleiDg. :in,- Forms Close Dec. 19th. AGENTS & SALESMEN WANTED AGENTS & SALESMEN WANTED
WANTED—One Good Man in each town to take orders ROOSEVELT'S OWN BOOK, African Game Trails, says 'I'l for made-to-measure clothes. I'p-to-date styles, very low the N. Y. ibum . "is of course the book of the year." prices: orders ...me c:isy. High-class permanent business: Agents ! we guarantee you high commission, strong backing, fine profits, $5.00 a day and up. No money or experience complete monopoly of Held In handling this, "the book of needi'd. We ship en approval, express prepaid, and guarantee the year." For prospectus write Roosevelt - Scribner, perfect lit. Write for free sample .mint and inside price on 152 Fifth Avenue, New York. suit for yourself. Banner Tailoring Co., Dept. OOP. Chi. ago. I WILL START YOI' earning %i daily at home in spare time, silvering mirrors. No capital. Anyone can do the GIRI. WANTED. Local representative ($1.50 to $5.00 work. Send lor five instructive booklet, giving plans of daily ' in every town not covered. Fastest-growing magazine, operation, (i. F. Redmond, Boston, Mass. best-selling premium. Ask for "Salary Plan." Write "Von," Dept. B., N. Y. Sales Mgr.. Hampton's Magazine. 6S W. 35th St.. AGENTS—PORTRAITS 35c. Frames 15c. Sheet Pic- SELL PRINTERS. ENGI- tures lc. Stereoscopes 25c, Views lc. 30 days' credit. WANTED — AGENTS TO Samples and catalog free. Consolidated Portrait, Dept. NEERS, niotoriuen, anybody who wants clean hands. HON. 1027 W. Adams St.. Chicago. Vanco, The Perfect Hand Soap and Household Cleanser. Let anybody try a sample and you make a quick sale. Add $Um MONTHLY AND EXPENSES to trustworthy men $12 per week easily to your income. We want hustling rep- and women to travel and distribute samples; big manu- resentatives in every shop. Enclose 10c in stamps for full facturer. Steady work. S. Scheffer, Teas., ML132, size cau and particulars. Address Box D., The J. T. Rob- ( 'liicago. ertson Co., Manchester, Conn. AGENTS—NOTICE! $30.00 weekly; 90 Big Money- AGENTS earn big money weekly selling our new styles Makers. Easy selling plans. Everybody buys. Anybody can embroidered waist patterns, princess dresses, pettieoats. art sell. Biggest profits. Samples free to our agents. Send for linens, drawn work, silk shawls and scarfs, etc. Catalogue catalogue. R. C. Miller Co.. Box 155, Muskegon. Mich. free. J. Click. 021 B'way. New York. WANTED — RESPONSIBLE REPRESENTATIVE in LIVE AGENTS WANTED—Hustlers to handle our at- every Canity t.. sell Hydros Carbon Lighting Systems. tractive 1011 combination packages of soap and toilet arti- '-' protit. Full protection, exclusive territory to the cles with valuable premiums. One Michigan agent made $65 right man. Catalogues and full Information free. Afl- in 17 his., another $21 in S hrs.. another $22.50 in 10 dress Dept. S, National Stamping A: Elec. Wks.. Chicago. hrs. Write to-day. Davis Soap Co.. E. M. 46 Union AGENTS make big money selling our new gold tetters for Park Court. Chicago, III. office windows, store fronts, and glass signs. Any one cau put them on. Write today for free sample and full particu- AGENTS—You can have Free our illustrated Fall cata- lars. Metallic Sign Letter Co.. 413 N. Clark Si., Chicago. logue, containing everything you want to handle, also dress goods samples sent Free and express prepaid. Write today. FOUR NEW PATENTS just introduced from Germany. Over .", JOSEPH T. Simon & Co., 656 Broadway, New York. ther red hot sellers; no junk, but quick selling down to date new patents. We send free sample, catalog, Epuren etc. AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE to sell all kinds of Geo. Y. Companx, Milwaukee. Wis. Printing, Ritbber Stamps, etc. Large facilities. Good money AGENTS! N.-w line of Air Brush Show Cards. N-lh- for good men. Write for catalog and information. ing like them. Our agents earn SKI". on per week. You Lowenthaz. Company, Baltimore, Md. Wolf can do the same. Sample A: Particulars Free. PEOPLES snow Caiui -177 AGENTS CAN SELL OCR SUN-RAY KEROSENE MAN- Concern. Franklin Blflg., Chicago, Ills. TLE BURNERS to everybody who owns lamps; will sell on sight : big commission. 100 candle-power: his all lamps; ten times brighter than gas. Write for catalog and free par- HELP WANTED ticulars. Simplex Gaslight Co., Dept. M, 23 Park Row, N Y. ¥120" A YEAR SALARY ol! COMMISSION. Man or woman in every $25 WEEKLY AND EXPENSES TO MEN AND WOMEN county to manage business with grocery stores. Permanent. necessary. to collect nam.-, distribute samples and advertise. Steady No experience No investment. Tin; Ciixi Ei T" MFC. Co., Lima, Ohio. work. C. H. Emeiiv. MF32. Chicago, III. Do YOU WANT TO MAKE BIG MONEY V Here is your opportunity, in your locality large, -ViENTS. Big money easily made selling our Combina- representing re- I bible, established business bouse: no experience or tion 'i[„. r ii and Field Glass, stereoscope, Rending Glass, capital Compa-.-. Splendid Christmas Gift. Agent's sample required. Write for free particulars. Dept. B, II. Hitter Co.. GOO. Bebk Bros.. 520 Broadway. New York. Daniel Chicago, III. AGENTS CAN MAKE 500% PROFIT handling our Gold Window Letter*, Novelty Signs, and Changeable BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Slgn«, S00 varieties, Unlimited demand. Catalogue free.
Co., • Sclutas 1232 Van Btiren St., Chicago, 111. GO INTO BUSINESS FOR STOURSELF. Learn I a tailor by our easy mall course. Bit: profit** ; no capital MONEY MADE EASILY by ttnbserlptlnn seeking for required, si ccbsh School op Cutting, 2"l Success F.Wg.. • r,ii,„.r\ \Ihijii-i,\. . f or particulars regarding liberal rush Jackson, Mich. cammuitont. etc, address at s, once Desk- Scbibneb's START THE NEW YEAR IN BUSINESS FOR Maoazine. 155 Fifth Ave.. New York City. YOUR SELF, Success guaranteed. latter where you live. Small capital. P.lg profits. canvassing. Particulars tree TAILORING SALESMEN WANTED to take orders for No .Mann. i:i3Y. Perry. N. II. our Guaranteed Made -To- Order Clothes. Suit. $10 up. No capital required. Write today for territory and Com- plete equipment. Addrea* Wakbixoton w. & w. Mills, i t: Adams St., Department 4.59, Chicago, III. FOR MEN MEN AND WOMEN AGENTS, get hn»y selling (las- SLEEP IN A MINUTE in broad daylight. Use a "Byrne Jet lleat'ri. The M~t winter article on the market. Greal ftlUmVurer." Saves the eyes, given you a lull day's resl : demand. Big protit.. Easy feller. Sample out lit supplied ju-l the thing for railroad men. By mall .Vie. K. J. BYRNE, tree. Retail Scat) Mio. Co., Itcade SI.. N. Y. 2.".:: Brock Ave.. Toronto. Canada,
In antmritlO any advertisement on this /»)';• it is desirable thai ij'iu mm Hon Tub Railroad Man's Maoazinb. — ; THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. BUSINESS & CORRESPONDENCE PATENT ATTORNEYS SCHOOLS PATENT SECURED OR FEE RETURNED. SEND Sketch for free report as to patentability. Guide nook and KATiX Sin TO A WI^KIv 'i^ iiimviim* ri1f»fiit*ri i.tmr- II lint to Invent, with valuable list of inrrntions (runted, ator. Details easily mustered in a few weeks by mail. sent Iree. One Million Hollars offered for one Invention; \v»* lend you complete tfiJichine. or write for parHcWlars, Patents seemed by us advertised free iii World's Progress: Tavi.uI! SCHOOL, 49 West 2Sth St.. New York City. Sample free. Victor J. Evans & Co., Washington. I). C. $SO.O0 PER month paid Railway Mail GlerkSj Customs i aioaTo SECURED FREE ii you pay government and Internal Revenue Employees. No "layoffs." Short bourn. charges. Pay state charges and I Incorporate you free. I Rapid ndvaneemenl iiii-'ii to salaries and high Government hike stock in return tor my services. Edward Positions. Attorney Thousands of appointmeiits coining. Common edu- is.N-OEt.MAN, 140 Nassau Street, New York City. cation sufficient. Political Influence unnecessary. Country and City residents stand chance "f immediate ap- same PATENTS THAT PROTECT AND PAY. Books free. Kviiiiii ( \t lit Jauua ry pointment n a ms an m need everywhere iiuiiest teieiemes. t».>t results. Semi for list of Inven- loth, eonching free i" lirsi 25 applicants. Write imme- tions Wanted. Patents advertised free. Send sketch or diately for schedule showing places "f the examinations. model for free search. Watson E. Coleman, Patent I'kanklin Institutk, Dept. 1>2. Hocliester, X. Y. Lawyer, 022 F Street, Washington, D. 0.
SHORTHAND IX :io DAYS— Boyd Syllabic System— written with only nine characters. No "pbsitions,'* "ruled '' "' '' * ** ..1' ' 's:ll *1<1 t *\l'n»"il i irii i ''i'lilil iililiesui."», iMiiitiuig,iw »« i ' i -a i « nikli^ LEGAL ~o }~ iiur t.din utiles. Speedy, practical system that can be learned in 30 flays of
' < - - 1. *X • I !l l"»t>l 1 b:I 11 111 I 1.tllVt'nl'>i • 'Millii ! i i . i , . i 1 \-<,ii,i Tlin i,m
SONG POEMS wanted for publication', with or without music. All Subjects. Original. Our publishing proposi- BOOKS tion the best offered to day. Eaton. Desk 23, LS70 B'way, New York.
" It's lots fun." Marshall V. mail only. of Wilder. By sum ; WRITERS—COMPOSERS. Send us your songs and ' ,...... \ . • Publisher, 1 ii. 1 A 1 . I'iiI. Iii. •),... Kim 1 1 i i .... 1 if ...I.. ii kTW.H SI. Wm. B. Borrows, Box 39, Station N, nisi. .ii.---. i uoin , u ion gu.il.iuieeu 11 .0 reptiilile. A tw 1 ou New York. i.v the 011I11 place, ami we are New York's leading music p«6- mhere. Known everywhere, F. Ii. Havilanu Pi n. Co., 156 West St., New York. BOATS AND LAUNCHES 87th BI'Y BOATS NOW FOB SUMMER SPORT. Ask about Kl^iVL Ho 1 Alt our special 20ft. launch euniplete with :i II. I\ engine for $275. Boat and Engine fully guaranteed. Rice Bhos. Co., MISSISSIPPI Dept. E., East Boothbay, Maine. FOR A HUME OR INVESTMENT— Mississippi Fruit and *. Truck Farms grow :; crops per year and net S'lnu to $(!i)0 per acre; I ated ; ' miles from l.ueedale, the County Seat, Five 1 ELOCUTION . 1 k / 1 l . | t 1 ii DRAMATIC ti *L* & ART i'l*l4l,*.wl , fill t ^O J ^ l.o tiliif.f, iti.ii.lbli' Write Kitbank Fahms Co.. Block 6S, Pittsburg. Pa. ACTING, ORATORY. Pi. A Y.WR1TINO : Learn the best- paying, most fascinating profession in the world. You can MISCELLANEOUS earn $2o. to $r»oo weekly. . We have taught the subject by correspondence^, snccessfuily for years. Satisfied students >. i'l .t1I>>ii 1 ltil?i 1 1 , 1 n .l.M lil' , I "1 It* 111. 1 >>> II everywhere. for Book Art. Chicago Write Free Dramatic and h 3, clients prepared lb buy. Send full particulars School "f Elocution. 1138 Grand1,1 Opera House. Chicago. and lowest cash price. Fehgvson National Realtv Com- 1 pany, 505 Fifth Avenue. New York City. GAMES 1 ENTERTAINMENTS AND COINS .. 1 STAMPS AND RARE ENTERTAIN' YOUR FRIENDS! Send 4c. for pack 111,! magic cards and big catalogue of mystifying tricks. ST. To paid for rare date 1853 Quarters. $20 for a In*- send plays make-ups. for For we 8 and catalogue of stage Keep all 111 y dated before 1884, and send 10c at once Bates Play & Maoic Co.. Dept. 1, Melrose, | Mass. New Illustrated Coin Value Book, 4x7. It may mean your fortune. Clark & Co., Coin Dealers, Dept. 37. Le Roy, N.Y. MISCELLANEOUS ...... TYPEWRITERS TOBACCO HABIT CURED OR NO COST. Harmless home treatment of roots jiud herbs.(.,.<( Sure, pleasant, per- GENUINE TYPEWRITER BARGAINS, No matter manent. Send your...... name quick. Kixi: Ni-Ko 10. Wichita, what make, will quote you lower prices and easiest terms. Kansas. Write for big bargain list and Illustrated catalogue. L. J. PEABODY, 63 Minot Bldg., Boston, Mass. PERFUMES TELEGRAPHY LE ROY'S NON-ALCOHOLIC PERFUMES arc the "..rid s Wireless, taught quickly. ii" ulcoliol : they arc 100% perfume, one TELEGRAPHY, both Morse and best, containing Western drop will last tor weeks. Violette. Rose Leaves. Ideal Bou- Also Station Agency Work. It. it. Dispatcher's and 1 l£ M ..Ill 1 I VTT It f\ ,1, l nY I'll!.. ii mlnw
^Ol) Want a ivo Like HlS Do If You Really are Ambitious, Want to "Get Ahead." Become an Automobile Expert. Hold a Job that's a Cinch, have short hours and earn from $35 TO $40 A WEEK m Let us train you right In your own home, with very few hours' effort on your part. There are not, to-cUy. enough competent men to fill the demand. Small down payment starts you. Models of working parts showing every detail Free to every student. » Ask for our free prospectus with samples of our les- sons which will tit you for a better position. We are constantly In touch with owners and paruEes that require competent men. BUFFALO AUTOMOBILE SCHOOL. The Auto School that Come? to I on. S3 Franklin Street, Buffalo. N. Y.
THEKE'Sa right and a wrong way to qualify for a govern- ment position. The right way is through the help of the Inter- How to national Correspondence Schools, as shown by the {treat number of I. C. stud' >ite filling good govcrn- m>nt jjositi'ins everywhere. Gov- ernment positions pay well, oiler Qualify congenial employment and great opportunities for advancement Whatever U. S. Civil Service position you want the 1. C. S. will /R) Learn Photography, (S^ for train you for it. You are eligible if A you are an American over 18. The Photo-Engraving or 3-Color Work way is made easy. Everything of Engravers and 3 -Go I or Operator o Earn $20 to$SO Per Week. an unnecessary nature is elimina- Only College in the world where these pnyin? professions are ted. To learn all about It—of the tauehi successfully. Established 17 years. Endorsed by Interna- Govt. I.C.S. way that fits your particular tional Association of Photo-Engravers and Photographers* Asso- case— of the very men and women ciation of Illinois. Terms easy; living inexpensive. Graduates who have won good government assisted In securing good positions. Write for catalog, and positions through I. C. S. help, specify course hi which you are interested. write to-day for free book, to Illinois College of Photography or t 784 Wabash Av. Position INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS Bissell College of Photo-Engraving j Effingham, III. Box 1003-S. Scranton. Pa. L. B. BISSELL, Pre*.
$3,000 to $10,000 A Happy Per Year For You I can make yon prosperous. If you Marriage want to earn more money— if yon want to establish yourself in an in- dependent business requiring no capital — send me your name and Depends largely on a address on coupon below, (or a postal will do) and I will mail you, knowledge of the whole ree, our Big 62-Page Book, fully explaining just how you can fit truth about self and yourself to earn big money in tho Real Estate, Brokerage and In- sex and their relation to life and health. surance Business. Ourthoroughlytested successful sys- intelli- tem not only equips you fully on every point of Real Estate, This knowledge does not come Brokerage and insurance, we also give you, free, a valuable gently of itself, nor correctly from ordinary course in Commercial Law. Onr Free Book is of great inter- est to anyone, but is of vital Importance to Clerks, Book everyday sources. re, Salesmen, Agents, Solicitors and others who are ambitions to be in a good paying business of their own. International Really Corp., 11 37 Manhattan Bldg.. Chicago Successors to The Cross Co. and H. W. Crosn & Co. Sexology This Book (Illustrated) Shows You By William H. Walling, A. M., M. £>., How to Suc- ceed in Real imparts in a clear, wholesome way, in one Estate, Brok- volume : erage and This 62 Page S Knowledge a Young Man Should Have. Knowledge a Young Husband Should Have. insurance Knowledge a Father Should Have. Knowledge a Father Should Imparl to His Son. &ooK Have. Medical Knowledge a Husband Should Send no money, Free Knowledge a Young Woman Should Have. but merely your name Knowledge a Young Wife Should Have. and address on a postal or Knowledge a Mother Should Have. Impart In Her Daughter. the below Knowledge a Mother Should on Coupon Medical Knowledge a Wife Should Have. All in one volume, illustrated, $2, postpaid. NAME *, Write lor "Oilier People's Opinions" and Table ol Contents. ADDRESS Puritan Pub. Co., 739 Perry Bldg., PhUa., Pa.
I,, anstccrlng any advertisement . . . 1' -i. i'i - CI«rk $600 10 1 1 SOU Internal Kerenue (1700 to |l-l»01 . . ,l'o»toflice Carrier I'WOtoflS'J" SMnngnpht riowtoliMOi . . .ItunU Mall Carrier 1600 to %'*<•) Clerk in Ihe Depart- [$500 to 11500} . . .Ilook keeper IWO to IB'-' menu at Wublngtu Name WANTED Use this be/ore you lose if. Write Plainly SALESMEN AND SALESWOMEN Hundreds of good positions now open paying from $100 to Here's a Good $500 a month. No former experience required to get one of JOB them. We will teach you to be a high grade Traveling Sales- man or Saleswoman by mall and assist you to secure a good position where you can earn while you are learning. Write today for our Free book, " A KNIGHT OF TUK GHIP," con- taining our special offer and testimonials from hundreds of men and women we have placed in good positions ; ulso list of good positions open. Address (nearest office) Dept. 295. NATIONAL SALKSMKN'S TKAININd ASSOCIATION CMeago New York Kansai lily KlinnrapollB San Kmnrisco Atlanta CORNET FREE! We guarantee to teach you to play by mall and will give you a Beautiful Cornet or any Baud Instrument absolutely FREE. You pay weekly as lessons are taken. Instru- ment is sent with lirst lesson. Wrile to-day for our booklet and wonderful tuition offer. International Cornet School 413 Music Hall, - - Boston, Mass. EARN $25 TO $50 WEEKLY In Automobile Business VENTRILOQUISM Chauffeurs, Automobile Salesmen, Demon- Taught Any Man or Boy strators and Repairmen are in big demand by Mail at Home. Th is is no special gift as everywhere. The field is new. work pleas, you have supposed, but an art. I have ant, and anyone can learn. teach you taught thousands in all parts of the world. We Cost small. Send to-day 2-cent stamp for in 10 weeks of study during spare time to particulars and proofs. become thoroughly efficient. Our course of O. A. SMITH, Si.. Room H67-823 Bigelow PEORIA, ILL. instruction by mail is simple, practical, and very interesting. Besides, we assist you to secure a good position. Free model of auto- mobile to every student. First Lesson Sent Free-Wrlte Now at 1/40 the C03t-1N SOLID GOLD RINGS ^ Don't miss this offer. Send us a postal to-day. Stand acid test and export examination. Wo Boarantcothcm. See them first—then pay. Empire Auto. Institute, MS Empire Bid* Special Offer — 14k Tiffany rinR let. $5.08. Thr OripW AufmMtt *»wl Rochester, N. I. i Gents ring 1 ct. $6.98. 14k Stud 1 ct. $4.86. Sent Chauffeurs and competent men annulled owners and garages. \ C CD- for inspection. Catalog FREE, showa The ful ' Patent rinBgauee included. 10c. 1IDIAMOND^ 1r — Baroda Co.. Dept. A19 Leland k Dover St, Ctaleago In answering any advertisement on this pane it is desiriibli that you mention The Railiioad Man's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. "The Clear Track" Two men a thousand miles apart clear from end to end to carry the talk to each other by telephone voice of one customer. without leaving their desks. The Bell system has more than Two wires of copper form the ten million miles of wire and reaches over five million telephones. track over which the talk travels This system is operated by a force of from point to point throughout a one hundred thousand people and continent. makes seven billion connections a Moving along one railroad track year—twenty million "clear tracks" at the same time are scores of trains a day for the local and long dis- carrying thousands of passengers. tance communication of the Ameri- The telephone track must be can people. The efficiency of the Hell system depends upon "One System, One Policy, Universal Service." American Telephone and Telegraph Company And Associated Companies In thll adverlltt atUWetiriB incut I! Is Vol. XIII. JANUARY, 1911. No. 4. The Funny Side of Railroading. BY WALTER GARDNER SEAVER. A Brace of Boes That Were Watered Out—Why Bob Rogers Drifted Far Away from Texas — How John Kept Losing His Tail. .HOSE turn is it to speil than one poor devil was let out without a to-day?" clearance for no other reason than that he " Dempsey's." had been in a scrap with the Dillon outfit. "You've got the highball, Dempsey. Hook her up and pull her wide open. You've got nothing against you." "On the Burlington lines out of old St. Joe, some funny things happened," said Dempsey. 'T^ave Winton was superintendent of the Kansas City, St. Joe, and Council Bluffs then, and Mike Hohl was chief despatcher. There was a gang of toughs in the town known as the Dillon gang. They used to run amuck whenever the notion took them. For a time there was hardly a pay-day that the Dillons didn't lay for some of the railroad boys, and Winton almost invariably had a crowd on the carpet in consequence. " The Dillon crowd was feared by everybody. It used to be a saying that when the Dillons broke loose the police force went to investigating vacant lots where the weeds grew thick and tall so that the Dillons wouldn't come against them. " For some reason Winton always came down hard on the railroaders that mixed it -up with the Dillon crowd, and more AS IF HE HAD BEEN SHOT FROM A CATAPULT. 1 RR 577 — 578 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " P. H. Houlahan was with the Hannibal army, and was wounded by a Minie-ball and St. Joe, being trainmaster at Brook- striking him in the head at the battle of field. Whenever any of die Hannibal boys White River, Arkansas. He was wounded got mixed up with the Dillons, they were up on the morning of July 4, and for a time his on the carpet, of course; but Houlahan al- ways stood by the railroaders and, so far as I know, no Hannibal man was ever let out or even laid off for ten days because he mixed it up with that crowd. '• But what I want to tell about is a wreck that occurred in the Nairows between St. Joe and Atchison. Winton was "a portly man, and was usually inclined to be rather dignified. " He was seated in an armchair beside the open side door of the way car with his feet elevated and resting against the jamb of the door and sound asleep. " Suddenly he was shot out of the door and went tumbling down the bank among the ragweed which had grown to a height of five or six feet. Before he was fairly awakened, he had managed to get his feet and legs so tangled up in the weeds that every time he attempted to rise he would get entangled worse and worse. " When the boys saw that he Was not hurt they could not refrain from giving vent to their hilarity, and it was some time before "there was hardly a pay-day that the— they could turn their attention to the condi- railroad tion of the wreck. When Winton finally got loose and came up the bank with his face life was despaired of. However, he got well and clothes all yellow from the bloom of the —and the Fourth of July was always a great ragweed, suddenly seri- they became very day for him. ous. When he finally got to the top of the " It was Sam's day to howl. Not even the bank, one and all were very earnestly in- President of the United States could induce specting the wreckage. him to do a tap of work on that day. No " Whether it because of broken. or was a matter where he was, he did not fail to have defective flange on one of the wheels or for a liberal supply of fireworks. Oh, he made some other reason, the trailing truck under a noise, all right! Christmas and New a Ijox car failed to follow the lead of the Year's were nothing to him when compared front one climbed the frog. half and About to the Fourth of July. the train had followed the engine onto the " After the war, Sam went into the service aiding, the rest the cars dis- but of were of the Hannibal and St. Joe, and for a time tributed over the landscape with the excep- ran a freight between Brookfield and Quin- tion of the way-car and two cars ahead of it, cy. Afterward he was given a passenger which did not leave the rails. The sudden run between Quincy and St. Joseph. This jerk as the cars left the iron had shot Win- was before the line was opened from Cam- ton through the open door as if he had been eron to Kansas City. hurled from a catapult. "One day, just as Sam was leaving the "'What have we struck?' he yelled as house to go to the yard to take out his train he glided into the atmosphere. to Quincy, a couple of tramps asked if they "Every man in the crew got thirty days. could have something to eat. They claimed Winton said it was because we laughed at to have been in the war, and since that time him. had been drifting about the country seeking " Sam Wadsworth served through the employment. Civil War. He was a captain in the Union "As there were hundreds of men in the ' THE FUNNY SIDE OF RAILROADING. 579 " The tramps did not know this, however, and as the train whirled by the house the dumb man shouted: " ' Hully gee, Tom ! We must make that train! ' " They rushed out and down into the yard. This was evidently a ruse to get away before they could be asked to cut some stove-wood in payment for the meal, a course that was customary among Missouri matrons at that time. "Dan Craig thought that the sudden re- covery of speech by the dumb man was nothing short of a miracle. Thinking that Sam would be pleased to hear of the good luck that had come to the tramp soldier, he hastened to the depot, where he found Wad, book in hand, slowly pacing along the train, entering the car initials and numbers. "When Wad heard the story, he simply said, 'Humph!' The miraculous feature of the matter did not strike him as forcibly as it had Dan. He told the boy that it was all right, and that he was glad to hear it, and went on with his work. "Soon after, he spotted his table-guests sneaking along through the yard, and called Will Craig's attention to them. " ' ' Let them stow away,' said Wad, and —DILLONS DIDN'T LAY FOR SOME OF THE when we ge,t out on the road I will have —-BOYS." some fun with them.' "They kept an eye on the two men and, same predicament at that time, nothing was just as the train was about to pull out, saw thought about it. Any man who claimed to them climb in the end window of a -car be an ex-soldier did not have to ask Sam loaded with lumber. Will soon spotted the Wadsworth the second time for assistance. place where they had hid themselves. But these two men did not know that, and " This train stopped only at Macon, Shel- the elder of the two began a hard-luck story bina, and Palmyra Junction. At Macon, that his comrade had lost his speech owing Craig saw a thin wisp of smoke curling out to a wound in the throat, and the scar of a of the end window of the tramps' car. Stand- gun-shot wound on the neck was corrobo- ing astride the two cars, he called out: " ration. ' Sam, there's a fire in this car. of lum- " Sam did not care anything about this. ber. Pass up a few buckets of water.' The fact that they were ex-soldiers was " As the water was passed up, he deluged sufficient. He took the men to the house the inside of the car—one bucket to the and told his wife to give them food. Then right, the next to the left, and the third to he hustled off to the yard. the center. The tramps caught every drop, "Will Craig, his brother-in-law, though for the space where they were stowed away only a youth at the time, was braking ahead was scarcely large enough to hold two men. for him, while his brother, Dan Craig, was "The third bucketful was too much, and a little fellow and was at the house when one of them called out: " ! the tramps were seated at the table. ' Cheese it, cully. We'll come out " While they were eating, and when nearly " They came out. A more wobegone, for- through, the «east-bound freight from St. lorn pair of hoboes had never been seen. Joseph pulled in. This was the train that Both were tiioroughly soaked. " ' ' Wad was to take out, and there was upward ' Holy smoke ! said Craig. Don't of an hour yet to be used in the yard before you fellows know better than to stow away she pulled out. in such a place? That lumber is liable to 580 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. shift at any jerk of the engine, and flatten three cars jumped ahead as though shot out you out as thin as a pancake. Where are of a gun. you going? ' " The tramps were shot off. They clutched "They said that they were going to Chi- frantically at the smooth tin roof, but, fail- cago, and told their hard-luck story. Craig ing to secure -any hold, were gracefully appeared to be much impressed and said: dumped into the mud at the edge of the " ' I only go as far as Quincy, but so far creek. The Fabius had just recovered from as I am concerned, you are welcome to ride. one of its periodical attacks of high water, Only you must come out and ride on top, and a bed of mud about the consistency of but be careful that the con don't see you. mush and as black as tar bordered the When the engineer shuts her off and squeals stream. Into this soft bed the two plumped for brakes you shin down the ladder on the clear up to their shoulders. Craig looked side opposite to the station and hit the grit. back, and the fireman leaned from the gang- Get into the weeds and lie low until the way in an effort to see what had become of train starts again; then get back on top.' them. They could not stop. It was up to " It did not occur to either of the tramps the front end now to keep away from the that the con, from his lookout-seat in the rest of the train. cupola, could see over the top of the train. " The middle and rear brakeman had Craig made them go forward to the car right hustled out on top as soon as they felt the back of the engine. In those days of bal- jolt that told them the train had parted, loon stacks, engines threw dense volumes of and were busy setting brakes to hold her black smoke, while a steady shower of cin- down the hill ; but Wad had kept his eye ders was sure to rain over the forward cars. on them, and, as the way-car passed, he saw '' Wet and shivering, the two hoboes hung them scrambling out of the mud. to the running-board, swallowed smoke, and " They knew enough to wave us good- chewed cinders without a murmur, while by,' said Wad. Craig, who was riding in the cab, and Wad, "Will Craig, too, had a heart in him as who was watching them from the cupola, big as an ox. When he was in the yards had a matinee performance which the}' never at Argentine, Kansas, there was more than forgot. ^ one railroader out of a job who had reason "At Shelbina, the depot was in the center to remember him. Twenty years ago, there of the town, with a small park on either side, was more or less drifting about of railroad- and there were no weeds, so the hoboes had ers, especially switchmen and brakemen. to get down in full view of the stores and Traffic would fall off, the number of trains business houses that lined the opposite side would be reduced, and, as a consequence, a of the square. number of men would be let out or laid off "They were game, however. When the until business picked up again. train started, they made a run for the side- " A number of unmarried men would take ladders of the way-car. Somebody yelled advantage of this to change their location. at them, and they scrambled all the faster. They had their clearances, which were suffr- " The engineer pulled the throttle wide cient to enable them to get over any road, open, and by the time the men grabbed the and also to get in line for work whenever hand-holds the train was going at a pretty opportunity offered. good clip. They had all they wanted to do " Once a brakeman named Bob Rogers hanging on, but they managed to pull them- struck Argentine dead broke and pretty well selves up, and flopped on the roof, grabbing all in. He had traveled around in search the running-board for dear life. of employment until his funds were exhaust- "At Palmyra Junction the train stopped ed. He ran against Craig, who saw that he a moment for orders. When it started, the had a boarding-place and was made con>_ tramps were kept moving pretty lively to fortable. About ten days afterward, he avoid being ditched. Shortly after leaving caught a run on the Missouri Pacific out of Palmyra Junction, the road strikes the south Armourdalc. bank of the South Fabius River, and runs "'I had drifted down into Texas,' he along this to a point near its junction with said to Craig, ' as I had always been anxious the Mississippi River not far from the west to see that country, and as there was con- end of the bridge. As the train swung siderable new mileage under way, I thought around a curve, a link on the third car from the outlook for ge'tting set up there was the engine broke, and the engine and the much better than back here in the East. I THE FUNNY SIDE OF RAILROADING. 581 got a run on the Espee out of San Antonio, again, when one stupid steer took a notion and had 'em coming nicely until a little that he could outrun that hog, and so swung more than a month ago. Then I began to onto the track again. " get into it proper. ' The steer was galloping down die track, " ' We pulled out, one morning, with a lot right between the rails, in that graceful way of empty stock-cars bound west. The day that a Texas steer moves, until he came to was fine—just after a rain—and I was sit- the trestle that spanned the little arroyo, ting on a brake-wheel, two or three cars when down goes his forelegs between two back of the engine, taking it easy. We were ties. " near Hondo, and, as we were not scheduled ' As soon as he saw the steer swing onto for any stop east of Uvalde, where we had the trade, Hank shut her off and slammed a meeting-point, I was taking considerable on the air, but not quick enough to avoid enjoyment out of the ride- hitting the steer. The old hog carved that " ' Suddenly I heard the engineer squeal- steer into hamburger steak, but in doing so ing for live stock, but as we had that every lifted her trucks, climbed the rail, and two or three miles, I was not paying much turned over easily on her side. attention. I knew that if that old hog mixed it up with any steers, the steers would get the worst of it. " ' Suddenly I shot from my seat, and sailed gracefully through the air, landing head first in some Al, soft, sticky mud at the bottom of a little arroyo. The cars were strung out all over the landscape, and the old hog, which I had thought immune from any cattle ailment, lay on her side in the ditch, groaning her life out. " ' Her crew had promptly gone over- board, and they, too, had landed in the soft mud in the arroyo, but, unlike me, they lit feet first and came up un- hurt. The way-car and, per- haps, "a third of the train had not left the -rails. The con and the middle and rear brakeman came hustling ahead to see about the dead and wounded. " ' I had got straightened up and, with the engineer and fireman, they proceeded to indulge in an outburst of glee every time I moved or attempted to speak. I im- I have been agine that must THE FABIUS HAD JUST RECOVERED FROM ONE OF ITS a sight, and I am dead cer- PERIODICAL ATTACKS OF HIGH WATER." tain that if I had been in " their place, and some other poor devil in my ' Well, we got out of that nriss all right, shoes, I would have laughed, too. and two days afterward we were going east "'Well, tiiey got out flags, and the con with a heavy train of cattle. There was a proceeded to toddle off down the track to little, short spur-track just outside of San Hondo to report the wreck, while the rest of Antonio, just about long enough to hold two us proceeded to make an investigation as to box-cars. Hank had 'em coming right along the cause of our ground and lofty tumbling. in fine style, when we went plump into that " 1 A bunch of steers had been on the spur-track. right-of-way, and all had been scared off by " ' Somebody had eidier left the switch the whistle. The engineer had just pulled open, or unlocked, and it had sprung. At her wide open, and was hitting 'em up any rate, we headed in there, going at a 5S2 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " thirty-mile-an-hour clip. The engine struck ' Luckily, the gondola was empty when the bank used as a bumper. I was standing she turned turtle over me, and I managed to in the gangway, and when she stopped and crawl out unhurt. " turned over I just kept on going, plowing up ' Investigation showed that a truck had the Texas soil with my right shoulder for jumped from under a refrigerator-car loaded something less than a half-mile. with dressed beef, and it proceeded to strew " ' Hank was caught when the deck-plate the rest of the train over the Texas prairie. doubled up. His right was badly jammed. When I got out, the middle shack was sil- The fireman had attempted to get off, but ting on the side of an overturned box-car, was caught by the tank and injured. This singing in a thin, strained tenor something should have been enough for me, but I only about "Sally in Our Alley." He wasn't laid off one trip, and then went out on my nutty. It was just his optimistic way of run. looking at things. " " ' Everything went smoothly, we were ' It was the engineer this time who tod- clipping along near Hondo, and I was think- dled on down to Hondo to report the acci- ing of the funny picture I must have pre- dent, while the fireman and I flagged the sented as I climbed out of the mud, when wreck. " I suddenly got right off that brakewheel and ' When the wreck-train came up, I left took another trip through the air. them to manipulate affairs and paddled on " ' When I came to my senses and began down to Hondo myself. I got back to San- to take stock, I found myself sitting astride tone on the first train, and didn't lose any a side of dressed beef down in that same time in drawing my time and turning in arroyo, while carefully turned upside down my keys. " over me, as if to preserve me from accident, ' I thought that when I got pitched off was a forty-ton gondola, with the ends rest- a train three times inside of a week, it was ing on either bank. a pretty clear hint to me that I wasn't wanted on the Espee, so I hooked her down in the corner, gave her a full throttle, and hit the track on my way north.' " Sam Wadsworth once came into the Hannibal yard at St. Joe with a through train of fast freight from Quincy. No cars had been picked up or set out along the line. Among oth- ers was a car-load of dry- goods cases. Wad had re- ceived this car at Brook- field sealed with the Chicago seal. "For some reason, there was a particular hurry on the part of the consignee for the contents of this particu- lar car; so it had hardly been set out on the siding than a lot of teams were on hand to unload it. "As luck would have it, the car was standing almost opposite the dog-house. The Hannibal and St. Joseph de- pot at that time was at the corner of Eighth and Olive Streets, and the roundhouse "something about 'sally in our alley.' was about four blocks far- THE FUNNY SIDE OF RAILROADING. 583 ther south—just below what would be " The broken limb was washed, the bono Mitchell Avenue, if that street had been set, and splints made from an old cigar-box opened across the yards. were applied, and the whole bandaged with " Consequently, the throat of the yard was an old, discarded red flag. just east of the roundhouse, lying between it "He was certainly about the most dis- and Eighth Street, and just below Mitchell reputable-looking dog that ever came down Avenue. So the doghouse, which was an the pike. He seemed to be, as far as blood old box-car that had lost its trucks, stood was concerned, a mixture of Irish setter, almost on the south line of Mitchell Avenue mastiff, yellow hound, and coach dog. His and not far from the roundhouse. « left ear drooped sorrowfully and was about " When the car was opened, the men were half gone, apparently having been chewed startled to hear the whine of a dog. A mo- off in a fight. ment later the Mr. Dog came limping out " His right ear was worn cocked up as from among those cases, and his left hind though he was determined to hear all that leg was pretty lame. He was very thin and, was going on. His face and nose were white as Craig said, he had to lean up against the with the exception of a black patch that sur- side of the doghouse when he wanted to rounded his left eye, giving him the appear- stand up. ance, at a little distance, of having had that "When die dog was lifted out and set optic effectually blackened at some time. upon the ground, he at once singled out " There was not much hair on his head, Craig as the most likely one of the crowd to which was covered with scars. His tail at yield to canine blandishments. Craig took one time had been broken, and the latter half him into the doghouse, shared his lunch with of it hung at an angle of about forty-five him, and then, having gained the animal's degrees from the upper half. His body, confidence, the gang crowded around to ex- too, was covered with scars. amine into his injuries. "He had originally been spotted with "It was found that the dog's leg was three colors—black, tan, and white. broken, probably by reason of having been "He was the living exemplification of jammed between two of the cases. hard luck. 584 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " He at once attached himself to the dog- repeated. This time a bigger slice went. house. Craig was his particular protege. The tail was now cut off almost to the Craig could drop his coat and lunch-kettle broken joint, leaving only about an inch, so anywhere in the yard in sight of that dog, that it gave him the appearance of having and then—let any one but Craig touch it if the tip end of his tail hooked down to catch they dared! something.. ' The boys dubbed him John, and he "One would naturally think that John answered the name readily. He constituted would learn by experience, and keep away himself the guardian of that doghouse, and from the cars. But no. In less than three any railroad man, no matter if a stranger, months, he had undergone another amputa- whether clad in greasy overalls and blouse tion in the same manner. _ This time the re- or wearing his glad rags, who showed up at morseless wheels left him only about two the doghouse was all right with John. inches of tail. " Any one not a railroader, however, was " After the wound had healed, he would kept at bay until some of the_ railroaders wag that stump more vigorously than he had appeared. ever before wagged his whole tail, and the that railroader boys finally J' Just how dog knew a was decided—and they came to be- a puzzle, but he did, and he never made a lieve it firmly—that John did not like his mistake. He had one bad habit which none hooked appendage, and had deliberately set of the boys could break him of. He would about its amputation. It was only by rea- go to sleep under a car. One day a string son of his deficiency in gaging distance that of boxes were kicked in on a track on which he had to take three whacks at it. some empties were standing. John was "Be that as it may, John exercised more asleep under one of these empties. The tip discretion, thereafter, in his choice of sleep- of his tail lay upon the rail. When the ing-places. When he felt inclined for a boxes were kicked in they drove the empties nap, he would select the shade of a box-car, a few feet, ahead, and off went four inches but invariably outside the rails. of John's caudal adornment. " John was a fixture in the Hannibal yard " John raised his voice in protest, and the for a number of years, and finally met death boys came running from every direction. gallantly. Craig had swung up into the The dog was running in a circle, howling gangway of a passing switch-engine. John and snapping. attempted to follow him. John had jumped When the boys did finally get him quiet- off and on moving switch-engines scores of ed down, they tenderly washed the bloody times before. This time he miscalculated stump, placed a bunch of oily waste from the his jump, poor fellow, and landed across the dope bucket over it by way of salve, and rail. " bound it with scraps torn from an old shirt. The tender-wheels passed over him. In due time the wound healed up, and the " John was buried on the bank of Lini- boys thought it would be a lesson that John ment Creek, close to the junction of Eighth would not forget. Street and Mitchell Avenue. The boys " But John was perverse and obstinate. thought he would be allowed to sleep there No place was so good for sleeping purposes undisturbed, but when the Union Depot was as the center of the track under a car. It built and the sewer took the place of the old had not been more than two months since bed of Liniment Creek, John's bones were the first amputation until the operation was disinterred by the graders_and carted away." THE DEATH TIDE BY ROBERT T. CREEL. The Particular Revenge That Was Meted Out to Legs Brown, and How It Ended. ^A4^V GAIN there was quiet on the man. There were a few neat houses here hillside. The and there, but the greater of /» ^^mTV'* K construction- number dwell- v-gg^^jj^^ crew was gone, leaving the ings were dirty gray teepees, surrounded by "rv Sasn where ran the a profusion of soiled children and yelping Xf/lHVili A rails of the newly com- dogs. The primitive American is not noted pleted road as the only me- for his industry. Given enough to eat mento of their presence. Venturesome chip- and drink, he is never relentless in the munks ran hither and diither along the pursuit of higher culture. ties, volubly chattering their impressions of Out on the bay, a slight breeze rippled the phenomena to whoever would listen. the waves and gently rocked the scattered The woodland creatures had resumed canoes in which a few somnolent Indians their normal lives; that is, most of them were fishing. had. Around a sarvas-berry thicket flut- The ex-brakeman, yawning and Stretch- tered a pair of wild canaries chirping ing himself, shouldered his rifle and moved distressfully, evidently "fearing for the stealthily into the underbrush. An ordi- safety of their nest. Something unusual nary person might have walked directly was concealed in the bushes. into the village, but Brown was a detective, Presently, following a violent agitation and had his own conception of the methods of the leaves on one side, a large foot ap- followed by gentlemen in that profession. peared, upheld by a long, hairy shank, " This seems to be a hos-tile country, all around which swarmed a cloud of mos- right," he remarked, stopping to chastise a quitoes. After waving uncertainly for a predatory ant who had attacked his nether moment, the foot was drawn back and there limb. "Even the bugs wanta chew off'n issued forth an individual, red of visage, me. But, on, Stanley, on ! The night ap- with blue eyes that laughed, and a figure proacheth." that was scarcely more rotund than a walk- A few steps farther, however, he halted ing-stick. The birds need not have feared. again, his breath coining hurriedly, with It was Legs Brown—he of the Sandville a strange tightening of the scalp that caused incident and the Melrose wreck, wherein he his hair to bristle. From somewhere at his had pursued the wreckers on ostrich-back, right came a plaintive voice: and L J caught them. Now he was en- "No, no, Johnny, don't make me go on. gaged in secret service for the company. Don't. It hurts when I talk about it. He hoped to stop the depredations of the Leave th' ol' man alone. I ain't never Indians who resented the encroachment of done nothin' to you all." the railroad on their lands. Then came another voice, low, yet threat- Below him was the village of the red ening: " . 586 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. "Bill, who killed Pietro?" "What's that?" asked Brown sharply. 15 "Yah, who did?" snarled the first But the aged imbecile was already prat- speaker, a note of defiance in his tone. tling vacuously. Repeated questioning "Me! Choked him till his eyes stuck out. failed to elicit more information on the He had it comin', Johnny, he did. But he subject. Giving up hope. Brown started ain't satisfied with that. He ha'nts me! down the rocky hillside, his mind busy with Him an' his crowd o' hell-hounds won't let conjecture as to why the Indian should th' ol" man sleep at night. Why, nobody have use for explosives, and if the answer cud sleep with a whole roomful of 'em would not bring him very close to the object gogglin' an' rattlin' their jaws. I cud stand of his own mission. even thing else, if they'd stop rattlin' their Unexpectedly brought out of his musing jaws! by a slight sound in the rear, he turned, Brown, moving softly through the thicket, and threw up his arm barely in time to found an old tumbledown shack from which •stop something that came writhing and came the voices. No longer caring to play hissing through the air. the role of eavesdropper, he thrust open the Before he apprehended the nature of his door with his foot, and peered in. peril a full-grown rattlesnake was coiling Of the two occupants, one was an ap- around his arm. Already the rattles were parently half-witted old man, in a frenzy humming their song of death, when with of terror at his own recital. The other his left hand he seized the still dazed rep- was a young Indian, beady-eyed and bru- tile by the neck and tore it free. tal-featured, with long, coarse hair that Grasping the tail, he released the neck, served to lubricate his coat-collar. At the and with a quick motion snapped off its interruption he seized his shotgun and head. Without a -moment's hesitation, covered the intruder before Brown had ac- Brown charged up the hill in the direction customed his eyes to the half light. from whence the strange missile had come, " " Git out ! he commanded laconically. but all was quiet. Search as he would, he "How d'ye do?" replied Brown, grin- could find no trace of the enemy. ning broadly. Swearing softly to himself, he returned "You no go, I shoot." to where he had thrown the dead snake. " You seem to be a man of infinite jest, "That's a fine large specimen to be Horatio, as the feller says. But, say, kid, slingin' at a man. Seven rattles and a put 'er up. I feel like I'm going to climb button. Aha, what might this be?" you if you don't, an' youH git all mussed." Secured to the body by a piece of cord Gazing steadfastly at the other, he ad- was a scrap of soiled paper. Hastily un- vanced until the point of the gun was al- folding it, he read these words, written in most touching him. a scarcely legible scrawl: "You ar to " " For the last time—put up that gun! smart, lok out for the dcth tide." The Indian returned the look, his own " Seems to be a communication. Yea, eyes gleaming hate. Then his grip slowly bo, if I see one of them things, I'll throw relaxed, and the weapon slid to the floor, m' hat at it." - its owner cowed by a superior will. Carefully placing the note inside his "Havin' a little vaudeville all by your- shirt, he hastened on his way to the vil- self, I see. By gosh, it takes a low-down lage. One house, standing apart from the Siwash to get any fun out of torturin' a others, impressed him with its appearance poor old lunatic. You drive out o' here, of cleanliness and general respectability, and don't Come back, or you 11 git cleaned." seeming to hold aloof from its humbler The Indian sullenly obeyed. neighbors. He decided to seek lodging Turning to the old man, Brown said: there for the night. When the door opened " If that animile comes pesticatin' around in answer to his knock, Brown, in the act here any more, Uncle Noahy, let me know. of taking off his hat, stopped and stared. IH be down at the camp a few days." Instead of a dull-faced Indian woman, "Yes, suh—yes, suh. Much oblec-ged," as he had expected, he saw a filing, mumbled the patriarch. brown-eyed girl, neatly clad in a blue " Don't know but what Johnny'll git calico dress, her shapely arms bare to the .-in«ed. anyways, ef he keeps monkeyin' elbow. She had the exquisite complexion with that there giant powder. Blowed up! that is peculiar to those in whom there is He, he! Yes, suh, blowed up!" a tinge of Indian blood. — — THE DEATH TIDE. 587 After a certain amount of stuttering, the "Yes. I guess "most of 'em do." " wanderer contrived to make known his de- " May I ask what is yours ? sire. He groaned inwardly. Here was one of " Yes, I think you can stay. Father those pitfalls of society of which he had won't be home until late, but he never re- heard. If he told the truth, he would cer- fuses to take in strangers." tainly be committing a grave offense against His entrance into that house marked a the rules of propriety, and to lie was cow- change in Brown. Whether consciously or ardly. He chose a middle course. •otherwise, there exists in the imagination "Ah—Limbs Brown they call me; but, of every man the image of his ideal mate. say, ain't this a fine evening?" Only in such degree as she conforms to thir, She smilingly admitted that it was as ideal can a woman command his affection. she led the way to the front stoop. Brown Dimly, Brown felt that in Louise Allen soon began to feel that her companionship he saw his dream-woman materialized, and was very agreeable to him. Her voice he was glad. thrilled him strangely, and it seemed that He wondered if he had aroused similar there had grown between them a bond of emotions in her; but, taking a mental in- sympathy—an influence that was not less ventory of his own charms—huge hands real for its intangibility. As if it were the and feet, bullet-head, and stubbly hair most natural thing in the world, he told he decided that he had not, and cursed the her of his cherished hopes and ideals fate that had made him. However, there thoughts that he had jealously guarded was one asset of which he was unaware. from the rough contact of his every-clay About him was the air of sturdy manhood, life. conscious strength, and self-reliance' that "Do you know, Miss Allen," he said, a the railroad breeds in its workers. Pos- touch of sadness in his voice, "in the last sessing this, a man needs little other recom- few years I've begun to think that a man mendation to the favor of a truly feminine oughta figure on bein' something more than woman. a boomer brakeman all his life. Red Bill 1 Frankly, he told her why he had come McCrea used to say, What shall it profit and asked for such information as she a man if he grabs the whole world and could give. cannot dissect the mustard?' I guess that's "Why, Mr. Brown," she laughed, about right, too." "you're trying to make me betray my own "When one realizes his mistake he is people." taking a long step in the right direction," "No, sir-ee," he responded gallantly. she replied gently. " You ain't no more of a savage than I " But it's pretty hard when a man has to am." live at these railroad boarding-houses. A " My mother was a quarter-breed, and saloon's about the only place that'll give my great-grandmother was a full-blooded him the glad smile." Indian; so, you see, I'm very much a sav- After a pause, he continued: age." "I—I was wonderin' if you'd be will- " Well, dang it—or—blame it, I mean, ing to help a struggling young man like " I like savages, anyway." me, if he was trying to do the right thing? " Thank you. But, seriously, I have "Why, how could I help you, Mr. ?'" heard some rumors of a plot to blow up Brown the track a short distance north of here, " It'd help a lot if you'd marry me," he where it passes near the tide-flats. They returned modestly. say the powder is stored there in readiness." She laughed softly. " You honor me There was little more that she could tell greatly, having known me only a few him; and, while she prepared and served hours. But perhaps some one else has the evening meal, the talk drifted to other asked before you." subjects. Brown related several of his rail- "Has somebody beat me to it?" he de- road adventures, in which she was keenly manded. interested. As he finished the tale of "Well, there is Tail Feathers, son of the Third-rail Hawkins and Frenchy, she in- chief. He has offered father a great many terrupted him to ask: horses and blankets for me." "Do all railroad men have nicknames, When he would have spoken again she Mr. Brown?" warned him to silence, pointing to the shad- 5S8 THE RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE. owy roadway. Gazing intently into the to drown. It soon became obvious that he darkness, he discerned a skulking form, was not to die so easily, doming to an old apparently carrying a heavy burden. quay at the water's edge, one of the In- " If you follow him, you may find some- dians forced his jaws open and thrust the thing that will interest you," whispered the barb of a small fish-hook into his tongue. girl. To the hook was fastened a fine wire, "Harrigan, that's me," he rejoined which they forced between his teeth to pre- eagerly. vent its being held by them. He was then Hastily bidding her good night, he stole placed in a sitting posture on the edge of away in the wake of the crouching figure. - the platform, and the wire was made fast For perhaps a quarter of a mile north, to a floating log that was moored to the along the tracks, he followed silently, care- pier. This done, his captors,- one by one, ful lest by the slightest sound he should glided away and disappeared in the shad- make his presence known. ows. At a point where the road turned sharp- Only dien did he begin to understand ly away from the shore line, his quarry their reason for placing him there. The plunged into the underbrush at the lower tide was now at its highest. When it began side of the track. With some misgivings, to ebb the log to which he was fastened Brown did likewise. Now began a period would sink lower and lower until he was of aimless creeping and crawling, guided drawn over. With infinite pain he twisted only by the noises of the night, some of and turned until he lay face do^vn, his head which he thought were made by the man hanging over the water. whom he pursued. Lying so, he composed himself to watch Once he heard a peculiar sound near the wire tauten for the last time. He him. and prepared for action; but, entering knew now what was meant by the " death- an open space, he saw a small cascade of tide." Somewhere he had heard that dirt arising from a newly-made hole, and among these Indians there was a super- Ehew that it was only a badger seeking a stition against shedding the blood of an ground-squirrel for his repast. enemy in time of peace. In this way they At length, in an unusually dense thicket, left the fate of a prisoner in the hands of he scraped against something metallic. An their deity. If he chose to stop the out- investigation proved that he had stumbled flow of the tide, the victim was released. on three large canisters of powder. Rising Brown sighed heavily. He could stand to his feet, he stood motionless for several to drop out, he thought; but he had failed minutes, his ears strained to catch any in his duty, outwitted by a handful of In- sound that might indicate the presence of dians. It was this that caused two bitter an enemy. tears to mingle with the drip-drip of blood Hearing nothing, he stooped and pried in the phosphorescent water about him. open the cans, laying a train of powder Gradually the slack went out of the wire. from each one. Then, applying a match, Every slight movement of the log sent a he scrambled off at top speed. thrill of agony through him. He writhed He had gone scarcely thirty feet, when about in an effort to secure a moment's sur- there came a blinding flash, followed by a cease from the torture; but the inexorable dull report. In the instant of light he was pull continued, down—down—down until startled at seeing a man directly in front it seemed that he would go mad. of him. Without slackening his pace, Then, faintly, he heard a piteous cry. Brown shot out his fist and the man fell, The strain ceased, and he was being surrendering the right-of-way without ar- dragged back to safety. Some one was gument. But other figures sprang up, and wiping his face with a damp cloth. in a few moments he was the center of a "Louise," he whispered. silently struggling mass of men. . "Merciful Heaven," she sobbed, "they Brown went down fighting. Be it said, nearly killed you! You were just going however, that before he was bound there over when I came." was hardly one of his assailants who could Tenderly she withdrew the hook from not show marks of the conflict. his swollen tongue. Uttering no word, they marched him " Do you feel better now ? " she asked. down the slope. He wondered vaguely if "Sure. I'm all right," was the reply. they intended to throw him into the bay "How'd you happen to find me?" — — THE DEATH TIDE. 589 " Old Bill Jimson was wandering in the " It might not be safe for you to return to woods, and saw them bring you here. The the village." poor fellow would have tried to help you He got to his feet and took the rifle; himself, but the younger Indians have so but, still feeling weak, he seated himself terrorized him that he didn't dare. Father on a rock. The girl stood facing him. is the only man in the village in whom he "You didn't answer my question," he has confidence, so he came to our house. insisted doggedly. When he found that father wasn't at home " Is it a fair question, Mr. Brown ? Re- he broke down and cried—said you were member, I am part Indian. Would you kind to him this afternoon, and now if you be content to become a squaw-man? And were killed it would be his fault. You maybe I am already promised to Tail didn't tell me you had met Old Bill." Feathers. "Well, well, that must have been Uncle As she stopped speaking he saw that she Noahy. Yes, I met him. Met a young was staring fixedly at something behind Siwash at the same time— feller't looked him. Suddenly she seized the rifle from like somebody'd hit him in the chin with a his hand, and, throwing it over his shoul- crab-apple. But, shucks," he added de- der, fired into the bushes. A man leaped jectedly, " after all, I had to go and make in the air and came down in a heap, his a fizzle of everything." hand still clutching a hunting - knife. "How can you say that? Didn't you Brown recognized the young Indian whom " prevent them from blowing up the track ? he had first met on the hillside. " Yes, and let 'em catch me. But, " Saved again! I want my answer." Louise," he went on wistfully, " won't you The girl pointed to the bodv at his feet. say that I got a chance against this Tail " That," she said tremblingly, " is Tail " Feathers person ? Feathers." She averted her face a moment. She swayed, and would have fallen, but " I brought your gun," she said softly. —Brown was there. TO SAVE THE FLANGES. A Lubricating Device Which Lessens the Wear and Tear on a Locomo- tive's Drivers. ANEW flange lubricator, recently put on the passenger-engine when running at a high rate market by the Collins Metallic Packing of speed. Company, Philadelphia, can be adjusted to meet In a test made for the purpose of arriving at the any condition of design or construction of loco- economic value of the device, it is claimed that be- motives in service at the present time. The fore the lubricator was applied to the locomotive lubricating substance is in the form of a solid it was necessary to take the engine out of service block which is very easily and quickly applied, on account of sharp flanges at the end of four making the maintenance cost of the appliance months after it had made twelve thousand to four- almost negligible. teen thousand miles. After the lubricator was It is claimed that when the lubricator is once applied, it is claimed that there was very little set and properly adjusted it requires no attention flange wear noted. during an ordinary trip of two hundred to three At the end of nine months, when the engine had hundred miles. The only attention thnt it then a credit of twenty-four thousand miles, it was ta- needs is the pulling back of the latch, which is in ken out of service because the tires were hollow communication with the adjusting mechanism, worn to the extent of five-sixteenths of an inch which provides for the pressure of the lubricating the flanges showed very little wear. The tires block against the wheel. were turned down to remove the high places and This operation is completed in an instant. The the flanges were not touched. The engine was then life of one lubricating block used on an engine in placed in service with the hope of getting six switching service is from three thousand five hun- months' more wear out of it before it would be dred to four thousand miles, and from two thou- necessary to turn the tires. Railway and Engi- sand five hundred to three thousand miles on a neering Review. — — — —— — ; THE GALL-BOY. BY J. EDWARD HUNGERFORD. Written for "The Railroad Man's Magazine." J^JCE upon a midnight dreary, as I slumbered weak and weary, As I rent the air with many a lusty, loud, and raucous snore; Suddenly there came a rapping to disturb my peaceful napping. As of some one roughly rapping, rapping at my chamber door " Said I, waking: Who in thunder's rapping at my chamber door? " This I said—and something more! Ah, distinctly I remember, 'twas a night -in bleak December; 'Cause 'twas cold, and nary an ember wrought its ghost upon the floor; Nary an ember threw its shadder—we had steam heat, which is sadder; As that lobster in the hallway beat his knuckles on my door; Loudly hammered on the panels till I thought they'd split for sure " " Darn! I said—and something more! Presently my thoughts grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, From my bed I hopped a-shiver, fairly frigid to the core; " " " Hi! I yelled, my patience snapping, if you're bound, intent on scrapping Just continue tapping, rapping, beating, slapping on my door! This I said, my night-shirt flapping, as I ambled to the door This, ah, yes—and something more! Deep into the darkness peering, toward the doorway I went steering; Toward the doorway, never veering, feeling murderously sore; And to still the angry beating of my heart, I kept repeating: "Lobster! 'Tis a sorry greeting that I'll give you at my door " What is more—dod-gast your crown-sheet! Here I opened wide the door On~*tne Call-boy—nothing more! 590 -Euro pe's O 1 d-F as hi on ed Railroads. BY CHARLES FREDERICK CARTBR. FREQUENTLY we hear reports of the antiquated rolling-stock and obso- lete methods of European railroads; but unless we have been abroad and observed personally the sad state of things prevailing there, w e are unable to appreciate what the traveling public of the old world must undergo in order to be carted from one point to another. Mr. Carter, as our readers know, is an old railroad man who is one of our most observing chroniclers of up-to-date railroad topics. He has just returned from an extended European journey, during which he studied foreign railroad conditions closely for The Railroad Man's Magazine. With the customary disapproval of the practical American railroader for crude and undeveloped mechanical devices that should now be at the bottom of the scrap pile, he tells of the time-worn makeshifts that are still in vogue on some of the foreign roads. W hat Mr. Carter saw and suffered abroad can leave no doubt in the minds of our readers that American railroads have no equal in the world. Why the Prospect of a Railroad Journey Makes the European Traveler Think Twice Before Trusting Himself to the • Tender Mercies of a Train. \,0 an American even moderately never taken a fresh start. Instead, it has familiar with the railroads of been fossilizing ever since. Its railroads are his own land, those of Europe one of the chief reasons why Europe lags afford a contrast that is more behind in the march of progress, for ade- than startling; it is almost in- quate transportation facilities are the first credible. No amount of read- and greatest requisites for prosperity, with- ing in technical journals and books; no out which everything else counts for naught. recollections, however vivid, of the foreign Perhaps it may be contended that Euro- transportation exhibits at the Chicago and pean railroads serve the purpose for which St. Louis world's fairs, can prepare him for they were built. So they do—after a fash- the reality. But when he has taken his ion. So, also, can a man with two wooden seat for his first railroad journey on the legs contrive to walk; but no one will ven- other side of the Atlantic, it begins to dawn ture to maintain that he can walk as well upon him that he is in the mummified pres- as with the kind of legs usually provided ence of the most remarkable case of arrested by nature. development in the world's history. It may be something more than a coinci- The railroad stopped short in the first dence that government ownership and in- period of its growth in Europe, and it has ferior railroads are found together; but for 59i 592 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. present purposes it is necessary to go no the compartments as nearly inaccessible as deeper into the subject than any tourist with possible, and besides, there are always a a reasonably good pair of eyes can see. lot of natives wanting the seat you are after, • and they are more expert at scaling die The Trials of the Traveler. steps. There are three classes on' all continental When a man goes away from home in the roads, and smoking and non-smoking com- "United States he can look forward to a partments for each class. Thus there are pleasant day or night, or both, resting at five chances to one that you will find your- ease in a comfortable chair or sleeping self in the wrong pew when you do get peacefully in_a good bed, with appetizing, aboard. To add zest to the game, there are well-served meals to be had at regular no separate cars for each class, but all the hours. But in Europe the very thoughts of various classes are mixed up in each and a railroad journey sends cold shivers down every car. his spine. Travel there is a nightmare; When he is finally settled, completely nothing less. winded, the American tenderfoot finds, to In the first place, the traveler must get his measureless disgust, that the European down to the station at least half an hour passenger - car, or "carriage," as they will before the train-time to register his luggage. persist in calling it, has never developed There are no last-minute rushes to the beyond die stage-coach idea. In England station there, for things are not organized and_Belgium particularly, there are many that way. Every pound of luggage, except cars built to represent three stage-coach hand-bags taken into the coach, must be bodies placed end to end, just like the ear- paid for at stiff rates. liest cars used on the Baltimore and Ohio Two hundred pounds of baggage will aw ay back in die thirties. amount to as much as a fare for one per- son. In addition to this, four men must Boxes on Wheels. be tipped to get your trunk on the train, and four more to get it off again and up They have four wheels like a stage- to your hotel, for the railroad does noth- coach, though some of the larger ones have ing but haul the trunk after it has been six wheels. Both the four-wheeled and the placed aboard. These eight tips per stop six-wheeled models were tried, found worth- are on a fixed tariff, usually amounting to less, and discarded in the earliest years of eighty cents. If the hotel clerk knows his railroad development in America. One business some of them are included in the short journey in them is enough to reveal hotel bill and paid; then they are collected the reason why such cars had so brief a a second time by the tippee, making the career here. Of all the bone-racking in- total one dollar per town. stigators of uncharitable thoughts diat ever Adding the cartage between the station ran on rails, they are the worst. and the hotel, brings the total up to $1.50. Passengers unfortunate enough to be in- Lucky, indeed, is the traveler who is too carcerated in them dare not open their jx)or to have a trunk. When all the tips mouths to voice their dissatisfaction with have been handed out and the railroad's their plight for fear of having their teeth charges paid, the traveler gets a slip of shaken out. The only easy riding cars white paper about three inches square, found in a journey extending dirough six which takes the place of the check used in nations were on German express trains. the United States. On presentation of this They had four-wheeled trucks somewhat af- slip and the payment of four more tips, the ter the American fashion. A few of the traveler gets his trunk to his hotel at his best trains in England also have cars with destination. four-wheeled trucks. Whatever die size of the car or the ar- The " Comforts " of a Carriage. rangement of the running gear, the resem- blance of the interior to the stage-coach of The luggage attended to, the next step is a century ago is more marked than that of to capture a seat—if you can. and then the exterior. There is the same low roof hftng on to it— if you can. This is an and the same narrow, straight-backed seats Operation requiring no small degree of1 skill. placed face to face that are to be found in The ?teps on the cars are designed to make the old stage-coach or the more modern EUROPE'S OLD-FASHIONED RAILROADS 593 brougham. Indeed, the European mind sort, a prudent American will never enter seems incapable of understanding that seats a compartment unless he can get an end in a public conveyance can be arranged in seat where there is a fighting chance to any other way. keep the window open. Even on the broad decks of steamboats On ordinary trains there is no communi- all the seats are arranged in pairs to compel cation between compartments. Once shut the passengers to sit face to face. Space in at a station, a passenger cannot escape " " in railway carriages is dealt out so spar- until the guard comes to his rescue at the ingly that there is no place to put one's next stop. On express trains, there may be feet except in the lap of the passenger op- " corridor " cars. These have the inevitable posite. When he tries to reciprocate, this compartments, but diere is a narrow aisle arrangement is found to be not altogether at one side. satisfactory. This does not necessarily mean that a pas- Those straight-back, narrow seats, too, senger may go from car to car throughout are comfort destroyers. To recline in a the train. Only on the best through trains comfortable position is impossible. The are vestibuled cars to be found. Owing to luckless passenger must sit bolt upright, and the distance between cars due to the pre- if he wears a hat the brim strikes the back posterous buffers in universal use, the vesti- of the seat or the compartment wall, forcing bules are long, narrow, unclean passages in his chin upon his breast. vivid contrast to the familiar vestibule at In two minutes, he has the fidgets; in home. Only "corridor" cars have lava- two minutes more he is in a violent temper, tories. and a little later he has abandoned all hope of doing his situation justice in mere words, Starvation or Nausea. and has sunk into a state of coma from which he does not emerge until his destina- Such conveniences are regarded as the tion is reached. There is no escape by going last word in advanced travel and are proud- into a better-class car. ly featured by the enterprising railroads First-class compartments are in the same owning them. On French roads, water- car with the second-class, and there is ab- tanks are carried on the roof over the lava- solutely no difference between them except tories, and these leak so badly that on half in the color of the upholster)'. As the colors the cars observed the rooms were flooded are not standardized, the passenger who and could not be entered at all. pays first-class fare, which is pretty stiff, The dining-cars are immeasurably in- is always haunted by a dread that he may ferior to those in America. To tell die brutal be riding in a second-class compartment at truth, they are frowsy and in need of a first-class rates. general overhauling at the shops. Window- shades are sometimes missing, so the sun Every Convenience Is Lacking. can shine straight into the eyes of die diners, and the linoleum on die floor is No matter what the class or the country, often dilapidated and soiled. Instead of the windows are invariably let down by a flowers for table decorations, advertising strap, precisely like those in a stage-coach cards are stuck up in every available space. or a hack—that is, unless you are so un- The meals are vthe everlasting table d'hote fortunate as to share the compartment with luncheons and dinners, from which there native travelers. In that case the windows seems to be no escape in Europe, with the are not let down. If there is anything in same monotonous round of unappetizing Europe that seems to be more dreaded than dishes, doled out with stingy hand and the t water, it is fresh air. invariable slow service. " " Six or eight natives will get into one of _ There are restaurant cars on the boat- the tiny compartments, carefully close the trains from London to Dover, but as there windows, or the window and the door open- is no communication with the rest of the ing into die "corridor," and breathe into train and no stops, the diner must enter each other's faces for hours at a stretch the car at one terminal and ride to the other. even during the hottest days of August. For this an "entrance fee," or "seat fare." And, mind you, the windows are die sole of sixtystwo cents is charged for die ride means of ventilation. After having been of seventy-five miles. This, added to the made sick once by an experience of this regular first-class fare, makes a rate of a 2 RR 594 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. trifle OA-er seven cents a mile, which, it must tenderfoot from the "States" ever drinks be admitted, is ample. Once on board, it water in public. is found that tea costs twenty-five cents a An American observer is filled with cup and other things in high-cost-of-living amazement to find that trains can be op- proportion. erated with the obsolete equipment in use in The only alternative for hungry passen- Europe. In England, vacuum brakes are gers is the station lunch-cart, or counter. still largely used on passenger-trains. Im- Except in France, the sole eatable to be had agine a -vacuum brake stilL surviving in -at these places is ham sandwiches. Gener- 1910! Generally, however, the air-brake is ally the hard, dry rolls are not buttered, used on passenger-trains, though it is likely and not infrequently the ham is obstreper- to be of an antiquated type. ously passee. Pie is unknown in Europe, and cake is not obtainable at railroad sta- Steam Brakes on a 4 1-2 Per Cent Grade. tions. There are neither cold beans, chick- en, doughnuts, nor any of the familiar Whatever the type, the air-brake is not staples of the railroad lunch-counter at home the safety device it is in America. Euro- —nothing but ham sandwiches. peans seem to think it is time to find out In France, however, one can buy a paste- whether the brakes are in order when they board box for ninety cents containing a are needed. I saw many engines changed lunch for one person. Here is an inventory and cars set out and picked up, but just of the contents, which never vary: once did I see the brakes tested according to the invariable custom at home. One roll, dry and hard as charity, without If a careless trainman were to neglect to "* butter. open the angle-cock on the train-pipe at One very small slice of ham. tender, cutting out the brakes on One very' small slice of beef. the thus One very small piece of chicken. the whole train, the joke would certainly be One very small slice of cheese. on the luckless passengers if anything hap- One bottle containing three-fourths of a pened. One curious antediluvian relic in pint of vile wine. Oh, yes! Salt! There is a really gener- Switzerland had steam-brakes to hold its ous portion of salt. passenger-trains while going down a four- and-a-half per cent grade. No Water to Drink. Anything is good, though, when com- pared with freight-trains — excuse, me, " " " It is foolish to get angry about it, for goods-trains." A goods-train has to there is no water to quench indignation, how- be stopped before the brakes can be ap- ever righteous. A passenger could parch plied. This is not an attempt to be funny, with thirst until his sufferings culminated but a literal statement of an exact fact. in spontaneous combustion for all the relief In England and northern Europe, many he could find on the train. There isn't any "goods-wagons," or "goods-vans," are in- . water to be had even at the stations. nocent of any brake whatsoever. The others It isn't possible to buy a bottle of min- have brakes operated by a long lever placed eral water except at the more important horizontally at one side of the car in such stations, and if there happens to be a heavy a position that it can be operated only by run of Americans the scanty supply is like- a man standing on the ground. These ly to be sold out before late-comers get brakes are not intended to control speed, around. On German express-trains, a small but only to hold the "wagon" on the ramie of dirty, stale, warm water, open to sidings. the dust and the bacteria, may be found in When the engineer—that is, the driver— fhe lavatories. of a "goods-train" wants to stop, he sim- No one, even in the direst extremity of ply shuts off and lets the train drift until thirst, would drink the stuff. The ofily it gets tired and stops of its own accord! recourse of the thirsty passenger is to buy Some of the engines have steam -brakes on some vile, sour wine at forty cents for the drivers and all have a hand-brake on the three-fourths of a pint. In Germany, the tender. beer that cannot be sold elsewhere is ped- Results of this method of handling trains dled at railroad stations. In Europe it is arc not always pleasant. For instance, on considered disgraceful to drink water under August 24, 1910, an engineer on a Paris, any circumstances. Only the most brazen Lyons and Mediterranean "goods-train," : EUROPE'S OLD-FASHIONED RAILROADS 595 approaching Telagh, France, saw a sema- hand to the limit of the braking power of phore set against him and also saw a pas- the tiny four-wheeled car. senger-train standing on the main line In case of emergency, the " guard " doesn't ahead of him. The only thing he could hustle around setting the brakes on half do was to shut off, jump, and let his engiue a dozen cars, as an American brakeman plow through the coaches, crowded to the would do under similar circumstances. He limit with excursionists. There were no can't, for those long-range buffers hold the brakes and no means of controlling his train. cars so far apart that it would be as much Twenty-four persons were killed and forty as a man's life was worth to try to leap from were injured. one to another. No, the " guard " just Right here is a good place to smite the stands in his hen-coop and lets events take popular delusion about the safety of rail- their course. road travel in Europe. We are perpetually There are three men to a train. Conse- having the vast superiority of European quently there are three brakes to hold it. roads dinned into our ears, when, as a mat- Braking-power being dependent on the ter of fact, they are not safe at all. Here weight of the cars, thpse three little match- are a few samples from a sickeningly long boxes together hold the train back with about list of horrors diat is open to any one who as much power as if a stubborn calf were will take the trouble to look it up tied to the rear buffer of the last car. Contich, Belgium, May 21, 1908. Col- Seven Tons on One Car. lision; 40 killed, 324 injured. Saujon, France, August 15, 1910. Col- lision; 53 killed, 65 injured. It is not enough to describe a European Rottenmann, Austria, September 20, 1910. " goods-wagon " as small or. light, for such Collision ; 11 killed, 25 injured. words fail to tell how little it is. As a Safety! How can there be such a thing matter of fact, to American eyes they re- in countries where brakes are almost un- semble pill-boxes on casters. Some of them known, where cars are built of the flimsiest look as if they would not hold a dose of possible materials, thrown together in the salts. To get down to figures, the average cheapest possible way, and where a large capacity of "goods-wagons" on the Lon- percentage of the signals are operated by don and Northwestern, which may be taken women ? as a fair sample of the rest, is seven tons. In the mountainous regions of Switzerland Coal-cars run a little larger, many having and northern Italy, some of the "goods- the stupendous capacity of ten tons, while wagons" have hen-coops at one end, which there are very few cars with a capacity of in the case of box-cars are placed partly twenty tons. All "goods-wagons" have above and partly below the roof. In this four wheels, two feet nine inches in diam- hen-coop is a brake-staff with a short cross- eter. The wheel-base is not less than eight, piece with one end turned up like the letter nor more than nine feet. " L " for a handle, instead of a wheel. The buffers hold the cars from three to three-and-a-half feet apart. The only Hen-Coops for Brakemen. coupling used anywhere is a chain of three links and a hook like the original couplings The lower end of the brake-staff ter- used on the first train on the Mohawk and minates in a screw on which a block travels Hudson Railroad back in August, 1831. up and down as the staff is turned. The It is interesting to note that the Mohawk brake-chain is attached to the block; thus and Hudson couplings were improved before the brakes are set as the block works up the first run of fifteen miles was completed, the staff and released when it is screwed while the chain couplings are still in use in down. The pitch of the thread is below Europe. On passenger-cars, the middle the angle of repose, so the brake will stay link is replaced by a screw-bolt with right the use of a dog. and left hand threads and a lever to work put anywhere without f slack is taken up. The hen-coop is just large enough for a it, by means of which the ele- shack, or, rather, a " guard," to squeeze in, Yard work is reduced to its simplest there is provided he isn't a very big man. There is ments. The cars having no brakes kicking no room for him to swing himself on the rib occasion to ride them when a couplings are so brake—but there is no occasion to swing cut down a siding. The necessary to himself. He can set the brake with one awkwardly placed that it is 596 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. come to a stop to cut off a car or make a sound they make so weak that even the coupling. The switchman carries a hoe- engineer cannot hear it unless the wind handle with a hook on the end with which happens to be favorable. to manipulate the coupling-chains, and a In designing locomotives, as in designing bugle with which to signal the engineer. passenger-cars, the great end to be attained A bugle is always used to start trains on seems to be to produce the most uncouth, the Continent. In England die guard blows awkward, and inconvenient thing possible. a whistle until he attracts the engineer's No locomotives have the comfortable, roomy attention or runs out of breath. In the for- cabs to be found on American locomotives, mer case, he waves a green flag until the though the Swiss engines of the latest models engineer takes the hint to leave town. In approximate them somewhat in external the latter, he rests awhile and then tries appearance. again. Neither the bell-cord nor the air- In France and Belgium, few engines had whistle is known in Europe. even the pretext of a cab. The best that The bugle is relied on almost exclusively any of them possess is a wind-shield with in switching. Only on a few occasions have a rudimentary roof, amounting to little more I seen hand-signals given. When these are than a short deflector sprouting from the resorted to, any sort of wiggle means any- top. The best of them afford little protec- thing die wiggler thinks it does. Thus I tion from snow and wind, the rest none at saw two Swiss railroad men signaling an all. There are never any seats. Even the engineer for the same train movement. newest locomotives exhibited at the Brus- One gave the American standard code sels Exposition had no place for the engine- back-up signal, the other gave the go-ahead crew to sit down. signal. The engineer took it all in, then In many cases the engineer stands on the went ahead. Probably he guessed right, for left side, instead of the right. Wherever neither of the trainmen had a spasm. he stands all the levers for handling the Speaking of signals, the European codes machine are arranged to make his work as are man-els of simplicity. Here is the awkward as possible. Instead of a revers- whistle code as nearly as it could be com- ing lever, they all have a screw and a piled solely from obsenation: hand-wheel at which the engineer must Approaching stations, one short squeak. grind for some time to "hoss 'er," as the Apply brakes, one short squeak. Release English say. brakes, one short squeak. Back up, one The throttle is fearfully and wonderfully short squeak. Starting a train, one short made. Frequently it is a long steel bar squeak. fastened by the middle to the throttle-stem, I heard a great deal of whistling, but no which rotates instead of having a longi- matter what the message was it was always tudinal movement. To work it the engi- conveyed in one short squeak. neer must face the thing and devote his "Squeak" is used advisedly, for the undivided attention to pumping it up and noise made by European locomotive whistles down. is just that, and nothing else. Not once did The prize-winner was a locomotive in I hear the deep-throated bellow of the service on the Northern of France. The American locomotive whistle. All the whis- throttle was placed in front of the wind- tles over there appear to have been picked shield on the side of the boiler. The engi- before they were halt-grown. The note of neer had to lean up against the side of the all of them is the shrillest attainable. For- boiler-head and reach outdoors to get hold tunately the whistles are so small and the of the throttle-lever! mason, the grizzly. BY CHAUNCEY THOMAS. What a Girl Like Mexie Can Do With fhe Heart of a Strong Man. SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. MASON, the Grizzly, and his partner, "Hungry Joe," prospectors in the Western wilds, enter- tain at their camp-fire a stranger who tells them of wonderful gold mines fifty miles up the mountains, to reach which, however, seems almost impossible owing to hostile Indians. Mason de- cides to make the journey alone. After riding all night, he comes suddenly on an Indian encamp- ment and is compelled to alter his course. He encounters three Indians, kills them, disguises him- self in their blankets and feathers, but is finally captured by a band of Utes, who proceed to put him to death in boiling water. Mason manages to escape during the excitement caused by his hurling the son of the chief into the boiling water, but is eventually captured by another band and brought back to be burned alive. " CHAPTER VI. He my prisoner ! You lose him : I git him ! He go on back trail ! Head off sol- Applying the Torch. diers! Utes have peace, or Red Shirt fight Colorow!" I^JE of Colorow's squaws, worth The Indians divided themselves and seven ponies, came with a gathered behind their respective chiefs. For blazing stick. Through the a long, still minute, Colorow and Red Shirt tangled wood, Mason watched fronted each other. Red Shirt's band was her light the pile. the larger; the soldiers were coming. Colo- " Fire up in a dozen places, row turned on his heel and stalked away. old girl, and let's get the jpb over with in Mason was free. Once more he raised a hurry. I don't blame you a bit. 'Twas his eyes to the merry stars. Then he shook a shame to kill that kid, I know; but I had hands with Red Shirt. to do it. Bet it's die first bath he ever had. "White brother go quick! Come!"" Now it's not nice for you to look at me like Handing Mason an old buffalo robe and that—whq-o-o, that smoke gets in my eyes! moccasins, he led the way down the lonely "And—whew! I always did hate the canon. Red Shirt feared to trust even his smell of burning hair—as I was going to own followers; he would take his white say—I object particularly to you looking at prisoner to the mouth of the canon himself me, for in a minute—U-g-g-g:— Courage, and see liim safely by the slinking outposts. Mason, courage! It'll soon be over—Hal- Then, too, the white man would know more " lo, Red Shirt, what's up ! surely who had been his friend, who had Red Shirt leaped onto the crackling saved his life, and when the white soldiers brush and kindling fagots, swung his came he would befriend Red Shirt. tomahawk and cut the raw-hide rope that Though the wily old Indian gave Ma- bound Mason to the stake. White man and son his life and liberty there his generosity red man leaped from the fire together. ended. Red Shirt rode his split-ear war Twenty of Red Shirt's sub-chiefs surround- pinto, the swiftest long-distance runner of ed Mason, faced outwards and raised their all the Ute horses. He was armed with a rifles. Excitement prevailed. Red Shirt Sharpe's rifle. Mason trudged along on walked straight up to Colorow, and thun- foot. Only the blanket and moccasins had dered in English that Mason might hear: been given to him. Bcean In the December Railroad Man'i Magatine. Single copies. 10 cents. 597 — " 598 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. At the end of die canon, Red Shirt "Halt—or I'll fire!" halted. In his Indian ferocity he already Halt he did, right in his tracks. From regretted having freed the captive. But it the brush before him stepped three white- would be a fatal mistake for Red Shirt to men with poised rifles. relent and take his prisoner back to camp. " Get off that horse and hold up your "Red Shirt never doubles on his trail," hands! he said to Mason, as the white man and the "With pleasure, gentlemen," laughed red looked at each other in silence. Mason as he obeyed. Two kept him covered " Red Shirt, the Grizzly will not forget. with their rifles while the third came for- He thanks you. Adios." ward, secured his own weapon, and took '•Red Shirt all one heap fool. He kill charge of the pinto. three white man you. f6ur," hissed the " Come with us. Run and we shoot. Indian as he jerked his rifle to his shoulder Say nothing." and fired. Not a little puzzled, Mason did so. Mason ducked. He half expected it. They walked a quarter of a mile down Hi- fingers closed over a three-pound stone. Clear Creek canon, one of the strangers in An instant later it wedged fast in Red the lead, two behind, one of these carrying Shirt's skull. Hanging to his pinto's reins, Mason's rifle as well as his own, while the the Indian rolled from his saddle. Mason other brought up the rear with the pinto. gripped the snorting, plunging horse by the In the growing light of the morning, the raw-hide bit. Remembering the service of three looked hard at their prisoner but be- his late disguise, Mason tore the war-bon- yond exchanging glances now and then, net from the smashed head—it felt wet in said nothing. the darkness—grabbed the rifle and am- In truth, Mason was a fantastic object. munition, and swung into the saddle barely His hair was scorched, smoke and soot dis- in time. figured his face and skin. The "Indian war- The three Indian scouts, lurking near, bonnet he had removed during the night and made for him through the gloom, but too tied to the saddle where it hung begrimed late. The frantic bronco, further inflamed with dust and Red Shirt's blood. by the smeU of a white man on his back, On his feet were fancy beaded moccasins squatted half-humped an instant, then flat- too large for him; the old buffalo robe, tened into a whirlwind run. Three arrows with the hair worn off in great bare patches, whistled hungrily into the empty night. was hung and belted about him like a cave- Mason was free. man's mantle. He had no head covering Two Indians were carrying a third one, beyond his long hair, now tangled and full dead, up the dark, silent canon to the In- of dead leaves, sand, and mud. dian camp. A third ran ahead with the On his face there was as much dried news. This left the canon unguarded. blood as dirt and soot. His left arm was Two miles away, Mason made a wide bleeding from its arrow-wound and hung detour to avoid a long, dark mass of ad- painfully, badly swollen. Verily, Mason vancing horsemen. Although they were was not Apollo. moving with rapid caution, yet they made Behind a clump of quaker asp the three no noise. Their horses' hoofs may have led their prisoner. Here were their horses. Let-n wrapped with strips of blanket. Ma- At a sign from one of his captors, Mason son kept too far back in the night to see once more bestrode the pinto, while the other that they were riding four abreast. two tied his feet together beneath the horse's body and tied his hands behind his back. " But see here—" began Mason. CHAPTER VII. "Shut up!" ordered his guard, and, to give weight to his order, he Still a Prisoner. gave Mason a punch in the pit of his long, empty stomach p\AVLIGHT found Mason across Ber- with the barrel of his rifle that knocked the thond Pass and near the hot vapor breath out of him. cavern now known as Idaho Springs. In "Lay low is the beginning of wisdom," 1858, this- was Chicago Bar. Urging the muttered Mason to himself. "Anyway, this tired pinto along through the gray mist, he is not half bad compared to the frying on was thrilled with pleasure to hear in iron deck last night—but I wish I had some Anglo Saxon: breakfast." " " MASON, THE GRIZZLY. 599 With no more ado, the four strung out side. In an hour—a very long hour—the into a trot down the canon. door opened, and out filed fifteen or twenty "Where you taking me?" asked Mason, men. in defiance of another poke from the rifle. Their leader, evidently Holliday himself "St. Charles—maybe hell," was the la- — a bluff, hearty, jovial man, but one whose conic reply. core was of iron—said to Mason: Revolving this in his head, and not hav- "We've voted not to hang you just yet. ing the slightest idea of what was up, Mason We'll wait till the troops and the boys get jolted along in hungry, begrimed, and back and we have the rest of 'em. Any- wounded silence. Down the canon they thing to say for yourself?" " went at a six-mile-an-hour trot. The sun Yes. Give me something to eat ; let me was just lighting the floor of the canon when curry this dirt off me; give me some clothes; they reached the Forks of the Creek. fix up this arm of mine; and let me smoke. If objections, I like to So far, their route had been lonely; but you have no would from here on they passed hundreds of eager- know what's up? I'm not on to your eyed gold-seekers coming up the canon to game," said Mason. The bluff man looked keenly into Ma- the Forks, all bound for Bob-Tail Hill. son's sleepy, bloodshot, yet frank and fear- Each was intent on his own ends, and, be- less eyes. yond an interested or indifferent glance, no "Pardner, you're either the whole Ute, one paid any attention to the three men and Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe nation Mason. rolled into one and jammed into a white It was noticed that the man riding in the hide, or you're a square man. We don't lead carried two rifles, and over his left know which yet—and you've got nothing to shoulder—one pouch before him, the other say about how we decide, either. behind, the ends tied to his belt—hung a ".But I'll tell you this, just on general pair of saddle-bags. principles: ten days ago our treasure-coach The rifle and the saddle - bags he had was wiped out by Red Shirt's band down taken from Mason. What the saddle-bags the Platte between here and Fort Morgan. contained, Mason had no idea. They were Nothing new in that, but we had twenty tied to the saddle when he vaulted into it thousand in the chest. . He got it. The red the night before, and he did not stop to devils were led by renegade white men, and examine them. I suppose they got die money. Now the As Mason, was led at a rapid jog past the V. Cs.—that is, the vigilance committee, if Forks of the Creek, and away from the you're a tenderfoot—pick you up dressed trail up the North Fork to the new dig- like an Arapahoe medicine-man gong crazy, gings, he drew a deep breath, frowned, and and in your saddle-bags we find the whole guards set his teeth, as if disappointed. His twenty thousand— noticed this, and wondered at the depth of " I see," murmured Mason. In the last sigh. the twenty-four hours he had grown hard to At noon the four rode into St. Charles, surprise. Then he added: miles Stiff sore. thirty-five away. and Ma- "Those are Red Shirt's brains on that pin- son was taken from the now exhausted war bonnet. I mixed 'em up with a rock to, led into the offices of the. Ben Holliday last night." f Stage.-Coach Lines, and handcuffed. " Very likely ! So much like Red Shirt,! Two of his captors kept armed guard put in his original captor sarcastically. over him, while the third, leaving his own "Well, gentlemen, you've" got the drop. rifle in the corner, took Mason's gun and Don't hang me for a week, if you'll do me the saddle-bags into another room on the a favor. But, whether you do or not, trot door of which was marked: out a bath, some clothes, some grub, and . 1 . a smoke." The «V. Cs. went back into the private PRIVATE OFFICE office. In five minutes his captor came out; VAMOSE. and still keeping Mason under the three rifles which had guarded him from Chicago Bar to St. Charles, he was taken away to a Various men came, rapped on that door, stout log cabin in the bed of Cherry Creek, and were admitted. A crowd gathered out- which, by politeness, and for the dignity of 600 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. the "city." was called "The Jail." Here, splashed across, and entered St. Charles. alone, in the obscurity of one small window Mason rolled over uneasily and in a weak in the plank door, after a wash and a dress- voice muttered: ing for his arm, a change of clothes, and a " Go it, Red Shirt." feast of two pounds of buffalo hump and a It was a long, dark mass of advancing quart of coffee. Mason lay down to rest and horsemen, riding four abreast, but making think and sleep. noise enough to give China an earache. The Outside, in the sunlight, the two guards Utes had been surprised in the canon, the lounged before the door. It was two o'clock backbone of the tribe had been broken, half in the afternoon. When at dark the guard were dead, the rest had scattered like quail brought in supper, Mason was asleep. The by twos and threes. Twenty were prisoners. next morning, when breakfast came, he was These prisoners belonged to Red Shirt's still sleeping. Noon, still asleep. The band. guard gathered up the last night's supper, With the cavalcade rode Hungry Joe. the breakfast, and the dinner he had just The stranger had left the party at the Forks brought in and tossed them through the jail of the Creek and gone up the North Fork door into the creek. Then he went out- to the new diggings, but Joe come into St. side, padlocked the door, and began a game Charles. of " seven up " with his fellow warder. At No sleep that night for the embryotic four o'clock the game was interrupted by a Denver. A small body of cavalry had been husky voice from the little window in the the care of the avenging force, but nine men door: out of every ten were St. Charles frontiers- " " Say, pardner, have you got a match ? men. The tenth came out. The jail was A boxful was handed up, and there was raided. a grunted: Mason, ready to be hung, his pipe in one " Thanks, u-m-ru-m." hand, tobacco-pouch in the other, the buf- Then through the bars wafted a cloud of falo meat — what was left of it — in his blue content. Next came a cheery whistle, pockets, was shot aloft to the platform shoul- followed by: ders of Hungry Joe and rushed to the great " Got anv more of that buffalo hump town square. left?" Standing on Hungry Joe's shoulders The player who had been winning all astride that massive head, Mason told his afternoon passed in a chunk of cold meat story for the first time. He told of the weighing a pound. There was silence for bringing by the stranger of the tidings about ten minutes, then: the new diggings to the camp by Hot Sul- " " Got any more ? phur; the saddling of Rattler; the swift, This time the good-natured card-player determined night-ride to get to the new dig- handed in a piece of hump as large as his gings; the discovery of the fire and the dan- head, and added to it a pail of water. cing figures in the box canon ahead; the Nothing more was heard from the pris- arrow from out the darkness; the whirl and oner for the rest of the day. When the rapid escape along the back trail and into guards, this ..time together, took in supper, the little branch canon; the climb to the Mason, a piece of buffalo meat in one hand, little park; the wiggling up the ridge to pick his pipe in the other, was stretched flat on out the route; the camp in the rain under hi- i.ack, snoring like a well-developed dog- the dripping willows, and of his going to fight. sleep. The two men looked down at the sleeping Then he spoke of the surprise by the Ute; one. then at each other, and smiled with the arrow-wound through the arm and into many wrinkles. the ground where an instant before had lain " He's no renegade," said one softly. his body; the shooting of horse and rider, '• Not much," muttered the other. and knifing them to the death because he On noiseless toe they went out and dare not shoot again; the necessity of throw- locked the door. * ing the carcasses of both horse and rider into Across the Platte, at that moment, there the stream; the hurried climb to the edge of broke loose a great hubbub. There were the timber; the discovery and killing from shots, yells, whoops, beating of pans and behind the tree of the galloping Indian; the boards pandemonium on a boom. Down taking wearing of the disguise — and ; the dash to the river through the night it came, over the ridge; the shooting in midair of the MASON, THE GRIZZLY. 601 drunken and outlandishly dressed Indian From there, perhaps, Mason could see the waiting in ambush; the chase down the little morning star. canon and through the deserted Indian camp; the shot backward from the revolver that dropped the Indian and his horse into CHAPTER VIII. a rolling heap; the. rain of bullets, arrows, Cherry Creek and the Lady. war-clubs, and stones from above; the death of Rattler, and the stunning of himself; the A/TASON awoke with kicking temples reviving in the icy torrent of the Frasier, and a skin that was hot and dry and where he had been thrown; his despair; and tight. Hungry Joe looked him over, and of his cool solution of Colorow. announced solemnly, " Mountain fever." He related briefly how he had been That was the beginning of a five months' stripped and led to torture in the boiling siege that left Mason weighing but ninety- kettle; how, to gain an opportunity, he had five pounds, a parchment-covered skeleton insulted the son of Colorow, then thrown barely alive. Then slowly he grew better, him into the kettle; how, pursued, he had and for two months did little but sit in die dashed down the canon and right into Red sun and eat. Shirt's band; how he had been taken back All thoughts of the new diggings had and tied to the stake; how the fire had gone long ago. The country was staked for singed him; how Red Shirt, for selfish in- miles, and it would be months before he terests, had freed him and fronted Colorow; could again pound a drill or stand in the how Red Shirt had clothed him so meager- icy water of the gulches with a pan or ly; had taken him to the mouth of the canon rocker. alone, and had devilishly tried to kill him; That ride had been too much for Mason. how he had brained Red Shirt with a stone,' It was too much for any man. But the men grabbed his pinto, head-dress, and gun, es- who had cheered him tiiat night in St. caped the three scouts, and got away; how Charles did not let him die. A log cabin he had unknowingly avoided the dark, si- has plenty of chink-holes, hence it is a lent, avenging column of justice - dealing good hospital. Buffalo soup, and baked white men; and how, at length, he had been apples at twenty- five cents apiece, are ideal arrested. for a typhoid digestion. No other medicine The very rudeness of his speech gr-aced than quinin, pure water, and fresh air liis cause with these pleasant, gay, and ra- worked wonders. Slowly he grew strong diant soldiers. They swore that he was a again. square man, and when he called on his Then did bluff Ben Holliday recall that living rostrum and the Indian prisoners to Mason had saved his firm twenty thousand witness it, the jovial Holliday shouted: dollars. He offered Mason one thousand "Why didn't you say so before?" dollars as a reward, which Mason prompt- "Yes, why?" yelled the crowd. ly refused. Then the stage-man offered "Would you have believed it?" asked him a loan—any amount. This Mason also Mason. refused. "No-o-o!" came doubtfully from some- Again did Holliday proffer help; this where. time a stock of books and stationery found The rest were uneasily silent. but little injured among the burned wreck- Just what happened the rest of that night age of a raided wagon-train. Its owner lay Mason never clearly remembered. This he scalped beside it with twenty-seven arrows does know: The town was full of men, too in his body; his heirs and his name were many for whom to find beds. When day unknown. was breaking he and Hungry Joe went back After an hour with his pipe Mason quiet- to the jail. The door was open, and inside, ly accepted this offer. The next day St. on the bare floor, lay his three recent cap- Charles had its first book-store. Mason tors, asleep. As the place smelled like a was clerk, janitor, and proprietor. Busi- moonshine distillery, Mason had no fear of ness was brisk. Soon, in a small way, he awakening them. began to lend money. His standing as a Hungry Joe, selecting the fat leg of one "square man" drew to him sundry little for a pillow, settled down to sleep. Mason buckskin-bags full of gold dust and nug- took the place next the door* "To git the gets for safe keeping. air," drowsily thought the huge gambler. Mason did what primitive banking St. " — 602 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Charles required. The large accounts, such Cherry Creek was a slimy stretch of muck as Wells, Fargo & Co., and all Eastern and quicksand a mile wide. Here had business, was of course handled by Holli- stood the heart of Denver. It was gone. day. Mason loaned a tittle when he had But not a day nor a sigh did Denver it to spare. Thus business prospered with waste. The wrecked part of the town was him. In the new diggings, forty miles to be rebuilt at once, this time on high away, many struck it rich, but more came ground back from Cherry Creek and the back to St. Charles hungry and desperate. Platte, safe from all floods. The fever that Mason had cursed he now Mason did not forget his banking busi- blessed; for, being a late arrival, he too ness. He hunted up those he owed—they would probably have been among the hun- did not seek him out in his misfortune gry ones. As it was, he had a good, and transferred to them the debts owed to though modest, business, steadily growing him for money loaned. This done, he had better. But it was not the profits that Ma- left one thousand dollars, a good Indian son valued most. He had found a gold- pony and outfit, a clear name, and a clean mine right on his own shelves—a bonanza conscience. of words, . of thoughts, of feeling—his Ben Holliday again offered help, but this books. Mason was his own best customer. Mason declined with a shake of the head What ruins a saloon-man makes a book- and a silent grip of the hand. As they were dealer. He began to keep a diary, thot of about to part, the Overland coach rolled up events alone, but also of his thoughts and to the door. An Indian arrow stuck in the impressions. This diary it has been my leathern baggage boot behind. From the privilege to see and make extracts from. coach stepped a young woman, evidently But there is a fate that shapes our ends, from her dress and manner a widow. rough-hew them as we may. In the spring " Can you tell me where I can find Mr. of 1864 it rained for ten days on the Divide Holliday?" she asked. twenty miles to the southeast of the head- " I'm your man, madam. What can I do quarters of Cherry Creek, yet that bed of for you? It's yours to ask." sand remained almost dry. Suddenly, on " I beg your pardon, Mr. Holliday, but I the tenth day, a wall of water and liquid have come all the way from Iowa to find qukksand six to eight feet high rolled down my husband. He left for Pike's Peak in the Cherry Creek on the helpless settlement. It gold rush of fifty-nine, five years ago, and was the last blow of the wilderness. Under disappeared. I prayed that he was not it civilization all but strangled: but the set- dead; but, at Leavenworth, I was told by tlement revived, lived, and to-day is the one of your drivers that a train similar to Queen City of the Plains. the one he had joined there was captured When darkness settled over gasping and burned on the Arkansas by the Sioux Denver, Cherry Creek was once more a in the late fall of 1860. gentle little stream, barely six feet wide, "He said that you, Mr. Holliday, could rippling along in innocence. Only its mud- tell me more; so I came to you. My hus- diness told that it was still malignant. band was named Decatur—Robert A. De- A man stood on the bank where, that catur. He was coming to Denver to open morning, there had been a book-store. This a book-store— man was Mason. Silently he watched the Holliday and Mason exchanged such passing water. vivid glances that the woman stopped, and "Give me back my books!" he mut- shuddered. Then big-hearted Holliday told tered. Then he glanced up at the kindly the shrinking woman how the wagon-train stars. When his eyes again fell to the water had been found a charred wreck, how her at his feet he laughed quietly, and lit his husband lay sleeping beneath the grass roots pipe. . by the Arkansas, and how the books had _ Between igniting puffs he mused aloud: been found and saved. " Now—pu ff !— for the—pu ff !—pu ff !— Then he looked at Mason and stopped. mines of—puff! —Montezuma." The woman, brave as steel, was standing, He seated himself on the sand-filled tearless, waiting for the rest. Then Mason wreck of his store. As the smoke floated in spoke. slow curls from his lips he fell to dreaming. "Mrs. Decatur," he s,aid, "your hus- The wilderness had robbed Mason of all band's book5 came into my possession. he had. There was no one to claim them; no one — MASON, THE GRIZZLY. 603 knew of him; I took them. Last week all the Cherry Creek I want. Here, give they went down Cherry Creek. They are it to me—" reaching for the paper—"I all gone. Their value was twelve hundred want it as a keepsake. I'm off for Mexico dollars. I have one thousand dollars. That to-morrow morning." is yours. Holliday, lend me two hundred." "Not much, my boy. Keepsakes are all Without a word, but with a light in his well enough. This goes on record first, warm, blue eyes that was good to see, Ben and then you can have it for a keepsake Holliday weighed out ten ounces of gold- and the lady, too—wasn't she a darling! dust and handed it to Mason. From his Cherry Creek might be worth a thousand hip-pocket Mason pulled his own buckskin dollars some day." sack, and handed both to the amazed wom- " Give me the lady and you can do as an. She protested. Holliday mildly in- you want with Cherry Creek. Got a " sisted, and with gentle firmness forced her match ? to accept. Mason looked longingly into his empty pipe. IX. The night-coach was about to leave. Mrs. CHAPTER Decatur turned to Holliday and asked for Mexico—the Forgotten. a pen. She rapidly wrote a page and hand- ed it to him. A/fEXICO. The Egypt of America; old "Read it when I am gone," she said. ^ when the Anglo-Saxon was born. She gave her hand to Holliday and When the wolf suckled Romulus, Mexico thanked him warmly. To Mason she gave had a forgotten history of a forgotten race both hands—and said nothing. But Mason and civilization. Did you ever read Pres- knew. cott, the blind historian of ancient Ameri- As the coach, with three mules in the lead ca? Do so. Then when you read of and two on the wheel, lumbered away into Grecian games, played seven hundred years the dusk, the two men, a little apart from before Christ, of the expedition after the the rest, swung their broad, black hats in gold-filled sheepskins lining crude sluices answer to a good-by flutter of white that a in Asia Minor, of the sweating slaves who dainty hand held out of the window. Her built the pyramids, of the glories of Baby- other hand held every cent Mason had had lon, now buried beneath half a hundred on earth. feet of dust, of the hoary tales of the yellow " If it hadn't been for Cherry Creek last man—when you read of all these until week that little woman would never have they seem to have been but yesterday and gone back to the States," Mason said to long for something older, turn to Mexico. Holliday. Here fought and conquered the bravest, "Why not?" the most determined man of history—Cor- " 'Cause I would have married her." tez. Here, in royal green, ruled Monte- " " Well—I'll—be—hanged ! zuma. Here was the magic land where " Perhaps she has proposed herself,'' Spain found new life and for a time be- laughed the bluff stage-coach owner, "let's came the modern Rome, the ruler of the see what she says—" and he opened the world and the waves. Here is where Lew paper Mrs. Decatur had given him. Wallace wrote, where General Lee learned "Well, Mason, allow me to congratulate the art and science of war, where Maxi- you. The dear little thing thinks she has milian died, where Diaz rules to-day. outwitted us, after all. Here is a deed, Do you believe that between the shores drawn in true feminine fashion, it is true, of Mexico—or the outlying Antilles—and but still perfectly good, for a mile or two the coast of Africa, thousands of feet be- of Cherry Creek sand flats that some land- neath the blue waves of the Atlantic rests faker or blasted Pike's-Peaker in the back the cradle of man, of civilization, and of the trail has sold her—more likely given her. world—Atlantis? No? Then read. She deeds it all to you, Mason; you! I'm Whence came this now dead, now for- jealous! It's worth, counting in the prairie gotten civilization? Whispers echoed from dogs and cactus, about_forty cents in coun- the depths of time, legends told by dark terfeit currency. You own Cherry Creek, lips, tell us that a White God, so it seemed " Mason ! Holliday roared. to the copper -hued race, once came with "Ugh! What a joke. She, God bless the rising sun out of the distant waters her, meant it as a million. But I've got of the Atlantic. He taught the dark people ' 604 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. the ways of civilization. Then he left tec. He was not a Mexican, the hybrid them, going east, over the waves, but prom- offspring of a hated father, a despised ising to return with others of his kind. Aztec slave; but a pure-blooded Indian. When the steel-clad, steel-souled Span- His free, fierce forefathers, six hundred iard burned his ships and faced glory or years ago, poured from the unknown in the certain death, this superstition won more Northwest down into what is now the Val- for him than did his sword or his awe-in- ley of Mexico, conquered, and for three spiring cannon. centuries enslaved the milder Toltecs. Here Montezuma himself, each morning, knelt these Moors of Mexico, in their turn, died to the rising sun, hoping that his eyes might nobly beneath Spanish steel. But the Aztec see the promise of the White God ful rilled. spirit was almost gone. Its embers smol- To-day, the Zuni Indians and other tribes dered in this morose shepherd, glowing only who live in the pueblos, at each sunrise, in his eyes. mount the mud walls of their hive-like He and Mason ate in silence. During dwellings and watch for Montezuma and the stifling , afternoon they slept. W ith the White God to come with the morning cool evening came the sheep and a de- light. light—La Senorita Mexie. Tha girl was Are the legends of the North or the East the half-breed daughter of Mason's surly more beautiful than these? Legend, the all host. Her white mother was long since but silent historian of forgotten ages, also 'dead. murmurs of a race of cultured warriors, Small, slender and trim as a. deer; lithe sailing the unknown waters beyond the as a puma; just bursting into throbbing Pillars of Hercules, who safely plowed the womanhood; pulsating with life; now waves of European seas while yet the tim- dreamy as the lotus; now trembling at a bers of the first Phoenician galleys were glance, this little Cleopatra had the mind saplings. and manners of her evidently gentle mother Did you ever compare Egypt and Mexi- and die instincts of her half-savage father. co? Do so. It is an education in itself. A Venus in living bronze; her nature If you would study Rome, where would you was too wild to be civilized, too civilized go? To Italy? Yes. If you wished to to be wild. From high-arched moccasined soak your mind in the indescribable influ- foot, narrower than Mason's wrist; to her ence which hovers over the Pantheon like low, broad forehead shaded with six great a winged goddess, would you sail for the curls, as dark and fine as skeins of black shores of Greece? Then, if you would silk; Mexie was as dainty as a nymph, study the most ancient of countries, you never bold, always demure, and ever fasci- must study Mexico. It is not the most nating. ancient." you say. Go to Mitla, in south- What might suddenly become animal eastern Mexico. On the ground read Pres- grossness, in Mexie, at this time, was white cott. Search the world for a man to read fire. The peons called her " The Breath of unto you the writings on the stones at Mit- the Morning." To Mason, she was but a la. You will not find him. Yet to many child and he reverenced her goodness. the writings of oldest Egypt are as clear as This girl—unsullied by civilization—had * motionless water. Here is something older not learned to lie. Nature never lies. than the Sanskrit tongue. "What is a lie?" she asked Mason one On a dripping mustang, Mason rode up day. from the south to a New Mexican sheep " To lie is to allow another mind to have ranch. The years in Mexico had changed a false impression," he answered. him greatly. It was August in the early She slowly repeated the definition. "To- seventies. The time was noon. Out over lie-is-to-allow-another-mind-to-have-a-false the glimmering desert, the atmosphere impression." quivered like -transparent jelly. On the After a wordless hour she said: "I like horizon, the fresh, cool mirage came, lured, that." A day later he heard her murmur, vanished; only to tempt again from a new "then one can lie by keeping silent." point. Mexie had but three virtues and the Squatted against the adobe in the full greatest of/ these was charity. glare of the sun, wrapped in a scrape, si- Books they read. In his saddle-bags lence and mental mystery, shaded by all his was the tale of Troy divine. Solomon, in wealth— his sombrero—was a dejected Az- all his wisdom, spoke to them. Under the MASON, THE GRIZZLY. 605 chaparral, Lear raved, the Moor pleaded, Sick at heart, my Lady of the Snows, my Macbeth cursed, Antony praised, Ham- wife, Mexie's mother, withered and died. let pondered. Of these men Mason read I became a sheep dog, almost a peon, my aloud, and they spoke of them as friends. little girl—but now she is a woman, is Mason stopped for a meal; he stayed a free to do as she wishes. I could not in- month and dreamed that he would return fluence her if I tried. You, Senor Ameri- again—perhaps, once too often. Pounded cano, are the first man she would ever obey. corn, pepper, beans, mutton, coffee, books, If you wish her, she is .vours. When her and the guitar; the world forgotten, the des- blood loves it worships, it idolizes, it be- ert, and Mexie; all a lazy dream, but comes a slave, it adores—but beware the enough—for a month, perhaps for life. hate of the rebound." In the frosty morning, they drove forth " But I know your language, I once read the flock. Far from the corrals, during your books; I know the history of Mexico." the blazing moon, they rested in the shade "When the Spaniards came, our great of the chaparral. At evening they followed and good Montezuma remembered what his the sheep home to the ranch, there to fathers had taught him ; that the White God find the Aztec still sitting, still smoking, had gone over the waves into the Morning still silent. Sun and some day would return on great Seated one evening in the moonlight, the white wings to rule again over the lands Aztec, the girl, and the Americano were the and lakes of Mexico. sole inhabitants of three hundred square " When runners came from the salt sea miles of desert. The guitar was silent. " La to the great city on the lake with fresh fish leav- Golondrina," the lament of the Moor for Montezuma—ah ! senor, that is two hun- ing his Granada, and "La Poloma," were dred miles and our people ran it in a day the plaintive airs she played for him, often and night, so swift and sure of foot were taking up the strains in a voice as sweet they—they told the great, king that angels and clear as tinkling water. In the starry in shining scales, having white faces and r stillness, Mason read from the tablets of his hair of gold, riding huge beasts from whose memory. A lizard twinkled across his hand feet flew fire when they rode on the rocks, and the desert became the salted plains of who killed with the thunder-fire and vol- """"" Babvlon fertil ; '°'l with cano smoke, had landed on our shores; then Tired out, Mexie, wrapped in Mason's Montezuma knew that the Aztec's hour had coat, was stretched with the abandon of a come. child on the ground at his feet—asleep. " He sent to them many kinds of gifts. Watching, dreamily, her face half shaded in One was a Spanish helmet full of placer billows of hair, he was drawn from the gold. Another was a wheel of pure gold Asiatic to something older, 'the Aztec. thirty palms around. In your money, senor, " Senor, tell me of the lost mines of it would be worth three hundred and twenty Montezuma?" he said. thousand dollars; but much more in those Silence, a frown, a scowl; corn husk days. Another wheel was of silver worth cigarette rolled; then, in liquid accents: twenty-five thousand dollars. With these "Gringo all fools, senor. There are no gifts came man) 1 others, fine cotton and lost mines of Montezuma." feather cloth, and jewels. With them Mon- The smoky words died away. The living tezuma sent this message: 'White Gods, go silence came again. But the brown face back into the sea! ' was kindling. A soul was surging there. "But Cortez, die Caesar of America and Then in words sometimes lingering, some- of medieval times, burned his ships and times spit from the tongue, came the Aztec's marched into the heart of our capital, senor. story. Brave? Yes, magnificent—but fatal to the "Listen, I will tell you. My mother, Aztec. senor, was from one of the wives of Monte- "Then Montezuma gave to Cortez all zuma. In my mother's veins was Monte- our treasures. His father had hoarded gold, zuma's blood, and I am her son. My father, silver, emeralds, pearls, fine cotton and and after him, I, once owned this ranch featiier fabrics all his life. These were and all the cattle. I studied in the military Montezuma's, yet he gave them all to the schools of Chapultepec. I was not always Spaniard. Three great heaps of gold there this. I was a soldier, an officer, before were; the value, in Americano, was six mil- monte and mescal made me what I am. lions, three hundred thousand dollars. - 606 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " " Then, senor —Mason saw the snake- tured, tortured and hung, after sweet, false like eyes scintillating—"came the melan- words of sworn -safety. choly night. That night Montezuma died. " Senor Americano, my people in our It was June 30, 1520. He sleeps in the capital made the most desperate defense in princely shades of Chapultepec, no one history. Men died before Roman arms, knows where. The deep-toned war-drum senor, but not like my people. Then the of Guatemozin. the last of the Aztecs he is men alone simply died fighting. Our war- called, senor, sounded over the city and we riors used their wives for food. Women ate fought in the dark till the morning light the their babies. The men and boys with bare ' Battle of the Causeway.' breasts and empty hands, the women with "Ah, senor, the blood of four hundred their children in their arms, leaped from the and thirty Spaniards and four thousand Az- housetops down onto the Spanish spears; to tecs stained the waters of the lake. Every bury them, to smother the slaughtering Spaniard whose black soul crossed the Great fiends under heaps of dead, to drown them White Range that night was chased by ten in our blood. fantom Aztecs. There was laughter in the "For an hour after the fighting, the . heavens. We won! There Alvarado, the parched Spaniards could not drink, so clot- Child of the Sun, the Spanish captain, made ted with our blood were the running waters. his leap. There, senor, were lost all the " The Spartans in the pass died before the Spanish guns and cannons; all their pow- Persian that their wives and children, city der and all their gold. Into the waters of and country, might live in peace. The sea the lake it went; it is there now. Santa moans beside their marble—but we are for- Maria be praised! That fight, senor, was gotten. We, the Aztecs, ate our wives and the greatest defeat ever suffered by Spain children, destroyed our city, perished with on Americano soil. Magnificent! Of a ,our country. We did this thing from choice. little over six hundred Spaniards, we killed " Honorable surrender, with freedom, was two-thirds and made them drop their spoils. always open to us. But even our children " Ah, senor! They were gods. Wound- died fighting. At length the time came ed, starving on wild cherries; armed with when, weak and helpless, we could fight no only mail, sword and lance; with only twen- more. The few left alive did not surrender; ty-one horses and no firearms; flying to the they were captured, then enslaved. Who sea for life; those two hundred weary, weeps for the Aztecs? • wounded Spaniards, aided by only a few " H-s-s-s! " The Indian's breath hissed savage Tlascalans, in the Valley of Otumba, between snarling teeth. " But they found fought two hundred thousand Aztecs. * no gold! We laughed at them; then died " The valley was white with our cotton ar- beneath their dripping steel; our lake had " mor, it was full of fighting men. It was our gold—ha! ha! ha! one White God against a thousand of my The voice of the Aztec rang out over the people. A hundred of my fathers died on desert in fierce exultation. From the dis- every Spanish sword. Twenty thousand tance, the snarling jangle of a coyote an- were slain. The tired Spaniards, °ach with swered like an echo. The wild laugh awoke a new wound, were dying hard when Cortez, the sleeping girl. She stirred uneasily, twice wounded, plowing on horseback slowly opened her eyes, then smiled drows- through the battle, with his own hand killed ily at Mason. Cihauca, our chief. Like sheep from the She rolled closer into the coat, cuddled wolves flew the Aztecs. The valley was nearer, and caressingly patted his mocca- empty. The Spaniards had won. sined foot with her fingers, lightly touched " Senor, when troubles pile upon you re- it with her lips, pressed her cheek to it for member Cortez at Otumba. Yes. Remem- a pillow, blinked at vacancy and with a ber Cortez at Otumba. sleepy sigh was dreaming again. The Az- " Then with more men from over the salt tec was silent; his gleaming eyes piercing waters, and aided by our slaves, back they the horizon. came. For seventy-five hungry, bloody It was all so strange, so wild, so— days, senor, they once more soaked our Looking down at the black, silky head on streets and temples with Aztec blood. The his foot; the fresh, fascinating face; the largest, greatest city in the New World they perfect form, the fairy foot, Mason knew leveled to the mud. My people were slaugh- why Mark Antony gave the Roman emt. tered; our emperor, Guatemozin, they cap- pire for such a woman. MASON, THE GRIZZLY. 607 Civilization or Mexie—which? Montezuma, seiior, seek no more—it would Mason wanted both; but both were im- be labor lost." possible. Remove the jewel from its set- The Aztec arose, dropped his serape on ting and its luster would be lost. Others the sleeping girl, and left them. Think- had done it; turned to another race for the ing, thinking, thinking—Mason's eyes and sake of a foreign woman. Why not he? thoughts roamed the cold desert and the He had no other ties. perforated heavens. His foot grew numb " After many battles," broke in the and cold. To move was to disturb the Aztec, " the Spanish Caesar sent less than breathing bronze. one million dollars to his king." The moon set. The coyotes and the The voice was low, the tone was bitter; prairie-owls left them. Cold, dark silence the blood of Montezuma ran riot in the came. Dazzling white the morning broke. moody Aztec. Mason had not moved. Yet his thoughts " A French privateer captured the Span- had searched the universe. ish galleont-and Francis the First, the Foolish? Perhaps; yet for him Mexie French king, had the gold, and laughed had once done the same, and would do it at the Spanish rage. Once Cortez sent a again. Had he not the hot moon to sleep, gold and silver cannon to Spain, seiior, while she, fanning him, watched the sheep? worth two hundred and fifty thousand dol- In the Indian, the desert, and the night lars. That was for show. Mason lived and loved that of which civ- " From such deceits grew the stories of ilization does not dream. There was some- my Aztec fathers' enormous wealth. In thing that lured his nature. gold and silver, we were as poor then as When the sun burst over the sandy hori- now; only in manhood were we rich. Our zon like the throat of a raging cannon, mines we knew not, nor how to work them. when the sky grew brassy and the lizards What gold we had, seiior, came from the crawled from the griddle rocks, the Anglo- streams and where the lodes were rich on Saxon shook himself. His conscience was the surface. The great stores of gold and growling. All that day he was more sullen silver that came from Mexico were mined than even his ugly host. Mexie coaxed by the Spaniards themselves. Seiior, the like a kitten; Mason brooded like a bear. demon is dead. An Aztec rules once more Go! Go! Go! He must. When the in Mexico. Where Montezuma sat now shadows were stretching for the east Mason is Diaz. saddled his horse. The Aztec rolled a ciga- ' Seiior, a light? My thanks to you, rette; Mexie drew a dagger from her garter my friend; the fire—the fire on my ciga- and hid it in her sleeve. rette is dead. I forget everything, seiior; Then Mason, holding his bronco by the but my tale is done. bridle, stood before them. "When Cortez sailed for Spain he had "Where go you, seiior?-" asked the "only two million dollars in gold and silver Aztec. treasure, and half of that was his king's. "To find the mines of Montezuma." But he had five emeralds, seiior, carved by ""But there are no mines of Montezuma, " my people into shapes of flowers, buds, and seiior. What will you do ? bells. They alone were worth one million "Find better ones." dollars, and were coveted by the Spanish The Aztec shrugged his shoulders. queen. Mexie leaped for Mason. Quick as she "We had no steel; we knew nothing of was, the spring - steeled Northerner was iron, although it was all about us. Tin quicker. He- caught the flash of her arm, and copper we used, hardened in a way held it for an instant as gently but as now forgotten — a lost art they call it, firmly as a plaster cast, and kissed his seiior. We cut the emerald with it, seiior. hand. Except to the value perhaps of ten million Then he swung into the saddle—and dollars, all the gold and silver in Mexico rode away. has been taken from the rocks by white Before a lone herder's dugout on the hands. Of the ten million my Aztec desert sat a man and a girl. The man's the fathers had, a little of it is the world's; cigarette had been cold for an hour; some was lost in battle and shipwreck; the girl watched a speck ride into the setting rest is in the lake. For the lost mines of sun. (To be c >otinued .) " Observations of a Country Station-Agent. BY J. E. SMITH. No. 32 — Sometimes Christmas Cheer Has the Right-of-Way Over All Things, and Sometimes It Gets Switched on a Blind Siding and Stays There. "-^\. i^-ERRY CHRISTMAS! Mr. throng at his window. The trains become Railroader, wherever you later at every station, and the passengers are, and a Happy New implore the conductors not to miss their con- Year!" nections. mm These are the bell-ring- But they do miss, and the passengers cry ing, home-coming days, and out in vexation. Trunks go wrong in the only the joyous shouts of the children break rush, packages are lost, and there are woes the brooding peace of the world. and worry and wrath for the dull ear of the — " Again " Merry Christmas ! whether in overworked transportation man. station, towerror on the road. So— " Merry Christmas, Mr. Transporta- ! Some one must shout it. / tion Man Some one must bawl you out, Mr. Santa We are shouting it two weeks ahead of the Claus, with all your sly tricks and showy timely hour, for if we waited until the sea- doings and surprises. Some one must re- sonable moment you would return a cynic's mind them of you, for they have almost for- sneer and heap some guttural imprecation " gotten you, Mr. Santa—the train-crew, the on our heads, for there can be no " merry yard-crew, and the station-crew. anything when the multitude rushes upon,qs You are no cotton-whiskered fraud to and overwhelms us with its demand for them. Mr. Santa, because all they remember attention and service. about you was your doings when they were Nevertheless, these busy men have their boys. They have never seen you since, Mr. Christmas experiences, and many of them Santa Claus. They hear of you, and eager are worth narrating. This brings us to the and exaggerated stories come to them from story of " Bud " Brown's Christmas dinner. the children at home, but this holiday time, Bud has run an engine on our road for a with its feasting and gift-giving and subtle number of years. *^ suggestion of sacredness, is not for them. " Do you know, Bud," said his wife, one For around this time the days are short- December day, " we have been married ten est, traffic is the heaviest, and all the regu- years Christmas Day, and we have never lars and reserves are called out to fight the had a Christmas dinner together? Every snow and cold and keep the business moving. Christmas Day you have been on the road, The coaches and the stations are crowded. or have just come in, or are just going out. People are going home. The baggage- Next Thursday's Christmas again, Bud. trucks are piled high with trunks and grips. Can't we arrange it to have a big Christmas The expressman labors under a mountain of dinner, and have our folks with us and you " unsorted and unchecked packages. The be here, Bud ? ticket-agent has an eager and impatient " I can't lay off, Molly," said Bud. " They Series began in the July, 1907, Railroad Man'i Magazine. Single copies, 1 eenta. 608 OBSERVATIONS OF A COUNTRY STATION-AGENT. 609 are very short of engineers. There's always little things that spring from our family a lot of them sick this time of the year. affections. Business is awful heavy, right now. The Bud, as an honored guest, was determined corn crop is moving. I think I'd have to be to be there. sick, but maybe I can arrange it some way He returned from Chicago in the night, to get in. We'll try it, Molly." and was called for a trip east the next fore- And so it was arranged. noon. After the usual rest at the end of Next day Bud explained it to the road this trip, Bud took out a Ridgeville turn, foreman of engines, who promised to do what which brought him back to the east-end he could, and Bud went out to Chicago with terminal the following da)'. a drag. Bud could now figure his movements and It was only a few days until Christmas. probable whereabouts on Christmas Day At home, Molly and the children had en- with some degree of certainty. tered into the spirit of the Christmas-Day If he got out on his regular turn, he would feast and die family reunion with great get home the evening before, and this would interest. There was much planning and mean he would be called Christmas morning. buying and scheming and enthusiasm of de- Bud used a little diplomacy. tail, all with the central idea that Bud would All the trainmen lived at the other end be with them. and were always anxious to get out on the In Bud's home it was a great event. If first opportunity for the return trip. Bud had been an exile of Timbuctoo for Bud swapped his turn with a later arrival. years, and this was his liberation and home- When he came up again he swapped once coming, the children would have been in no more. greater commotion or expectancy. It is the His behavior was a mystery to die other way, of the human heart. The greatest trainmen. He was accused of plying for a -pleasures that come to any of us are the better engine or for the merchandise run. " "THIS IS WEDNESDAY, THE 24TH ! WELL, OF ALL THINGS ! 3 RR : 610 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. The general opinion, however, was that Bud "She knows!" yelled Bud. had gone "batty," because no one in his Bud answered the rear signal, and once right mind would lay over at that end of more got under way. the line of his own choice. There were no further delays of conse- Bud squandered three opportunities, but quence. made no explanations. Then he figured it Bud got off his engine at the ash-pit, and out that the fourth turn would put him out made out his time-slip on the jump, tossing earlv in the evening and land him at home it in to the roundhouse clerk without stop- Christmas morning, before noon, at the very ping. latest. A cab awaited him, and Bud tossed the Thereupon, although besieged and impor- driver a dollar. " tuned, all other trades were declared off, and Drive to 3010 High Street," he shouted. Bud got under way at ten o'clock the night "If you can make it in eight minutes, keep before, with " all she could pull." the change." Now, fate in the affairs of man has many The cabby made it in seven minutes and inscrutable ways beyond the understanding thirty seconds— faster time than Bud had of a railroader. made on the trip in, but with better padding Bud crowded her, but the engine behaved for the jolts. badly, and the despatcher gave him two bad Bud sprang out eagerly and ran up the stabs. steps. " " " At seven o'clock in the morning he was I'm here, Molly! he cried. I made " little still fifty miles out and on a siding. it! It's only a after one! He walked down to the tower and sent A strange quiet was over the house. " this message to the roundhouse to be phoned Bud ! What in the world is the mat- to his wife: ter?" exclaimed Molly. "They have been telephoning me all morning ! I didn't know Am coming. Ought to be there about what it meant! I am so nervous!" eleven. Bud. "Why, Molly! The Christmas dinner, you know!" gasped Bud. "I made it! I He got away at length, but he had an- got here!" he went on, half appealingly. meeting-point, and at ten o'clock other bad "You haven't forgotten it, have you, Mol- he had covered only half the distance. Then ly?" he sent another telegram Molly waved her hand despairingly. "Why, Bud Brown, you stupid thing. Wait for me. Can't get in till twelve. Bud. This isn't Christmas. This is the day be- fore! This is Wednesday, the 24th! Well, At twelve, Bud was ten miles out and had of all things!" made his last stop. Bud stare'd at her with open-mouthed He sent another telegram to Molly: stupidity. " Ain't to-day—" Hold everything, Molly. I'll be there a Then he stopped. little after one. Bud. " Molly, I'll wash. If you'll fry me some eggs and some of the bacon, I'll go up-stairs Then he sent this message to the round- and go to bed. I've been up all night. house clerk: They'll be after me before morning." Late in the day, he was asleep. Molly Telephone O'Connell's livery-stable to have stair a cab at roundhouse for me at one o'clock. tiptoed to the door and heard the heavy, Bud Browx, regular breathing that tells the forgetful- ness of all things—Christmas, railroading, " ! Hey " yelled the operator as Bud was and all the little joys and petty disappoint- climbing back on the engine. The round- ments of our lives—then she sat down and house operator wants to know if it is the ciied softly and silently. ambulance you want, and if any one is Bud was called at four o'clock, Christ- hurt?" mas morning, and went out with a train of "No!" yelled Bud. "It's a cab! coal for Chicago. C-A-B!" Early Christmas morning, the folks came "And, he says, your wife wants to know in from the country. Finding that Bud what's the matter with you?" could not be at home, Molly and the chil- " • OBSERVATIONS OF A COUNTRY STATION-AGENT. 611 dren were persuaded to return with them and "Let me use your phone! " cried Bud. spread the feast and have the ..day's fes- "Hallo, Central! Give me O'ConnelTs tivities at the old homestead in the country. livery-barn. Hallo, O'Connell! This Bud's house was deserted. O'Connell? I want a rig—a good stepper. Thirty miles out, Bud's engine went Want to go six miles in the country. Want wrong. It sulked and balked on Christmas- to be there by noon. Engineer Brown— Day service. Bud did all an engineer could High Street. Come right— § "that's a fine chrjstmas grouch you got," grinned the waiter. do, but she would not steam. They got into "Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown! The call- clear and another engine was ordered out to boy's after you. Says quick." take the train. "O'Connell, wait a minute. Keep your Bud took the cripple back home. He ear there." sent a message to Molly: Bud went out and held a brief conference with the call-boy. Coming back. Be there about ten. Bully. Bud. "Never mind, O'Connell; I won't use the rig. I've changed my mind. I'm not He returned. It was about ten when he going." rushed up to the house. The blinds were In another half-hour Bud was in the cab down and the door was locked. Bud raced of a passenger engine, and behind him was to the Tear of the house and shook the a single coach. fastenings with an impotent fury. "You've got to turn her some, Bud," ex- "Molly! Molly!" he cried. plained the conductor. " Everything's to be A neighbor appeared at her back door. out of our way. We've got just two hours "She's gone, Mr. Brown," explained the and ten minutes for one hundred and fif- woman. " Her folks came in early this teen miles. Go to it, Bud. Twelve-thirty morning, and took her and the children out in the Union Depot at Chicago. That's the to the country." program, Bud." 612 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Bud was in daredevil humor. Old Santa Tom met her a number of times, and at himself is supposed to have a reindeer fieet- once laid in some tailored clothes, six neck- ness that is some going; but, with all his ties of variant hues, and a change of hats. years of training for this particular day, She cast a witching eye at Tom, and, in Bud left him far, far behind, until the mid- time, Tom held her hand. winter haze swallowed him up. Then Tom confided to a friend that a Bud pulled into the Union Depot a shade young man could not save any money galli- under die two hours, and the next day the vanting and pirouetting around in the folly papers published his picture. of the single state, and that he could never A lone passenger got out of the coach. amount to anything or get anywhere until he As he hurried outside the gate, Bud heard married and had the help of a good woman. the joyous commotion of meeting. The friend assured Tom that was true. ! " Hey, Bud " said the conductor. That is one of the nice qualities of a close " Here's a five-dollar gold piece. That fel- friendship. It can be depended upon to en- low said to give it to you." courage and justify anything on which you "What's all this excursion, anyway?" set your heart. It has the pleasing quality asked Bud. of agreeing with you, and of taking your "Why, that fellow come up from the view, of concurring, assenting, and approv- South and missed his connections, and got ing. That is the reason it is so stimulating marooned a hundred and fifteen miles from to confide in a friend in moments of per- home. Says he's never missed a Christmas plexity. The friend tells us what we want dinner with his wife and children. ' Christ- to hear, because we put the case to him in mas only comes once a year,' says he, 4 and a way that brings an amiable concurrence. there won't be many years'; so, when he But, in Tom's case, the friend was right. saw he couldn't do it any other way, he just A young man of good intent, steady pur- hired this special train. Cost him about a pose, and sufficient income should marry a hundred or a hundred and fifty. He's a good girl. sentimental sort of fellow. ' Think I'd dis- There are twenty-five good and sufficient appoint them and me, too, for that? ' he reasons. asked. Well, we landed him here, all right; First. didn't we, old scout?" Well, anyway, Tom married the little A little later, Bud was sitting on a high "schoolmarm." stool in a restaurant. They got along well together. They " Give me a hamburg sandwich and a cup saved a little money—not much, but a little. of coffee! How's that mince pie—this The little girl schemed and managed, and month's or last? Say, for Christmas din- they began to see their way to the points of ner you ought to have real cream for this sending for a bungalow book, and to no- coffee! Funny how these doughnuts turn tice fancy gables, contorted dormers, and to stone after thirty days, ain't it? These pergolas. Chicago cockroaches are greedier than those Then Christmas Day was coming along, down in Indiana. Over there, they'let the and Tom began wondering what he could patron break bread first. Here, they beat buy her. He went over every page of the him to it." department-store catalogue. He inspected "That's a fine Christmas grouch you the china' sets, and the cut glass, and alu- got," grinned the waiter. minum outfits, silver tableware, and furs. "There's a reason," growled Bud. Tom reasoned it all out. She is such a Molly is saving the gold piece. Some sensible girl. No ornamental gew-gaws for Christmas day, when the cards run right, Maggie. No foolish flubdubbery. Some- it is to buy a Christmas dinner. And Bud thing useful every day for her. This is to carve the turkey. brought him, at length, to the patent sweeper and the galvanized bread-mixer. There is a thriving little town in the One day early in December, a little West, on a certain railroad. Tom Dixon sealed package from Chicago came to Tom's was sent there in the dual capacity as rail- office and into Tom's hands. road and express agent. He startled a little to see that it was About the same time, a very charming addressed to his wife, " Mrs. Tom Dixon," and sensible little girl arrived in this same in a masculine hand. place to teach in the public school. It bore a conspicuous red-letter poster, — OBSERVATIONS OF A COUNTRY STATION-AGENT. 613 " Not to be delivered or opened until Christ- by a fierce conviction of duty, the sharp Day." mas blade of Tom's office-knife lifted the seals "What the thunder's this?" said Tom, and the outer wrapper was removed. turning it over and over. "Who would be This revealed another package, similarly sending Maggie anything from Chicago? sealed and on which was written: Wonder whose handwriting that is?" The seals on this \ Tom inspected the package with the keen- package cannot be re- stored. If from some unworthy curiosity any est perplexity. " Value, fifty dollars! Huh, meddler should pry into it, his telltale marks I can't understand it!" will be left. ' Tom put the package in the safe, but he got it out again, examined the seals, and slyly tried to pry one of them loose, but it held faithful to its trust. 1 Then he adroitly ques- tioned his wife about her relatives and friends to find a clue to one whose interest in Maggie would indicate a Christmas value of fifty dollars, with barren results, until one day — a-ha ! — a woman cannot keep anything. One day she let out a little not much, but enough. Tom-, quick-eared and nimble-wit- ted, put this and that to- gether, and guessed the rest. There was a young man, a dear friend, with whom Maggie had gone to school. He was now in Chicago. It was a childish romance almost forgotten. He was prospering and- Tom walked back to the BEFORE HIM WERE VISIONS OF OPALS, AMETHYSTS, office very erect, looked hard / AND RUBIES. ahead and clutched his fists. "That fellow knows Maggie's married, Nevertheless, Tom removed this, and because he used my name in addressing that found a third, on which was written: package," he muttered. " If that snipe goes The contents within this little box are only to butting in on my preserves, there'll be for the eyes of Mrs. Dixon, and arc to be indigna- some doings." He swelled with seen by no one else. tion. "That parasite never thought that anything expressed to my wife would pass Tom clutched it almost savagely and tore through my hands. I don't blame Maggie, it open. but she's a woman, and these little atten- He hardly knew what to expect, but be- tions would please her, and will revive fore him were fierce visions of opals, ame- friendships that can't do any one any good. thysts, and rubies. But good fortune has placed the matter be- He found nothing but a carefully-folded fore me, and it's up to me to nip the affair little note that fell to the floor. in the bud." Tom picked it up, smoothed it out, and Tom once more took the little package read with a half-aloud eagerness: out of the safe. He had turned it over so This is the ' foolish letter ever writ- many times diat the edges were soiled. most ten. It is written by a foolish girl, but it will a curiosity that This time, burning with never be read by any one but the same foolish could no longer be restrained, and impelled girl who wrote it, and will be read by her " 614 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Christmas Day to remind her how vain and package alone. I'm a chump and a fool. foolish she is. From childhood she has I lost my head. Suspicious of — hang it 1 wanted a diamond ring. They told her she I can't get that package together again. had pretty fingers, and she thought, foolish, little girl, how pretty a diamond ring would She'll know I pried it open. Maybe I look on one of them. But she could never could burn the depot or blow up the safe, it, there was no one else that knew. buy and and save myself by making away with it in Men do not understand how some simple that way. Why didn't I have gumption little tugs at woman's heart some fancy a — " vagary—some little humor or conceit which enough to keep my fingers off ? she never outgrows and which is never grati- Tom thought a long while — but there fied satisfied. I could not tell this to Tom. or was only one way out. Poor boy, he works so hard, and denies him- He deliberately gathered the torn self so many things, and we manage so closely up to get along to have a little to put away. remains and stuck them into the fire. "you have such cold feet, you KNOW, TOM." This letter is written by the foolish little The " not -to -be- opened -until-Christmas girl to remind her, that on the day when gifts package went up in one brief exultant roar. are given and the fancy comes back the strong- er, that she is to forget for all time that her Then he got out the jeweler's catalogue fingers are pretty—that there are such things that had found its way in the express office, as diamond rings, and that empty show and and turned to diamond rings. vanity are not for the wife of as good a hus- railroad with regular employ- band as Tom. Any man ment can purchase a diamond ring on the That was all. same terms as a typewriter— five down and Tom got up and stood with his back to so much per month until paid. Tom ap- the stove and his hands behind him. proached the proposition from that angle. " I reckon I'm a durned chump." " By the way, Maggie," said Tom uncon- Then he paused. cernedly one day, " I got a small express " I wish I'd had sense enough to let that package for you from Chicago." — ! OBSERVATIONS QF A COUNTRY STATION-AGENT. 615 " For " me ! exclaimed Maggie, opening mond ring. I never told any one, Tom; wide her innocent eyes. only Mrs. Hatch, the language teacher. " It's sealed and valuable marked and She knows. I talked to her about it many has ' a label on it, Do not open until Christ- times. I roomed with her, you know. She mas.' I'd better keep it till then in the is such a clever woman. office safe. Women are mighty curious, "Isn't it funny, Tom? Last month a and I don't believe you could keep it in bunch of us girls were at her home, and the house without breaking the seal and she told our fortunes. She held my hand taking a peep at the inside." and said: 'What pretty fingers! Christ- "I am so curious, Tom; I wonder who mas Day you will receive a diamond ring would send me anything. What does it from your husband.' look like?" "It has come true. She said it would. "Oh, it looks like it might contain a She held communion with the ginx, and couple - dozen sticks of chewing gum, and they told her there was a way and to leave maybe there's a tin stick-pin with a win- it to her. ' I never tell fortunes, little girl,' dow-glass ' setting for me," said Tom with she said, that do not come true.' Mrs. careless levity. Hatch is such a very, very clever woman, " " Tom,, have you opened it ? Tom, there isn't anything that would please " Opened a package addressed to you me more. Tom Dixon, I'll bet Mrs. Hatch and plainly marked, ' Do not open until put you up to this." Christmas?' Maggie, do you think I " " " am Mrs. Hatch ! gasped Tom. Did she that mean?" wri — Oh, hang Mrs. Hatch! I'm mighty "Of course not," said Maggie; "but I glad you're pleased, Maggie—there's noth- am so curious, Tom. Maybe it had better ing too good for you." be kept in the safe until Christmas. I will The clever Mrs. Hatch! Clever, indeed, be guessing every minute. You must keep in thus putting one over on Tom it at the office, Tom. You are strong, and Tom preserved a sheepish silence. Mrs. I am weak. I don't believe 1 could resist Hatch was immensely delighted that Mag- the temptation, but you must understand gie had a diamond ring — and Maggie one thing, Tom Dixon," smiled Maggie, doesn't know the rest of it. "you are under suspicion all the time." "Now, see what I have for you, Tom!" " It's not my doings," said Tom soberly. exclaimed Maggie. "Two pairs of socks "Tom, look me in the eye." of soft saxony yarn. I knit them myself. "That's straight, Maggie." They will be so much warmer than those Every day Maggie plied him with eager you buy. You have such cold feet, you questions; and Tom, with, a sort of lan- know, Tom." • guid interest, assured her the gift was safe Tom sat in his office. It was near the and undisturbed. close of Christmas Day. Christmas morning came, and Maggie His feet were on his desk, and he smoked with tense fingers tore the seals and found a cigar in a leisurely meditative way. Be- a diamond ring. tween his shoe-tops and his pants' bottoms " Oh, Tom," she cried with hysterical there was a startling exposure of saxony joy, " you should not have done this for yarn—and there was more circumference me! It's so kind and so nice of you, Tom; in one ankle than the other, for she "knit but we can't afford it. We can't, indeed. them herself." "I've wanted a diamond ring ever since "Talk about women voting," said Tom, I was a little girl, but I never let you know thumping the ashes from his cigar. " They how I yearned for one — did I, Tom? ought to be in politics. When it comes to What a mind-reader you are, Tom! It turning tricks a woman can give a man has always been my one weakness—a dia- every card in the deck and beat him out." Most men use their energy for the day's work, but some careful souls save it all for the sprint to the pay-car. Do you ? Growls of the Gang Boss. Bill Nye's Appeal for a Pass BILL NYE, of the Boomerang, is publishing a me gazing thoughtfully down the track with a Complete Letter Writer in serial form. In one-hundred-and-fifty-pound trunk to carry back home with me. a recent issue he says: What did I do? Did I go to the telegraph-office Our first letter will be in the form that should and wire you to stop the train and kill the con- used in addressing a soulless corporation relative be ductor with a coal-pick? Did I cut short his to a pass: unprofitable life and ruin the road with my cruel pen? No, sir. Office of Freedom's Bugle Horn, I hushed the matter up. I kept it out of the Wahoo, Neb., February 22, 1882. papers as far as possible in order that your soulless To Hon. J. Q. A. Gall, General Passenger corporation might have a new lease of life. and Ticket Agent, J. I. M. C. R. O. W. Ry., Another time, when my pass and purse had ex- Chicago, III.: pired at about the same time and I undertook to Dear Sir—Unfortunately you have never ex- travel on my voluptuous shape, a red-headed con- perienced the glad thrill and holy joy of my ac- ductor whose soul had never walked upon the sun- quaintance. lit hills of potent genius, caught me by the bosom You have groped through the long and dreary of my pants and forcibly ejected me from the train heretofore without that solemn gladness that you while it was in motion, and with such vigor and might have enjoyed had Providence thrown you in enthusiasm that I rolled down an embankment one the golden sunlight of my smile. hundred feet with frightful rapidity and loss of I have addressed you at this moment for the life. purpose of ascertaining your mental convictions A large bottle of tansy and sweet spirits hear relative to an annual pass over your voluptuous my prayer, which I had concealed about my person line. The Bugle Horn being only a semi-annual, to keep off malaria and rattlesnakes, was fright- you will probably have some little reservation about fully crushed and segregated. Resides this my issuing an annual on the strength of it. feelings were hurt and outraged, and so was the This, however, is a fatal error on your part. portico of my pantaloons. It is true that this literary blood-searcher and Others would have burned down a water-tank, kidney-polisher, if I may be allowed that chaste or dusted off the crossing with the mangled corpse and eccentric expression, does not occur very of the general passenger-agent, but I did not. I often, but when it does shoot athwart the jour- bound up my bleeding heart, and walked home nalistic horizon, error and cock-eyed ignorance beneath the cold stars and forgave the cruel begin to yearn for tall grass. wrong. You will readily see how it is in my power to I now ask you whether in view of this you will throw your road into the hands of a receiver in a or will not stand in the pathway of your com- few days. It will occur to you instantly that, with pany's success. Will you refuse me a pass and the enormous power in my hands, something should call down upon yourself the avalanche of my burn- be done at once to muzzle and subsidize me. The ing wrath, or will you grant me an annual, and Bugle Horn stands upon the pinnacle of pure and open up such an era of prosperity for the J. I. M, untarnished independence. Her clarion notes are C. R. O. W. Railway as it never before knew. ever heard above the din of war and in favor of the Do you want the aid and encouragement of the poor, the down-trodden, and the oppressed. Still, Bugle Horn and success, or do you want its oppo- few it is my solemn duty to foster and encourage a sition and a pauper's grave beneath the blue-eyed poor and deserving monopolies. johnny-jump-ups in the valley? I have already taken your road and, so to speak, Ostensibly I am independent and fearless, but placed it on its feet. Time and again I have if you are looking around for a journal to subsi- closed my eyes to unpleasant facts relative to your dize, do not forget the number of my post-office line, because I did not wish to crush a young and box. I have made and unmade several railroads growing industry. I can point to many instances already, and it makes me shudder to think of the where hot-boxes and other outrages upon the horrible fate which awaits you if you hold your traveling public have been ignored by me and al- nose too high and stiffen your official neck. lowed to pass by. Should you enclose the pass I would be very Last fall you had a washout at Jimtown which grateful to you for any little suggestions during was criminally inexcusable in its character, but I the year as to what my fearless and outspoken passed silently over the occurrence in order that opinion should be relative to your company. you might redeem yourself. One of your conduc- Hoping to hear fron you favorably in the con- tors, an over-grown, bald-headed pelican from tiguous ultimately, I beg leave to wish you a very Laramie, a man of no literary ability, and who pleasant bon vivant. Very sincerely yours, could not write a poem to save his soul from per- Ephratm Bates. dition, once started the train out of Wahoo when Molder of Public Sentiment. I was within 'A of a mile of the depot and left —From an Old Scrap Book. JETHRA RIKER'S NEW YEAR BY ROBERT FULKERSON HOFFMAN. Another Year Comes Jubilantly Sounding to the Caboose and Wakens Memories of Another Day.^ NCLE JETHRA RIKER, nouncing that we have just crossed the line ruddy of face, white of into the new year. Sit down and be happy, beard and hair, weary uncle. Happy day! " guardian of his own cat- Without answer, Riker turned to the rear tle rumbling on ahead, sat door of the caboose and threw it wide to let dozing peacefully, with his in a brief sweep of the clean, frosty air. rickety armchair tipped back rakishly With the red light from the rear platform against the rear wall of the caboose. Con- flooding his face with its soft glow from ductor Spangler, under the sidelight at his below, the crinkles deepened at the corners desk, silently checked his brief list of red- of his quizzical eyes. Until he had wholly ball freight, and high in the cupola sat the recovered from the quick fear for his cattle flagman, watching ahead the pulsing, end- he stood looking far out into the night, as less struggle of a little light against a one might fancy a sturdy old Norseman mighty, ever-closing darkness. gazing across a darkened sea of ice. With Above the vibrant silence of the caboose, a great, glad breath of the clear air, he engulfing it, making it actively alive, there closed the door, and sat again, saying: " came suddenly a low moaning from the Yes, so it is. Happy day ! I ought to front. Mingling with the distant, thunder- remember. I was in jail once on New ous roll of the engine's exhaust, it mounted Year's. Did you ever start out with your quickly into a bubbling, rollicking succes- whole bein' filled to overflow with good in- sion of giant shoutings that went hurtling tentions, and fetch up in jail—on New away across the dim snow-fields. Chuck- Year's?" ling and gurgling echoes came rolling back "Not since I've been on this run, uncle, from the icy mountainheads to join in a I swear it!" replied Spangler, with a smile jubilant shriek that chattered the frosted that seemed to be reflected from the old window-panes of the caboose in their fas- man's face. tenings. Uncle Jethra's chair squared itself " Me nuther," said Riker, " but I used to with a thud upon the floor, and he stood run my cattle to Chicago 'stead of El Paso bolt upright in the shocked strength of his only, and that's some different. You see," rugged six-feet-two. he continued, filling his pipe and passing the "What's that?" he demanded, reaching pouch to Spangler, " I'd been living in Texas hastily for his discarded hat. " Do you thirty years and been homesick, in a way, suppose there's anything wrong with them all that time—if you can rightly sense that. cattle?" Went out a poor boy from the bitter early As though for answer, two last, high days of a Wabash River farm, took root blasts from the engine-whistle came rolling down there, and got to be the father of men back, and the cannonade of exhausts from children and owner of a thousand acres, the stack boomed steadily out into the night. same as now, without ever going back to "That," said Spangler, turning from his where I'd come from. finished work and calmly consulting his "So it come one more winter when I watch, " is ' Coon ' Connor's way of an- had cattle needing market, and I headed 6r 7 ' 618 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. them for Chicago, meaning to go on around a plug hat. His face was round and putty- by the Wabash coming back. There was white, with close-lidded eyes, like a turtle seeming good reasons why I'd never gone that's watching you to see whether it'll best before, but there's two things that was al- drop into the swamp or stay on the top side ways calling to me to come back. of the log. " One was the rustle of leaves on a big " It wasn't a good face, you'll notice, and sycamore that stood on a knoll by the what's more, when he swept back the right Wabash and shadowed the quiet spot where wing of his cape and shoved out his hand to my modier had slept long as I could re- shake, I see a tuberose in his buttonhole, and member. I had dreamed my lonely boy- got the smell of it. dreams there in rare idle minutes, and I "Now, there's only two kinds of men wanted to stand there again and sort of sum that'll wear a tuberose in their buttonhole, up what of them had come true. fur as I know—that's men that's already •• The other was the side-porch of Homer dead, and men that ought to be. Knowing Allen's store, where Mrs. Allen used to that, I looked at him in sort of wondering mother me some when I'd drove in with a disgust 'stead of batting him, as I should load of farm-stuff, and her little tike of a have done, and that give him a chance to boy, Lincoln, used to climb all over me and talk. lone- " hug me and make me cry for the sheer ' Pardon— me, sir,' he says, polite as liness of what I'd just come from. I want- Mexicans ' pardon me, —sir. I—why, upon ed to see that boy—boy or man. my soul! I believe it is " " ' So, I left home with the cattle soon after ' Yes,' I says, it is. You read my ear- Christmas. All went fine, and day before marks O.K. first gallop through the herd, New Year's I cashed them in at Chicago but it don't happen to be your brand, I reck- for forty-seven hundred dollars, and left on. Now, supposin' you git over to your the yards with a nice-seeming fellow who side of the line and I git to mine.' said he's from Kansas. We rid into the city "I stunned the fellow a mite with that, together, and had a real enjoyable talk. and was turning on my way, when he broke " He told me a lot about his folks, and I out with a fresh brand of apologies and ' told him some about mine. Seems he's got wound up with a pleading look and : You more folks dian me, so I tells him some are Mr. Riker, aren't you? Much as you about my neighbor Crockett, to fill in like, have changed for the better, I knew you in and how I'm to look up Hallie Crockett, an instant.' who's been doing well in Chicago for a spell "Now, that sort of got me, and I was back, and get a first-hand word for her mushy enough to say: ' Yes, I be. Who ' people. are you to tell me about it? " 1 " I left the fellow in the station, and I'm Do you remember a little boy that used over in Jackson Street, aiming to get me a to climb on your knee on Allen's side porch,' ticket, hunt up Hallie, and land me on the says he, ' and how you used to set there with Wabash next day for New Year's. I'm set your blue overalls on and your whiskers on that last, most, of all, and not looking just beginning to grow long enough for the out as sharp as I might in such a crowded boy to pull one at a time? How you used runway, when there's a shortish, smooth- to laugh and sometimes cry there? ' " looking fellow of mebbe thirty-eight years ' I do,' says I. bumps me half off the sidewalk, going in the "'Well,' says the fellow, ' I'm that little same direction. boy. I'm Lincoln Allen.' " It riled me, and I turned, meaning to " I ain't going to tell you all else he told bat him across the ears, same as you'd bat me, but that man told me diings that I an unruly yearling calf. But a square sight thought nobody but myself knew. He even of him changed me a mite, and what he said told me about the big sycamore, and how done more. the water sounds washing along by the "Never mind. You listen," Uncle Riker grass-mound bank. He told me about the interrupted himself to say, with a wide white stone that stands under the sycamore, sweep of the hand. and named, word for word, the verse of Spangler's meaningful laugh had nettled scripture that's writ on it. him. " And all the time he's walking along "That young man was togged out in a with me till I've most forgive him his face long cape-overcoat, shiny black boots, and and the tuberose, and come to believe that — — JETHRA RIKER'S NEW YEAR. 619 he's little Line' Allen grown up to be the " I dug down into my jeans and pulled kind of man he said he was. Oh, yes! out three one-hundred-dollar bills that I'd He's a business man—very busy, indeed had left before I sold the cattle, and I hand- and just when we're a block or two away ed them to Lincoln and took the gold. He from where he bumped into me, a young handed them to the clerk, and stooped to fellow came running up the sidewalk to pick up my satchel, while I still held the meet him. gold in my hand. " This young fellow is wearing a black " But something told me on the second to skull-cap of silk, or alpaca, or the like, and beat him to it. I grabbed up the satchel has his hands full of memorandum and pen- with my other hand, and the minute I cil stuff—all business and excitement. He straightened up with my both hands full apologizes to me for the interruption, and it seemed like I got my full sense of heft, then states his case quick about some rush and I see what had been done to me. The calls on sight drafts just come into the of- clerk was gone in the crowd of the walk. " fice. Three hundred dollars he must have, ' Here,' I says without no frills, and let- and have it quick. ting the gold pieces skitter back into Lin- " ' Lincoln Allen,' as we'll call him, didn't coln's hand— all but one piece, which I hesitate a minute. He reached under his palmed under my thumb— and later slipped cape coat and hauled out a buckskin sack of into my vest-pocket ' I don't want this hard money, handed it to the clerk, and told stuff. It's light.' him to take out what he needed. The clerk "'You astonish me, Mr. Riker!' says counted out what looked to be three hun- Lincoln. " ' dred dollars in gold, and handed the sack ' I reckon I do,' says I. And before back. Little Lincoln restored the sack to it strikes in too deep I'll ask you to hand his inner pocket, and despatched the clerk over three hundred dollars in good money, upon his way. or take the consekences right here.' "The young fellow had run as much as " ' Why, certainly, certainly—if you pre- ten steps when Allen called him back. fer it. Why, my dear Mr. Riker, that's the " 1 ' That's bad business,' he says, come whole idee; I want the gold, you know, and to think of it. There's a premium on gold if you'll just walk around to the bank with just now. We ought to have the advantage me we'll close up the whole deal in a jiffy! of it, 'stead of letting it go to our cor- Why, certainly, certainly!' respondents. Mr. Riker, could you pos- "We went. When we got to the bank sibly accommodate me with bills or silver doors, a block or two away, he led in be- for the amount and take this gold until we tween the big stone columns of the entrance, can walk round to the bank and exchange stepped at a good road-gait through the it? ' swinging doors, and smashed that heavy, "Now, I ain't making any argyment to flapping door back in my face, with me on jestify my doings," Uncle Riker again in- the outside. It jarred me a lot. terrupted himself to say, as Spangler "Then, too, when I was leaving home, showed signs of another sardonic eruption. mother and the boys kept coaxing at me to " I'm stating the bare facts of what I done. wear Jed's derby hat, that jest fits me, and "When the clerk chinks them fifteen I'm that silly and vain that I done it. When twenty-dollar gold pieces back into Lincoln's the door hit me it bashed my face some and right hand, and Lincoln turns offering them staggered me backward while that fool hat to me, right here, thinks I, is where Archie went bouncing around on the ground like a really kills the bear, if it ain't little Lincoln; sand-flea tetched with sunstroke. " and if it is Lincoln By the time I'd corraled it and straight- • " I thought of how Mrs. Allen give me eaed up, there's two or three oily looking pie and things when I sot on her porch, gents standing between me and the bank and about Lincoln's dancing blue eyes that door, and they're crowding round and ask- now looked a sort of dirty mouse-gray, some- ing am I hurt, am I hurt? " how, as I searched his face for some brand Oh, they was anxious all right—just I'd reco'nize. that anxious that I breshed 'em all aside " ' I thought about the forty-seven hundred with one sweep and said : You mind your in my inside pocket, and stepped a little one own business.' side into the angle of a building and set my " I knowed by then that if I was to win satchel down. back I'd got to play my own game, and play ' : 620 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " it straight in my own way. So I walks right " Topper,' says Frank, jotting it down in, and up the long, shady chute, to the on a tally-pad. " 4 desk. Lincoln, of course, is nowheres in Putty-face,' says I. sight. I set my satchel down, and I says " ' Poker-mug,' says Frank. to the clean-looking young fellow behind the "And so it went: ' ' " brass grating : What bank is this, son ? ' Turtle eyes.' " ' ' ' Bank ? says he, real civil. Not a "'Blinker.' bank, sir—this is the Grand Pacific Hotel. "'Cape coat.' ' " What can we do for you? ' Curtain.' " "'Oh,' I says, 'that's it, eh? Well, I ' Right-handed.' " ain't to say rightly acquainted with this part ' One wing.' of town. I work my cattle mostly straight " Frank's smiling broader and broader as between the Transit House and home.' the game goes on, till I says " ' ' " ' Yes ? he says. And what can we do ' Mebbe ain't got no left hand. Never for you, sir? ' showed it' ' " " ' ' ' Well,' I says, is the proprietor in? ' Five-finger Hannigan ! says Frank, " ' N-o-o,' says the young fellow, kind of laughing ready to bust, and jotting it down. doubtful, • but you can talk to me till he ' That's the answer. Uncle, you're all comes, if you like.' right. If you ever' want my kind of a job, "'•I've lost my money,' says I. And I come again, and we'll fix you up. Now, you set out to tell him the whole right of it fair jest set here till I come back, and don't you and open. stir. I won't be gone long.' " I'd only got a little piece when he spoke " He went, and I sot there quite a long up soft and polite as he spoke all along. spell before it got so I had to either git up '"Frank! ' he says. and hustle round a mite, or set up the long " ' ' Frank ? I says, not rightly catching yell jest to know I was still alive. I mo- his meaning. seyed toward the Clark Street door, and the " ' We don't breed any such plays as that clerk shook his head at me. But I waved in this bouse,' he answers, ' and—we don't my hand at him so he smiled, and I went stand for it. Frank, this is Mr. on. " " ' Riker,' I supplies, soon as I'd took a I'd no more'n got my nose out the door good square look into the eyes of a stocky than there's a nasty, spiteful little gun- fellow that's pressing just the least bit crack snaps out up the street some'eres, and against my off-elbow. the coveys of moving people on both sides " There's nobody there the second before, of the street fluttered for cover behind the but he's got something of the same look line of cabs that's standing along the curb, about him that my oldest boy, Jed, carries, over along the old Government Building. and I know in a second that he's all right. " Ever hear a gun crack in a crowded " ' Yes. Mr. Riker. Frank, Mr. Riker is street? It's a mighty sassy sound! That our guest for the present, and you will enter- street was nigh about empty in two winks, tain him. Just sit down over yonder and and down my side come Lincoln Allen, tear- tell Frank all about it, won't you, Mr. Ri- ing along, minus his plug hat and his cape ker ? ' says the clerk. coat, but wearing his tuberose plain as a I reached right over to that young man tin star on a depety marshal, while he looks and took the pen from his hand. I regis- back'ard and makes motions with something tered my name and brand, same as I'd do glinting in his right hand. He ain't got no at the Transit House, sealed up my forty- other hand. It's off at the wrist, and the seven hundred dollars in an envelope and stump's waving as he runs. took a receipt for it, passed in my satchel " Close as he dares comes Frank chasing and the whole kit, and went over in a shady behind him, dodging in and out among cabs corner and sot down with Frank, without a in the gutter with a big gun in his hand, but cent in my pocket. trying to draw Lincoln's last slug before he " We got along fine. I told him the whole closes in on him right. works—about the fellow that was going back "Lincoln's got one of them dirty little to Ohio to see his folks, and all. When it two-barrel affairs, you see, that shoots a come to me describing Lincoln, it was jest soft-nose slug and can be hid in your palm, like we was a pair of kids playing a game. and he's got rid of one shot, as I reckon " ' Silk hat,' says I. it. So, I see it's plain up to me. — ' — JETHRA RIKER'S NEW YEAR. 621 " Jest as he come abreast of the big stone out of there—well, let that go. There's a pillars I'm standing behind, I hops out and nigger down in there somewheres, drunk and ' corrals him. He proves he's an outlaw, all yelling : She's ah loaded with bright angels, right, for he twists that dinky little gun hallelu-ya/i/ She's ah loaded— up alongside my face and blows the roof "The nigger broke off with a strangling out of Jed's derby slick as anything you ever yell, and every coyote in the den set up a see, and hung onto the gun while I downed ki-yi till it was like—well, like that. There him. ain't nothing else like it. "Then he turned a reg'lar branding-pen " I poked my head inside the door in trick on me by gitting his hind feet fair time to see one of the depeties shut off an under me while he laid and fought on his inch-and-a-quarter stream from a nozzle back, and he tossed me up surprising, once that he'd turned on him. And as soon as or twice. the nigger got done choking and swearing "But, after I'd bashed him one or two he changed his tune to ' Ah-roll, ol' Jurdun, about the same size that the swing-door give ah-roll! ' me, and twisted the gun out of his hand, he " I backed out onto the lower step, and was that biting with his cussing that I told the depety that was leading me if he jammed that little four-inch gun crossways aimed to corral me in such a den o' var- into his mouth and squshed it shet heavy mints as that, I'd do my best to rip the in- enough to stick. When I'd got done hog- ternals out of the whole works. With what tying him, feet and right hand, letting his I said and what Frank said between sort short wing flutter for luck, I looked up and of snickering behind me, it comes that they seen Frank standing over me in the rim of let me stay up-stairs with the reserves. the crowd that had closed in, and he's laugh- " And there I am—spang and good in jail J ing ready to drop. next morning, for New Year's, stead of " ' ' Uncle,' he says, you're sure all right. down on the Wabash, as I'd aimed to be. " I don't mind telling you now that I was First hearing, next day, yields up a con- born in Texas. Lay still, Hannigan ! The tinuance. Change of venue to a court seven wagon'll be here in a minute. What do you miles over on the west side. Harrison Street ' think of the Texas game, huh ? calendar crowded. " Ever been in that annex o' perdition " Second hearing, three days gone, assays that they call Harrison Street Station a continuance of five days and change to down cellar? There's nothing like it nor North Halstead Street—round trip, fifteen approaching it down our way, barring the miles. bear-pit in the abandoned zoological works " Third hearing pans out continuance that Texeden started in its boom days. Lem four days, and changed to a court in Cottage Baxter uses it now as headquarters for a Grove Avenue, seven miles southeast; round skunk farm, and does his killing and pelt- trip, fourteen miles. drying inside the spike-iron fence at the pit- " 'Course you see what fur, Spangler; but mouth. But that's clean and fresh. I was there every trip, and still going, when "There's where we fetched up—Harri- there's some kind o' rumpus breaks out one son Street jail. Me as a witness, and Lin- day a little piece down the street from the coln because he'd never been hung. They Harrison Street honkatonk, and I slipped wanted me to give bail for my appearance out the door and took a look. as complainant, but I wasn't seeing my way "Just around the next corner there's a clear to let go of anything more in that young boy throwing a fit on the sidewalk. bunch. I looked Frank fair in the eye, He's wallering in the slime on the stones and and told the desk marshal I hadn't a peso rising to his feet and falling his length as on me and didn't know when I would have. fast as he can rise and tumble. He's froth- Frank stood pat. ing at the mouth and going on that bad that " 1 ' Well,' says the fellow, there's nothing it would make you plumb sad. The big to do, then, but hold you until we can get a marshal that's standing over him ain't doing hearing.' a thing to help him, and I sort o' steps in. " " But there's a decent-looking old ' I'll play my hand,' says I man " ' Take him down,' says the fellow, and grabs me by the arm and pulls me aside. ' ' ' I followed the lead till he opened a boiler- Don't,' he says. The cop*d kill ye ! " plate door at the foot of the stairs. He hung on till he'd drawn me round " Say, Spangler, the smell that come up the corner, and I'm a maverick if that old ' ' — " ' ' 622 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. rascal hadn't offered me a mangy hundred wrinkles dropping off their horns. He fin- dollars inside of two minutes if I'd pull ished up on Lincoln. my freight and let up on Lincoln Allen. I " 'Hannigan,' he says, 4 I've sent you never answered him, I'm that disgusted, and down to Joliet until I'd be ashamed to make I went straight hack to jail. out another commitment. And you're al- "Next day come the fourth hearing, an' ways out soon. We understand the why. it's in a place near by. "There's a good- Too bad, but we understand. This time faced young fellow for judge. He's setting you played me in, to win against my old high and alone when we go in, and just friend, Jethra Riker—but you overplayed below him, with her back to us, sets a young youchand The Federal court— woman scratching down court notes. She " I was setting straight up, clutching my turns and looks at us when they've all fin- hair by then, Spangler. See where the trail's ished something. Then she lets out a little leading to? Sure as ever you held up a hobo choky squawk, and comes bounding to the for a two-bit ride on a freight-truck, that top of the low, flat-top railing, just like she judge is Lincoln Allen. " used to hop into a box-stirrup onto her ' The Federal court,' he goes on, cool as pony, and she landed fair with her arms spring-water, ' has jurisdiction in this little around my neck. "gold " affair. It is now eleven o'clock. I " ' " " ' Why, Uncle Jethra Riker ! she says shall not send this coin to Commissioner right out loud. ' You frightened me near- Flint before two this afternoon. If you are ' ly to death. Where did you come from? inside his district at that time— I think you " 4 Jail,' I says, ' Hallie, jail. But gentle know the rest. The other is a minor matter, now. It's all right. between you and Mr. Riker, we'll say, for " Yes, it's Hallie Crockett, all right. And the present. " while the court folks is getting things quiet- ' Jethy,' he says, wringing my hand on ed down, the judge picks up the papers in his way back to the bench, ' stop and talk a ' our case and looks them over a whole lot, moment on your way out Glad to see you " noting how we been swinging round the cir- ' Lincoln,' I says to Hannigan, when cle. I reckon, from what happens after. the judge is gone, ' Lincoln— " " ' Spangler, I've seen some quick deals ' Aw, cut that ! says Hannigan, none San Antone and way stations—but nothing polite now. " ' swifter than what follows. He calls the ' There's good authority,' I says, fer hull caboodle of us inside the rail—Lin- saying that if you slap a man on one cheek coln, cappers, coppers, Frank, and me. —with an oak door—it's liable to come back •• • Mr. Riker,'—he says, ' do you remember to you a hundredfold. But, fer old time's a little boy that sake, if you and your gang will raise that "Well, that made me hot. He didn't Harrison Street soap-fit ante about to the look like one o' the gang, and it was disgust- tenth magnitude, we can deal right here.' " ing to have it pan out that way again. With no more said, there's a crisp thou- " I broke right in. sand-dollar bill comes fluttering down on " 1 Judge,' I says, ' if you'll excuse lib- the table from somewheres in the gang, gen- erties, I been through all that and a heap tle as the drop of a leaf from the old syca- more. All I got out of it so fur is three more, and it's all over. week* in jail and this brass simoleon.' I "Next day I'm standing under that bleak walked up and slapped the bogus twenty old tree on the Wabash, and, passing that, down hard on his desk. I never stop going till I'm back in Texas. " ' " ' If your honor don't mind,' I says, I'd When we found out from the Crocketts be plumb happy to know whether this here's just how tilings stood we asked Judge Allen jest another >i it on the oak while he looked all of us over, With a yawn of deep content, Uncle Jeth- savage as wolves. ra stretched his long arms high into the "' Final round-up,' he says. ' Officer, I cupola before rolling into the lower bunk will see all parties to this suit at once in of the caboose to sleep the sleep of the just my chambers.' and unvanquished, until Coon Connor tore '"Well, the things he said to that bunch the winter dawn to tatters with his New in there shriveled 'em till you could see the Year's greeting for sleeping Del Sur. ! WHAT'S THE ANSWER? By tke LigUt of the Lantern Railroad Men ASK US like to be as useful to our readers as we can ; but, because of the great popularity of WB this department, we are forced to impose certain restrictions. It is limited to the answering of questions of an informative, technical, or historical nature only. Letters concerning positions-WILL NOT be answered in this department. All letters should be signed with the full name of the writer, as an indication of his good faith. We will print only his initials. HAT is the controlled manual block sys- yoir state that the despatcher does not ordinarily W tem, and how is it operated?—C. F. W., hear from regular " 304 " until she reaches Margo, Boston. bur is it likely that they would be allowed such latitude? You say that at the junction of all the It is a system through which the starting signal coal branches on which " 304 " has to work, there for a train to enter a block is released by the is a telephone, and would it not be more consistent operator at the extreme end of that block—in fact, railroading for them to notify the despatcher be- by the operator in the lower where the next block fore backing out of the branch and receive his per- starts—and this release cannot be effected if the mission ? block is occupied by a train, if a switch is open, or If this rule was in vogue, it would be quite easy if a rail is broken. For a complete description of to run the special as we suggested, and annulled on this and other block systems, see the article, " The the coal branches. If no means whatever existed Working of Block Signals," in The Railroad to communicate with " 304," it would appear that Man's Magazine, for November, 1907. It would the special could not start until " 304 " reported be impossible to do this interesting subject full from Margo. justice within the limited confines of this depart- We are not surprised when you say that this ment. had some " good ones " up in the air. It had us there, too, for a time, and we can not say for a TH* H. L., Pittsburgh.—We have delayed reply- certainty whether we are down or not until we d» ing to your interesting train-order prob- hear from you again. If you will let us know lem longer than we should, due to a vigorous just how this matter was handled, we will be glad attempt on our part to secure a decided expression to publish your original letter in full, as it is very of opinion from some authority. This, however, interesting. has not been forthcoming, but the general view J* of it is that the despatcher could run the special you tell us how a fireman came to be as second "304" from " GU " to the junction of CAN called a "tallow-pot," and an engineer a the spur track on which regular " 304 " was at "hoghead"?—H. E. W., and E. J, G., " " that time operating, and run him as first 304 Grand Island, Nebraska. thence to Margo. This may not seem in accord- ance with the provisions of your question, in which No, we cannot; that is, not in a way which 623 : 624 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. would give you or ourselves the assurance of cor- (3) Oil is generally used for fuel west of El rectness. The only explanation we ever heard for Paso. the two terms was that in the old days when loco- (4) Business does not vary to any great extent motives were lubricated by an oil-cup on each throughout the entire year; that is, not to mate- steam-chest, it was the duty of the fireman to fill rially affect the train crews. it from the tallow-pot when required, and some times he had this to do when the locomotive was " frequently overheard engineers in motion. The name has also been applied as 1HAVE while talking to one another make some allusion to frequently to engineers. In regard to the " hog- an engine " dropping her plug." Will you head." freight locomotives were usually termed explain just what this expression means, and in " '* irrespective of design or weight, thus you hogs particular just what the " plug " is and where it receive may infer that an engineer might easily is located?—C. J. K., Port Jervis, New York. this nickname. Maybe there is a better explana- tion of the origin of the two names. If so, will It is a plug screwed into a brass thimble in the some of our friends please write us? ' crown-sheet of the locomotive fire-box. The sheet is directly over the fire, and is normally covered with water to a depth of about seven Hoboken, New Jersey.—In regard to inches. This plug FM., ^ is made of an alloy of • your question concerning the longest lead, tin, and bismuth, in such proportion as to bridge in the world which we answered in a pre- give the alloy a melting point somewhat higher vious number, we have now unearthed another than the temperature of the water corresponding which is going to be hard to beat. This bridge is to the steam-pressure carried. It is intended to on the Norfolk and Southern Railroad across prevent the destruction of the crown-sheet by over- Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. It was heating when the water drops to a dangerously started in March, 1909, and on January 10, 1910, low level, as the melting of the plug will allow the trains were run across. It is 12 feet 6 inches from steam to escape. Of late they have been largely the surface of the water, and is five and seven- abandoned in railroad practise through their un- tenths miles long. It has two draws, one lift, and reliability, because the melting point of the alloy one turn bridge, the former being 147 feet in the often rises with long exposure to heat, and scale clear. These figures were furnished by one who forming over the plug on the crown-sheet may re- was employed on this work, and no doubt are sist a high-boiler pressure after the plug itself correct. melts. 'S Mount Vernon, New York.—The trol- RG., DOES the cross-head of a locomotive move • ley system particularly appealed on the road backward in the guides, or does it remain you mention through the elimination of danger stationary until it is in the back end of the from the third rail, and there are also compelling guides ? I know it moves forward. For instance arguments from the standpoint of. maintenance when an engine is on the forward center and the piston is all the way in, if the engine is in the for- and general operation in its favor, now that the ward motion and moves ahead, will the cross-head troubles have been corrected which were so much move back, or will it stand still and the engine in evidence when the line was first installed. There move forward on the piston? If that is so, how has never been any trouble to the wires arising can the wheels revolve without drawing the cross- from wind-storms, and breaks are quickly re- head back when the cross-head is fastened to the paired. It makes no difference in the voltage main-rod, which is in turn attached to the driver? whether the current goes through a trolley-wire or —E. T,, Southampton, Long Island. through the third rail. It is stepped down to ( I ) You have hit on the idea exactly in the last what is required by transformers in the locomo- sentence of your question, and practically returned tive before reaching the motors. your own answer. How would it be possible to effect a revolution of the driving-wheels without WC. H.. High Point, Texas.— (1) The divi- moving the cross-head a complete round trip in • sion superintendents of the Southern Pa- the guides? The idea about the cross-head stand- cific Company (Pacific System) are: Thomas ing still and the engine moving forward over it Ahern. San Francisco, California; W. H. Averell, is simply an absurdity, and it is astonishing that it Los Angeles, California ; J. H. Dyer. Dunsmuir, should be given so much credence by men cer- California; H. W. Sheridan, Sacramento, Cali- tainly qualified to know better. However, to fornia; W. H. Whalen, Tucson, Arizona; W. A. knock it in the head for your information, and Whitney, Oakland Pier, California; and F. M. many others who adhere to the fallacy, we will Worthington, Bakersfield, California. We are consider the action of a locomotive when mounted without information regarding the total engine on a testing-plant, similar to the one at the St. changes between El Paso and San Francisco. Louis Exposition, and the one maintained by the (2) Practically all recent type locomotives may Pennsylvania Railroad in its department of tests. Ik found within that territory', the majority of In this instance, the locomotive is stationary on which represent very heavy power. the testing plant, but through friction-rollers im- BY THE LIGHT OF THE LANTERN. 625 pinging on the driving-wheels it is possible to re- for an application blank, and for any other in- produce road conditions. The locomotive is run formation which he may care to give. Our im- and fired exactly as though it was on the road, and pression is that the pay to start is $75 per month, the service is equally hard, but it does not move increasing to $90 with length of service. one inch. You will note, however, that the cross- heads are flying through their respective sets of guide-bars, and four exhausts issue from the stack GM. Z., La Crosse, Wisconsin.—The "silk' al every revolution of the driving-wheels. Thus, • trains," so-called, are run as extras when any one may appreciate that the locomotive does such a movemenl is necessary, and, therefore, not not move ahead over the cross-head, and that the appearing on the time-fable they would have no latter does move backward and forward. schedule rights over mail or any other first-class The fact that four exhausts occur as above trains, except through special orders, which cer- mentioned should be sufficient proof, without tainly would not be given in the instance of exclu- reference to the testing-plant illustration. It sive mail-trains. would be impossible for these to take place if the round trip of the cross-head did occur not at every HC, New Egypt, New Jersey.—Write Mr. A, ^-revolution, because they mark the outlet of the • W. Gibbs, general superintendent of mo- , steam from each end of the two cylinders after it tive power, Pennsylvania Railroad, Altoona, Penn- its question has performed work. This comes to sylvania, who will no doubt be pleased to send this department with wonderful regularity, and you full information regarding the system em- explained we have it somewhat similarly on vari- ployed on that road for the instruction of appren- ous occasions. We trust now that our thought con- tices. cerning the testing-plant will dismiss the matter. £ (2) Under ordinary conditions the brakes with the long piston travel would release first. I HAYE been told that copper ferrules, or rings, (3) It appears that you are correct in your in- used on the ends of boiler tubes, were pri- terpretation of the matter, that if train-line re- marily resorted to on account of a mistake made by a boilermakcr in boring his flue-sheet. It ductions are continued after the short-travel brakes was bored larger than his flue and, to save the were full set, in order to set the long-travel ones sheet, he inserted a short piece of eppper flue, and on full, the long-travel ones would release first, but found it made a better joint than iron. Is there if no further reductions were made after the short- any record of such being the case?—G. F. B., travel ones were set they would release together. Shreveport, Louisiana. (4) If we understand your question, this is provided for through the equalizing feature of the No record whatever. While such a thing may brake, with which you are of course familiar. It have happened, and may have been corrected is always best, and will assist us greatly, if refer- through the means employed, it would be an ab- ence is always made in these air-brake problems to surdity to assign this as the explanation for the the particular style of equipment under considera- use of copper ferrules on the fire-box end of boiler- tion, pattern of brake-valve, etc., etc. The more tubes. The ferrule is a copper sleeve fitted over complete the description, the more definite the the end of the tube to secure a water-tight joint answer. As it is, we frequently have to reply in between the end of the tube and the hole in the generalities which do not fully inform. flue-sheet. Their use is universal in this country, * although abroad as many instances will be found of locomotives without as with them. WM. R., Biscoe, North Carolina.—The in- • structions seem to be so very clear in the time-table, and in the special explanatory instruc- If WOULD appreciate a short explanation rela- tive to set, offset of the tions, that the matter should be in little doubt. It 3. the back- or link sad- dle-pin as I notice that different classes of would not appear that the inferior train had a right u engines have different offsets. Must it be a cer- to the block withaut a " 31 " order. You will note tain amount, and what is the advantage so gained? that the special instructions particularize that the —D. J., South Tacoma, Washington. block card does not give an inferior train the right over a superior train unless the inferior train has It will be very difficult to give a short explana- time-table fights, or a "31 "'order. Therefore, it tion of the necessity for this condition, as the mo- would appear to us that the block card in this ar- tion of the link is quite complex, and can be much rangement is merely intended as an additional pre- better illustrated through diagrams than de- caution. scription. In brief, the saddle stud is thrown out of center of the link arc to correct the error in the AW. A., Billings, Montana.—The proper per- latter's motion arising from the angularity of the • son to advise you regarding the qualifica- main, or connecting-rod, and is placed somewhat tions necessary to enter the Pullman service as a back of the fink arc. The effect is obviously to bodily rise and fall during conductor would be the nearest of its district v cause the entire link to superintendents to you. In this case, the man is its movement. William Lucas, Omaha, Nebraska. Write him The location of the saddle-stud is determined 4 RR 626 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. by trial upon the engine itself, an adjustable stud (3) The Boston and Albany is a double-track being provided which is bolted to the link, when, road. It uses ten-wheel (4-6-0), and Pacific after repeated trials, it is found to be in the best (4-6-2) engines in heavy passenger service, and approximate position. The link is then removed American (4-4-0) type in lighter passenger work. from the engine and with the adjustable stud is In freight work the consolidation (2-8-0-) is em- taken to the link shop where the permanent stud ployed. is made in accordance with it. In the case of a (4) The New York Central has a number of number of engines of identical dimensions, the ad- all-steel passenger-cars in experimental service, justable stud is applied to the first one only, and which are sometimes operated over its controlled the following engines of that lot have their per- or leased lines as well. All suburban coaches on manent studs made in duplicate. this road running out of the Grand Central Sta- The subject of locomotive link motion in gen- tion, New York City, are of all-steel construction. eral is quite attractive, and if you feel an interest in it would suggest that you study it from the the exact center of a many standard works which are devoted to its ex- THEORETICALLY, solid wheel does not move while the wheel clusive consideration. These may be procured is revolving. Is it, therefore, possible for through any technical book publisher. any atom, or particle of matter which composes the wheel, to remain still under these conditions? —H. H. P., Spokane, Washington. PL., Homestead, Pennsylvania.—There are no • available figures for the best time made The exact center of a disc is of course station- in building a new engine at the Baldwin Works, ary, but the atoms composing this stationary line although, if it will be of any value to you, we can may be said to be in constant motion, and con- recall an instance when, with the parts all de- tinually changing places with those near by, which livered to the erecting-shop at 9 a.m., the com- are in rotary motion. These atoms are subject to pleted locomotive left at 3 p.m. the next day. both centrifugal and centripedal forces. Molecular * considerations in connection with the rotation of WHAT types of engines are used on the South- a disc forbid the assumption that any two parts of ern Pacific, and the Santa Fe, in Cali- the disc, or the atoms composing it, can move in fornia?' opposite directions. | 2 do the speed of those roads compare ) How J* with that made on the Eastern trunk lines? (3) At what points on the New York Central EXPLAIN the operation of a two-cycle gas or are engine changes made with the Twentieth Cen- gasoline-engine ? tury Limited?— F. B. H., Haverhill. Massachu- (2) Is it possible to obtain an explosion every revolution, it be setts. once in and can obtained without using the jump spark?—W. A. O., Viro- (1> Consolidation (2-8-0), and Mallet com- gua, Wisconsin. pound (2-S-S-2), for freight, and Pacific type ( 1 ) The majority of these engines are of the ( 4-6-2 ) for passenger. The Santa Fe has also crank-case compression type. The piston coming Mallet passenger-engines. down compresses the charge in the crank case, (2 1 Very favorably, although the passenger- and when at its lowest position it uncovers the trains are much heavier. The time on freight is inlet port, whereupon the charge, being under com- about the same. pression, rushes up into the compression chamber. (3 1 At Albany. Syracuse, and Buffalo. The piston coming up again compresses the M charge, and, at the right moment, the spark takes TC, Quebec. Canada.—The brevity of your place and ignites it. • question regarding clearances puts us in (2) A make-and-break spark will work equally some doubt regarding its purport. In submitting as well as a jump-spark. We would advise you to it again please say in what connection the two go to some library and look up \yorks on gas and terms are used: thai is, in connection with what gasoline engines. There you will find full de- particular branch of railroading. Track and scriptions and illustrations of the different types terminal clearances is what we think you mean, of two-cycle engines. and. if so. these should be self-explanatory, as they simply mean how far objects must stand from the T., Franklin, Kentucky.—See reply to II. track on the road and in stations. EM. • E. W., this issue. Wc don't know at flits writing how the other terms originated, but will HR., South Bend. Indiana.— (1) The Lake look them up and secure the information if pos- • Shore and Michigan Southern passenger- sible. trains cross the river at Detroit by ferry Freight- trains use the tunnel. WHAT is the name of the officer at division It is four-tracked over a portion of the (2) points who issues recommendations of fire- way. Have beard nothing definite in regard to men to the examining board of officers? completing this throughout. (2) If a hole is burned in a fire when a heavy — BY THE LIGHT OF THE LANTERN. 627 train is starting out, how should it be treated?— tion as yet regarding what the total train move- K. S., Marinette, Wisconsin. H. ment will be in the- New York terminal of the - (3) Why are some types of locomotives called Pennsylvania Railroad when it is in full operation. " articulated compounds " ? Chicago is the greatest railroad-junction city. ) Firemen are generally (1 employed by the road WHAT is the length of the Pennsylvania Rail- WG., Worcester, Massachusetts.—We have no road System, as compared with the other • reliable figures regarding the capitaliza- systems ? tion of the two roads named, but you can get all (2) What is the largest mileage of any railroad information from the annual report of each to its in one State? stockholders. (3) How high are the drivers on the engines J* of the Baltimore and Ohio out of Pittsburgh?—F. B. S., Monessen, Pennsylvania. WHAT is the weight in tons of the largest loco- (1) It has 11,234.36 miles of road, more mileage motive in common use? Were fire-boxes eleven feet long, 1890? than any system under the same direct control. used in (2) What was the capacity of the largest See reply to " F. B.," November issue. freight-car in 1890?—R. H. S., Los Angeles, Pennsylvania Railroad. In the (2) The State California. of Pennsylvania, it has 4,101.03 miles of road. (1) The heaviest locomotive in the world is the (3) If you refer to the B. and O. passenger- Mallet articulated 2-8-S-2 type, on the Atchison, engines, numbered in the " 1400 " class, running Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. The weight of out of Pittsburgh, these have 80-inch drivers. engine, without tender, in working order is 462,- 450 pounds ; the total weight of engine and tender, N., Jersey City, New Jersey.—The South 700,000 pounds. The steam pressure used is 220 HJ.• Terminal Station, Boston, occupied by the pounds, and the engine developes the very high New York, New Haven, and Hartford, and by the tractive power of 108,300 pounds. Eleven-foot Boston and Albany railroads, still retains suprem- fire-boxes, were not in general use in 1890. Nine " acy as the busiest passenger terminal. The trains or ten feet for what were called " long fire- oxes handled on summer schedule are flfearly nine was the average dimension. hundred daily in and out. We have no informa- (2) Sixty thousand pounds. ORIGIN OF HORSE-POWER. T TORSE-POWER measures the rate at which mate was 44,000, Smeaton's 22,000, and Tred- *- J- work is done. One horse-power is reck- gold's 27,500 foot-pounds. Horse-power is called oned as equivalent to raising 33,000 pounds one nominal, indicated or actual. Nominal is used by foot high per minute, or 550 pounds a second. In manufacturers of steam-engines to express the ca- measuring the work of a horse the estimates of the pacity of an engine or boilers. most celebrated engineers differ widely. Indicated shows the full capacity of the cylin- Boulton and Watt, basing their calculations der in operation widiout deduction for friction, upon the work of London dray horses working and actual marks its power as developed in opera- eight hours a day, estimated it at 33,000 foot- tion involving elements of mean pressure upon the pounds per minute. D'Aubisson, taking the work piston, its velocity and a just deduction for the done by horses at Freiburg, estimated the work at friction of the engine's -operation. The original 16,440 foot-pounds, working eight hours a day. estimate of Watt is still counted a horse-power. Under similar circumstances Desagulier's esti- Railway and Locomotive Engineering. ; FLAGGING A FLIRTATION. BY LILLIAN BENNET-THOMPSON, How Norah O'Day's Romance with Reginald Launce- lot De Qourcey, Engineer, Ran on an Open Switch. HERE was a thin film of dust was just in sight around the curve below on the claw feet of the table, the house. and Norah, on her knees, was As the cab came opposite the window, a industriously removing it. As long arm protruded, a cap waved for a mo- she worked, she sang. There ment and Norah had a fleeting glimpse of a was no particular reason why smiling, good-natured face upturned to hers. she should not sing if She fluttered her she wanted to, as her duster in response mistress was below and, watching the stairs and well out of long string of freight- hearing. Norah cars swing by, strained didn't much care any- her eyes after the yel- way. She had prob- low caboose until it ably heard worse uhisked around the voices. upper curve of the cut So the girl caroled and out of sight. lustily, dwelling on With a happy, sat- the high notes in or- isfied sigh, she re- der to get their full turned to her dusting artistic value. Right and her interrupted in the middle of an song, alluring A-flat she stopped abruptly, AJI the summer, early cocked her head on and late. And in the autumn one side like a bird, drear, listened, and then has- A maiden stood at the tily scrambled to her garden gate feet. And waved at the en- She had become gineer. conscious of an oppo- sition concert, that, He liked to look at her however lacking in face so fair, harmony, was, never- And her homely cotton dress theless, sweeter than She liked to look at the the most divine music man up there in her ears. • It con- At the front of the fast sisted of a series of express, -hort toots from a loco- motive whistle. A3 she trilled ecstatic- Xorah poked her curly ally. Somewhere she :• ;>d out of the win- had read the words dow, the locomotive THE LOCOMOTIVE WAS JUST IN SIGHT. and remembered them. 628 FLAGGING A FLIRTATION. 629 i The tune was all her own and she was possibilities that her engineer might be proud of it. possessed of such a euphonious cognomen. It required no great stretch of imagina- So " Reginald " he became to her, and she tion to substitute a second-story window for adorned his head with a glittering halo of a garden gate nor to exalt a mixed freight romance, dreaming of the time when the into a through express. Besides, it was a Adonis of tjie cab should bring the panting very pretty sentiment. Norah liked to fancy monster to a standstill outside the house herself in the role of the girl at the garden and call to her in accents of tender passion gate, although she was morally certain that to fly with him and be 'his bride. Norah O'Day, in the neat blue gown and To be sure he would not know by what ruffled apron that set off her trim figure to name to address her, but that was a matter such advantage, and' the coquettishly frilled soon remedied. In the meantime, ''my cap set so jauntily on her abundant auburn love" or "my own darling" would do hair, made a much more fascinating heroine equally well, and Norah was certain that _ than the individual in the cotton dress. she should not fail to respond in either case. It was evident that the engineer of the But as the summer wore on and Reginald mixed freight thought so, too, judging from was still a little backward about coming the expression of his blue eyes when they forward, Norah began to feel piqued. Was rested on her. Norah hoped that there ' it possible that her hero was faint-hearted, would be no such tragic ending to her ro- or, did he fear to test her love for him? ' mance as, had come to that of the young Surely by this time he should have spoken. lady in the poem. But he only smiled and smiled and waved * A mixed freight piled in the ditch would his cap—the same cap, by the way—and it not be nearly so picturesque as a string of was beginning to show unmistakable signs Pullmans. of the wear and tear of ,a strenuous life. For a whole month, there had not been In the story, the engineer-president had a week-day morning when the whistle of the waited but two short weeks before declaring freight had failed to shriek at the lower his love. Why, then, did Reginald delay curve. The house stood Just back from the until the time ran into months? edge of a rather steep embankment, at the Norah grew weary of watching at the foot of which ran the railroad tracks. The window for the train to come to a halt. side window of the second story offered a Speculation as to whether this or that were coign of vantage; and every morning, rain the day when Reginald would summon her or shine, Norah stood there to smile and to his side began to pall. His smile was wave her duster at the man who sat in the just as sweet, his gesture as debonair, but engine-cab. Norah longed for some more definite demon- There were only two flies in the delicious stration. honey of her romance. One was that she The instant that the wheezy whistle ap- did not know the name of the engineer; the, prised her of the approach of the train, she other, that he had never stopped to speak was at the window, her eyes alight, an eager with her. smile of anticipation on her lips—but the The first did not matter so much. light died and the smile faded, as the train, What's in a name? A hind-shack by any rolled on. other name would work as hard. Norah As the summer deepened into autumn, she had been reading a wonderful tale of an shook die duster hopelessly, almost mechani- engineer, named Reginald Launcelot De- cally—much in die same way that an elec- Courcey, who had fallen in love with a tric bell rings when one pushes the button. beauteous maiden of lowly estate. After a The whistle touched a nerve in Norah's long-distance courtship, carried on by means brain, and her hand responded to the con- jof cleverly devised wigwagging, the gentle- tact by shaking a white cloth in the direc- man had finally carried off the blushing tion from which the sound came, while her damsel in the engine cab. He had turned eyes, wistful with hope deferred, followed out to be the president of the road, learning die waving cap until it disappeared from the business from the ground up, and he view. forthwith married the maiden and they had She felt like Mariumui in the "Moated lived happily ever after. Grange." Would he ever come? She told Norah thought " Reginald " a very pretty herself that her life was dreary, not worth name. After all, it was quite within the the living without Reginald. And yet, she : 630 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. had given him all necessary encouragement, A tear splashed on the polished surface and if he still hesitated and hung back, it of the table, and Norah sadly rubbed it ill became her to seem too anxious. away. One morning she was going about her Just as she did so, the sound of the door- work with less than her usual animation. bell pealed through the house. It was late in October, a dull, gray day with " I'll go, Norah," came her mistress's a suggestion of a chill in the air. Norah's voice from down-stairs. " THOUGHT HE'D STOP TO SPEAK TO YOU EH ? WELL, THAT'S JUST WHAT HE DID." State of mind harmonized with the weather. A moment later, the girl heard the voice She had at last come to the distressing again conclusion that Reginald had been but "Norah! Norah! Bring my golf jacket trilling with her. His delay admitted of no down. It's in the closet. Hurry!" other explanation. Norah dropped the duster and went to the If he had really loved her, he would have closet. She took the jacket off the hook, found means to tell her so ere this. True started for the door—then stopped and stood affection would have scorned time-tables listening. ;ind the yard boss. She felt herself ag- Yes—there was no mistake. She could grieved, slighted, scorned. distinguish clearly the labored puff-puff of It had been a sad day for Norah when an engine coming up the grade. Reginald's she first looked out from the second-story train was approaching. side window and met the twinkling blue "Norah!" called her mistress again. eyes of the engineer of the mixed. Why, oh, "What are you doing?" why had she ever listened to the allurements Norah hesitated, divided between duty of a whistled courtship? And, oh, Norah and devotion. Should she hurry down- DeConreey was such a beautiful name! stairs with the jacket, or stop and wave to ! " ! — " " FLAGGING A FLIRTATION. 631 Reginald? Her mistress was waiting im- "Thought he'd stopped to speak to you, patiently; but what would he think if he eh? Well, that's just what he did. He'd did not see her at the window? Hark! like to meet you. Will you step down a There was the whistle! minute? He can't leave the engine." Simultaneously, the voice below screamed Norah beamed all over her face. " Norah! " in acid accents. " Shure, I'd like to," she said promptly. She must go! But first she rushed to " Come on, then," said the brakeman. the window and thrust out her head. The "But you'll have to hurry. We can only engine was well in sight. Pausing only stop a minute. I'll help you down the long enough to frantically flap the jacket bank." she held in her hand, she withdrew her head Norah gave a little pat or two at her and sped from the room and down-stairs. pompadour, shook out her stiffly starched "What were you about?" demanded her skirts, and prepared to follow. Her cheeks irate mistress, as she reached the lower hall. gl&wed, her eyes sparkled, her lips were "The cleaner- has come for the jacket! He parted in a smile over her pretty teeth. She hasn't all day to wait! Take it to him was going to meet Reginald Launcelot De- he's at the side door! Courcey at last! , Murmuring something about "not being A moment later she found herself stand- able to find it right off, ma'am," Norah took ing beside the engine. the garment to the waiting cleaner and "Jack," said the brakeman, "this is the watched him stride down the path. And young lady— " " then—her heart almost stopped beating. Shure, you're not him ! burst out No- On the track, almost directly below her, rah, ready to cry with disappointment and stood a long string of motionless freight-cars, vexation. For 'the man who leaned from and a man was climbing swiftly up the bank the cab-window, cap in hand, was not Regi- toward the house. nald! He was a total stranger, on whom she Reginald ! Her hero had arrived had never set eyes before. She must go to meet him! Quickly she "I ain't who?" the engineer wanted to ran down the steps to the edge of the cut. know. "What's the matter?" demanded the man " The engineer—the man — I — who — breathlessly, as he came within hailing dis- he—" Words failed her. " tance. " Oh, you mean the regular man? "Matter? Notliin'. What do you Norah nodded. mean?" asked Norah, wonderingly. # "Ain't he on the train any more?" she' " " What was the red flag for ? asked faintly. In a flash Norah remembered the red "Oh, yes. But I'm takin' his run to- jacket she had waved from the window. In day. My train's the one that goes up at her haste she bad not thought of the color, noon. Dan—he'll be on again to-morrow." and the engineer had taken it for a danger "Dan?" signal. Reginald had not stopped for her, " Sure. Dan Mulligan. That's his name. then! He had not even come himself, but Might I ask what yours is, miss?" had sent the brakeman to find out what had "Norah O'Day," faltered the girl. happened Norah Mulligan! Shades of Reginald "Notliin'," she said again, in a meek Launcelot DeCourcey! little voice. " I was just afther wavin' at "That's a pretty name, ain't it, "Bob?" Reg—I mean at the engineer. 'Tis every observed the engineer, leaning further— out mornin' I do it. I didn't notice what color of the cab-window. "I say, Miss " " was the coat I shook." He ain't sick ? inquired Norah hesita- A grin of illuminated understanding over- tingly. spread the face of the brakeman. "Who—Dan? Oh, no. He's just got a "You'll be the girl that waves out the day off. It's his crystal weddin' anniver- window every day, then?" he suggested. sary. He's takin' his wife an' the kids out " Every day," said Norah, proudly. " 'Tis for a little celebration." not one I've missed the whole summer. "The kids?" gasped Norah, her knees Shure, when I saw the cars there, I thought almost giving way. —I thought—" She blushed and stam- "Sure. Six of 'em. The baby's the mered, and the brakeman took up the un- cutest I ever see. Dan's that proud of him! finished sentence. But, say—rny train goes up around noon. ! 632 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Why don't you wave to me? I'd be pleased of the song. To-day the joyous lilt was to have you." missing from her tones, and she avoided the Xorah felt that she could hear no more. high notes. Her romance with Reginald •'I—I'm afraid I'll have to go in," she stammered. " I— I—got work to do." " All right," responded the engineer cheer- fully. For the first time after that one ter- rible instant when she had realized he was not her own engineer, Norah lifted her eyes to his face. He was not a bad-looking chap, and his brown eyes were filled with honest admiration. "I'm Jack McGrath," he continued. "Look out to-morrow, will you?" His hand moved toward the throttle. But Norah fled. There was a thin film of dust on the claw-foot, and Norah knelt to remove it. Her eyes were just a trifle red and swollen, but a judicious use of powder had removed **** most of the traces of the tears that had be- dewed her -pillow the night before. IT S HIS CRYSTAL WEDDIN ANNIVERSARY," Launcelot DeCourcey had in- deed struck an open switch. Suddenly her quick ear caught the rumble of wheels, the quick, sharp blasts of a whistle. She raised her right hand a few inches, then came to herself with a start and jerked it back, plying the duster energetically. For the first time in months Dan Mulligan's watchful eye Dan Mulligan—a wife and six children caught no gleam of white at the upper win- dow. He hung out of the cab as long as Over the river and down the track the house remained in sight, but The train will dash to-day. no one appeared. But what are the ribbons of white and black The engine wears away? A tear trickled down Norah's cheek. She wiped it away and rose slowly to her feet. In wailing accents, Norah wanted to "Jack was afther sayin' J was to look know. There was a sad and mournful ca- out at noon," she murmured to herself as dence in her voice as befitted the sentiment her eyes sought the clock. Naming 1,248 Pullmans a Year BY FELIX G. PRENTICE DO you remember the delightful story that is recorded in the narratives of the famous philosopher of Chicago, Mr. Dooley, when Mr. and Mrs. Dooley wanted to name the baby boy? The father was intent on having him christened with a couple of good Hibernian appellations, and Mrs. Dooley was equally insistent for a cognomen that was sufficiently poetic to suggest Little Lord Fauntleroy at a pink tea. So they quarreled, and. in the heat of the argument, Mrs. Dooley hotly said to her husband: " Do vou think I want my child named for the pay-roll of the clock depart- ment?" "An' do yez think 1 want him n-named fer th" Pullman Car Company?" said Mr. Dooley. How Young Men in the Office of the General Manager of the Pullman Company at Chicago Tease the Alphabet to Manufacture New Monikers. one having cast-off names a mere -sleeping-car. Perhaps it NNY would not to dispose of may like to be if there were only a dozen or a hundred, know that they will be or even two hundred, of them. As a mat- thankfully received by the ter of fact, the Pullman Company got along Pullman Company, a worthy famously while the list of proper names in corporation which is having the back of the dictionary held out. a hard struggle to provide its large and But there were 4,749 Pullman standard growing collection of sleeping - cars with sleeping, parlor, observation, and private respectable cognomens. cars in service on October 1, 1910, and To be perfectly frank, it may be said, new ones are being turned out at the rate though at the risk of wounding a proud of four for each working day. That is corporation's sensibilities, that the Pull- 24 a week, 104 a month, and 1,248 a year. man 'Company is so hard up in the matter Each and every one of these cars is re- of nomenclature that the name "Pioneer," quired to have a name for its exclusive use. with which the first Pullman car ever If there is anybody who considers it a built was christened, has been dry-cleaned simple task to think of twenty-four new and_njade over and fixed up for four gen- names every week in the year, after 4,749 erations of cars. possible combinations of vowels and con- After forty -five years of continuous sonants have been eliminated from the eli- service in the dust and grime and storm gible list, just let him try. Let him bear and general stress of railroading, it is in in mind that, according to the rules laid such a state that it cannot be sent to the down by the Pullman Company, it is neces- cleaners again. sary " to select names that mean something, % Spinsters and other volunteers, always that are euphonious, and that do not have ready to name a new baby at a moment's too many letters." notice, may think it is no trick to name By .ay of illustrating the application 633 G34 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. of the rules: Suppose we select at random so hampered by the requirements of eu- a few names from among the 134 Pullman phony, brevity, and significance that un- cars on the Northern Pacific. charitable things should not be said of the In the name "Skagit" we have an ex- sponsors if, in their agony, the)- should cellent exemplification of euphony; "Tush- bring forth such names as " Coyeta," epah " clearly means something, if we only "Ilus," "Reita," " Currahee," "Juana- knew what it was, while " Nisqually " is a luska," "Berhera," " Olytes," " Ophytes," model of brevity. "Rahula," "Zeyla," "Viento," "Bisuka," "Lylete," "Napata," "Navarete," " Azusa," Some Northern Pacific Names. "Garita," " Atoyac," "Contento," "Es- pira," "Istlan," "Liorna," "Eylau," "Mo- If die point is not yet clear, it may be corito," "Parrao," "Tenescal," "Tavares," added that all the virtues to be desired in "Altata." an ideal name are to be found in " Ole- Unforeseen contingencies growing out of qua." "Moclips,"' " Sokulk," "Palikee," car names sometimes lead to tragedies. To " " "Nemadji,"- Castah," "Atsina," Che- mention a single ' example, a young wife wah," "Sharha." " Skillute "Stillasha," on her way to St. Louis, a couple of years " " •' Willewah "Palouse," "Nehalem," Wy- ago, gave birth to a child on a Big Four noocha," "Youcone," "Yampah," "Um- train. There was a physician on board, as pvna." "Kittitas/' "Kooskia," "Lezeka," there generally is, and the Pullman con- "Opeechee."' "Minta," and "Nushka." ductor and porter made her comfortable in Twelve hundred and forty - eight new a drawing-room. Altogether, the mother names a year! Is it any wonder that, was so pleased that she decided to name while all the rest of the world is more or her boy for the car in which he was born. less gay, the young men in the general But, alas! Little did she realize what a manager's office at Chicago, which is sad- Pullman car name can be when it really dled with a sort of blanket responsibility tries. Imagine her horror when she found for the production of names when required, that her beloved son would have to struggle appear distrait, and jump convulsively through tiiis vale of tears handicapped by when a care-free acquaintance from some the name " Skalkaho." " " other department gives them an unexpected Think of it! Skalkaho Finnegan ! slap between the shoulders? If he should turn .out to be a Russian Unfortunately, there is no hope for re- dancer, he may pull through—but suppose lief. Instead of being satisfied to let well he should be a politician? What would enough alone, the Pullman Company em- the boys in the gas-house district not do ploys a staff of designers to twist things to Skalkaho Finnegan? around in sleeping-cars. In order to meet the designers' plans, the company has to Helping the Name-Finders. build more cars accordingly. This not only makes a lot of extra work around the Sometimes a neighborly railroad sends shops, but it adds to the burden of wo in in a mess of names that keeps the Pullman the general manager's office. To express in Company going for a day or two. This is iambic tetrameter the troubles of the un- most likely to happen when the railroad is fortunates who have to provide names for putting on a new train, or when it wants the new cars: fresh equipment for an old one. Railroads in such cases frequently ask the Pullman While workmen skilled so swiftly build Company to name the sleepers and parlorr- The scrumptious cars that rouse our wonder, cars after cities along the route; or, at least, They sigh and swear and tear their hair, And darn the luck to thunder. to provide names suggestive of the locality through which the train runs. Fortunately, the names do not have to Thus, some of the Pullmans on the New be forthcoming when the cars are ordered York Central's Twentieth Century Lim- built. A lot number serves the purpose ited are named " Briarcliff ," " Rhinecliff," during construction, but in the general "Kaaterskill," "Knickerbocker," etc. To manager's office it is realized only too well the Empire State Express on the sarpe road that each day brings forth its quota of cars. are assigned the " Empire State," " Buf- There are but twenty-six letters in the falo," "Little Falls," "Fort Plain," "West alphabet, and the possible combinations are Point," and so on. NAMING 1,248 PULLMANS A YEAR. 635 A few years ago a general passenger are not overlooking any bets, they have agent, inspired by his marriage with senti- evolved no fewer than seventy-seven names ments of philanthropy, told the Pullman beginning with " Ch," as " Chusca," " Cha- Company that it might use the names of ro," " Chowah," " Chickies," " Chico," and his bride and sister-in-law. The Pullman so on. Company thankfully christened the next two cars " Geraldine " and "Maybelle." Some Prolific Letters. Following out the idea of providing cars with names suggestive . of the country Altogether, the letter "C" has proved through which they run, the eight Pull- the most prolific in the alphabet, having mans assigned to the Mexican Interoceanic yielded no fewer than 479 names. "A" I? Railway are the "Jalapa," Malintzi," did pretty well with an output of 372 "Xochitl," "Espanola," "La Heroica," names. Even so unpromising a letter' as "Mexicano," "Anahuac," and "Urua- "Z" produced 28 names, including "Zam- pan," while the four on the narrow-gage ba," "Zara," and "Zelda." "Y" did bet- Mexican National are the "Acamb_aro," ter with 32 names, like " Yolande," "Yo- "Patzcuaro," "El Moro," and "Manitou." landa," "Yentoi." "U" did pretty well On certain trains on the Pennsylvania with " Ulseah," "Umpyna," and 35 other?, " the Pullman parlor-cars run to " H*s," as but Q " was hard sledding, .for it only " Hartlev," " Herminie," " Highspire," yielded 10 names. "Hollv Beach." " Honevbrook," "Hope- It is really wonderful to see what the well," and "Howard." name-builders can do with unpromising material. Give them an ancient name that Even the Saints! doesn't seem to have life enough to stand tacking on a single car. and they will nurse For a short time the sad-eyed young men it along, amputating a vowel here and in the general manager's office were happy grafting a syllable there until they have when one of them chanced to run across fairly outdone the miracle of the loaves the calendar of saints. They had almost and fishes. become reconciled to life by the time they Take a simple little name like "Ruth." had bestowed the names of sixty saints on That does nicely for one car; but you sleeping-cars, including " St. Servan," " St. wouldn't think they could irrigate and fer- Carvan," "St. Arsene," and "St. Gretna." tilize those four simple little letters until Then an unmerciful official asked if the they produced "Ruthella," "Rutherford," Pullman Company was an ecclesiastical and "Ruthven," would you? Well, they enterprise or an early Spanish explorer? did, just the same. And, anyway, would they kindly give the In the same way, " York," after having saints a rest? some yeast stirred in and being set by the Then they turned to classical names, but kitchen stove, swelled to "Yorklyn," demigods with a past were not deemed eli- "Yorkshire," "Yorktown," and "York gible to circulate in the exclusive society of Haven." "Rhoda" yielded "Rhodes," limited trains, and the list was cut down "Rhodesia," and "Rhode Island," and almost to the vanishing point. They wan- " India " was worked up into " Indiana," dered through Lippincott's Gazetteer and " Indianola," and " Indianapolis." the Biographical Dictionary, commandeered One of the favorite railroad classics re- an " Ambassador," a " Diplomate," and a lates how George M. Pullman used to pay " Consul " from the diplomatic service, and, his daughter Florence $10,000 a year to in their desperation, even descended to Con- name cars for him. As the idealization of gress long enough to christen the " Senator." the soft snap for which we spend our lives When all these resources failed there was hunting, this story struck a universal heart nothing to do but to fall back on- ortho- chord. In short, it never failed to make a graphic delirium tremens again. With hit. Moreover, it would have been just like heroic fortitude these nameless sponsors, for Pullman, if he had been that sort of man. their identity is hidden behind a veil of But not being that kind of man, he never mystery as impenetrable as a Pullman cur- did anything of the sort. tain, started in at "A" and waded reso- The story grew out of a Chicago space- lutely through the alphabet. writer's need of three dollars. Just to emphasize the assertion that they The question of names seems to have : : G36 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. haunted Pullman throughout his life. Even the busy roads in the district of which New the town of Pullman was not named without York is the headquarters, it will be seen difficult}'. It seerus that the architect em- that emergency demands are pretty heavy. ployed to lay out this model town, which has It is a safe guess that no railroad would been written about more than any otiier town be willing to tie up $22,500,000 in 900 extra of the same size in America, was W. W. Be- sleeping-cars to be used but once a "year. man. He became so entiiusiastic as the Neither would they be willing to provide the beautiful plans grew under his hand that extra equipment to make up the five bankers' he was filled wiih a desire to immortalize specials that crossed the continent early last his name by bestowing it on the model town. fall. But the Pullman Company can do all Naming a Model Town. these things, because there are emergency calls from somewhere in this big land pretty When a favorable opportunity presented nearly all the time, though it is seldom that itself he mentioned his modest ambition to more than one hurry call comes in at a time. Pullman. That famous car-builder turned This enables one central organization to the request over in his mind a moment, then keep its reserve equipment in pretty steady said service. This makes for economy. By a "Well, the fact is. Mr. Beman, I had wise manipulation of the reserve equipment, rather thought of naming the town for my- all the fluctuating demands of traffic are met self." with a minimum deadhead mileage, but it Noticing a cloud of disappointment spread takes a lot of work. over the architect's face, he hastened to add One man at the New York headquarters "But I'll tell you what we can do; we can spends his working hours before a board full compromise the matter. Suppose we make of holes that fills one side of a room and up a name by taking the first syllable of my overflows on to another, sticking wooden name and the last syllable of yours. Then pegs into the holes and taking them out we will both be happy." again. Apparently there is no way to avoid the Each peg represents a Pullman car, and necessity of providing palace cars with the board shows the manager at a glance names. In the first place, the railroad com- just where each car is, and where he can panies cannot furnish the service provided look for reserves to meet a demand from any by the Pullman Company. One strong ap- point in his large territory. Another man is peal that the Pullman car makes is that it fully occupied in keeping tab on joy-riders goes where the passenger wants to go, re- in private cars scattered all over the North gardless of the number of roads it has to American continent. pass over to get there. Pullmans must continue to bear names, be- It might, perhaps, be feasible for the cause the railroad companies number then- railroads constituting a through line to agree coaches, hauled .on the same trains with on some plan for providing equipment for them. If the Pullmans used numbers, too, ordinary service, but no railroad is willing the inevitable result would be confusion in to tie up money needed to furnish the extra .handling trains; so there is nothing to do equipment to meet emergencies that alto- but grind out names. Yet there is a mathe- gbther amount to half a dozen days a year. matical limit to what can be done with Just to show the extent of these emer- twenty-six letters. Every day that passes gencies, take the case of the New York brings the crisis nearer. Central, which required 900 extra Pullmans If Congress could spare a few moments to bring home returning New Yorkers the from its full-crew bills, locomotive-inspec- day after Labor Day. The cars were on the tion bills, and unlimited-baggage bills, per- spot when wanted. When it is remembered haps it might be induced to place imported that but 1.100 Pullmans are assigned to all car names on the free list. You can't drive a quarrelsome man or a balky engine, — leave 'em both to the wrecking crew.—The Old Eagle Eye. Heard Around the Water-Tank.* BY TOM JACKSON. NOT all the interesting stories under this heading deal with railroad men, themselves, but Tom Jackson, who is an old-time tallow-pot. has gathered yams from many sources, and, as they are all interesting, we are glad to give them space. And if you will ask Tom Jackson, he will tell you that his railroad days were the happiest of his life. Each story that follows contains something that will interest. If, when you have read them all. you do not see the railroad man from several new viewpoints, then we have missed our guess. The Washout Sign—Asleep in the Cabin—For a Mail Contract—Cool Heads in Danger — The Wonderful Watch— Our. Mother Tongue—Spotting the Married Ones. McCASLAND'S WASHOUT SIGNS. then the wildest country in south central Texas. NDY McCASLAND will verify One stretch of eight miles ran through v the truth of the statement die famous Wharton Bottom, a forest of that a man on the right side oak and elm, with an undergrowth of haw of an engine will stop when and wild brier. any object is violently waved The bottoms were said to be the abound- across the track. That is ing place of escaped convicts, bear and deer. an old rule in railroading which has al- Andy will bear me witness that in those ways been strictly adhered to by every em- early days of the Cane Belt, the bottom cer- ployee, and one that has doubtless saved tainly was the ranging grounds of a certain many lives. mule, the mule having caused Andy to put Andy was an engineer on the old Cane her over and give her all there was, one Belt road, a property long since absorbed foggy morning in 1901. by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe, which We were south-bound local freight No. 5, runs from Sealy to Matagorda, Texas, a with engine 108 pulling us. - Andy McCas- distance of ninety miles, through what was land, a young tallow-pot just from the Katy, 637 " 638 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. was at the throttle, and Herman . "?ze was That fall was a wet one, even for south handling the scoop. I was braking ahead, Texas, and as the track was new and poorly and, as a matter of course, while the train ballasted, it was almost impossible to move was in motion I was in the head man's faster than six miles an hour through Whar- accustomed place on the seat box behind ton Bottom, which before the coming of the Herman, getting my brief bit of " spot." raihvay was a dismal swamp. We had been on the road all day and all That part of it through which the road night and were all but dead from loss of runs, is somewhat higher than the rest, and sleep, and we were overworked from un- the dump, built of mud from the barrow loading bacon and corn-meal at the stations pits, acts as a dam for the lake on either between the two terminals. side. Being thus " batty-eyed," no doubt ac- We were going north on No. 6 one rainy counted for Andy's optical illusion, and night, and, as the engineer had loved ones when he saw an object coming down the at home awaiting him, he was doing his best- track right in the edge of the woods, waving to make as fast time as possible. a stop sign, he concluded that something had When about the middle of the woods, the gone wrong with the track. old three got it into her head to act nutty. He reached up and got the whistle-cord, She put her two fore-feet on the ties, and tooted twice in answer to the " washout," ran in that manner for several hundred and dien gave his air about ten pounds yards before the hogger could stop her. reduction. Four blasts of the whistle had the con- The fireman looked ahead and saw what ductor, Luke Dial, and two brakemen come he imagined to be a high-ball coming from to the front, and the work of replacing the the same source, but Andy was too busy mill was begun. stopping to notice a high-ball and finally We worked for two solid hours, back and brought the train to a full stop. forth and round about, carrying heavy frogs Then he looked up. ..Sure enough, some- and ties until we were almost exhausted. thing or somebody was giving him an old- Finally we got the engine back on the rails fashioned high-ball. and started on our way happy in the thought Andy started his train again, and by .this that we would soon be out of the bottom time the "' tallow " had awakened me. I and on good track again. looked ahead at his request and saw the We were soon to be sadly disappointed, object. It was giving another " washout however. We had not gone half a mile be- stop-sign, following up with a high-ball. fore we were all huddled in a corner of the Andy was tooting like mad, and mad as caboose with the stove and the water-cooler a hornet he was, for by all that is uncanny, on top of us, and with smoke and brimstone the signal-maker proved to be a lop-eared rising from the floor of the caboose where mule which had come out of the bottoms the captain had gone down. to avoid the mosquitoes and had stepped on We extricated ourselves from the links, the track. pins, air-horse, and other objects, and went He was busy switching the pests off with ahead to ascertain the cause of the sudden ins tail and at every motion he would give stop. cither a stop-signal or a high-ball. It was What we saw made us sick. Three fur- so nearly like the real thing diat Andy niture cars crosswise of the track and on McCasland put the old 10S in the big hole each side a lake of water three-feet deep, and stopped dead, fully believing that some and no dry sand in sight. track-walker had signaled. To add to the pleasures of the afternoon, a cold, mist}1 rain was falling. There was nothing to do but make an effort to get the ASLEEP IN THE CABIN. cars back, and we worked like demons for five hours, finally succeeding in getting O PEAKING of Wharton Bottom reminds every car on the rails. *^ me of another incident which occurred We were standing beside the cars con- on the naoe line. It happened in September, gratulating ourselves on being tip-top 1901, during the heavy rush of business on wreckers, when something else happened the Cane Rett; when the cotton season was that made us all declare that as soon as on and the rice rush—then in its infancy we arrived at the division we would tender, iu Texas—was just looking up. our resignations. — HEARD AROUND THE WATER-TANK. 639 As soon as we got the cars on the track white flags by day and white lights by night we had the engine back down to the scene were stationed along the line to give the of the derailment in order that we might proper signals that all was right. In fact, more conveniently load the frogs onto the every precaution was taken to assist in the tender. fast run being made without accident. While this was happening the rails, which Promptly on the second, No. 5 rolled into had been loosened by the derailed cars, the car shed in Chattanooga. There the turned under the engine, letting her clown Cincinnati Southern men surrendered the into the mud, and making it impossible for train to the Alabama Great Southern crew, us to budge a wheel. who were to make the record-breaking run There was nothing for the crew to do but to Meridian, Mississippi, a distance of 295 return to the caboose" and go to bed. This miles. we did, although it began to look as if the The train was in charge of Captain Mar- rear man would have to go back a distance tin Ford, conductor. Jesse Haver, as cool- of twenty telegraph poles, and protect our headed and fearless a man as ever pulled a train. throttle, was in the cab. His engine was The hind man refused to do anything of one of two large McQueens that had been the kind, putting up as an excuse that there sent down from the shops in Ludow, Ken- was not an engine on the south end and it tucky, for the occasion. These were con- was impossible for a train to hit us. sidered the fastest passenger-engines in the We were working under standard rules, service of those days. however, and something had to be done, so Only a few moments were consumed in we compromised on the negro cook, Joe, who transferring train equipments in Chatta- lived in our "dog-house." Joe agreed to nooga, and we were off. The Cincinnati go back to Bear Junction, a mile away, Southern having made a record-breaking where there was a cabin erected by wood- run from Cincinnati, we were eager to hold choppers, and do the flagging. up the good start over the Alabama Great Next morning we sent back for Joe and Southern division. found him asleep in the cabin. By the time the red lights on the rear end of the Pullman passed out of the lower end of the car-shed we were hitting a twenty- A RACE FOR MAIL CONTRACT. mile clip, with sand running from the dome-pipe and the big drivers catching T> ACK in the early eighties, considerable good " toe hold " on the rails with every rivalry existed between two great revolution. trunk lines, the Louisville and Nashville Out in the darkness like a thing of life, and the Queen and Crescent; for the mail the great .curls of black smoke boiling from contract between Cincinnati and New Or- the McQueen's smoke-stack, rushed the leans. Word had been received from the train —the smooth rails under The glare of Post Office Department in Washington that the headlight looking like ribbons of silver. the mail contract was to be awarded to the The white lights flashed as she sped road making the best time over these two through the yards, past Cravens, where the lines. On a certain day word was sent white light shining like a star was flashed, down the line of the Queen and Crescent dien around die bend of the blue Tennessee, that the big race was to be pulled off the hugging the great gray walls of old Look- next day. out," now and then the big, brass bell clang- First No. 5, consisting of a mail-car, bag- ing with the swaying of the engine as she gage-car, two day-coaches and a Pullman gathered momentum. would leave Cincinnati at 9.30 in the morn- Down through the little hamlet of Wan- ing, would have the right of way over all hatchie, where the switch had been turned trains, and would be given a clear track onto the Alabama Great Southern main line the white board by day and the white light to save stopping, then down the long straight by night. stretch through Wildwood. As a precaution, track- walkers, acting un- Then it was she sprang forward like some der orders of the division road-masters, had frightened bird darting out into the black personally inspected all switches and road- night. The engineer dropping her down a bed culverts, and looked for any bolts or couple of notches and tapping the throttle- taps that might be loose. Section-men with lever, the big engine responded nobly. 640 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Rising Fawn, Sulphur Springs, Valley I have witnessed many deeds of daring, Head. Fort Payne. roterville, CollinsviUe, many acts of charity, and many "dare* Atalla—all "Bitted like shadows. devil" stunts performed by railroad men, At Springville. a stop was made for water, but I never before saw such a quick-witted, "Now, my boy. take that water, quick," cool-headed stunt as the following. After was the order the fireman received. it was all over I told the conductor, and "Hustle round and keep your eyes skin- all the satisfaction that I got from him was: ned for a hot box," was the order the brake- " Well, you have certainly got to have your man received. head cut in all the time down on this joint- " She is as cold as charity,'' came from track, if you want to get over the road." the brakenian as he made a hast}' survey. It was a Rio Grande passenger-train that Then off again down through Trussville left Denver about 8 p.m., heavily laden and into the "Magic City," panting and with passengers for the San Juan and its throbbing, the trip was made in four hours tributaries. This train had reached Cu- and five minutes. chara Junction on time and pulled out at The crew uncoupled and backed in the about 1.30 a.m. other big McQueen, the mate to Haver's pet. The wind was blowing nearly a hurri- Dick Moore, every one knew Dick, the jol- cane, and the mercury was down below the liest fellow on the road and a bundle of cold freezing point. nerve, climbed up into the high cab. What The blackness of the night did not help he could not get out of an engine was in to make it very pleasant for Engineer Wal- the scrap pile. ter Henthorn. The snow beating against the Clang! dang! went the big bell and window in his cab kept him with his head we were again racing against time, great continually out searching the inky blackness chunks of white-heated cinders flying from for danger. the stack and sparks from the drivers. It is a busy piece of track between Wal- Down through old Jonesboro we flew, senburg and Pueblo, and the two big rail- racing against the storm. roads handle many trains there in twenty- • Will he stop for the drawbridge over four hours. the Warrior and Tombigbee?" asks some Henthorn had just whistled for Walsen- one in breathless excitement. burg Junction, when out ahead on the main " Call it stop," says the brakeman, " but line he caught sight of the three red lights if you had fired a cannon-ball at the engine of a freight-train bearing down upon him. you would have bit the sleeper. We are On the rear end stood a man giving him away past Epps and Eutaw and that whis- frantic Signals with a red lantern to back up. tle is for Livingston." He started his train back toward Cu- The target lights of the Mobile and Ohio chara, thinking that a freight-train was flash as we dash across its tracks. backing down to head in and let him pass, "Meridian! All out for Meridian!" but as the signals became more rapid and yells the brakeman. the train got nearer, he came to the conclu- Here we turned her over to the New sion that it was a runaway coal-train. Orleans and Northeastern boys, having To back his train east without a flag to made the run from Chattanooga in eight protect, was an awful risk, as No. 115 never hours and twenty minutes, a record breaker left Cuchara without at least two or three for the Alabama Great Southern. west-bound freights following. The New Orleans and Northeastern beat At this time the entire force of machinists the L. and X. by four hours, and secured the on the system were striking, and many en- mail contract for four years. gines were compelled to run without head- lights. •j* It was a trying position. It seeme I to COOL HEADS IN DANGER MO- be one thing or the other: to stop and he MENTS. crushed to death by the approaching train, or hurl the train with its hundred or more '"PHIS incident happened eighteen months sleeping passengers to certain disaster. ai£0. on what is known as the D. and A cool head appeared in the person of R. G. and C. and S. joint track between the Conductor George Stout. He had taken in junctions of Walsenburg and Cuchara, in the situation at a glance. Suddenly the Colorado. rear end of the passenger-train was a blaze HEARD AROUND THE WATER-TANK. 641 of red lights. As fast as one fuzee burned piece. "But they are mistaken. Every out, another took its place. railroad man carries the greatest piece of Their speed had to be increased in order machinery ever constructed right in his own to outdistance the fast-approaching outlaw, pocket—his watch. and their little engine was throwing sky- " The locomotive must run on a compara- rockets into the air and streaks of fire from tively level track, a grade of one foot in ten the slipping drivers. is too much for the average engine to climb, A train length ahead of the oncoming although some few can do a bit better than caboose was the best they could do. The this. But a watch runs upside down, or in conductor, after getting the rear-end decora- any possible position. It is the most com- ted and a flagman at his post, came through pact, the strongest and the most delicate the train and turned out every gas-jet, but piece of machinery ever put together by to every questioner who asked why, jokingly human hands. answered, "just saving a little gas," know- "I know of nothing to compare it with, ing full well what the consequences would except possibly two things—the modern be had he showed the least excitement. high-power automatic rifle and the human The passengers might become panic- eye. Both of these are compact, strong, and stricken and jump to their death in the delicate, but, of the three, I think the watch darkness. leads. Stout believed that if they beat the "The average watch has about 175 parts. runaway to Cuchara they could throw it Iron, gold, silver, copper, and nickel are into a siding. The possibilities were that used in its construction. Then there are the all the tracks were full of trains, but they jewels, each of which must be cut more ac- had to take a chance. It was now simply a curately than the average diamond for a case of the less killed die better. ring. The flagman was to jump from the rear " It takes about 2500 different operations end of the train and throw the siding-switch to make a watch. after his train was into clear. " But these numbers are almost nothing If he fell and failed, the conductor, sta- when we stop to think what a watch does. tioned at the head of the sleeper, would To begin with, it strikes 4.32,000 blows make the attempt. against the fork every twenty-four hours. Fortunately the flagman made the switch There are about 1800 steps to the mile, as and shot the runaway down a clear siding. the average man walks, and if he took a It was a caboose without a hand-brake. step every time his watch touched the fork Conductor McCoy of the freight had ridden he would travel 240 miles in a day, or at that flying demon down those steep six the rate of ten miles an hour. miles, absolutely helpless to control its speed " This means 157,680,000 impacts a year, but able to warn the passenger-train. and this run is made without a single stop He is one of the heroes of which the rail- for rest. The watch does not go into the road men are justly proud. shops every now and then as even the best The caboose ran through the siding and engines must, nor is it oiled and readjusted stopped just in front of an extra pulling for its next run. Suppose we treated a loco- into Cuchara. Conductor Stout had rushed motive as we do a watch. It would mean - ' to the telegraph office and asked the opera- that an engine would run at least a year, tor at Apache, the first station east, to hold and ofter four or five years, never stopping all trains west—but the extra had got out. night or day. No one was killed or even injured, and "I doubt if the average engine could thousands of dollars' worth of property was stand it for one week, to say nothing about saved by a little nerve and some good judg- one year. Usually we do oil our watches ment on the part of a little band of fail- about once a year, sometimes only once in road men. every two years. Think of a locomotive S .* going two years without oil! " THE WONDERFUL WATCH. Even when we figure it out on a mile- age basis the watch has die best of it. The " "D AILROAD men are inclined to- look balance-wheel moves 1 43-100 of an inch on the locomotive as the greatest each time, a total of nearly 3,559 miles a piece of rnachinery~"ui the world," said a year. As watches are usually taken care of, jeweler, as he adjusted an engineer's time- this means about 5500 miles on one oiling. 5 RR 642 THE RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE. " Now the average watch uses about as one side, I just slammed on the wind and much power as four fleas would develop. went over and shook. Dick looked pretty It is estimated that one horse-power will tough. He must have been out surfacing run 270,000.000 watches. In other words, track. He was oiled a "good deal; jacket the watch as an engine, on one oiling, will rusted and streaked; tire double flanged; run over o500 miles on 1-270,000,000 of valves blowing; packing down; didn't seem one horse-power constantly applied. Where to steam right. He must go to the back is there a locomotive that can even come in shop before the old man will ever let him sight of such a record? in the roundhouse. A man often drops his watch, picks it " I set his packing out and put him in a up. puts it to his ear, and, if it is going stall in Gray's corral. Dick's mighty good all right, which is usually the case, he working scrap if you can only get him thinks no more about it and the watch keeps down to carrying water right. If he'd come right on with its woYk. Drop a locomotive down to three gages he'd be a dandy; but the same distance—say only five feet straight this trying to run first section with a flut- down—and it is the shops for that engine. ter in his stack all the time, is no good—he "' There are many scientific instruments must be flagged in." far more delicate than a watch, and many A Chicago switchman, when asked if it machines far stronger; but for strength and were true that he intended to marry, said: delicacy combined, nothing equals a watch." " I wouldn't care to double-crew my train. I've been raised to run my own engine and J* take" care of it. When you double-pack, OUR "MOTHER TONGUE." there is always a row as to who ought to go ahead and enjoy the scenery or stay behind '"PHERE is something in the railroad busi- and eat cinders." _ ness that gets into the fibers of a man. An engineer was overheard lecturing hi* It becomes part of his life; tinctures his fireman thus: thoughts, sways his moods, gives a distinc- "Well, Jim, I'm ashamed of you. You tive air to his looks, and shapes his speech. come into general headquarters with your Especially is this so in the case of the tank afloat, so full that you can't whistle, men of the Western roa 's, where there isn't with your air-pump a squealin' and the much to interfere with the development of hull of you misbehavin' scandalous. You the individuality that arises from constant was smeared from stack to man-hole, head- contact with the right-of-way. light smoked and glimmery; don't know An old eagle eye never referred to his your rights, kind of runnin' wild-cat with- cap, but always to his "dome casing." out proper signals; imagining you are. firsr Had he occasion to hunt for his coat he won- section with a regardless order. What you dered where the "jacket" was side-tracked. want to do is to blow out, trim up, get your His legs, he called his "drivers." His packing set out and carry less juice. hands were "pins." his arms, "side-rods." " You're worse than the slipping, dan- his stomach the " fire-box," and his moutli cing, three-legged freight haulers that the •' the pop." new super has sprung on us. The next Another of his kind would speak of a time I catch you at high gage I'll scrap. missing suspender button as a "shy spring- " Oil around if you must, but put the 1 hanger." If a man hurt his foot and walked air on steady, bring her down to a proper with a limp, he had a " flat wheel." When gait, throw her into full release so as to eating he was ""tiring up," when drinking stop right, drop a little oil on the worst he " took water." and if he had indulged points, ring your bell, and go ahead." too much he had " oiled round." This is how an old railroad man de- John A. Hill, who knows railroad men scribed the wedding of his adopted daugh- to the core, tells of an engineer on the Pa- ter: cific Coast who once expressed himself as " I've been up to see a new compound follows in the course of a conversation: start out—prettiest sight I ever saw. Maybe "Say, guess who I met on the up-tri|>? I'm a bit dubious about repairs and general Dick Taggart! Sure. I was sailin' along running, but I guess they'll make out all up the main line near Bob's and who should right. I see but Dick backed in o.i the siding look- "That little girl of mine was the trim- ing dilapidated like he was running on mest, neatest, slickest little mill you ever — " HEARD AROUND THE WATER-TANK. 643 saw. She was painted red and white and gage in playing at lovers, or affect a flirta- gold-leaf, three brass bands on her stack, tion, but it fs always a stupendous failure. solid nickel trimmings, all the latest im- Their eyes betray too much happiness for provements—jest made on purpose for such a disguise. There is such a peculiar specials and pay-car. She got coupled to softness and tenderness in their confidential a long, fire-boxed, ten-wheeler with a big whispers, and such a pride in the possession lap. Yes, sir, that babe of mine is a heart- of each other, that none around them are breaker on dress parade and the ten-wheeler deceived. is a mogul for business." " It is generally the case, that the bride- groom makes the discovery first, and throws his arm carelessly around the shoulders of ON THE HONEYMOON SPECIAL. his wife, as much as to say defiantly to the ' envious : Who's afraid ? Who knows but ' "Wf HEX the matrimonial market is we have been married many years? buoyant," said an old con, "it is " The guilty slyness in the way that arm interesting to notice the newlyweds starting steals round, first on the seat-back, then on their first journey. gradually closer, while the bride evinces " Of course, it is not on account of being a silent blush as she acquiesces in an un- ashamed of each other that they try to dis- perceiving way. Indeed, it is she- who gen- guise the situation, but simply to avoid be- erally lets the cat out of the bag. ing criticized by inquisitive strangers. " The narrow-gage seats are preferable to They lay the fond unction to their souls that the broad-gage, and if you sit on the seat they are traveling incog! But, how badly back of a couple, you will observe at first fooled they are. the lady s shoulders are not even—they in- " It is one of the easiest tilings in the cline just a little to her partner. After trav- world, to the careful eye, to tell precisely eling in this position a few hours, her neck how many days, or even hours, they have gets as limber as a washed paper-collar, and been spliced. They can sometimes be de- her head gravitates to the broad shoulders tected by the great pains they take to ap- of her husband, and there it nestles inno- pear like old married people or cousins, as cently and confidingly, in the repose of hon- they sit demurely in the cars. In many est and truthful love! At times, in spite of cases, their dress exposes them—it is so all precaution, one or two of her golden locks terribly in tune with the occasion, being will get loose and drop on his shoulder. neat, symmetrical, and hew. In cases "So they go, fancying themselves lost in where the parties have good taste, there is no the crowd — unnoticed, unknown — with gaudiness or flub-dubbing about their attire. their secret locked up on their own palpita- " Sometimes the youthful culprits en- ting bosoms. Poor newlyweds 1 NEW TUNNEL-B( RING MACHINE. ANEW form of tunnel-boring machine has frame running on . wheels on the track. At the lately been devised by Mr. Ebbley, formerly head of the shaft are radial arms carrying different master mechanic of the Old Dominion Copper drilling machines of special design for cutting Mine, al Globe, Arizona. The inventor says his channels in the rock. device will average twenty-five to fifty feet a day. There are three complements of drills, the outer No blasting is required, and tin's eliminates one of set cutting the channel that determines the size of the dangers and a large jiart of the cost. the bore. Another set cuts a channel in the rock No gases collect to hinder progress of the work. or earth, a foot or two inside the line of the outer Three men on a shift can operate the machine. channel. A third set cuts a still smaller ring in The machine drills a circular hole from eight to the rock, and other sets may be used. Hammers twenty-five feet in diameter. It is intended to go pound against the rock with smashing force as the through any ground that a machine drill will work channels are cut, thus breaking out the rock and in. The track is laid and the timbers placed as earth and allowing it to fall to the floor of the tun- the machine proceeds. From one hundred and nel. A shovel that has a reciprocating motion, fifty to two hundred horse-power is required to with accelerated speed to the rear, gatheis up the operate the borer, but the cost of this is offset by muck and throws it behind the machine. The the saving in men, powder, and time. shovel is handled by an air-cylinder equipped with A large hollow shaft is mounted on a carrying a specially designed valve-gear. Exchange. SMITH'S LAST GAME. BY SUMNBR LUCAS. It Doesn't Pay to Be a Practical Joker and a Poker Fiend All at Once. IF you please, sah, de lady in de "Ugh!" was all he had to say to the next car says as how she information that he must seek the diner wants to see y9u, sah, if you're at once or get nothing to eat that night. her husband, sah. Am you What is a diner and a table-cloth lecture Mistah Smith, sah?" on the evils of gambling and wife deser- I '• Tell her in just a minute, tion compared to four eights with a blue porter— in just a minute," jackpot just about ready to murmured Smith as he sort- be hauled in? ed out four spades, tossed Smith stayed in the game. a tray of clubs into the dis- The four players were card, and prayed silently old chums. Many a good but hard for another spade. time had they known to- This was the third message gether, and many was the exchanged within an hour joke they had played ; some- in almost exactly the same times on each other, but words between " de lady in more often on some suffer- de next car" and Smith; ing outsider. The year be- yet Smith still sat in the fore, when the four had game—a quiet little game been together for a trip of poker in the drawing- across the country, Smith room of the Denver Pull- had left the train and man on the east-bound flier bought a pair of clippers. running out of Green When his chums were sound River. Wyoming. asleep he had nicely clipped Ziggitty, the big, fat col- great bald patches on their ored porter of "de next heads and then flung the car." scratched his wool clippers and the hair out with an anxious air, and the window, no one being for the third time departed the wiser. to face a square - jawed Next morning, in the woman, who abused him dressing-room, there was for the shortcomings of tier considerable swearing, much poker-loving husband. to Smith's innocent sur- "The idea! He has prise. The rest of the car played all day, and now it had roared, even the dining- is getting supper-time; and car waiters had shown a I've been alone all day, and suspicious amount of dental the man said ' second call ivory that morning; but for dinner in the dining- Smith could not account for car ' fully half an hour ago. the sudden change in the Very well, 111 go eat appearance of his friends. alone," which the irate When they noticed that SLID CAREFULLY woman did. A sandwich Smith had a full head of OF THE UPPER. mts all Smith wanted. hair they were suspicious; 644 " " SMITH'S LAST GAME. 645 and when they accused him of fleecing them, To his surprise, Mrs. Smith hadn't a he looked hurt and talked much about the word to say. She was in the lower berth, weakness of personal friendship, even under and pretended to be very drowsy as Smith the strain of a few hairs. climbed into the upper. Then the train During the next year the three whose settled down for the night, ' and the air hair had been clipped received all manner grew cooler as Sherman Hill was passed. of advertisements for falling hair. They Smith dosed off a bit, then awoke with bore it all in good part, and now the four a sense of having slept for hours. He were together again for the first time since cautiously looked at his watch. that memorable occasion. " Midnight, and half an hour over. The No money was in sight, that being boys will think I'm not square with them, against railroad rules; yet there was plenty not to give them a chance to play even." of white, red, and blue chips on the table, Smith slid carefully out of the upper, and, gentlemen's agreement, the chips rep- and, after a breathless second to see if the resented good hard money when the game wakeful Mrs. Smith had discovered his was over. flight—clad in his pajamas—he slipped " If you please, boss, de lady in de next along the swaying car and into the sleeper car, she says, sah— head. "All right — all right! Tell her I'm "Quitter! Play your friends for the coming in just a minute. Soon as we play cash, and then run! Cold feet!" greeted out this hand," and Smith shuffled the deck Smith as he sat into the game. for a new deal. He was considerably " Boys, we have till two o'clock. You ahead of the game, and did not want to are in the Denver sleeper, and I'm bound, quit a* heavy winner. It wouldn't look for Chicago. We divide at Cheyenne at just right, especially as he had been be- two o'clock. The game ends at one forty- hind for some time. five. Get busy and win it back if you "Tell you what you do, Smith, old boy," can." suggested big, raw-boned Anderson. "We've In half an hour Smith said: been hitting it up pretty lively all eve- "Wonder what we are stopping for? ning. Suppose we just suspend operations Backing up, too— for a couple of hours, take a rest, and be- "You're shy, Smith. Chip in. Your gin again about midnight. - It's too hot to deal, Pete. Time enough to worry later. sleep in those padded boxes to-night, and It's only one o'clock and we don't hit we might as well play all night as suffer Cheyenne till two, an hour from now. ? in a berth. Play up. Don't try to string the game out, "Suppose you go back, as Ziggitty says, Smith, old boy, so you can hold on to your and go to bed like a good little boy. Will winnings. Deal 'em out." give you a chance to get your clothes off, The game went on — so did the train. anyway. Then when the good wife is Everything was running smoothly till asleep you get up on the q. t, and sneak Smith looked at Anderson's watch. in here. Your pajamas won't be noticed "Holy smoke! Just time for one more that time of night, and we'll go on with the round. Twenty minutes to two. Deal 'em game. What you say?" out lively now." "Let's see," said Smith, looking at his Smith's luck had changed, and he was watch, " ten - ten. Where do we change thirty - five dollars uehind. Anderson time? Green River, isn't it? All right, glanced at his watch and dealt the cards. boys. I'll be back soon—trust me. Cards Smith bore a pained expression as he drew and matrimony don't mix well; but, as I two more cards, after which his face be- have cards only once in a while and mat- came as expressive as a piece of putty. rimony all the while, I'll be back soon as The other two dropped out, leaving An- " it out alone. I can escape. Ziggitty ! derson and Smith to fight "Yes, sah?" Anderson had drawn two cards also. "What time do we get into Omaha?" "It's the last hand," said Smith, as he "Two-fifteen to-morrow afternoon, sah." shoved all his chips into die middle of the "Well, good-by, boys. See you later. table. " If I lose, I'm out—clean buncoed Whew, it's hot! Pray for me, boys; I now by you cutthroats; if I win, I'm out ten go to my doom," and Smith, after cashing dollars. You get me going and coming. his chips, left for the rear Pullman. Wish we had longer, I'd skin you chaps " " 646 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. The three made a break for the door, while Smith danced up and down in sud- den rage. " Say, you horse thieves ! - You send Ziggitty here right away. Say, porter, " porter ! But no Ziggitty came. Instead, a scowling yellow face was thrust through the drawing-room door and a sleep- surly voice said: " You got to quit dat racket, sah. No such noise am 'lowed in a Pullman -at dis time of night, sah." " Say, porter, here's a dollar " —Smith's hand slid down his pajamas, but he found neither pocket nor dollar. "My clothes are in the next car, berth thirteen. Run get them for me and I'll " give you a dollar! " Very sorry, sah," the porter replied sus- piciously, after a wary look at Smith', "but there ain't no last car. We cut it off at Cheyenne." " Cheyenne ! Why, you fool, we haven't got to Cheyenne yet ! We'll be there, though, in ten minutes, and I want to get into my own car ! "Very sorry, sah, but we cut off nearly an hour ago, when we did all that switch- "never saw the poor fellow before." ing. Guess you must have forgot to change your watch when we changed time at Green alive and leave you without a thread to River, last evening. That would make you your backs. You're not game— one hour slow." "Well, now, Smithy, old boy. Seeing " What! Me on the way to Denver? In as how you are talking about being short the wrong car! No clothes! No money! either way the cat jumps, and being game Say, come here, boy. Now you get some of and all that, and especially about betting those gentlemen who were in here with me. the clothes on your back. I'll just shove that's a good Boy, and I'll give you a dollar all the chips in my pile into the pot soon as I see one of them. Hurry, -now." against that suit of pajamas of yours." "What berths, sah, am dey in?" " "Done! " said Smith. What berths ? How should I know ? Only two hands out, each a two-card Look in all of them till you find them!" " draw, and Smith held four aces. He could Very sorry, sah. Can't do that no quit honorably under the circumstances, as ways. Everybody's asleep. Can't disturb the dividing of the train made that neces- 'em. How come you in here, anyway? Who sary, and be a heavy winner in the. bar- is you? Am you the crazy man what got gain, just by calling that idiotic bluff of loose in Cheyenne dey am lookin' for?" Anderson's about betting the last rag on The porter backed out the door in a his back. hurry, and locked it behind him. Then came the show-down. " Give 'em Smith, mad as a hornet, pounded on the to me!" gloated Smith as he reached for door. This brought both the Pullman and the pile after throwing down his four sin- the train conductor. They unlocked the gle spots. door and at a glance at Smith in his pink "Not so fast, Smithy; not so fast. Ever pajamas, edged away. hear of a straight? A real nice queenly " See here, gentlemen. Just a friendly Busk, you know. It takes the chips and little game. I was in the other car, the one the pajamas—but you can keep the paja- cut off at Cheyenne, and my clothes are in mas, old man. Good night, Smithy." there. Also my wife and money and tick- ! SMITH'S LAST GAME. 647 ets—even-thing. My three friends won Identify me and let's end this nonsense," all my money, and that's how I'm here in begged Smith. " " this fix. That's one of them now ! point- His own mother wouldn't know him," ing down the aisle to Anderson. commented Anderson, as he surveyed the " Do you know this man ? " asked the con- shining pate thrust through the door. This ductor. recalled to Smith the same remark, now one " Never saw the poor fellow before in my year old. He glared at the three friends life," replied Anderson with a pained air. back in the car, shook his fist, and sub- • "Andy, you you villain! I'll break sided to a corner and fumed in silent fury. — " every bone in your body! Meanwhile, the conductor had wired " Look out. boss! He's gittin' vi'lent!" ahead to Fort Morgan for an officer. The' gasped the porter as he ducked around the corner of the drawing-roonv The conductor locked the door again while word about the "crazy man in the drawing-room" went through the car. Presently the door was opened a little and a package shoved in. Smith jumped for it with jov. s "What the deuce! " he groaned, as he found a safety razor, and a note saying: "We might be able to recognize you if your head was shaved. Sorry we haven't any clip- pers." "Of all heartless pirates!" groaned Smith. Then, with a sickly grin, he re- called a certain Pullman car of a year ago, and reached for the soap on the wash-stand. It was something of a hard job, but in ten minutes he had shaved his head as clean as a billiard- ball. And a sight he looked ! Then he rapped once more on the lock«d door. The firgt glance it's only one o'clock, and we the conductors and don't hit cheyenne till two." passengers had of him caused a riot. " He's the one ! That's him ! Crazy as a train was stopped-^nd the country cop was loon! Get that razor away from him or told that there was a crazy man on board. he'll kill himself!" "I don't want him. Take him along to How they did yell Denver; good night," was all the satisfac- "Say. you idiots! Here's your razor if tion the conductor got. you want it. Now, Andy, make good. By this time it was nearly daylight. The 648 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. it," remarked the conductor. Just then the patrol- wagon drew up to the train. " You've g o t that escaped lu- natic on board, and_we can't take any chances," the sergeant said. So they handcuffed Smith and bun- dled him into the wagon. The three chums sympa- thetically stood near by and rubbed their hairy heads in unison as the wagon rolled away for head- quarters. Smith was led into the chief's THEY HANDCUFFED SMITH AND BUNDLED HIM INTO THE WAGON. office. His sha- ven head and conductors considered the matter of putting night raiment did not make him look like Smith off the train then and there because a man with ordinary sanity. he had no ticket, and the Pullman conductor "Do you know these things?" asked the urged that it was against the rules of the chief with a grin. Smith struggled madly company for passengers to travel in a draw- with his keepers, for there before him on the ing-room without tickets, and especially lounge was all his clothing. without anything on but a suit of pink pa- " Turn him loose, boys," added the chief, jamas. "he's all right." For humanity's sake, the conductors al- Smith dressed. His hat looked too large lowed Smith to ride injhe drawing-room, for him, and felt bigger yet, so he stuffed merely contenting themselves with wiring a handkerchief in the brim to make it fit. the facts to headquarters in Denver and Then he opened a note which read: passing the whole matter to those higher The gentlemens who is with you done give up. At the frantic request of their prisoner, a dollar to put these" in the express-car for you. however, on the mere strength that after all Ziggitty. there might be a mistake somewhere, the Smith sent a telegram to Chicago, and conductor wired: one note to the hotel. The wire read: " Mrs. J. J. Smith, par Alpine," berth 13, Mrs. J. J. Smith, Michigan Avenue, Chi- T'. P. Flier, care Conductor James: caco: Man on Denver sleeper in pink pajamas, Have played my last game. Forgive me. says he is your husband. If so, wire instruc- Home to-morrow night. Jack, tions to U. P. headquarters, Denver. The note to the three friends read: train pulled into the sta- As the Denver You win. Have played my last practical tion a telegram was handed the conductor joke. Will expert you at lunch at the Brown. that read: Smithy. " " I have just as much husband with ine right Chief," said Smith, I'll bet the shirt now as I have had on this whole trip. on my back that game was a put-up job to Smttfi. Mrs. J. J. get me out of the car. That gang of pirates "Doesn't say much, yet it seems to say worked a cold deck on me to get even." a good deal. Depends on how you look at " You're dead right," said the chief. IN THE HORNET'S NEST BY DAN DUANE. The Remarkable Mind and Accomplishments of One Seth Waters, Desperado and. Scholar. SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. AMONG the mountains of southern California, lived old Eugene Caillo, gold-miner and miser. To him had recently come his dead sister's child, beautiful, eighteen-year-old Carmita. In the course of events, Philip Garrick, master of the Rancho Buena Vista, visits the store kept by Caillo, and meets Carmita, who is much sought by all the men of the neighborhood, among them being Jim Gormley, superintendent of the Comet mine, a villainous sort of fellow, whose desire is to get at Caillo's riches through Carmita. She repulses him after Philip has declared his love. Shortly after, Caillo's body is discovered at the bottom of a sluice, and suspicion, instigated by Gormley, falls upon Carmita and Philip. Gormley leaves town but is quickly followed by Philip, who has evidence that the former has committed the murder. He finally traces Gormley to Carnullo City, where he has been stricken with smallpox and there, on his dying bed, signs a confession of his guilt. Upon returning to Rosalia, Philip finds that he is suspected not only of old Caillo's death, but also that of Gorm- ley: He decides to marry Carmita at once and take her North. On his way to see the padre for that purpose, he is set upon by two men claiming to represent the citizens of Rosalia and dele- gated to escort Garrick out of town. Escaping from them he takes refuge in the old Mission, and next day, accompanied by the 1 padre, he goes to the court-house to clear his name and also report the finding of the body of one of his assailants, and there is mysteriously shot. CHAPTER XIII. the) - reached his side, he was absolutely be- yond the conscious stage, and was breathing The Scene in Rosalia. heavily. With the aid of Padre Gregorio, Philip a moment pandemonium reigned Garrick was placed astride the saddle of in the city of Rosalia. The mob one of the deputies. His body, seemingly quickly divided itself into the lifeless and limp as a rag, was held upright sympathizers of Philip Garrick by one arm of the deputy, for the other y?as and the upholders of the man needed in case of interruption—and then the who had shot him. It was im- six-shooter would talk. possible, at first, to get to the wounded man, Padre Gregorio took the horse by the so dense and noisy was the surging humanity bridle and led the animal in the direction that gathered about the court-house steps. of the hospital. The upraised hand of the Philip was gradually growing uncon- priest was the signal for order. The mob scious. Blood was gushing from the wound stepped aside, and the slow journey to the lit- in his breast. Padre Gregorio was kneel- tle white hospital that stood on the outskirts ing over him, supporting his head and ap- of the city was safely made. pealing to the crowd to keep back and give They carried Philip to the operating- him air. room, while the crowd surged outside. Two deputy sheriffs rode into the mob. Padre Gregorio, his friend in the safe hands Flourishing their six-shooters, and threaten- of the surgeons, went among the people and ing the life of any man who dared oppose begged them not to judge too harshly. their orders or block their path, they forced "You have no finger to point against this an opening to the wounded rancher. When man except the finger of suspicion," he said- Began in the November Railroad Man's Magazine. Single copies, 1 cents. 649 " 650 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. '• That is not what men do! He is wounded crowd then who hated and suspected her as —maybe— fatally. You must be charitable they hated and suspected Philip Garrick; even as he was charitable to you—and I but if they were, they stepped aside to let know that he is charitable, for he is a good her pass. man." No man could have -doubted the anguish "Are you certain?" asked one. that was filling her mind. None could deny ,; I know "him. I will stake my life and that her face mirrored a love so deep and my faidi on his honesty." sincere that to have placed an obstacle in Further argument drew a majority to its way would have been a sacrilege. Philip's side. Padre Gregorio was the lead- So they stood aside to let her pass. Some er of the moment. The leading business of die men who hated her—and there are men of Rosalia and the ranchers who knew men who can hate even a beautiful woman Philip, and were his close friends, asked the —turned their heads away. It was a mark priest to do his utmost to keep the crowd in of respect. order. "Take me—to—Philip Garrick!" she " " " First, we must find the man who did cried. Oh, take me—take me to him ! this." said Padre Gregorio. An attendant supported her and helped her It didn't take long to put two and two to the operating-room. There, in the dead- together. ly quiet, the unconscious man lay on a table, The body of Dick Bender—-_the dead man his upper clothing cut from his body, the found in the road—the fact diat Bender white-robed doctors and the gray-gowned had been the companion of Seth Waters, nurses working swiftly in the minute me- and the sudden disappearance of Seth Wa- chanism of their calling, hunting for the ters himself, turned the tide of suspicion lodging-place of the little cone of lead, only in one direction. r- watching with eager eyes for each faint burst Seth Waters had killed Dick Bender, and of respiration. Seth Waters had attempted the life of Philip This sad and solemn activity was sudden- Garrick. ly rent by a piercing wail. That was the verdict arrived at by every " Oh, Heavens! " shrieked Carmita. "He man in Rosalia, whether he believed in Gar- is not dead! rick or not. If Garrick had not been shot Had not the hands of the doctors been by Waters, why didn't Waters come forth? unusually steady, a serious result might A posse was formed and began to scour have followed. the hills. But Waters, the knowledge of Two of the nurses ran to Carmita. They one murder resting lightly on his mind, was caught her arms" and held her back. They sleeping the sleep of a child dreaming of used brute force to keep her from the oper- the great city in the North, whither he would ating-table. ultimately wend his way and be safely She wanted to throw herself on the body drawn into its great vortex. of the man she loved, and pour her hot In a crowded city, he wisely conjectured, breath onto his fluttering lips; she wanted he would be safer from capture than on the to infuse her life into his life; she wanted farthest plains or in the deepest thicket. to force her living breath into his almost breathless body. Her strength, augmented by the sight of him lying under the surgeon's CHAPTER XIV. knife, almost succeeded in overpowering that of the nurses, but they kept her back. The Love of Carmita. " Let me speak to him ! Let me speak to " WHILE the surgeons were probing for him ! she shrieked. the bullet in the breast of Philip One of the physicians turned to her and Garrick, a carriage was hastily driven to said sharply: the hospital door. As the foaming horses " You must leave the room, madam. This stopped, the door opened and out stepped man is in a serious condition. We must the beautiful woman for whom Philip had have perfect quiet in order to save his life." exposed his life. This was more than she could bear. With Carmita, the tears streaming down her a cry that touched every heart in the room, olive cheeks, rushed with staggering steps she threw her hands above her head and fell up the stairs that led to the hospital .en- in a faint. trance. There may have been men in the It was merciful, because it was necessary IN THE HORNET'S NEST. 651 that she be absent from the room. The man, that his way was law, and he obeyed nurses carried her out tenderly and placed that most flimsy of all beliefs—that the world her on a couch in a neighboring apartment. owed him a living, and that all he had to It took some moments to bring her back do was to collect it in his own way. to reason. She insisted on going to the man Just where he came from, no one knew. she loved. The nurses forbade, and, to ease Only Seth Waters could answer that. For her suffering, the}' told her that the wound some reason or other, he never said much was not fatal. about his origin. But the doctors had locked the door of One day he rode into Rosalia on the back the operating-room. They could not brook of a dusty mule—and he attached himself to further interruption. They clearly knew the town. In his kindly moments he was an that, to save the life of the man on the table, agreeable companion with those who liked they would require the greatest silence in him, for he could tell innumerable stories of order to ply their skill. his escapades and adventures, and a good The trying nervous hours wore on. In story-teller in his day was the most popular the operating-room, the man who was once entertainer in such a quiet commonwealth as the most popular rancher in all the south- Rosalia. land was hovering between life and death. It was noticed by the more cultured people In a room close by the woman he loved, and of the town that he frequentiy spoke the who loved him better than all else in the English language in a most perfect manner, world, was slowly going into hysterics be- although when he was in his cups or playing cause she could not be at his side. cards with the cattlemen he would use the Outside, the populace was wondering if most ungainly patois of the time and become it had not judged the wounded man too as ungrammatical as a street urchin. harshly. Indeed, even among the lawless But what was most puzzling, he had a element of the ranges, the taking of an practical, scientific mind — a mind stored unarmed man's life was looked upon with with all manner of useful knowledge regard- horror. And as that spirit was whispered ing chemistry and invention. This was from man to man, and the facts were weighed known to sucli an extent by the people of the to their finest point, even the strongest oppo- little town, that whenever any puzzling mat- nents of Philip Garrick declared that Seth ter came to light, the expression, "Send for - Waters must be brought to justice. Seth Waters, ' was invariably used. We left him in a valley close to the borders of the River Crood, his tired mare XV. CHAPTER —his stolen but faithful steed —grazing her fill of the succulent grass, while he found Something about Seth Waters. a sheltered spct under the trunk of a giant CETH WATERS was a type of the fron- sequoia and was soon asleep. ^ tiersman that is fast fading into It was no trouble for him to sleep. Con- romance. Indeed, it is more than a possi- science is the last thing in the human com- bility that one might wander the length and pound to find surcease in repose; but when breadth of the West and not find his proto- the human compound is devoid of all manner type or anything that approached him. of conscience, sleep is merely a part of the He was what might be called an educated daily routine. criminal. The ethics of honor on which When Seth Waters awoke, the sun was most men build their careers were a blank already high above the hilltops. The crisp, in his mind. Honor to him was only a clear air, laden with the tonic of the pines, means to an end. If it occurred to him that put life into his veins and touched the edge murder were necessary to gain a point, he of his appetite. His first glance was for looked upon the consummation of the deed the mare. He saw her still grazing. Some- as only another life sacrificed to a purpose. thing invisible told her that her master was Seth was close to fifty years of age at the awake, and she turned her head in his direc- time of this story. He stood nearly six feet tion and neighed. in his stocking feet. His health was per- "All right, old girl." said Waters, " fect. The body and brawn of the mountain- straightening himself up, I'll be with vou eer served him well. He could not recall a soon." day's sickness. He boasted that he could He scrambled down the bank to the river, eat—and drink—anything, that he feared no tore off his clothes, and plunged into the 652 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. cool water. Back and forth he swam, the signs by which the hunter is guided—but great, long strides of his powerful arras and he was in a wilderness. legs making a mighty wake that reached to With perfect calm, with a mind attuned the opposite shore. to the position into which he had thrust Out in the middle of the river he stopped, himself, he said, half aloud, to the mare: and. as he treaded the water, he lowered his "We are lost." lips to its level and drank his fill. He mounted and rode on. That would have to be his meat and drink Night came—the deep, black night of the for hours, maybe. He knew that man can silent forest, when- every rustling leaf sounds live longer on water than on any other bodily like the footfall of death. Just as the last sustenance, and with his customary philoso- spear of sunlight threw a shadow across the phy he drank till he could drink no more, treetops, he reconnoitered for water. then smilingly said: "This will keep me He was thinking of the mare — not of for a while." himself. There was no water in sight. The Swimming back to the river's bank, he grass seemed plentiful, but water was more stood on a dry rock in the hot sun until important ta his mount than grass just then. every drop of water had evaporated. The absence of it troubled him, but there '* These sun baths are fine," he said to was nothing else to do but stop for the night. himself; "so invigorating—and a good flesh He staked the mare to a tree. With his rub." he continued, as he plied his hands hat for a pillow, he stretched himself on the over his body, " is the best way to create a ground. He could have fallen asleep, but perfect respiration, and perfect respiration he wanted to think. Just where he. was on is one of the secrets of good health." the face of the earth was what troubled him Thus he mused as the sun sapped the last most. He thought that he knew the sur- drop of moisture, and he slowly put on his rounding country pretty well. There was clothes. Walking over to the mare, he pat- no other answer to it—he was lost. ted her neck fondly. In a few moments he In the morning he awoke early and rode was on her back and riding away. on and' on—and still on. He emerged from He headed for the north—at least in the the forest and found himself on a sandy direction that he surmised to be the north. plain stretching far to the hills before him. He followed the river patiently and slowly until he came to a point where the bluffs on either side were so high that he could not CHAPTER XVI. master them. Death Valley. It was impossible to follow the bank—for the bank and the bluff were one. T~\EATH VALLEY is a low desert in His intention was to go around the bluff Southern California near the Nevada and strike the river at a more favorable border-line. It was christened by the sur- point. With this in mind, he turned the vivor of an emigrant party of thirty, who, mare's head and started into the chaparral. late in the year 1849, lost its way while For hours he rode, but there was no opening. traveling through it. Only a great forest enveloped him. There After enduring indescribable sufferings, were naught but trees on all sides, with birds eighteen perished in the sands. There is no in innumerable quantities, unbroken ground other spot on earth of a similar nature. that had never before known the tread of a Like all the great valleys of California, it horse's hoof or the foot of a man. lies oblong, running from north to south. He kept on and on. Once he stopped at It is about fifty miles long and some thirty- a -['ring to let the mare drink and eat. He live miles wide, and its surface is about two drank and ate, also, his food being the wild hundred and ten feet lower than the level blackberries that grew in profusion, and the of the ocean. eggs of a wild-fowl which he had come The Panamint Mountains on the west rob Eu ross in a ground-nest, and which he de- it of the moist winds of the Pacific Ocean. voured raw. ' In the middle of the summer its atmosphere His hunger appeased, he began to think. contains less than one-half of one per cent In short, he was getting serious — very of moisture. Its surrounding country is a serious. succession of volcanic ranges that form a He looked at the sun, he examined the border of color—black, red, green, yellow, trees, and hunted for animal trails and other and brown—giving the dried-up place a most — IN THE HORNET'S NEST. 658 picturesque setting, and furnishing the valley the east and southeast hills show almost with the beds of borax—the only thing that inexhaustible quantities of colemanite, a bo- has made it of any value. rate of lime named for William T. Coleman, Death Valley, as seen from the summit of a San Francisco merchant, who was one of the Panamint range, is a long gray waste of the first to discover this deposit and its rich- desert, traced with narrow bands of white. ness in borax. These are the thin deposits of borax. To Very rich gold quartz has been taken from the south, one may see a narrow band of a the mines along the route traveled by the ill- steely color. It looks like a sword-blade. fated emigrant parties that dared its terrors. This is the Armagosa River as it dies away and sinks into the thirsty sands on entering XVII. Death Valley. \t is a sluggish stream. It CHAPTER along, if conscious of the flows lingeringly as The Want of Water. death that awaits it, until absorption and evaporation take it all. ARKNESS brooded over the face of The land was the center of a system of Death Valley. Star-sprinkled black lakes when the Sierra Nevadas had not yet above; sand, salt, and dust below; silence risen. Toward their summit, the Panamint without motion. This is night over the miles Mountains are of carboniferous limestone on miles of gasping ashes of the valley. formation, rifted and worn, with a slight A withering fiend, a world without water, growth of trees. Some are wonderful pines, Death Valley dries life to bones, bones to others are mahogany and juniper. Near the chalk, chalk to dust. Dust we are and to crests and below, the vegetation becomes more dust return is the alpha and omega of earth's scarce. most hideous ash-heap. In the gorges and narrow canons are nu- Night rose like a curtain of black velvet; merous vines and creepers, on which grow dawn, a faint streak along the uncertain wild gourds resembling oranges, similar to horizon, trembled upward and turned to the bitter desert-apples that grow near the pearl; morning blushed, glowed red, flamed site of ancient Sodom. Here, also, are the scarlet, and suddenly paled; the sun rolled most distorted forms of the cacti, and an above the sky-line, a dazzling, blinding inferior growth of greasewood or palaverde. burst of incandescent white. A sand-storm playing in Death Valley is Under fhe gathering heat, Death Valley a wonderful sight. Sand-augers rise like began to writhe and glitter like the sea. slender stems, reaching up into the burning Those level miles of salt and sand rippled atmosphere for thousands of feet, and termi- and sparkled like jeweled waves. nating in a bushy cloud. They travel hither Death Valley is the sea—the sea without and yon, and gradually fade from sight. water — a gigantic, unreal sea, where the Here mirage raises up spectral cities, and cloud and the fog and the mist are dust," groves and fields and tree-margined rivers. where the spray is sand, and the spume is A low ruin will seem to be hundreds of feet alkali, and where the billows are rock. high; arrow-weeds are magnified into stately Alike to those who go down to the sea in palms; and crows walking on the ground ships and to those who go forth over the appear as men on horseback. Besides the desert, life is spelled in the one word crows, there are seen a few poor, lean jack- water. rabbits, a scattering of mangy coyotes, some As the sun melted the eastern horizon and hungry buzzards, horned toads, red-eyed even the shadows fled to the west, Death rattlesnakes, and, in the Panamint range, Valley awoke from the soft, dim cruelty of there are still a few bighorns or Rocky the night and squirmed, just as it has each Mountain sheep. morning for untold ages, into laughing tor- At the summit of the Panamint and Fu- ture for every living thing, gleefully dis- neral Mountains, the thermometer falls to dainful of everything but the hand of God thirty degrees below zero. The mineral —yet, sometimes at long, rare intervals, wealth of this region is great. In the Pana- conquered by man. mints are mines of antimonial silver-ore, and When the sun arose on this particular copper, gold, iron, travertin, onyx, and mar- morning, Death Valley smilingly gloated ble. In the Funeral range, gold, silver, lead, over a man stretched near to death, who for, copper, and antimony have been found in three days had been in its waterless grasp. paying quantities, while the thick strata of Three days before he had left Lone Rock, — —;: 654 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. seventy miles away, riding a roan mare, drank. The water seemed to soak into his packing his own water. Risking all. even cracked throat, instead of being swallowed. life itself, he Imped to find more water in "Wa-water!" he gasped. "Water!" Forty Skull water-hole; but no rain had "I can spare no more," answered the fallen on Death Valley for many months, woman. "Perhaps I do wrong to let you and Forty Skull was dry. have even this, and by doing so may be Forty Skull was not only dry, but baked robbing my own "boys of life itself. and cracked. At the sight, the night before, "Where can we find water?" she con- the tottering mare had swayed for a moment tinued. " We have been short for two days and then stumbled, nose first, into die sand the team had their last water yesterday. -—and died. Which is the way to Forty Skull? There The man, Seth Waters, had drawn his is always water at Forty Skull, diey told us. six-shooter against himself—for in Death Where is Forty Skull?" " Valley suicide is no crime—then, with one Fort}' Skull-is dry," whispered Waters. last, wild hope, he had taken to the trail on Then he reeled to his feet, looked at the foot in the coming dark, hoping that he woman with bloody eyes, and demanded might meet another traveler in that dismal hoarsely: "Have you no water?" waste-who had water. " Five gallons, with two boys, my father, But there was only one chance in a the team, the cow; and myself to drink." thousand! She paused a moment, and then continued The night had worn on and on, and out " It is seventy miles to Lone Rock on the into burning day again—and Seth Waters back trail, and I know there is no water lay. babbling idiotically, in the dry shadow between here and there, for I have just come of a rock. that way Death Valley laughed in its radiant way. " Sixty miles from High Heel Canon, Another victim to the millions of living where we left four days ago, and every water- things whose bones it had bleached and hole dry on the way," echoed the woman. dried to dust for ages. Then that man and that woman looked Even birds in the air dropped to the fry- at each other, not as man is wont to look on ing sands, panted a moment, then died, dried, woman, nor woman on man, for in each of and were blown away. them was the same thought! I Only the buzzards showed animation. At Twenty quarts of water for five people ! first but dun specks, they were beginning to no more within fifty miles — and Deadi slowly circle over the dying man below. Valley. Over all Death Valley the man and the buzzards were the only signs of life —except a creeping speck of white where the trail cut CHAPTER XVIII. the hot sky-line. The Modier of Invention. Slowly crawling, drawn by two Weary horses, came a prairie-schooner, canvas-cov- DUT a man will fight for a woman when ered, followed by a staggering cow tied to he will not fight for himself. Seth the tail-board. In the wagon were an old Waters silently put forth his hand, raised the man, two boys, and a young woman. woman from the dry dust of the trail, and An hour passed. The man in the sand, led her back to the wagon. his lips crusted with dried froth, lay still, " No water—Forty Skull dry," was all she face down. The wagon slowly creaked along said to her father, who took the death-sen- tlie trail until it came abreast of him. Then tence as the old do—calmly. it -topped. The boys, seized with the terror of the • Father,'' spoke the woman, "see!" sands, began to whimper. By brute force She pointed with a whip to Waters, Seth Waters grasped the water-can—but did stretched beside the wheel-ruts." not drink. Turning to the woman, he said The old man looked down from the wag- thickly: on, and said: " Xo." " With this I could get to Lone Rock or The woman drove on. Suddenly she drew High Heel, but one thing prevents— I am the rein, reached into the wagon, filled a tin a man. I'll stay here with you. Let me cup with water. think—let me think." Stepping from the wagon, she went back His eyes roved over the contents of the to Waters and held it to his lips. He hardly wagon. Then they swept the horizon. IN THE HORNET'S NEST. 655 "Not a cloud — not a cloud. Not one lengths of iron pipe, also parts of the wind- for months. Yet right here sometimes the mill. heavens spill — why not now? — water — " What have you got all this stuff for, water — water! In the middle of Death here in the heart of Death Valley ? " he asked Valley—no rain for months. Let me think," of the woman. he rambled on. " We lived in Kansas," she answered list- Waters doled out a cup of water to each, lessly, as recalling a dream, "my husband and washed out the mouths of the sweltering and I, and he died. I took my two boys, horses. Then he once more overhauled the here, and my father, and what of the old wagon-load and, with his eyes riveted on the home I thought we might need in California, panting cow, sat down to think. and started on again. That was part of it He had a problem to solve, the problem — I brought it along, for 'twas all we had." that men have faced ever since man has been Then Waters did something that to the on earth, a problem before which millions others seemed the outcome of an insane mind. of men have failed and, because they failed, First he cut the wagon-box to pieces—re- have died. duced it with the ax to a wood-pile—and Seth Waters sat there that hot August told the boys to collect withered sage-brush. morning amid the terrific beauty of the He rigged the iron pipe to the copper desert, looked at what were now his people, wash-boiler by punching a hole through the looked at the suffering cattle, looked out cover and pounding the metal tight about over the thirty miles of withering sands, up the iron pipe. The pipe he led into one of into the merciless skv, and groaned. the empty water-barrels. "Water!" he coughed. "Water!" From the boiler, set two feet off the sand The woman was praying aloud, but for on four stones, to the barrel was slightly years prayer had been a forgotten tongue down-hill, for the barrel rested on the ground to Waters. In the light of his twenty years in a hole Waters had dug with the ax. Be- of frontier experience, he gazed dully at the tween them reached the iron pipe for twenty kneeling woman and muttered: "Labor is feet. Then he tried the pump, but the the only prayer that is ever answered." leather washers inside were dried and warped Then he fell to thinking once more, and —useless. his fevered eyes centered again on the cow. Risking half a cup of the priceless water, " " " Milk ? he mused. Without water for he soaked it, so that it held air-tight when two days, you have no milk. Even a bar- he tried the pump. relful would not save the horses. And with- " So far, so good," he said to the woman, out them, water or no water, what is the use? who answered with a wan smile, not under- W ring water from Death Valley!" standing. The thought threw him into a shiver of Then he slaughtered the cow. The hide grim, silent laughter—merriment that is not he cut into long strips, and then sewed them good for man to know, for it borders close into a long, six-inch bag, or pipe, of green on that of the maniac. rawhide surrounding the iron pipe. It was " But you have blood," he continued, still burning noon now, but Waters did not stop. speaking to the cow. "But of what use is He again dealt out a cup of water all around, that? I've seen it tried before, and it means even to the horses. only a harder death. This is better," and The second water- barrel, still air-tight he tapped his six-shooter—patted the hip- though nearly dried out, Waters covered weapon with that rare affection known only with air-tight rawhide and made two con- to the Westerner. nections, one with the pump and the other " But in that hide of yours is water, sev- with the rawhide bag. eral barrels of it; nine-tenths of you is With the wood from the wagon-box, he water. How—how? Ugh!" started a fire under the copper boiler, and "Waters arose and once more looked into put therein a huge chunk of meat from the the wagon-box. Then he began to unload. carcass that lay on the sand. He tossed out a copper wash-boiler and, The cover of the boiler he now loaded with a derisive laugh, threw out a pump and down with a heavy stone. As the fire gained, parts of a windmill. Then he kicked the a smell of cooking, then burning meat, came two empty water-barrels, one on each side of faintly, then gushingly, from the end of .the the wagon." They rang hollow to his boot- iron pipe that emptied into the water-barrel. toe. Lastly, he threw onto the sand several Meanwhile, Waters had the two boys — . 656 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. pumping with might and main, forcing air The afternoon wore away, the sun set, into the closed barrel, thus condensing it. night came down, but the still dripped on. When the air-pressure was nearly bursting When morning broke again over Death the rawhide cover, he stopped pumping. Valley, not a living thing was there but a He put his bare hand to the wood, and cloud of buzzards fighting over the bare jerked it away instantly. It was nearly bones of a cow. On the horizon to the west, burning-hot. but it cooled as the meat in the along the trail toward Lone Rock, a white boiler turned to vapor. speck flashed back the morning sun, and It could not burn, for it had no air, and as disappeared. It was the prairie-schooner, the steam ran from the boiler through the drawn by two revived horses, and on each iron pipe into the empty barrel. Waters let side of the wrecked wagon-box was a pardy condensed air expand from his covered bar- filled barrel of water. rel into the rawhide bag surrounding the As the wagon vanished and not a living pipe, cooling it and condensing the vapor, tiling was to be seen on the face of the which fell, drop by drop, from die pipe into desert, a cloud gathered in the north, loomed the empty barrel. high and black, and for the first time in What he had done was to rig out, from a many months rain descended in a flood over wash-boiler, two pieces of iron pipe, two Death Valley. barrels, a green rawhide, and an iron pump, On the end of the wagon, his long legs a rough but practical distillation plant, trailing over the tail-board, sat Seth Waters. cooled with condensed air. He was thinking of his feat, and, silently, Hour after hour this went on, and trickle, he was congratulating himself. trickle, trickle, slowly the empty barrel filled And well he might. It takes a man of with an unpleasant but drinkable water as more than ordinary mind, his being racked the meat of the cow and the wood, of the by thirst, to accomplish such an undertaking. wagon grew less. The cow weighed over a But Seth Waters, though a scoundrel, a thousand pounds, and living flesh is four- horse- thief, and a blackmailer, was pos- fifths water. sessed of that rare gift—a mind. (To be c ontinued. ) BOYS FACE DEATH ON ENGINE PILOT. THREE young boys whose homes are in Al- boys were standing against the fence on the oppo- bany. New York, had a fast, furious, and site side of the station, and as the train came to a dangerous ride recently on the pilot of a locomo- standstill they ran alongside of it to the front of tive of the North Adams Express. the locomotive, where they climbed onto the pilot The boys who are Charles Child, twelve years and sat up close to the boiler-head. old; Thomas Funk, fourteen years old, and Albert It being dark, they were not noticed getting on Marsh, sixteen years old, walked from Albany to the locomotive. The train ran at a sixty-five- Chatham over the Boston and Albany Railroad, a mile-per-hour rate to North White Plains, a dis- distance of twenty-one miles, where they expected 'tance of ninety miles, without a stop. The North la jump a freight-train for New York. They Adams Express changed locomotives at this point, boarded several freight-trains, the crews of which where the electric zone begins. The engineer ran pot them off. They then concluded that fhey his locomotive into the roundhouse. would walk down the Harlem tracks to some sta- In going to the front of his locomotive he dis- tion where they might be able to board a train covered the three boys huddled on the pilot, almost without being noticed. unconscious from the severe winds they had en- Thcy-Teachtd the Hillsdale station at about the countered in the ride of ninety miles. He took same time as the North Adams Express, driven them off and helped them into the engine drivers' by Engineer Thomas Brissett and in charge of quarters, where they had food and were warmed Conductor George Marley, arrived. The three Up, New York Evening Sun. The worst workman and the best engine are alike in one thing,— neither will go without being fired. —The Roundhouse Foreman. — 1 On the Middle-West Main Lines. BY JOHN WALTERS. IT is good to know that the railroads, the bulwark of the entire industrial world of the Western Continent, are showing an increase in earning power notwithstanding the economies and regulations to which they have been subjected during the past three years by, perhaps, a too severe legislation. We present here a budget of information concerning the lines of the productive Middle West, and some other topics of keen interest to all who want to keep abreast of the railroad situation. Why There Is Such a [Shortage in Cars — Activity in Freight — More and Larger Moguls and Mallets—The Growth in Illinois Recent Earnings. LL of the railroads, and especially ing up the supply to normal conditions at the coal-carrying roads of this season of the year. Ohio, are being threatened The suspension of coal mining in the just now with a car short- States of Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and age such as has never been Arkansas, owing to the failure in setting known before in this coun- the mining scale until September, will try," a prominent traffic official declared re- cause a heavy shortage in' the territory cently. " The railroads are threatened with supplied by the mines in those States and, a car shortage, and the country is facing a also, in the other coal districts where mi- coal famine—both of which are certain to ning was in operation. come this winter if present conditions can- Because of this, the latter districts will not be changed and the future situation re- be unable to take care of the future de- lieved." mands because the supply will be drawn Authorities in the coal trade who have too heavily upon by the general market, been making a careful investigation say The fact that the coal mines in the States that the coal supply for the coming winter mentioned were closed down until recently is is now short by over twenty million tons one of the many causes of the present situ- in the United States, and that, so far as ation of a threatened car shortage. During can now be seen, there is no hope of bring- the summer months the coal mines which 6 RR 657 658 THE RAILROAD MAN 'S MAGAZINE. were being worked in Pennsylvania, Ken- designates the manner of shipping this va- tucky, and the Virginias were operated to riety of freight, has decreed that it shall be full capacity. The product of these mines sent only in cars of a certain tonnage with was shipped to points far distant. steel supporters, packed in a certain man- Many of the cars in which this coal was ner, with no inflammable material in the car. shipped have never been returned to the The car must be liberally tagged with the roads where the traffic originated and which announcement that it contains explosives. own these cars. This condition has already Handling and transferring a car-load of made the car shortage evident. In the dis- percussion caps, giant powder, and dyna- trict tapped by the Hocking Valley; the mite is not the most pleasant task in the condition is acute. world. General Manager Connors of the Hock- Largest Engine Built. ing Valley was obliged to send letters to the general managers of all the roads which Two of the largest type of locomotives connect with the Hocking Valley, explain- ever built have been received by the Duluth, ing the situation. He requested that all Missabe and Northern Railway. The mon- Hocking Valley coal cars be returned to ster machines are, in reality, two locomo- that road as fast as they are emptied. tives in one, and are designed to have a larger hauling power than any other two Activity in Freight. engines ever used on hill runs. These en- gines will pull up a steep grade seventy The almost unprecedented activity in the empty cars, where the best done by the or- freight movement all over the country has dinary locomotive now in use by the com- pressed into service every available freight- pany is twenty-eight cars. car and the railroads are finding it hard 10 Each locomotive tips the scales at about meet the demands made upon them. Dur- six hundred and sixty thousand pounds. ing each month of 1910, business showed A double set of cylinders, - a high-power an increase over the corresponding month near the center, and a low-power set in in 1909. front, operate the sixteen monster driving A peculiar phase of the Western freight wheels. Each set of cylinders operates four shipments, and they form the bulk of the driving wheels on each side of the engine. increase, is the destination of the consign- The boilers, which look like monster cyl- ments. Until this year, the lower Pacific indrical tanks, furnish a pressure of two Coast points and the Middle Western States hundred pounds of steam. received a majority of the freight. Dur- It is not expected that the Moguls will ing 1909, however, northern Pacific Coast eat up more coal than is now consumed by points in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Mon- ordinary locomotives used on hill runs. All tana, and Wyoming have been the heaviest the latest designs of machinery have been receivers. The lower Pacific Coast points installed on the engines to get the greatest have not fallen off in their demand, but the amount of power from them for the least newer settled country is demanding a amount of fuel. greater amount of construction material and The engines are ninety-two feet long manufactured goods than its sister coun- from the pilot to the rear of the water-tank. try needs. They have been numbered 200 and 201. The shipments from the West to the East have also increased. Little manufactured Still Larger Locomotives. material is sent east, the bulk of the ship- ments, consisting of hides, leather, fruits, " It is probable that within a few years imported materials from the Orient, and, we shall see a five-hundred-ton locomotive." strange to say, dynamite and blasting caps. This statement was recently made by the These explosives are shipped in large superintendent of motive power of one of quantities, a California concern supplying the largest railroad systems in the country. most of the big manufacturing concerns in " I can say that it is more than possible." the East " It would mean the expenditure of many Of all objectionable freight from the millions of dollars to strengthen the bridges shippers" point of view, high explosives and road-beds of our road, but I would probably stand at the head of the list. not be surprised to see such an engine The national inspection bureau, which soon," says the superintendent of motive ON THE MIDDLE-WEST MAIN LINES. 659 power of another great railroad. "The purpose. Yirstly, it will shorten the dis- engines we now have are capable of hauling tance between the producer in the far north 'trains as heavy as we are allowed to take of Canada and the consumer in England into Chicago, but in railroading, as in by making a great all-water route from everything else, the man who tries to set Fort Albany on the bay to Liverpool. a limit will find himself outgrown." Secondly, it will take much of the Cana- There is in service on the Santa Fe road, dian traffic off the lakes and give over many a freight locomotive which weighs 462,450 great steamship lines to American traffic, pounds, about 231 tons. It created great which it needs just now. wonder when it was brought out a year ago. Ten new oil-burning locomotives for the Yet designs are already being drawn up by western division of the Hill roads will be a Western road for a locomotive that will delivered soon, and will go on the Spokane, exceed it in weight, and a few months ago Portland and Seattle, where they will be there was delivered to the Delaware and used with fifty others already there. The Hudson Railroad one that exerts a pres- company will begin work meanwhile on sure of 441,000 pounds on the driving- changes that will convert many of the coal- wheels alone. burning locomotives into oil-burners. The Oregon trunk lines will also be supplied Fifty More Mallets. with oil burners. President John F. Stevens, who heads the Western Hill lines, The great „Santa Fe engine exerts a pres- is a believer in oil-burners from the stand- sure of 412,000 pounds on the driving- point of economy, in view of the Cali- wheels that counts. One of the features of fornia base of fuel supply. the new Delaware and Hudson locomotive is the absence of the small trucks and the The Claim of Illinois. placing of the entire weight on the driving- wheels. The advisability of this innovation Illinois now claims to be the premier remains to be proven. railway State. It claims nearly 13,500 The Santa Fe has placed an order for miles. This includes the electric railways. fifty additional Mallet engines, for deliv- The steam railroads, already in operation ery at the earliest possible date. Several in 1908, according to the report of the of these new monsters will be assigned to Interstate Commerce Commission, totaled the Gulf lines. Increasing business from nearly 12,000 miles. In addition to these year to year and gradual growth in loading lines, various important new lines -and requirements demand these locomotives of extensions have been built, bringing the more power. total up to the above figure. In fact, these exactions -are growing so The record is approached only by Texas stringent that the Santa Fe people have and Pennsylvania. The Lone Star State, placed an experimental order with the by reason of her vast prairies and intermin- Baldwin Locomotive Works. This calls able distances, has the largest mileage, pos- for a duplex locomotive, designed by J. W. sessing at the latest official reports 12,847 Kendrick, Vice-President of the Santa Fe. miles of railroads. Pennsylvania is the It will be an important experiment, which, only other close competitor, with 11,891 if successful, will revolutionize present miles of track. transportation problems of railroads, and A comparative statement of the railroad reduce present rate schedules. mileage in the various States of similar class shows as follows: By Rail to Hudson Bay. Illinois 13,500 The construction of the Hudson Bay Texas 12.847 Pennsylvania 11,241 Railroad will be pushed again as soon as Iowa 9,241 cold weather sets in, and it is hoped by Michigan 9,011 trackage next spring to have over half the .' Ohio. . 9,131 finished. For over a year, the road has Kansas 8,948 extended as far as La Pas. New York 8.416 The Hudson Bay line will be one of the Minnesota S.-107 greatest stimulators the great north coun- Missouri 8,022 try will have. It will serve a double Wisconsin , ... , , 7,556 — 660 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Illinois seems to be the point of radia- Besides the magnificent systems of trunk tion for all the greatest railway systems of lines that traverse the State, the entire pop- the continent. "Chicago, Peoria, Spring- ulous area is served by a crossing of branch field, Quincy, East St. Louis, Decatur, and lines, stubs and belt and terminal roads, Rock Island, are all gateways of commerce which give a freight and passenger service opening to great fields of business on every unequaled anywhere. The suburban serv- ~ hand. W estern terminals of the Pennsyl- ice, which has grown to be a factor of vania, the New York Central Lines, Balt- the greatest importance in transportation, imore and Ohio, Wabash, Grand Trunk, has been removed from the general field of Nickel Plate—the arteries of travel be- train operation and made a distinct fea- tween the Atlantic and the lake regions ture of railroading, thus giving better serv- are centered in Illinois. The eastern ter- ice in both departments of travel. minals of the great systems that link up the Middle West with the Far West—the Better Equipment Now. Burlington route, the Rock Island, the Milwaukee,- the Northwestern, the Frisco, Illinois has witnessed a vast improvement and the Santa Fe,—are all within the bor- in the quality of her railroads during the ders of the State. The northern terminals of last ten years, as well as a substantial in- the lines running between the North and crease in the quantity. In addition to the the South—the Illinois Central, the South- improvements required by the State and in- ern, and the Louisville and Nashville—are terstate laws, the more prosperous roads in Illinois cities. have entered into a rivalry in track im- Chicago is the greatest railroad center in provement, operating equipment and bet- the world. The commerce which passes terment. The block signal, the telephone through that city every year is stupendous. system of despatching, the improved road- bed, the construction of new stations, the Burlington Leads All. automatic coupler, the constant increase in the size of locomotives and elaboration of The Burlington Route, with its 1,700 traveling appointments, have all combined miles of track, leads the list in mileage. to put the Illinois lines on a high plane of The Illinois Central comes second with excellence. 1,356 miles of busy road; the Big Four, third, with 950 miles; and the Chicago and Mr. Yoakum's Optimism. Alton, fourth, with 750 miles. The mile- age of the various lines in Illinois exclu- B. F. Yoakum, chairman of the Frisco sive of terminal- lines and those which mere- lines, like nearly all the prominent rail- ly enter the border of the State, is shown road executives, is unusually optimistic. by the appended table: He never tires of telling Eastern capitalists about the wonderful resources of the South Chicago and Alton '50 and Southwest, and few men can discuss Santa Fe 237 important questions more convincinglv than Baltimore and Ohio 365 he. Chicago and Northwestern 450 In a speech at the Oklahoma State Fair Burlington 1.683 recently, Mr. Yoakum had for his theme, Great Western 168 " Wagon Roads and Railroads." He_said Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville 325 Milwaukee 415 that the founders of this government had Rock Island 322 no conception of the vast commerce inter- Big Four , 950 ests which would move over 2.35,000 miles Frisco 491 of railroad, instead of the little which then Illinois Central 1.356 dragged over a few miles of bad wagon Iowa Central 191 roads. This was no reason, however, why Western 122 Lake Erie and this new development should be treated in Wisconsin Central 61 any sense as lawless, nor is there any rea- Mobile and Ohio 154 son for attempting to arrest it because it Southern 151 requires a readjustment of Federal and Clover Leaf 165 jurisdiction. As the commerce be- Vandalla 346 State Wabash 472 tween States expanded and as transpor- T, P. and W * 237 tation was extended, a far-reaching, con- ON THE MIDDLE-WEST MAIN LINES. 661 nected, and interdependent industrial sys- omies the railways have had to bear as a' tem was created, and this must be subject result of what happened to them in the to some system of law. winter and spring of 1907-1908. "But, after all," said Mr. Yoakum, While the figures for 1910 are not prop- "this thing called interstate commerce erly comparable with those for 1907, owing and these instrumentalities called railroads to changes in methods of accounting pre- represent the very vitals of our national scribed by the Commission, they are suffi- progress and the very health and wealth ciently so to enable the student to note die of our whole people. The people of the sag in the two essential departments of country, instead of being aroused by in- maintenance between 1907 and 1910. In flammatory appeals to adopt measures to order to appreciate this at its ti/ue value, destroy them, should be taught by enlight- it is necessary to' recall that between 1897 ened discussion to find some way to pro- and 1907, the charge for maintenance of mote them and, at the same time, fairly way and structures increased from $159,- regulate them." 434,403 to $343,545,907, or well over seven per cent annually. Instead of such Increased Railroad Earnings. increase, the table shows a decrease 'for 1908 and 1909, while die larger figures for Record earnings and record expenses are 1910 are very far from showing a normal shown by the Interstate Commerce Com- increase over 1907. mission's monthly reports of income returns The figures for maintenance of equip- of the railways of the United States for ment in a lesser degree show the results of the year ending June 30, 1910. Com- the enforced economies of 1908 and 1909T pared with the previous banner year, Between 1S97 and 1907 expenditures for 1907, the earnings show an increase of equipment rose from $122,762,358 to $368,^ $190,141,290, and the expenses an increase 061.72S, or nearly twelve per cent annu- of $92,609,953, leaving $97,531,337 in- ally.' crease in net income from operation to take Any corresponding increases between care of an increase of $23,321,000 in taxes 1907 and 1910 would have necessitated an and the interest on at least $2,000,000,000 expenditure of at least $415,000,000 for new capital invested in the railwavs since maintenance of way and structures, and 1907. $500,000,000 for equipment in 1910, with- Between the high water marks of 1907 out providing anything for the deferred ex- and 1910 occurred the greatest slump in penditures of 1908 and 1909. operating revenues ever known in the his- That there is nothing speculative or un- tory of American railways—the descent to warranted about tiiese percentages of in- the bottom in May, 1908, and the slow re- crease in expenditures for maintenance is cover)' from which is shown in the follow- demonstrated by the fact that, in 1907, the ing statement -of earnings by months and railways carried 126 per .cent more pas- half years for the past three years. Un- sengers and 148 per cent more tons one fortunately, no official figures by months mile dian they did in 1897, and the traffic are obtainable prior to July, 1907. congestion in 1907 demonstrated the inade- More significant than the splendid recov- quacy of the decade's expenditures for equip- ery of 1910, or than the totals for 1908 and ment, road and terminal facilities. 1909, are the figures for the half year end- ing June 30, 1908. These are $317,835,- Mr. Harahan's Retirement. 614 below the earnings of the preceding half year, and nearly $300,000,000 below With the passing of James Harahan. these for the corresponding months of 1910, from the Presidency of the Illinois Cen- with which they are more properly com- tral Railroad, which must take place not parable. The six months from January to later than January 12, 1911, tiirough the June, 1908, is the "mildewed ear" that for operation of the pension system, there will the past twenty-four months has blasted and come the close of one of the most strenuous infected wholesome railway operations in and interesting careers in the history of the United States. American railroading. Mr. Harahan will In following the rapid increase in gross be seventy years old on January 12. earnings, the public has lost sight of the "Of course," said Mr. Harahan, in burden of forced, and sometimes false econ- speaking of his retirement, " I feel deep re- 162 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. gref'that I have arrived at the age where I cultural colleges until the experts decided must retire, but I suppose every man must to " take the mountain to Mohammed." feel the same. My deepest regret is in In the meantime, we are told the railroads having to leave the men with whom I have began'to realize that they were not getting been pleasantly associated so long. I have the freight they wanted, and they decided given the best of my life to the railroad that the crops would have to be increased. service and have taken great pride in see- At first, corn was the subject tackled, ing die Illinois Central grow from 2,875 and " Corn Specials were sent out to en- miles in 1S90 to 4,550 miles. During that lighten farmers on the breeding and selec- period it has increased its yearly earnings tion of corn, its cultivation and harvesting from §17.881,000 to $62,000,000." —in fact, on every krinkle of corn culture Mr. Harahans first railroad job was a that leads to an increased yield and better clerkship with the Boston and Providence quality. Stopping at towns and villages, road in 1S60. One year later he joined the hamlets and way-stations, they were met by First Massachusetts Infantry and served many farmers who could manage to take three years in the Civil War. He reentered off ••the few hours necessary to visit the train the railway service in 1864, when he took a and hear the lectures, but to whom a trip to position in the shops at Alexandria, Virginia. the State Agricultural College had seemed Although Mr. Harahan refuses to talk like the Mohammedan's journey to Mecca, about his success, his ability to do most a thing to be performed but once in a life- of the things that he insisted others in the time, if at all. The farmers had, by the operating sen-ice should do contributed way, been duly notified beforehand as to the largely to it. W. L. Park, his probable exact hour of stopping so that they lost no successor, was taken from the Union Pa- more than they had planned to give. Al- cific, where he was general superintend- ready results are very noticeable in many ent, and was made vice-president of the sections by the increase per acre yielded in Illinois Central early in the year. the last two or three years. But this con- tact with the farmers in their own locality Railroads Teaching Farmers. only emphasized the need in the minds of experts for instruction on all branches of The railroads are teaching the farmers to farming, and it was not long before the make two blades of grass grow where only " Dairy Special " was going its rounds, to one grew before. be followed later by trains covering other In some States the agricultural schools subjects. are working hand in hand with the rail- Prominent among the roads which have roads to teach the latest and best methods to been, from the start, especially active in this the farmers, almost at their own farms, by work are the Northern Pacific in the West using cars as traveling laboratories, lecture- and the New York Central lines in the rooms, and museums. A writer in the Farm East, and this year they took a long step Press says that the farmers need this sort in the march of progress when they put on of instruction badly. He quotes Commis- their "Better Farming Specials," made up sioner Coburn, of the Kansas State Agri- of trains of cars in each of which some one cultural College, as thus defining what he branch of farming is treated. The Penn- calls "the crime of agriculture": sylvania Railroad has instituted a similar "The average yield per acre is a dis- service in the territory which it traverses. grace. The farmers are not seizing the op- As one observer expressed it, these trains portunities among which they are thrust, cover everything from the "kitchen to the they are not doin« justice to the land and pig-pen." climate with which a generous Creator has The plan of procedure is to have a meet- endowed them. When they realize how ing between the farmers and lecturers in the much more per acre can be produced by town hall at a stopping-point, if it has one. only a little additional labor and at no great After the "lecture," the crowd is taken additional expense, and when they meet the through the train in detachments, and a soil and climate half-way. then the farmers demonstration lasting eight or ten minutes may be truly proud of their achievements." is given in each car. As one party passes Commenting on this, the Chicago farm from the first car on to the next one, another paper goes on to note that the farmer did party enters the car they vacate, and in this not take advantage of the work of the agri- way there are eight or ten demonstrations — ON THE MIDDLE-WEST MAIN LINES. 6G3 going on continually in the train, which re- dreds and thousands, and showing an en- mains from three to four hours at a stop. thusiastic-interest hi whatever the experts However true the charge against the have to show them. So far as they have farmers may be, as regards their failure to had the chance to put the knowledge thus make the most of their opportunities in the gained into practise, a large percentage of past, they are proving by their attendance them have done so. With the coming of upon the " Farm Specials " that they are another spring and harvest-time, they will men of intelligence and willing to employ place tangible results before us in proof of progressive ideas when once they have had the claim the experts make that the food the chance to acquaint themselves with such. shortage may be staved off so long as man They are meeting these trains by the hun- inhabits the earth. CAMPAIGN AGAINST TRESPASSERS. Pennsylvania Adopts Vigorous Methods to Rid Its Right-of-Way of All Types of Intruders. TRESPASSING on railroad property has It is not only tramps who are killed and in- caused the death of more than 50,000 people jured while trespassing, though thousands of them in the United States in the last eleven years. In lose their lives in this way every year; men of the this same, period more than 55,000 trespassers laboring class, factory workmen, their wives and have" been injured. children, who use railroad tracks as thoroughfares, With a view of reducing to a minimum the are killed by the hundreds. That the practise of practise of trespassing on its property, the Penn- walking on railroad tracks is/prevalent in indus- sylvania Railroad has determined to redouble its trial districts gives added significance to the fa- efforts to secure on its lines that rigid enforcement talities on the Pennsylvania Railroad system as a of the law against trespassing which in foreign result of trespassing. countries has done so much to decrease the num- The tracks of the Pennsylvania»are lined with ber of fatalities resulting from trespassing on factories, as they run through the densest indus- railroads. trial section, through territory which holds more In 1907 the Pennsylvania Railroad inaugurated than half of the population of the United Stales. a vigorous campaign against trespassing, and, due Over 10,000 trespassers were arrested in 1909. doubtless to this, the number of trespassers killed The Pennsylvania Railroad has now posted its in 1908 was only 757. In 1909, 732 lost their lives tracks and stationed watchmen to see that warn- in this way. ings against trespassing arc respected. By redoub- In the eleven years prior to January 1, 1910, ling its efforts the company is endeavoring to re- exactly 7,972 people who were on the Pennsyl- duce the number of trespassers who are killed and vania Railroad's right-of-way in violation of the injured by an even greater number than it has done law, in spite of thousands of warning signs along in the last three years. the railroad, were killed. It is thus seen that in The cooperation of city and county authorities the eleven years an average qf two trespassers a has been solicited in this campaign. Heretofore day have been killed on Pennsylvania Railroad the actual punishment of persons violating the property. laws forbidding trespassing on a railroad's private This long death roil is every year charged up to property has been infrequent. The cost of im- the railroad even though these people are killed as prisonment has deterred the local courts from a result of their violation of the law, under con- holding those arrested while trespassing on rail- ditions over which the company has no control. road property. Machinery. Big rails are harder to lay than light ones, but they carry more, last longer, and are safer. Same way with character. —Remarks of the Roadmaster. " The Fine Art of Bridge Building. BY OTTO SCHULTZ. THERE is no feature of railroad building in which so much depends on careful construction and the maintenance of a large safety factor than bridges and trestles, n Tunnels may cave in and landslides block the right-of-way, but compared with the collapse of a high bridge, all these are as nothing. Fortunately for those who follow the iron trail, American bridge builders are recognized the world over as the most efficient and rapid workers of all the engineering fraternity. Their work may be found not only in North and South America, but in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and are known as models of safe and economical construction. We present this month the first of two articles giving some of the hard nuts these men have had to crack : situations where nicety of calculation and ingenious methods in^overcoming difficulties have played an important part. You will find these two articles full of valuable information. Some Examples in Bridge Building When American Hustling Won Out Against Foreign Competition. Moving Bridges by Locomotives and Other Feats. PART I. SK an engineer how big a ported that under certain conditions the bridge he can build and he practicable limit of a bridge was 4,335 feet. will counter by inquiring: Commenting on this report Gustav Lind- "How much money can I enthal, a noted bridge engineer, said: have to build it with ? " I have no hesitation in saying that a The only limitations recog- bridge with a span of 6000 feet could be nized by the bridge engineer are financial. built for the heaviest trains running at ex- At nature's barriers, however formidable press speed. Fantastic as it may seem, it they may appear to the unsophisticated, he is nevertheless true that, based on theo- snaps his fingers. retical resources, a bridge could be built A commission of army engineers ap- over the Atlantic Ocean which would be pointed by the Secretary of War, in 1894. perfectly safe, resting on anchored piers to investigate the practicability of bridg- which the fiercest hurricane or the impact ing the Hudson River, from New York to of the heaviest steamer in collision could ' New Jersey, with a span of 3,100 feet, re- not disturb, and with long spans so high 664 — THE FINE ART OF BRIDGE BUILDING. 665 above the water that the tallest vessels could Some of the wooden structures erected dur- pass beneath." ing the first years of the nineteenth cen- So long as one can be ferried across com- tury were unparalleled in the history of fortably on a big liner, there does not ap- bridge building. One of these notable pear to be any pressing need of spanning structures was the bridge across the Dela- the Atlantic with a steel highway; but ware River at Trenton, New Jersey, con- smaller bodies of water in these modern sisting of five spans, the center one of which days are bridged at will, provided, always, was 200 feet long. that the precaution is observed of securing It was built in 1803,- many years before the services of an American engineer. railroads were thought of, yet when the time came to establish railroad connection be- Supremacy of Our Engineers. tween New York and Philadelphia, this sturdy old bridge was found to be strong It must be conceded that the first metal enough to bear the weight of trains. It bridge ever built was the cast-iron struc- was used as a railroad bridge until 1875 ture with a span of 102 feet erected over the a period of aearly thirty years—before it River Severn in England in 1779, and that was replaced by an iron structure. This the Firth of Forth cantilever bridge at was the only old wooden highway bridge Queensboro, Scotland, with its two main in the world ever converted to railroad use. spans of 1,710 feet each, is the largest in the world, but with these exceptions all the Lasting Wooden Structures. honors in bridge building belong to the • The Portage Viaduct on the Erie Rail- United States. road, 234 feet high, designed by Silas Sey- American engineers have built more mour in 1851, built in 1852, and burned bridges, better bridges, and built them un- down in 1S75, has always been considered der greater difficulties, in quicker time, and the boldest attempt ever made in timber at less cost than those of all other nations trestles. American wooden railroad bridges combined. The railroad bridge carrying have given wonderful service. The last of the greatest number of tracks is to be the wooden bridges on the Philadelphia and found in America. It is the thirty-three Reading, consisting of two spans 143 feet track bridge which carries the Erie Rail- and 15S feet at Port Clinton, built in 1874, road over a certain street in Chicago. The stood up under the steadily growing traffic only two railroad bridges in the world that until it was replaced with a steel structure are built lengthwise of rivers are to be in July, 1905, a period of thirty-one years. found in the United States. One of these Recognition of American supremacy in carries the Santa Fe over the Rio Galisteo bridge building has not been limited to in Apache Canon near Lamy, New Mexico, Americans. M. M. Malezieux, Ingenieur while the other enables the Denver and iJEcole des Pouts et Chausses, who in 1870 Rio Grande to get through a crack in the was sent by the Minister of Public Works granite heart of the Rocky Mountains two of France to study methods of construction miles west of Canon City, Colorado, known in England and the United States, said in as the "Royal Gorge," which is more than his official report: half a mile deep and has walls so nearly vertical that from its depths stars can be In bridges we saw nothing original nothing ; seen at noon as from the bottom of a well. to be compared with the instructive novelties Whenever a particularly difficult piece of America. of bridge building has been contemplated When Henry Meiggs, the spectacular anywhere in the world, American engineers American who went to South America to have always been called on to do the work. build railroads some thirty years ago, had The most spectacular feats of these man amassed railroad contracts aggregating spiders in spinning their steel webs in im- $134,000,000, he was about the easiest possible places have always been per- mark for solicitors that ever appeared. No formed for the railroads. man who applied to Meiggs for a contract went away empty handed—that is, for First Bridges of Wood. a while. Later in the proceedings, no contractor Timber, being abundant and cheap, was who could not prove that he was a free-born the material employed in bridge building. American citizen and who did not have the 666 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. grip and password could get a red cent out referred was a job which attracted world- of Sefior Enrique. How this great change wide attention. It was fifty-one miles from was wrought was clearly set forth in a let- Callao and 5,S36 feet above sea level. Be- ter written by Meiggs in reply to inquiries ing 575 feet long and 252 feet high, it re- from a Mr. Slater, a contractor on a gov- quired a lot of iron, all of which had to be ernment railway in Chile, who sought in- shipped to the spot on the backs of mules. formation. The letter, dated Lima, Janu- The building of the trail for the mules ary 2, 1S74, read in part as follows: along the fearful slopes and gorges of the Andes cost more than the grading of some I am in receipt of your favor of Nov. 28, American railroads. Even at that the trail concerning French bridges. I must say, for was so perilous that ten or twelve mules lhese countries, at any rale, they are a com- tumbled off it into plete failure. They may, perhaps, stand well the depths below every enough when once erected, but when I tell day. you that the French contractors were en- Sometimes the iron could be recovered, gaged on the Oroya Railroad three months but the mules weren't much use. How- and twenty-four days putting up ,a single- ever, a few hundred mules, more or less, little over fifty span, lattice-girder bridge a. were nothing to a man who could afford yards long, against three months and Sfteen to spend two hundred thousand dollars in days occupied by our men on the Varrugas gold to celebrate the completion of a rail- Viaduct, 575 feet long, with three piers, one of road and charter steamships and build roads which was 252 feet high, you can form an idea of the fearful cost of uansportation caused by to gather his guests. He kept a herd of such delays, amounting on this road to more 1,500 mules at it until the material was than the value if the bridge. assembled. I have be< n still more unfortunate in my experiments with English bridges, two of Examples of American Hustling. which failed miserably on the Pascamayo Rail- way. So after all these trials I have returned Then L. L. Buck, an American who entirely to the American market for all bridges. has since made a great name for himself, Meiggs might have added a wealth of took charge. He strung eight wire cables interesting details, but he didn't. For in- across the chasm, from which he suspended stance, he m'ght have told that the order to tackle by which the tall towers for the the foreign contractor was for three single- bridge were erected. After the towers were ' track bridges of 170 feet span. When the up. Buck, with a construction gang con- first one was erected it collapsed under the sisting chiefly of common sailors picked up weight of three cars, which was only one- in Callao, finished the job in ten days, and twentieth of the load it should have carried. did it so well diat a party of insurgents dur- ing- one of the frequent Peruvian revolu- A Few Comparisons. tions tried in vain to tear it down. It was a barren triumph, however, for It was lost in deep water, with the cars London Engineering? in a ponderous edi- and three men who happened to be on them. torial, proved that he couldn't have built The foreigner rebuilt the bridge on the such a bridge in so short a time, and as if- original abutments. This time the bridge that were not enough, a flood came down fell down under the weight of five cars be- the ravine, carrying widi! it boulders fore there was a chance to remove the false weighing fifty tons, and swept the bridge work. to the bottom. It was replaced in 1890 by An American then put up a bridge that a cantilever structure designed by Buck. Would >tay up. The last foreign bridge to As another example of American hus- collap-e weighed 127 tons, cost $3.3,497, tling, the Louisiana bridge across the Mis- and required eight weeks to erect. The sissippi will serve very well. This bridge American bridge that replaced it weighed which had a draw span of 444 feet, a work only -i>.ty-one tons, cost $19,569, and was of great magnitude, was completed in less put up in eight days. The third foreign than seven months. bridge is still lying at Pascamayo just where A span of the Cairo bridge across the it was unloaded from the ship unless some Ohio, 518 feet long, was erected in six enterprising Peruvian youngster has sold it 'lays; two spans were erected, the false for junk. work and traveler being erected for each The Varrugas Viaduct to which Meiggs .-.pan and taken down and put up again THE FINE ART OF BRIDGE BUILDING. 667 for each span, in one month and three days, all work. Yet, as the Atbara was a tor- no work being done on five days of this rential stream, the bridge had to be erected time. Compare this with the construction without false work. of the Godavari bridge at Rajahmundry Maybe there wasn't a row in England on the East Coast Railway in India. . about it. The army officers who were re- The bridge, 9,096 feet long, in fifty-six sponsible for sending the order to America spans of 150 feet, was begun November 11, were abused until the English press ran out 1897, and was not opened for traffic until of ink and epithets. Then they said it August 6, 1900. It actually took those wasn't so, anyway. A Mr. Rigby, of the Englishmen, by their own account, an aver- firm of Rigby & Westwood, one of the age of twenty-one hours to lift one pair of British bidders, said in an interview: girders and seat them. In building the " I simply do not believe that any firm in Krisna bridge, on a branch of the Great the world can turn out a bridge of that size India Peninsula Railway, between Bombay in the time mentioned. We and other and Madras, the builders doddered over British firms made special efforts to secure each span for six weeks. this particular contract. At a meeting of our directors who are all connected with Contractors Were Too Slow. large steel works it was agreed to divide the supply of the required material and let With this glimpse of British methods, it other orders wait. is easy to perceive why the Egyptian Gov- "We made a very low tender, guarantee- ernment turned to America when, in 1899, ing delivery by April 30, but no tenders of it needed a bridge in a hurry to get Kitch- British firms were even acknowledged. Of ener across the Atbara River to chase the course the bridge has undoubtedly been Mahdi out of the Sudan. The army offi- shipped from Philadelphia, but I absolutely cers first asked British bridge manufactur- decline to believe that work commenced ing firms how quick they could turn out a February S. The American firm either had rush job. Time just then was of more the specifications beforehand or adopted a consequence than money. The best the standard bridge to suit the requirements of Britishers could do was seven months for the case. No other explanation is pos- a modest little bridge of seven spans of sible." 147 feet each, weighing altogether only 800 tons. An American Bridge in Burma. Fearing that in seven months the Mahdi might get tired of waiting to be whipped Another case in which some Britishers and do something really unpleasant to wanted a bridge they couldn't get at home Kitchener, the London agents of the Egyp- was that of the Gokteik Viaduct in Burma tian Government, on January 7, 1899, on the line from Mandalay. This struc- cabled to the Pencoyd Steel Works asking ture, one of the famous viaducts of the if the American firm could do the job. The world, 400 miles inland from Rangoon, and answer was in the affirmative. 4.000 feet above sea level, is 2,260 feet long, On January 24 the specifications for 320 feet high and contains 9,703,831 pounds the bridge were received. On January 27 of steel. the Pencoyd people cabled their bid, which This quantity of material, together with was accepted as quickly as the message that for the great traveler weighing 180,- could be flashed under the ocean, and 000 pounds with which it was erected, March 7 saw the steel for the entire bridge had to be shipped from Rangoon over a shipped to Alexandria. narrow-gage road with four per cent grades on which eighty tons made a train-load. Beyond Their Comprehension. Seventy American bridge builders went out with the material. They began con- The Pencoyd Company undertook to turn struction in January, 1900, and with the out the steel and get it on shipboard in aid of five hundred natives, who thought forty-two days. This was actually accom- their pay of seventeen dollars a month ex- plished in forty days. ceptionally good, finished the job in Oc- Thirty-two days more sufficed to erect tober of the same year. The fourteen tow- the bridge, though it could have been done ers were erected with the traveler, which in six days less but for a storm that stopped had an overhang of one hundred and sixty- 668 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. five feet. Again there was such a row in Railway, in 1883, conceived the clever idea England over the impudence of the Ameri- of saving some money by manipulating Bel- cans that Lord George Hamilton, Secre- gian iron widi American brains. So, after tary of State for India, wrote as follows to securing some American plans for bridges, the London Times: he trotted over to Belgium and placed con- In the case of the Gokteik Viaduct, the Bur- tracts for the material much cheaper than ma Railway Company had no option but to he could have done in die United States. place the order for its construction with the But when die bridges were shipped, the Pennsylvania Steel Company. There were no iron turned out to be so wretchedly inferior British firms who had anything like the same , that some of the eye-bars actually broke be- experience this class of The in construction. fore ever reaching Mexico. Then the engin- tender of the Pennsylvania Steel Company was eers tested a number. They all broke at 24,- much less in price and quicker in time than 690 pounds per square inch or less, while any of its competitors. the lowest for American iron was 58,000 Because one has the good fortune to be pounds. The whole lot of bridges was con- an American it does not necessarily follow demned, and the road, on which large sums diat one is therefore a born bridge builder..- had been expended, was bankrupted. The New York canal commissioners found Some of the cleverest feats of the bridge this out when the first enlargement of the magicians have been performed in the Erie Canal was undertaken in 1836. work of rebuilding. Railroad bridges have Knowing that some hundreds of bridges to be rebuilt almost as soon as they are com- would be required and wishing to have a pleted, not because they are not made prop_- uniform design, the commissioners asked the erly, but because the operating department chief engineers to submit plans. keeps increasing the size of cars and loco- When all the plans had been sent in the motives so rapidly that a bridge which in commissioners thought the} - could make the spring is deemed amply strong to sup- something a great deal better. So they took port the traffic for several generations is a feature out of this plan and a dab out discovered in the succeeding autumn to be of that and more or less out of the others altogether inadequate for die growing loads and fixed up a crazy-quilt design that was it is called upon to bear. altogether lovely in their eyes. The} - pre- No railroad management was ever known sented it to the engineers as a masterpiece to discover tiiat a bridge needed rebuilding of genius and ordered it adopted as the gen- until it was wanted immediately. This eral plan for all the bridges on a canal means that some pretty lively hustling has - three hundred and fifty miles long. to be done by the bridge department and, John B. Jervis told the commissioners of course, traffic must not be interrupted. such a bridge could not stand up, but they The engineer who laid out a passenger- attributed this remark to professional jeal- train for a minute or two, no matter what ousy and went ahead. The first bridge, kind of a bridge he was rebuilding, could built at L'tica. tumbled down as soon as it confidently count on having something was completed and killed two men. The pretty harsh said to him as soon as the second, at Syracuse, also toppled over the president could get to the wire. This con- moment the false work was removed. dition leads to some phenomenal records in The President of the Mexican National handling ponderous masses of steel, (To be co n eluded.) TO TELL STEEL FROM IRON. IT is often so difficult for users of pipe to dis- long, and when the pipe breaks, as il readily does tinguish iron pipe from steel that a few hints in the flattening test, the fracture is rough. Steel on the subject may be found helpful. The scale pipe is soft and tough, says Domestic Engineering, on steel pipe is very light and has the appearance and when it is threaded, tbe threads do not break, of small blisters or bubbles; the surface under- but tear off. It requires very sharp dies to cut neath being smooth and rather white; on iron pipe the thread on steel pipe successfully, and a blunt tbe scale is heavy and rough. Steel pipe seldom die. Which might be used with satisfactory results breaks when fattened, but when it docs break on iron pipe, will tear the threads on steel pipe, tbe grain is very fine; whereas the fiber of iron is because of softness of the metal. — — — GETTING EASY MONEY BY EMMET F. H ARTE. . Honk and Horace, for a Brief Moment, Enjoy a Rich Reward for Baffling a Brigand. [OMEBODY came along one day considerably while we were resting every and tacked up a dodger on the now and then. We couldn't either of us waiting-room wall. Neither recall an instance where anybody had ever time, expense nor skill had been caught or killed a brigand and collected squandered on that dodger. It a wad of easy money like that, but it ap- had been struck off, how-come- pealed to us, nevertheless. you-so, on rotten paper, With I shouldn't wonder if it wasn't because cheap ink, but it set forth, specifically, three we were a couple of devil-may-care fellows, facts of importance: who relished personal danger and hazard First, that a depot, presumably contain- for the sake of the pure excitement of it. In ing ticket, telegraph, baggage, express and fact, we would both go out of our way to accident insurance privileges, located in the how's that? - I didn't say, to avoid danger. town of Pleasant Lake, Montana, had been Oh, very well, never mind. looted to the tune of—they never tell you the " It would be too much to expect that the exact amount rummy would ever light around this neck Second, that the brigandage, robbery, of the woods," remarked Honk to me. " In thieving, outlawry or dastardly deed in the first place, he'd have no occasion to question had been performed, accomplished, come to Valhalla, it being no suitable haven perpetrated and pulled off by a lone bandit, for crooks and, moreover, anybody with the described to wit: Height, about 5 feet 8 sense that is set apart for little geese would inches; age, about thirty-five; build, stocky; hair and eyes, dark brown; scar over right eye; wore black slouch hat and black rain- coat, and Third, that a reward of five thousand dollars would b e paid for the before- described young gentleman, duly apprehended and delivered, or upon satisfactory proof of his demise dur- ing the process of such apprehen- sion and delivery. Honk and I read it over and WE DID THE LIZARD ACT TO THE palavered about it WINDWARD, " 670 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. know better than to try to sneak past us. opinions and ugly intents toward my fel- We'd nail 'em on the spot. My clairvoyant low citizens, I would have been compelled sense would detect 'em at once." to admit, under cross-examination, that I " " " Right ! I agreed. We'd detect 'em as couldn't lay my hand .on the Pleasant Lake far as we could see 'em—maybe. But, say! bandit if I'd had to, and that five thous' What would we do with—well, five thou- was some incentive, too. If there's anything sand dollars, now, for instance, if we had I wouldn't make a stab at for .five thous', it? All paid down in crackly yellow and what it is has clear slipped my mind. brown fifties and hundred-case notes? I As is usual, however, just when I decided believe I'd lay off another month— that there was nothing doing, Honk struck " Why need you ? Your job is an endless what he classified as~a clue. He broached vacation, as it is. I know what I'd do with the subject to me one evening while we sat my share. I'd buy that new Ruhmkorff coil on the observation platform of the Medicine and the big concert grand phonograph we've House, listening to the cicadas cicada-ing in been wanting, and then I'd sit back in a new a near-by sycamore tree. leather rocker, with a fan and a panatela "I see there's a fellow stopping at Henry and a colored boy to bring me cracked ice Hinton's who never came in on the motor- for my lemonade—and under the table, I'd car," he remarked. have a bucket, with four, gold-labeled, The aforesaid Henry Hinton was one of " dusty— the ""poor white trash" truck-farmers, out " And we'd send off for caviar and reed by the reservoir. He owned a five-acre tract birds and a barrel of oysters, bearded like —that is, he'd paid a hundred dollars on it the prophets of old, and we'd have pheas- and was behind with the rest of his pay- ants and rice and chop suey cooked by an ments. imported chop su-maker," I murmured, with " This person answers to the name of Tee- rapturous and shining eyes. garten—Ezekiel or Zeke Teegarten. He's " " " Hush ! he said. In another minute about five feet eight, and might be thirty- - 3 ou won't leave me nothing to tell." four or thirty-six years old, according to Although the matter did.not come up for the light. He looked thirty-two to me, discussion again for several days, we could but it was cloudy this morning when I saw not entirely dismiss the idea of that five him. He claims to be a cousin of Hin- thousand. In the meantime. I noticed Honk ton's." scrutinizing every newcomer very narrow- " How did he get here, if he didn't come ly, and whenever I saw anybody who looked on the train ? " I asked. " Did he come m anywhere near five feet eight and age horseback, in an auto, or blow in on a " about thirty-five, my left palm would begin biplane? to itch, which is an almost infallible sign "Neither one of the six," Honk vouch- that I'm going to get money. safed. " He hoofed it in. I made a few Not even my most intimate acquaintances judicious inquiries, this morning. He is were entirely exempt from suspicion during supposed to 've come from Kankakee, Illi- this period. So far as that's concerned, nois, on foot, for his health. He is Weston- though, it is sometimes a stroke of good ing his way westward for the benefit of his business policy to be suspicious of your best lungs, or indigestion, or neuralgia, or some- friends. For instance, there's that " I'll- thing, presumably. hand-this-to-you- Saturday " gag. And the "He appears just about stiff- and sore guy that wants you to make a talk for him enough to me, from a distance, to have just up at the shoe store so he can work his face about piled off from the rods of some night Tor a six-dollar pair of kicks, the day before freight-train at Millardsville and walked he leaves town forever. on over here during the wee small hours." But there I go, holding another autopsy "Well," I said, scratching my left palm. while the gang is waiting for the score. "We'd better slip over and get him this So far as I was implicated in this man- evening hadn't we? It would be very dis- hunt, the prize money began to look dim heartening to make the arrest to-morrow or and miragic to me as soon as I'd had time next day and find him gone. An arrest, to cast up a brief census of everybody in without an arrestee," I declared, sagely, "is and near Valhalla. I couldn't even fasten as unsatisfying as a clam-bake without the thing on Butch Poteet's father-in-law. clams." " While I harbored all sorts of villainous " Yes, but -it might not be our man ? GETTING EASY MONEY. 671 "I'm convinced it's him,'* I said. "From We approached warily. In fact, as old your description, it must be him. My sakes! Uncle Tobe, in the town where I was raised, —besides, we need this reward money used to say when describing one of the bat- mighty bad. Let us arm ourselves, go out tles he participated in "ehdurin' ob de quietly and you can secure him while I keep war," we "snuck up froo dem dar weeds watch at the gate to see that he don't elude des lack Ku-Kluxers." It wasn't late. "speak up, you old bucca- " neer ! WHERE'S THE DOUGH ? you. Then we'll put him through the third Henry and his supposed cousin sat smoking degree, make him cough up the hiding-place their pipes on the lawn—or the place where of his loot, and wire for the officers to bring the lawn should have been. on their prize money. It will be as easy as We held a whispered consultation. catching chiggers in a weed-patch." Honk's feet began to chill just a trifle. It required son urging to get Honk " I tell you we might be too precipitate " sufficiently warmed to it.. I was even forced in this," he insisted. You can't jump in to play my big trump, i. e., that he was and pinch anybody, haphazard and hit-or- afraid to go out and help arrest this Ezekiel miss, without no warrant or anything but Teegarten person, before I got him started. an empty suspicion. What if the guy wasn't I was crazy about that five thousand, my- -guilty? He might get pretty sore about it, " self, I tell you. don't you think? " We armed ourselves. I took the target Oh, he'll be sore anyway, as far as that rifle and Honk his trusty old navy revolver. goes," I whispered, airily. " If-he can prove Then we stole sleuthfully into the night. that he's innocent, why, we'll let him go. Henry Hinton lived in a manor house, That's all there is to it. What more can that, in the gloaming, oh, my darling, might he ask, than that? What I'm trying to easily be taken for a common shack. A beat into jour batter-cake of a brain is numerous, noisy colony of dogs of various this: that he's liable to be the man we want sizes and ancestry made the premises a and we can't afford to take chances on him stampinn-cround. getting awav. Better that ninetv-lnine inno- " " " " C72 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. cent should suffer than one guilty escape," "Taint no more dangerous than sol- I quoted. " Think of that five— dierin', Hen. An' look at the diff-runce " All right, all right," he said, grumpily. in the pay. If I wuz you, I'd quit this "Had we better rush in by main strength farmin' as quick as I could pack my grip. and clumsiness, or use a little suavity and Of course, it ain't like clerkin' in a store, stratagem ? What do you think—or do you but you can make more money in one month ever? Maybe you'd better saunter up and than you ever could here in vour whole ask to borrow a bicycle pump or something life." and grab his hands. Then I can come and " Aw, it's too much scramblin' around in help tie him with a rope—by George! we the dark, Zeke. I never would git used forgot to bring a rope ! to that." '" How would it do to crawl quietly along "Yes, you. would. You'd git so's you the fence to where we can hear they what could see like a cat . , . an' then, you don't that face was a hard looker to fasten on the front of anybody's craniom. are talking about, if you're so picayunish have to vvork in any one part of the coun- about the fellow's innocence?" I suggested. try all the time. You can go East or West " Mayhap the caitiff will convict himself or North or anywhere you want to . . . the by his own word of mouth." biggest killin' I ever made wuz in— Honk was perfectly agreeable to tins, so "Maybe there's other rewards out for we did the lizard act to the windward. this guy," I whispered to Honk, signifi- That was a move in the right direction, for cantly. the immediate vicinity of the shack was "We'll find out," he replied. "He's a alive with dogs and if they had caught bad egg and no mistake. Let's worm back our .-cent we would have been the focal to the road and come up on them from point of an uproar that could have been the front." heard for miles. This we did. We stopped at the fence The same balmy breeze that carried away and halloed. A riotous chorus of howls, the odoriferous evidence of our presence, yelps and ki-yis greeted the hail. When a ' ; . ..-ought us snatches of conversation we lull came, punctuated at intervals by the could use in our business. Something like yap of some cur that had just arrived from this: a distance, we climbed the fence and made " Yes. but Zeke. You take it all around, ourselves known to Hinton. and it's durned dangerous work. You never "Seen anything of a spotted setter pup, know what minute— hereabouts?" asked Honk, improvising an — ! GETTING EASY MONEY. 673 excuse. "We're looking for one. You the gangway, and introduced the muzzle of seem to have a pretty fair assortment here, his forty-four caliber jjersuader under the from the noise they make." gentleman's right ear. "It's the fellers' that run the depot," we It was done quietly, scientifically and heard Hinton tell his companion. with despatch. I kept up a running fire of " No, I don't know's I've saw your dawg," voluble discourse, springing wastefully he replied, " but you c'n take a look amongst many of my famous epigrams and brilliant the bunch if you want to." quips, at the same time keeping an ear Hinton had no family whose peace might cocked for war news from within. be disturbed, so we felt no qualms at kick- All I heard was a muffled command or ing a dog or using unparliamentary lan- two, some clatter and the tinkle of an oil guage to deter the boldest from securing can or something falling off the table, and souvenirs out of our legs. then Honk called affably: After making a desultory search, we de- "Well, what are you fellows waiting for? cided that the lost pup was not among those Aren't you going to get in on this?" present and paused to chat a minute. " Coming," I said, and in we bustled, "This here's my cousin, from Illinoy; Hinton first. Honk had his prisoner trussed name's Teegarten," Hinton said. up in a chair, as neatly as if he had been " Teegarten," said Honk. " Any kin to tied on a wager, while he was leaning " the Teegartens in Streator, Illinois ? against the table where our electric reading- " Got an uncle there," said our man, lamp glowed brightly, with his redoubtable grouchily. revolver poised in readiness and a good- "What's his first name?" humored grin overspreading his cheery " John." countenance. "Listen to that, Horace," said Honk. " Stick up those unwashed paws of yours "A nephew of old John Teegarten, at a minute, Henry," he directed. " Horace, Streator, away out here! You boys have tap his pockets lightly for a chance weap- got to go down and have a drink on that on, will you? No gun or knife on him? we've got a brand new jug—just came to- Good! Sit down, Henrv, and behave your- day. " Who'd 've thought we'd find a man self." from the old home country up here? Get The surprised and speechless truck-farm- your hats, both of you—you've got to come." er did as Honk directed. Our other captive ThejDrospect of a free drink or two is a stared in a dumb amazement no less pro- potent dispeller of erstwhile dulness and nounced. indifference in citizens of the Hen Hinton "Now," said Honk, easily. "Mr. Tee- and Zeke Teegarten persuasion. They came garten, so-called, your harvest days are' like little piggies to the lure of the slop- over. That last Pleasant Lake, Montana, trough. deal was the blow that killed father. What " Sure diing," said Hinton. " Never was we intend to ascertain, just at diis juncture, more willin' in my life, was you, Zeke?" is whereabouts did you put that satchel "Never a time," said our prospective full of spoil. Speak up, you old buccaneer " bank-roll. Where's the dough ? Thus does acumen and sagacity triumph " What's this crazy mark, here, talkin' over the coarser and less discreet methods of about?" the five-foot-eight man asked me the knock-down-and-drag-out school of huskily. In the stress of the moment, he criminal catchers. It is the supremacy of looked almost forty vears of age to me. the trained detective over the village night- " Oh, we're on, kiddo," I said. "No use watch; the preponderance of brain against quibbling. It won't go, with us. We know brawn; the vindication of mentality as op- you stuck up the Pleasant Lake depot, and posed to the old-fashioned, water-elm club. we've got you faded. It's all off." We led the way in high glee, escorting the "Me? Stuck up the what depot? Say, not particularly valuable looking Zeke, but what's the joke, fellers?" worth five thousand to us, by the shortest "That's what it is," Hinton chipped in, cuts, to the Medicine House. On arrival at relieved. "They're tryin' to play a joke on that temple of progress and seat of learning, us, Zeke." I dallied with friend Hinton on the outer "Horace," said Honk. "You slip over battlements for a minute while Honk play- the way and get that dodger. We'll compare fully shoved Ezekiel ahead of him, through this brigand with his description. I'm satis- 7 R R " — 674 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. fied he's the crook we're after, but we'll guests left, taking with them four generous have to convince him, it seems." drinks from our best jug, for which we had When I returned, Honk catechized the received absolutely nothing in return-—not prisoner. '"How— tall are you?" he began. even entertainment. "What the " A little revolver play " So much for that." said Honk. " Charge and— " Five feet "n eight inches, I reckon," up four drinks to the P. & L. account." " sullenly. Anyhow, it was a neat capture," I said, " " How old are you ? ingratiatingly. " Slick as a greased eel. " " Thuttv-five." You're there with the claw-hammer and "What color hair?" alligator-wrench clutch if we- only find -the " Say, what'n thunder you— right man." "Stocky build," Honk read aloud. "Yes, He grunted something and went to bed. he might be called stocky built. But, say And what do you think? —wait a minute! Horace! " Honk seemed The right man came, all right. Look- to be losing some of his assurance. " What ing at it from the viewpoint of a booky, about this scar business over the right eye? there was about one chance out of a million He's short a scar over his right eye. What'll for the man to actually come to Valhalla, " we do about that? but that one chance turned out to be a safe "I can hack one in a second," I said. bet. "Where's my little ax?" Two or three days after the Teegarten Honk wavered and then began to back- incident, Honk and I were inside our little fire. grating, pretending to be busy. It was an *" I guess it's a horse on us," he said. hour or so before the motor-car was due " Cut him loose, while I get out the jug and to leave for Millardsville. Somebody came tin cup, Horace. Teegarten, old-timer, this into the waiting-room and approached the is a simple case of mistaken identity. Deep- ticket-wicket. After the proper amount of ly as I regret it. you're not the man we want. time had elapsed to preserve professional Pour yourself a snifter." dignity, I looked up. One mustn't be too "Lemme see that paper," our ex-captive prompt, it looks like they were scared of requested. It undoubtedly interested him. their job. " Five thousand dollars reward ! " he A dark and gloomy face was peering at " ejaculated. How many years in the pen me. No, no, I'm rattled ! I don't mean that do you s'pose they'd give the feller, if they the face was peering at me. I mean that was to catch him, now?" the man was peering at me, with his f—no, " That would depend on the judge," said not that, either. Anyhow, I took a second Honk. " Maybe two years, maybe ten, may- look to make sure I wasn't covered with a be twenty-five Why?" revolver. Gee, but that face was a hard "I was just a-thinkin'," returned Tee- looker to fasten on the front of anybody's garten. " I wouldn't mind to serve two or cranium! Then I noticed the scar above the three years fer half of that there reward. right eye. Five feet eight, and age about Of course, I ain't the man. but that wouldn't "Wot time does this yer car leave for " matter. I could make out that I was. But. north ? rumbled a hoarse voice, ominouslv. " " " excuse me, they might give me twenty-five." Honk," I said. Information ! Then " You ought to have twenty-five," Honk I added a warning "S-st!" which, in our declared. " Any man that proposes to order, same as geese, snakes and other flora serve a term in prison for half the reward and fauna, means "wake up, look out and is a swindler. It's mighty lucky for you you beware! There's something doing!" haven't got that scar over your eye—aw, Honk hopped up, with alacrity. scat! Get out! I don't like your looks." " Train for Millardsville leaves at nine- "Just a minute," I interposed. "I've thirty," he said. "Where to, please?" " got a curiosity to know what it was you I want to send this yer grip to Kansas fellows were talking about when we came Citv. Kin I send it by express?" up over there awhile ago. Some kind of a "Sure tiling. What's in it?" dangerous occupation, I believe." "Wot you want to know that for?" sus- "Coaj minin'," said Hinton, promptly. piciously. " Zeke. here, wanted me to quit truck-farm- "Have to know, to tell the rate." Honk in' and go to minin'." toyed with a paper-cutter while the fellow With that, we closed the interview. Our deliberated. — GETTING EASY MONEY. 675 "Ore samples," the man said finally. silver money included to make a pretty hefty Honk dashed off the way-bills, entered a package. " " " " nominal valuation and scratched his head, Aha ! said Honk. I Aha-ed a few but did not collect the fee. times myself. Honk continued briskly: "I'll have to verify that rate by wire," "When this lad comes back we'll have he told the man. " You come in in half an him come around behind, to sign the book, hour and pay the charges and she'll go on or for some pretext or other, and Uien we'll the next train." nab him. Take no chances. He looks Our friend with the scar shuffled out. He husky. If necessary crack 'him over the didn't have on a black slouch hat, neither bobbin with a stool or the stove poker or did he have a rain-coat, but my leff palm anything handy." was doing some tall itching, just the same. We hadn"t long to wait. Our man re- " " " Quick ! said Honk. Let's see what's turned promptly at the time agreed. Honk in this. Gimme a piece of wire. I'll pick invited him to come inside dur scantum this lock before you can say what's scantorum, and he came. It's a wonder he trumps—" ' didn't come with a gun in each hand and There were a few clicks and squeaks and stick us up in regulation style, but I guess some seconds of suspense and then—the it wasn't his working day. Honk supplied grip was open. a pen and showed him where to sign. At Yes, it had ore samples in it all right that moment we pounced. not! It had express money orders and pack- Did you ever fall down a flight of steps ages of currency and rolls of gold coin in in company with a cook-stove filled with original sealed wrappers, with enough loose fire, a bee-hive in working order, a bunch 676 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. or two of bananas, and a spool of barbed suppose he felt that he'd been cheated out of wire witii the end loose? If you did, you twenty-five hundred dollars by the rottenest can sympathize with Honk, and me. We kind of a fluke. undoubtedly started something when we As soon as we could get 'em word, a whole pounced. flock of officers came to get our brigand. That fellow was a bucking buzz-saw. If Yes, he was the - right man and he'd been I had ever got in reach of him, he'd have caught with the goods. It was a great catch, suffered severe punishment, but he invari- they all said so, and our five thousand was ably hit or kicked me or both before I could paid over promptly, without a whimper. close in and use my terrible infield punch. We heard that the fellow got fifty years, as Honk got fastened to the guy somehow, the direct result of his visit to Valhalla. and when he could have let loose, wouldn't. Five thousand dollars, in one gloojous, Later, when he would have, most gladly, he joyful wad! Think of it! We spread it couldn't. And the fellow cussed without out on the table in the Medicine House, pause, real hateful, throughout the fight. while the phonograph played: "Since I've That was what aroused my ire. Got Money in the Bank," and " Shine, Lit- " To be kicked in the stomach and given tle Glow Worm, Shine! a knuckle-wrist-elbow swipe simultaneously Valhalla came down to rubber at it is annoying. But when your assailant—or, through the windows and to admire and let's see. was he the assailant?—well, when point the finger of pride at Honk and me. the kieker and swiper before mentioned, Toward evening of that delirious day, I had calls you a whang-blam-boom-zip, blank- one lucid moment. " " ety-blank little sausage along with it, one's Say," I said. Let's get this bunch of soul rebels." dough up to the bank, before it closes." So I rose up from my corner clasping a "Tut, tut!" said Honk. "What's the section of inch galvanized-iron pipe, some use of hiding it in a gloomy bank? We'll seven feet long, and danced across and belt- keep it here in the car, where we can see, ed Mr. Cusser a good one athwart the medul- hear and handle it; it has such a cheerful la oblongata. crackle to it. Besides, nobody could steal Honk wrenched his throat out of the it while we're here. Huh-nuh ! I guess clutch of the fellow's twitching fingers, and not!" we laid the geezer out on the floor with his The rest, alas, can be told in a few words. hands and feet tied and the ropes spiked Ah's me! Heigh ho! It was nearly noon fast. When he woke up from his nap, we when we awoke, the following day, Our kept away from him, too. heads felt as big as the pumpkins they But that belt I gave him with the gas- really were. The sweet, oily odor of chloro- pipe stopped his saw-mill. He was very form hung in the air of the tightly shut car. quiet and well-behaved, and made no more And our five thous'? Yes, it was gone. comments of a personal nature. And the thieves left no clue—except a few We had wrecked the office and, as a con- hoof-marks, a bandanna handkerchief we'd flict always attracts the idle and the curious, seen in the possession of Zeke Teegarten, soon the depot windows were clogged with and Hen Hinton's pipe lying beside the sightseers, It became noised about that we empty jug on our table. had captured a desperado and Valhalla rang We traced them to the Mexico line, or with the stirring tale of our bravery and more explicitly, El Taso. At that point we rei kless daring. learned of a certain game of chance or haz- Once or twice I noticed the haunting eyes ard in which one Velvet-Fingered Martin of Zeke Teegarten, green with a dash of had participated. Under the circumstances, yellow in them, watching us from the out- the least we could do was to abandon the skins of the crowd. He looked envious. I chase. Helping 'Em Over the Hill BY CHARLES FREDERIC. HEAVY grades are the bane of railroad men. Besides furnishing many brain-racking problems for civil engineers and construction bosses, the tallow-pot always has to work harder, the eagle-eye has more to worry about, and a thousand and one things are apt to happen to keep a train-crew in hot water that could never occur on a level track. But before the Mallet compounds and the small-wheeled, mountain-climbing hogs came into use. things were a good deal worse than they are now, and hundreds of inventors put in all their spare time trying to find a way to keep the peanut-roasters of those days from getting stalled on the steep curves and burning holes in their tires. Instead of planning heavier and more powerful engines, however, many of these early locomotive designers seemed to have been convinced that if they could only get a hard enough grip on the rails, the weakest sort of an en- gine could pull a full-sized train up anything that was not an absolute precipice. i - Freak Devices and Strange Schemes of Early-Day Inventors, Concocted To Make Hill-Climbing Easy, Found Their Way, One by One, to the Scrap-Heap. ^rj F you wanted to build a railroad tint; legs in imitation of those of a horse in l[i there a mountain right 1813. 9| and was 5 in your way, what would you After it had demonstrated its ability to S, I do about it? haul a goodly load in addition to its own -^*» Out West that might not weight, the knowing ones compromised on a be regarded as very much of a certainty that the locomotive could never conundrum. There, when a mountain run up-hill. Afterward this was amend- doesn't get out of the way, so much the ed so as to limit the climbing capacity of worse for the mountain; for the railroad the locomotive to a grade of forty feet to builders run right over it without compunc- the mile. tion or remorse. Nevertheless, this same But if railroads had been limited to a problem has caused many men lots of sleep- grade of forty feet to the mile, their field less nights, not to mention patent - office of usefulness would have been so narrow fees, expenses for stationery and models, that the}' would have been practically value- and time without limit. less. Perceiving this, a host of inventors For twenty years after Trevithick's first- has sought in every way but the right one engine was built everybody was certain that to help the locomotive out. Their efforts the locomotive would never be able to move form a most singular chapter in the history even its own weight on level ground. To of the railroad. help the poor thing out, Blenidnsopp pro- The earliest and most persistent device, vided it with cog-wheels jn 1S11, while upon which many a fantastic variation has Bruntou improved upon this by substitu- been embroidered, is the center rail. Not 677 ^ ! 67S THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. a rack rail, but just a plain rail by which the immortal character of Colonel Mulberry the locomotive was to pull itself up by ad- Sellers may never be known; but there is a hesion instead of by cog-wheels. tradition that Mark Twain's Colonel Sellers The first inventors to appear on the was originally christened "Eschol," Mul- rcene with a center-rail locomotive were berry being substituted before the manu- Vignoles and Ericsson, whose British pat- script was given to the printer. ent. No. 5,995, was dated September 7, George Eschol Sellers was the son of Cole- 1830. Charles Vignoles was one of the man Sellers, one of the earliest locomotive earliest railroad engineers who laid tracks builders at Philadelphia. He died in in Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and, be- 1834, leaving his machine-shops, at which sides, being a pioneer railroad builder in locomotives were built, to his sons, George South America. and Charles. The Sellers boys built sev- He was the inventor of the T-rail, which eral engines for the Pennsylvania State was long known as the " Vignoles rail." railroads before George gave it up and He was president of the Institute of Civil went West to improve the railroads. Engineers, the foremost engineering society By 1848, locomotives in some instances in Great Britain, in 1870, a fact which in- had reached the prodigious weight of thirty dicates his professional standing. tons and more. In a long and elaborate The Vignoles and Ericsson, engine was treatise, Sellers pointed out that "the con- to have two horizontal driving-wheels, in sequences of running such enormous addition to the usual vertical ones, to be weights at high velocities over the level parts used only in hill climbing. One horizontal of the road are ruinous in the highest de- wheel was larger than the other, and was gree to the rails and superstructure of the worked by bevel-gear from the axle of the road." ordinary driving-wheel, which could be thrown into gear on reaching the hill and Engines upon Engines. out again after getting to the top. The smaller horizontal wheel was to be pressed Sellers proposed to avoid all the expense against a smooth center rail by a lever con- and vexation of railroads by building them trolled by the engineer. as cheaply as possible. Instead of heavy grading he would lay his railroad on the A Locomotive with a Grip. surface of the ground with as little prepara- tion as possible. He would also use wood- Henry Pinkus improved upon the origi- en rails. This would bring the cost of rail- nal device with a contraption for which he roading within the reach of all. obtained British patent No. 8,663, dated Of course heavy locomotives could not October 15, 1840. Both horizontal wheels be used on such a road; but, then, he didn't in the Pinkus attachment were of equal want heavy locomotives. On the contrary, size. Both were carried on the ends of he would build them as light as possible so bent levers crossed like a pair of shears, the that they could run at the highest speed over pivot being in the vertical plane of the cen- the flimsy track without injury to it or to ter rail. the machine. The only difficulty would be The Inner ends of the levers were con- in getting over the hills, and he was ready nected by a screw with right and left hand with a device to obviate this lone drawback. thread.-, which was tightened by a ratchet- He would have a third rail in the center wheel and lever. Talk about adhesion of the track on the hills, which was to be Pinkus had adhesion to burn. With the gripped by two horizontal driving-wheels, terrible leverage of his ratchet and screw driven through Ijevel-gear by a separate pair he could pinch that center rail until it of engines placed beside the smoke-box over' shrieked in agony. An earthquake could the ordinary engines. In order to get ad- not have shaken a Pinkus locomotive loose hesion the horizontal drivers were connect- from its prey. ed by a toggle-joint to which the train was Next in chronological order comes an hitched, so that its whole weight hung on American inventor, George Eschol Sellers, the horizontal drivers in going up-hill. whose " improvements in locomotive en- The center rail was also to serve as part gine.-, were given to the world from Cin- of a brake that was certainly effective in cinnati in 1848. Whether Mark Twain theory. The brake was an arrangement had this inventor in mind when he created like a pair of ice-tongs which was suspend- HELPING 'EM OVER THE HILL. 679 ed over the center rail by triggers. When While Sellers was pursuing his delusion necessary to apply the brake, or rather the to its ultimate disaster, another American anchor, you touched off the trigger, the ice- genius was helping the railroads out with tongs grabbed the rail, and there you were. a variation on the same idea. This was There can be no doubt that the Sellers James S. French, a Virginian, who was so locomotive created something of a sensa- plausibly certain he had hit upon the cor- tion when a model thereof was exhibited in rect principle for railroads that he actually New York in the autumn of 1848. It was induced the Legislature of his State to ap- enthusiastically approved by the American propriate money in 1850 to build an ex- Railroad Journal, and some of the very perimental track and locomotive after his foremost railroad men of the day actually plans. wrote letters indorsing the device. Document No. 65 of the session of 1857 contains the report of the legislative com- Disaster in Spite of Followers. mittee which was appointed to witness the tests of French's experimental railway. It Among them were Horatio Allen, who was built on the Manchester side of the ran the Stourbridge Lion, the-first locomo- river, a few hundred yards above the Peters- tive that ever turned a wheel on American burg road. It was one thousand nine hun- soil, who built the Charleston and Hamburg dred feet long and had a grade of two hun- Railroad, who played an important part in dred feet to the mile except for one hundred introducing the locomotive, and who, in feet at the lower end. Like Sellers, French 1848, was consulting engineer of the Erie was sure that what the country really need- Railroad; John B. Jervis and B. H. La- ed was flimsy wooden railroads laid on the trobe, both among the very foremost of early surface of the ground, which could be built railroad engineers; C. E. Hudson, and cheaply. John Brandt, a superintendent of motive His scheme to get adhesion was to lay power of the Erie, were also among those flat iron bars six inches wide and five- who thought Sellers had made a great dis- eighths of an inch thick for rails. The covery. Small wonder if, under the cir- outer edges of these bars projected over the cumstances, Sellers could see millions in it. sill two and one-half inches, and as the ends The millions seemed just on the point of of the ties were cut off flush with die sills materializing, but they vanished before the there was left a free open space for the ad- inventor's outstretched hands could grasp hesion wheels. them. In 1850 the board of directors of The driving-wheels were solid. The the Panama Railroad instructed John C. cranks were on the outer ends of the dri- Trautwine, then chief engineer, and Ho- ving-axle, while between the cranks and the ratio Allen to make tests With the Sellers inner surface of the driving-wheels friction- model and report. Their report being un- wheels were suspended from the axle so qualifiedly favorable, two engines were or- that they revolved under the outer edge of dered, but the Panama Railroad was des- the rails. They could be pressed up by a tined never to have a center rail. compound lever by the engineer, and the Chief Engineer Trautwine lost his posi- axle being the fulcrum, the driving-wheels tion and Colonel Totten, his successor, took were pressed down. the horizontal drivers, extra cylinders, and ice-tongs off the Sellers locomotives and re- Won Praise, but Not Success. duced them to the ignominious necessity of climbing hills like any other engine. Traut- When not in use the friction-wheels wine, who next became chief engineer of dropped by gravity below the rails. A the New York and Middle Coal Field Rail- small steam-cylinder was arranged to throw road in 1854, recommended Sellers locomo- the friction-wheels out and above the rails tives for use on grades of one hundred and at crossings and turn-outs. The locomotive fifty feet to the mile. weighed three and three-quarter tons, and cylinders six inches. Two engines were built and , delivered, had eight by With but the New York and Middle Coal Field the aid of the friction-wheels it took a car Railroad went bankrupt, the engines were containing a hundred passengers up the hill sold, and the new owners removed the hori- at fifteen miles an hour, but it couldn't zontal drivers and used them as ordinary move without them. This led the commit- locomotives. tee to report: 630 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. "The mechanical arrangement is ex- some reason not explained, was practicable. tremely simple, and so far as we can judge, Therefore they adopted the center rail. The works remarkably well. The committee road is nine and a quarter miles long with think that Mr. French has offered sufficient eight per cent grades part of the way. The evidence of his success to. entitle him to the gage is one meter. The center rail, which approbation of the general assembly and to is double-headed and weighs fifty-four further encouragement in his efforts to in- pounds to the yard, is mounted on brackets troduce his very ingenious invention into seven inches above the level of the track. general use. As a native citizen of Vir- It is gripped by horizontal driving-wheels, ginia his success may well gratify our feel- two feet eight and a half inches in diameter, ing of State pride and claim for him our at both ends of the locomotive, driven by a favorable consideration." - chain from the driving-axle and bevel-gear. This was very gratifying, yet in spite of The pressure on the horizontal rail, which it French's railway was never heard of may be anything up to fifty tons, is regu- afterward. lated by air. The locomotive weighs twen- ty-eight tons. The Rack Railways. Thus, after a checkered career of three- quarters of a century the center rail at After all these rosy prospects for Ameri- length has had a chance to vindicate itself. can inventors, it remained for an English It is still in operation; and, if it holds on engineer. J. B. Fell, to reap the honor of for a few years more, may earn a sum equal building and actually operating the first to the amount squandered in patent fees adhesion railway. It was built in 1863 on the idea. on Mount Cenis, and was actually used on After all, though, the center rail is lack- an eight-per-cent grade during the con- ing in picturesqueness. Also, it is defi- struction of that famous first Alpine tunnel. cient in action. For an original scheme for Fell's railway had the usual smooth rail in getting over the hills and one which always the center of the track. gave the stockholders and the spectators the The engine had two pairs of horizontal worth of their money, Henry Handyside'; drivers driven by bevel-gear, which could scheme was much superior. be made to press on the center rail by wedges Henry Handyside was an Englishman actuated by screws. Fell's road was un- who undertook to find the only true way of satisfactory and was abandoned after ex- getting a train up-hill. He did it, too. He tensive tests, yet it attracted so much atten- organized the Handyside Steep- Gardient tion that it was tried for a time on a steep Company to build his locomotives. The grade on the Cantogallo Railway in Brazil, London and Northwestern Railway, of Eng- and also on a steep grade in New Zealand. land, was the Come-on. It really performed a great service, how- ever, for its failure led Riggenbach to in- It Wound Up Its Train. vent the first rack road, which was the Vitz- nau-Righi Railway, with grades of twen- Two of the Handyside locomotives were ty-five per cent, built in 1870. To-day built and were operated for a short time in there are eight hundred miles of rack rail- 1876 on the Hopton incline of the Crom- way in operation in the world. ford and High Peak branch of the London In spite of its conspicuous failures and and Northwestern, which had a quarter of obvious impracticability the center-rail ad- a mile of seven-per-cent grade. hesion idea dies hard. In 1892 H. L. Van Handyside's locomotives were English Zite. a young civil engineer of Albany, New saddle-tank affairs, weighing twenty-two York, again patented the venerable idea. tons, with three pairs of drivers, and cylin- Finally, as recently as 1907, M. Claret, a ders thirteen by twenty inches. The novel- French engineer, actually built a center- ty consisted in a pair of winding engines, rail, adhesion railway from Clermont- which worked a winding drum on which Ferrand to the summit of the I'uy de Dome, was several hundred feet of wire rope back three thousand one hundred Jfeet above the of the fire-box, and an anchor, consisting of town. a steam-cylinder coupled to a rock-shaft on M. Claret convinced the directors that which were arms that reached down and neither a rack-rail nor a funicular, as for- gripped the tops and sides of both rails. eigner; persist in calling a cable road, for This clutch was connected to the engine HELPING 'EM OVER THE HILL. 681 frame, fore and aft, so that it could not Both Vose and Handyside were outdone slap; by a genius who appeared on the scene When the train came to the bottom of the much later—as recently as 1S88-1889, in hill, the engine was uncoupled, the loose fact. Railroad men who have got thirty end of the wire rope was hooked into the days to go a fishing for the indiscretion of draw-bar of the head car, and then the en- sliding wheels, will find no little consola- gine started off up the hill alone, paying out tion in the discovery that in adding those the rope as it went. When the rope was flat spots they were doing just what was all out the engine anchored by jamming the needed. C. E. Swinerton, of New York, clutches down on the rails and the engineer was the first to discover that the cause of all started the winding-engines which hauled the trouble with locomotives was that their the train up, hand over hand, so to speak, wheels were round. When the train had been brought up it was anchored and the engine proceeded up An Advocate of Flat Wheels. the hill another cable length, and repeated the process as before, the average time up- To overcome this he patented the polyg- hill, including all stops, being two miles onal driving-wheel which, as he described per hour. London Engineering, one of the it. was "formed by cutting a large number greatest English technical periodicals, was of facets, or flat places on the tread, con- deeply interested in this performance, but nected by very obtuse angles, so that- when avoided committing itself either way. This the wheel passes over the rail an inch or was in 1876. more is successively presented in actual con- If Handyside and George L. Vose, of tact with the rail, thus obtaining far greater Augusta, Georgia, could only have got to- traction than is possible with the cylindrical gether they undoubtedly could have pro- wheel, which depends for its traction upon duced a locomotive that would really have merely a mathematical line, a point of con- been worth while—one that could not only tact so slight that scientific works state that have climbed all the hills that could be if the contact of locomotive driving-wheels brought to them, but could also have got was any less than at present locomotion by over level ground. Vose wrote a booklet railway trains would be impossible." in 1854 to tell railroad builders how to The most amazing thing about Swiner- speed up the trains. He was not worrying ton's polygonal wheel was that it was thor- about grades. oughly -tried out, no fewer than four loco- motives equipped with it being tried jn regu- -Two Engines in One. lar service on the Boston and Maine. Will- iam Smith, superintendent of motive-power Vose's locomotive, as planned by the in- and machinery on the Boston and Maine, ventor, was to consist of two ordinary lo- asserted over his signature that the locomo- comotives built smoke-box to smoke-box. tive " Onward," equipped with the polyg- The drivers placed in the center of this ar- onal drivers, had hauled the Portland Ex- rangement were to be eleven feet four inches press, which consisted of six to eight cars in diameter, and were to be without flanges. and which made a run of 115 miles, inclu- Thus, according to the inventor, " the pas- ding fifteen stops, in four hours, from Jan- sage of curves is perfectly easy." There uary 7 to July 6, 1889, giving good satis- were to be four cylinders sixteen by twenty- faction and " made her time." four inches, one on each side of both fire- Then the " Onward " started on a trium- boxes. The engines were to exhaust into the phal tour to convince the railroad world diat " open air because the steam would require wheels should not be round, but got no far- too early a release to act with sufficient force ther onward than the Jersey Central where, for effective blast after so long a passage." in February, 1890, it achieved a brilliant Probably the firemen were to help out failure. the draft with their breath or by fanning the Polygonal wheels were tried on engine No. fire with their hats. They could have done 19 on the Manhattan elevated road, but the it easily enough, for there were to be two Engineering News, which had no use for the firemen and two engineers on each of these polygonal wheel, naively alleged that it made Siamese twins. If they kept her hot Vose a great deal of noise, a statement which thought there would be no difficult}- in run- will probably be accepted by most folk nine a hundred miles an hour. without an affidavit to that effect. 6S2 THE RAILROAD MAN'S. MAGAZINE. At the Very time that Swinerton was dem- ascending elevations — cheap, safe, and onstrating that wheels should not be round, worthy the investigation of our scientific E. Moody Boynton was still further / im- men and capitalists." proving the locomotive by amputating most of its wheels. His famous bicycle locomo- A One-Balloon-Power Road. tives, built in 18S8-1SS9, had just three wheels and no more, all being designed to This cheap, safe, and feasible method " nm on a single rail. was embodied in The American Mountain Boynton 's scheme was the usual mono- Railroad," patented by Dr. Joseph Auguste rail; that is, it had three rails, two of them Fontaine and described by him in a book- being sixteen feet up in the air to balance let penned by his own ingenious hand. the locomotive on the other rail, which was Briefly, the American Mountain Railroad on the ground. The standard railroad of consisted of four lines of cylindrical iron to-day is just as much a monorail as the rails supported from brackets on two lines crankiest scheme ever devised if you forget of wooden posts considerably higher than to count half the rails. telegraph poles spaced about fifteen feet Boyn ton's first locomotive weighed eight apart. Between these Tails ran a wooden tons. It never ran anywhere, but it so platform high enough above the ground to pleased the builder that he at once built a allow a car to be swung beneath. Grooved second one weighing twenty-two tons. It wheels above and below the platform en- had one lonely driver eight feet in diameter gaged the upper and lower rails. under the center of the boiler, which had a To the platform was to be hitched a bal- recess built in it, a sort of wheel-house, (to loon. When the car was loaded all you receive it. had to do was to unhitch the balloon, The other two wheels were placed tan- and away you went, the upper wheels of dem under the tank, which was on the same the platform trundling serenely along the frame as the boiler. The cylinders were upper rails, preventing the balloon from 12 by 14 inches; the locomotive was 27 getting too gay. On reaching the summit feet 5 inches long, 4 feet 6 inches wide, a windlass was hitched to the outfit, which and 15 feet 6 inches from the rail to the was then snaked over to the beginning of top of the stack. Brackets on top carried the down grade. There water was pumped guide - wheels running between the two from a reservoir on the hill-top into a tank guide-rails. in the bottom of the car until gravity over- came the buoyancy of the balloon and down Eliminated Friction. you went. "Science teaches and experience shows," Boynton accomplished the remarkable wrote Dr. Fontaine, "that a very small feat of totally eliminating friction—at least, buoyancy (ten pounds) -is sufficient to gen- so he said. Moreover, his bicycle rail- erate the ascent of a very huge balloon with road could be built at one-third the cost of a high rate of speed; and also that a very the ordinary railroad; its trains weighed little weight is sufficient to generate its de- one-fifth as much as standard trains 'haul- scent. A superficial inspection^ might lead ing the same number of passengers. Be- to belief that the balloons of the elevators sides, it could be built right over mountain can be easily inclined by the winds in the tops and alongside cliffs on brackets fixed opposite direction to that from whence they to the wall. blow. It is not so. The pressures from the Finally, one hundred miles an hour would winds are counterbalanced by the weight of be just an ordinary speed for it. Think of the cars." it! A hundred miles an hour on brackets Apparently the scientific men and cap- on a canon wall ! No wonder Boynton fig- italists did not agree with Dr. Fontaine, ured out that his royalties at one mill per for the American Mountain Railroad was passenger or per ton per mile would amount never built. Indeed, if the discouraging to S70.000.000 per year. truth must be told, notwithstanding all the But of all the railroad schemes that ever efforts of genius to simplify the operation, have been proposed, the most startlingly the only method of getting trains over the original was the one which the Scientific hill that seems to be known in this so-called American described as follows in 1867: enlightened age is to hitch engines to them "It is a quick and feasible method of and snake them over by main strength. Swarming an I. C. Locomotive. THE picture on this page shows the boys of the Illinois Central shops, in Chicago, tak- ing a little noon-day airing. They pulled onto the turntable engine 104S, and swarmed her from trucks to sand-dome, that a photography might be taken for the Illinois Central Employs' Magazine, a monthly publication, issued in the interest of the I. C. men. They are a loyal set, proud of their line, and filled with the proper enthusiasm. We take pleasure in reprinting here part of a short article that appeared in the Octo- ber, 1910, /. C. Magazine, by A. L. Chapin, en- " " titled, Don't Knock—Boost : One continually meets men with a chronic kick because the other fellow has something belter, or- is having an easier time, when, if the truth were kn.own, the fact that the other fellow is living easier is due to the absence of the perpetual grouch and the continual nursing of the grouch as a hobby. If the grouch would pull himself together and take an optimistic view of things in general, he would realize that he is much better off than a large majority of people. Life is what we make it, and " the man above is hardly inclined to boost when your inclinations are to knock, growl or grumble. Be not afraid that you will do more than your share, and be ever ready to help the other fellow —you may need help sometimes yourself. Do the best you can at all times and at any old ; lace. At this particular time of adverse legislation against railroad companies, if all employees would take a hand in the fight to overcome the general sentiment of rate curtailing, etc., things would soon change and the other fellow would sit up and take notice. Don't be afraid to " put in your little oars" for the company which treats you right, and needs your help. One hears men say, " I wouldn't do that" you're not paid for it." Such employees should be drop- ped from the pay-roll forthwith, as they not only retard the work of their fellows, but put a stone in the path of the man who would serve his em- ployer conscientiously if left alone, A man can do more harm in continually growl- ing about his position, his superior, or his pay, than by adopting the alternative. If things don't suit, grit your teeth. Your silence will have a greater tendency to make matters right than will your growls. Get in and boost, and, if you cannot boost, DON'T KNOCK. We are all treated right and better than the average working man, in that we are put upon our honor and expected' to perform an honest day's work for fair pay. When you hear an outsider finding fault with the railroad, remember he is talking about your employer, and if you do not think you can dis- suade him from his way of thinking, do not take sides with him. Let the world know, if necessary, that you are proud to be a railroad man. WINNING A WIDOW. BY FRANK CONDON. Is It Lucky for Fireman and Engineer to Travel Together When They Love the Same Woman ? WINNING A WIDOW. 6S5 Judson met her at the annual ball. After He visited her as often as he was per- he had danced with her until the matter mitted and spent ridiculous portions of his became public scandal, he escorted her to salary buying her gifts. Friends of Judson an expensive food hangar, and spent an said things that in no way contributed to his amount of money buying her choice viands peace of mind. that would have driven his old mother fran- On the night of the 26th of September, tic, had she known. the heat sizzled and eddied through the Then, as a matter of course, he introduced roundhouse. In a cab it was almost un- O'Rourke. From that vital moment the bearable, and Judson climbed up the ladder forces of trouble began to gird on their in a temper that needed one harsh word armor. just one harsh word and then devastation O'Rourke discovered the cause before and death. Judson. He was standing before the gage O'Rourke was late. For the first time of the big Atlantic, when it occurred to him since his appointment to the Eastern Lim- that a little conversation might help matters ited the fireman was behind time, and Jud- along. son puttered about the cab thinking of ap- "Thtjre is no sense in it," he said shortly, propriate remarks. looking up at Judson, who was staring The excessive heat had acted directly on glumly out of the cab window. O'Rourke's disposition and he was boiling "There is no sense in what?" replied in several places when he hurried through the engineer, without moving. the yards to his engine. Oddly enough. "In the way you've been acting lately. Judson said nothing. Neither did You'd think I had suddenly murdered your O'Rourke. entire family, by the way you've been treat- They jolted the Atlantic out through the ing me. What you need is to have some yards and down the side-track to await the large, -brawny individual come along and arrival of the limited from the west. Any hand you a tunk on the cabeeza." close student of human nature could per- " I don't know what you're talking ceive at once that a cyclone was slowly about," replied Judson coldly. gathering in the cab. Judson poured oil "I'm talking about Marie," said into the monster of steel and steam. O'Rourke. O'Rourke busied himself in the cab and "What about her?" occasionally cast an idle glance towards the "Nothing, except that you think I've cut passenger gates where the usual hurrying, in on your preserves, that's all. I will admit nervous, petulant mob waited for the lim- that I've tried to be pleasant to the lady. ited. I've called at her home and she is certainly She came in twenty minutes late. The one swell little widow. I have seen some engineer and fireman had not spoken a word very dapper widows in my time, but this to each other and it was at Scarsdale that one leads the army. But the idea of your the storm broke. In the comparative silence getting sour tiioughts—my, my, my!" of the cab, Judson looked across at "I don't think I care to talk about this O'Rourke through a wispy eddy of steam, matter. Just drop it," said Judson, climb- and remarked: ing down from his seat. " If you'll keep "You're a cur, aren't you?" the steam up about twelve pounds, we'll be At first the fireman simply stared across pulling out soon." the boiler-head in mute amazement. Then They dragged the Eastern Limited the full force of the question struck him, through Illinois and Indiana that evening and his bronzed face flushed. without indulging in unnecessary conversa- "What did you say?" he asked quietly, tion. Other evenings followed, all similar, looking intently at Judson. and the breach between the erstwhile good "I said vou were a cur." friends began to acquire an appearance "Meaning what," continued O'Rourke, of permanency. still more quietly. His fingers were trem- The Widow Marie went calmly on her bling over the wrench in his lap. way. Judson had long since passed the last " I mean that and nothing else. You stage of complete sanity, where she was the think that I don't know what you've been question, and O'Rourke took an added in- doing and what you've been saying about terest in her because of Judson's hostile at- me to—to her. You think that you've been titude. a sly, clever dog and that you've pulled the — 6S6 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. wool over my eyes; that I don't know how on twin strips of steel. At Lisbon, the youVe been telling lies to her about me and hurtling mass flashed by a red danger lamp how you've been knocking me just because at sixty-five miles an hour. Three minutes vou want to win her yourself. later, die trucks struck the open edge of " I've always thought you'd play fair no a switch and held. An instant later, the matter what happened between you and me, rushing train smashed into the rear of a and now I find you out. I've got friends, coal train. otherwise I don't suppose I'd ever have The wreck of the Atlantic was complete. found out what a mean pup you are." Twelve Pullman coaches jammed her snort-' "If you mean all you've just said," re- ing hulk deep into die coal-cars. With a plied O'Rourke, rising to his feet and drop- final gasp, she turned over. Judson and ping to die floor of the cab, " you're a liar." O'Rourke went under with the cab. Judson half rose, with rage glaring in his The wrecking outfit hustled along widiin eyes. The shrill squeal of the air-whistle an hour. The big crane groaned and halted him midway and he sank back. Me- creaked as it tugged at the hot mass of coal- chanically the throttle came out under his encrusted metal. Fifty men leaped forward firm pull and die Eastern Limited grunted as the cab rose and disclosed the uncon- and bucked as it gadiered headway. scious figures of the fireman and engineer. "I said you were a, liar!" bellowed Somebody placed a skilful ear to their hearts O'Rourke. "You're a chump to believe and announced that they were still alive. what you heard—but you wanted to believe In the third Pullman, Judson and it. Who introduced me to that woman? O'Rourke were laid out carefully and the You did." only physician on the train went at them Judson heard him and turned to answer. with sharp steel. He found both men badly O'Rourke was glaring up at him angrily, battered. He noted also, with surprise, that oil-can in hand, with the light from the fire- both men displayed facial and bodily in- box throwing flashes in his face. For five juries that scarcely could have come to them minutes they yelled insults at each other in the wreck. hot", bitter words that escape from a man's "They will live," he said. lips when rage has the upper hand. Jud- Judson and O'Rourke came back to their son turned suddenly and leaped from his senses almost at the same instant. seat straight at his fireman. The head of each man was supported by O'Rourke threw himself aside and caught a silk sleeve, and the silk sleeve covered the Judson on his shoulder. In the same mo- tapering and shapely arm of a woman. ment, the engineer swung his fist in half a They looked up painfully, as the Widow circle and the blow fell with a crash upon Marie smiled at them. O'Rourke's open mouth. The fire-box door "You'll get well," she whispered gently, clattered back and forth and the blaze bending low. "The physician says so." from the furnace below outlined the two Judson tried to speak. O'Rourke at- men as they stood in the center of the cab tempted a brief conversation. The effort lunging wickedly at each other. threw both into their former state of obliv- O'Rourke dropped his oil-can and re- ion. covered from the impact of the engineer's The injured men were hurried to Chicago blow. He forgot that he was fighting a and placed side by side in a hospital. The superior officer and his heavy fist descended, nurses worked over them determinedly, but rocking Judson's head. The men backed it was more than a day before O'Rourke away from each other, poised a moment and opened his eyes again. Judson lay five feet then came together. O'Rourke landed a off in a peaceful slumber. heavy swine and Judson fought him back "What happened?" O'Rourke asked the madly almost to the tender. attendant. "We were wrecked, weren't There was no room for fancy fighting in we?" " the r.r.-imped space. Fist crashed against You ought to be glad you're alive," said face, neck, and stomach. For five minutes, the nurse smilingly. She was seated at the former friends battered each other with O'Rourke's side and in her lap lay a morn- every ounce of strength in their bodies. ing newspaper. "This is what happened." The Eastern Limited, twelve loaded Pull- She held the open paper before the fire- mans, clipped along into the night, picking man's eyes and he read the account of the up speed momentarily— a rushing monster wreck painfully and laboriously. Half-way WHEN BILL WAS BOSS. 637 down the column he ceased reading and taken the wrecked train, and were thus able stared uncomprehendingly at a sub-head- to render valuable assistance. The sur- ing which ran, "Angel of Mercy Aboard geon's name was Manners. O'Rourke • Wrecked. Flier." brushed the paper from him with his un- Then he remembered. What followed bandaged arm and turned to the sleeping assisted him. It told of a beautiful woman, Judson. a heroine. She had plunged into the worst " How soon will he wake up?" he asked. of the wreck; she had given the injured men " In an hour or two," replied the nurse. ' every possible aid; she had helped the sur- "Are you sure?" murmured O'Rourke geon as he worked over them and she had sleepily. held their battered heads in her arms. " He should awaken then or a little later." "The Widow Marie," O'Rourke mut- "I'm pretty tired—pretty tired," contin- tered, as he read on. ued the fireman; "but I'll wait until he "While her husband of a few hours la- awakes. Will you please look at that news- ' bored to restore life to the two mangled paper again and tell me the name of the trainmen, this beautiful bride, etc. etc.," ran doctor who was on his honeymoon with the the article. O'Rourke kept his eyes open beautiful lady who held our heads." by a violent effort and continued down the " His name was Manners," replied the column. nurse. The Widow Marie had married the sur- " Manners—Manners. Thank you," said geon that morning. They were beginning O'Rourke. " Judson will probably want to their honeymoon. Fortunately, they had know." When Bill Was Boss. BY C Y WARMAN, And It Came to Pass that Bill Is Now the President of a Great Railroad and the Judge the Governor of a Great State. after he had emerged from die Unfortunately for the affair, however, it fDONdewy dawn of his railway career, began raining in the early evening of the Bill' got a night-trick at Detroit, day before, and on the morning set for the and in a short time was made excursion it was still pouring. About noon trainmaster, for he was a steady Bill got a wire from the T. P. A., dated Du- worker and one of the best listen- rand, saying: "Still raining; only one ex- ers on the West End. cursionist; what shall I do?" An enterprising traveling passenger- Bill answered: "Chain the poor boob to agent conceived the idea of persuading the seat and run him through to Detroit. some of die people of Bay City to circulate We can't have anything fail on the West over a part of the Grand Trunk, to visit End." Detroit and see Belle Isle bust the river wide In due time Bill became superintendent, open, and told Bill of his plan. Bill lis- and was sent down to a certain city where tened, wide-eyed, to the rosy pipe of the the force was all flat-wheeled from beina; too passenger man, and in a few days the latter long in one place. Bill had been notified went to it. Scores of people said it was a that the baggage department at the East End good idea, and some said they'd go. sure." wanted icing, and, finding it in pretty bad ! : 688 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. sh&pej he wired the head of that depart- "Yes?" " " " ment: Send help, quick! The answer Yaas ! I'm goin' to send everything I came: " Sending Thompson." sell over the C. P. after this." Thompson took his place in the baggage- " Then," said Thompson, " I presume the room looking very much like die bulldog Grand Trunk will stop buying supplies in the express picture. from Black and White." Next morning one of the excess boys blew That made Mr. Excess sit up and think. in and saluted the new baggageman. Still, he had a little fight left. "Here. Cholly!" he called airily. "It's lucky for us you don't do the " Check me this box to Kingston." As buying." Thompson placed the box on the scales the "No; but I'll let 'em know how you feel other man laughed loudly. about it." " Evidently he is new on the job," thought Presently Mr. Excess came back, and Mr. Excess. said: "Guess we'll call it off, eh?" " That'll be a dollar," said Thompson. "Too late," said Thompson. "Just "Oh. I guess not—D. H. and P. D.," dropped an R. R. B. in the mail." said the other with a smile, as he shoved his Mr. Excess became nervous. hands deep into his sack-coat pockets, "That's your train," said Thompson, as squared his shoulders, and turned to leave. a ticket-taker bellowed "Board!" He glanced back, but as Thompson had "Look here," pleaded Excess. "You only rolled the box to one side, he came stop tiiat report, or I'll lose my job." back, leaned over the low counter, and said: " Can't stop that." " " Check, please." Then send another. Kill it, and you've "Dollar, please," said Thompson. got my freight for life. Here's my hand." " " Say. are you trying to be funny? "All right," Said Thompson, as the tamed " No," said Thompson. traveler sprang for the last car. "Know anything about me?" In the course of railway events, Bill be- " No." came general manager of a considerable "Know anything about anything?" railroad which had fallen into the hands v "Some." of a receiver. This latter official was a " Well. I'm goin' to report you to the sup, judge—he's a Governor and Presidential right now." possibility now—and he started out to look "He's up-stairs." the line over, to cheer the live ones, and re- " Don't you give me any lip v move the dead ones. Thompson went on with his work, and When he stepped ashore at Detroit he was Mr. Excess hit the third step from the floor somewhat surprised that the G. M. did not and went up. He knew Bill by sight, and, appear to make him welcome, and, inci- pulling up in front of the superintendent's dentally to water his own stock personally. desk, he began to tell his story. Bill just Presently the judge observed a stout man looked and listened. When he finished, Bill looking at him with big, frank eyes. was still looking and listening. Each looked steadily into the eye of the Mr. Excess thought Bill didn't under- other for several seconds, when the judge stand, and started in to tell it all over again. ventured Presently Bill asked: "You're Mr. So-and-So."- "Who told you that?" "Yes. You're fudge Blank." "Why. your new trunk- wrestler." - " Yes." " Sure he was the baggageman." When they had looked and listened for a '•Xothiif -urer—got the literature on his long time the judge side-stepped slowly and headpiece." leaned on a fence. Bill followed, and, fa- "And he told vou that?" cing each other again, they both said noth- " Sure." ing for a spell. Presently the judge spoke. '-! Well, I guess he knows. He's the bag- " Well, I guess we understand each other gageman.'' now. Like to have you stav on the job." Mr. Excess went down slowly, produced "All right," said Bill. a dollar, got a receipt, and said: Of course, I'm not mentioning any names, " Say, Mr. Wise Guy, do you know some- but William is president of the Pere Mar- Chid'a goin' to happen to this Jim Crow, quette now, and the judge is the Governor jerk-water parody on a railroad." of Ohio. Told in the Smoker BY RICHARD MAXWELL WINANS. The Things that Happen to the Captains of the Grip in the Day's Run Are as Varied as the Lines of Goods They Carry, and as Exciting as Some of the Stories They Tell. HOW THE RAILROAD PAID. "I done reckon," he said, in a tone of inquiry, looking directly at me, "that you- ^HERE were three of us in the all am gen'elmen from the No'th?" small smoking compartment " We all live in New York," I replied. on an afternoon train east- "Well, sah, in that case I don' min' con-- bound out of Asheville, North fidin' in you-all, an' trustin' to yo' honah Carolina. Paxton had covered not to—" his territory as far down as Just here his confidences were rudely in- Mobile with a line of hats, and Welling terrupted by the appearance of the conduc- was just in from the Mississippi Valley, tor in the doorway with his polite request: " " where he had been showing dress goods. Tickets, gentlemen ! About the time we were comfortably set- Each of the occupants of the compart- tled, the train slowed up before the little ment pulled out a mileage book, except one station at Biltmore. Among the passengers man with a strip ticket, and the farmer, who who came aboard there was a middle-aged presented the most woful countenance I farmer who entered the smoking compart- have seen o tside of a funeral. ment and took a seat opposite me. He was The conductor waited a decent length of a seedy individual, not only in his dilapi- time for the man to produce a ticket, and dated exterior, but in his manner as well. then said firmly: He was a good type of die mountaineer class " Ticket, please, sir." of tar-heels of that section. The man_with the woful face had been He didn't wait for the formality of an looking at his hands, which were nervously introduction, but immediately put himself clasping and unclasping on his lap. When in communication with any one mutually in- the conductor spoke, he looked up, and I clined. He impressed me as being a man saw tears trickling down his wrinkled Face. " with a great mental burden who was look- Please, mistah conductor," he said, half " ing labout for a little assistance to help tote choked with strong emotion, I'm a po'h it around. lone man, an' I'm in a pow'ful lot of dis- 8 RR 689 — - 890 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. tress. I haven't a cent in the world and in broad daylight, before a dozen wit- my only daughtah is dyin'"—here he al- nesses. most broke down,— but he choked back a sob " She got onto the tracks because of a and continued '"an' I want to see her gap in one of their rotten fences. I sued again befo" she passes ovah to the othah the company for three hundred dollars, but shoah. Please don't put me off, mistah their cussed lawyers beat me out. " conductor. It*s down at Statesville that Ever since, I've been trying to get that she lives. It ain't very far down thar." three hundred out of 'em every way I could, "Well. I'm very sorry for you," said the and, by hook and crook, sometimes one way conductor, with a touch of pity. "But you and sometimes another, I've managed to see. sir, I can't help you out by giving you beat 'em out of two hundred and ninety-six a free ride on this train. I'm sorry, but dollars and fifty cents. It was the other orders are orders, and you will have to get three dollars and a half I was trying for off at the first stop we make, which is just now. I failed this time, but I'll get Marion. That is quite a way down the the money yet." line and will sive you quite a lift on the trip." WHEN PURDY PAID UP. " See here, conductor," said Welling, who was much interested in the little scene, ELL '" said Paxton, when the man "WT T "that's all right. We are all gentlemen had finished, " I take off my hat to here. No one will ever be the wiser if you you for hanging on till you get even. How- let him ride through. Pass him along, and ever, you haven't much on an old friend of let him go to his sick daughter." mine for dogged patience in waiting for an " I haven't a doubt but that you are gen- opportunity to even up a score. tlemen, all of you," the conductor replied, "There was Purdy," said Paxton, "I " but I've a tip that there is a ticket auditor guess you fellows remember Purdy when he on this train, and if he checks me up was traveling through the South for a firm after I've done collecting, why I'm going to of overall makers. be short if I pass this man. That's worth as " One trip, when he was. working Ashe- much as my job. No, I can't take any such ville, he met another drummer carrying the risk to-day." same line out of Chicago. Although they "Well, then," said Welling, "I'll pay for were working the same territory and were his trip. What is the fare to Statesville?" strong competitors, they came to be very and he pulled out a roll of bills. fast friends, sometimes going so far as to " " split Oh, no, you don't ! Not on your life ! up a town between them or working the broken-hearted man almost shouted. separate towns in the same territory and Both the tone of his voice and his diction dividing the orders at the end of the week. had decidedly changed. " I won't let any " Some time after their acquaintance man do that for me; though I thank you they met in a hotel- in Raleigh, and a few just the same, sir." minutes' conversation developed the fact As he spoke, he drew from his inner that both intended to work the same towns coat-pocket a big bill-case packed tight with on one of the roads leading out of Raleigh. yellow boys, from which lie selected a twen- Each of them had calculated on working ty and paid his fare. The conductor, after four towns during the day. collecting the fare, gave us a look of com- " It was summer-time, during one of those passion and passed out the door. hot spells that just about meets a Northern " Gentlemen," said the farmer as the con- man in the South; so, when his friend ductor slammed the door, " I owe you an ex- Harris suggested a community of interests, planation and an apology for what has just Purdy instantly accepted. Neither was happened." falling over himself to make those burgs "All right," said Paxton, giving Well- the scene of a heat-selling contest. ing a look that made him feel uncomfort- "There were seven towns. Each took able, "we are all good listeners. Fire away." three, agreeing to meet at the seventh at "Well, it's this way," continued the the end of the day's work. When they would-be free rider, passing around a case reached it they put up together in the same full of good cigars. " About five years ago room at the hotel. this here railroad killed a mare of mine "Both men had done a rattling good a fine roadster, too, she was—run over her day's business in the towns he had cov- TOLD IN THE SMOKER. 691 ered; but both were fighters, and, in order ness in every town in the surrounding sec- to keep in practise, they agreed to fight it tion. Before he left he wired Harris his out over the business in the last town the congratulations, with a very pointed refer- next morning. ence to old times and an early call. Harris "They went to sleep, joking about the thought it was just a bit more than an hot fight each was going to give the other even game, and he has been gunning for on- the following day. Purdy was a very Purdy ever since." ^heavy sleeper, and had said that he would leave a call with the hotel clerk; but Har- THE PERFIDY OF THE PLUG ris told him that he always woke early, CUSTODIAN. and that he would call Purdy when he arose—so Purdy let it go at that. "WELL," said Welling when Paxton TT "But Harris did not keep his promise. had concluded, "I hope he has In fact, he hadn't intended to. When better luck than two other fellows and I Purdy finally awoke it was after eleven had in our attempt to get even for the trick o'clock. Harris had not only gone, but played on us by a fellow traveler on a trip had locked the door. over in Tennessee a couple of years ago. ' - "By the time Purdy dressed and was "We four fell in together in a little town, able to get out it was after noon, and when and ran into a combination of circumstances he got down-town he found that Harris that would make a good comic opera. had sold every customer in the place and "We stopped at the best hotel, but it had taken the limited to Raleigh. He had was one of those slipshod places where left a note at the_Jhotel for Purdy, saying they have four rooms with baths and only he was sorry that he forgot to call him; one bath-tub plug. When one of us got and that, as he had only a few minutes to ready for a dip he had to call the porter catch his train, he wasn't able to drop in and have him beg the holder of the precious to say good-by, which he regretted. plug for a loan of it. "They met several times after that, but " As you can imagine, this was pretty neither referred, to the incident. Purdy awkward at first; but toward the last we was waiting his chance to get even, and he four got together and formed a close or- waited nearly six years before the oppor- ganization which we called the ' Independ- tunity came. ent Order of the Knights of the Plug.' "They were both working the same ter- " We had a constitution and by-laws, ritory in the southern tier. Fever was and formulated rules by which we swore raging on the Gulf Coast, and a shotgun to govern ourselves with regard to this quarantine had been established fh south- very desirable and indispensable article. ern Alabama. We agreed upon a schedule of hours when "When Purdy landed in one of the best each was to have the plug, and the order towns in that section he learned that Har- in which it was to be rotated among us. ris was to arrive the next day. Here was "We also placed a time limit on the his chance. Without hesitation he went to period for keeping the plug. A system of the excited authorities of the place and in- fines was established for keeping it over- formed them that he knew of a man who time. had been exposed to the fever in southern "The fines thus collected were to be Mississippi, and who had declared his in- donated to the hotel management at the tention of defying quarantine and coming end of our stay, together with a pertinent into town the next morning. recommendation that the money be used to "Beside giving diem Harris's name, he purchase a full supply of plugs for our furnished them an accurate description of next visit. " him, and the officials were soon carefully Quite a sum was realized, however, watching every train that arrived. When and we decided at the last moment to Harris finally landed he faced a dozen amend the constitution and spend the money shotguns in the hands of the local authori- in a way that would give us pleasanter re- ties, who, despite all protests, placed him sults. To this end we concluded to give in the pest-house, and kept him there for a a banquet for the members of the I. O. week. K. P. " In the meantime, Purdy was unusually "The funds of the order were turned busy. He worked and secured all the busi- over to a committee of one, who was to Gv<2 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. arrange for the least. When the time came throwing a bath-robe around me, I called for the banquet we waited %nd waited about the negro porter. At his command I fol- the door of the [jlace where the spread lowed him down the corridor. Outside a was to be served. fine rain, half snow and sleet, was falling, "The man with the funds had not yet and a high, piercing wind was blowing. arrived. After the end of an almost in- "By and by we emerged upon the lat- terminable time, when our patience was ticed back porch on the second story of altogether exhausted, a messenger came with the hotel. There in a latticework that was a note, which read as follows: covered with vines in summer stood a bath- tub, into which the negro boy had dumped Fellow Members, Kxights of the Plug: a couple of buckets of steaming hot water. I received a telegram this afternoon from " The latticework was all open, and the the house calling me in. I had no time to flaring lamp, sizzling as the snow-flakes communicate with the other members, so I revealed all have taken the afternoon train for Chicago, struck its hot chimney, me to finding the funds of the organization very the neighbors in the rear of the hotel. After convenient as expense money. Also, which I had sized up the situation, I tried to tell will perhaps be even more reprehensible in the porter, my teeth chattering till they fairly your sight, I took the plug with me. I had snapped, what I thought of such an arrange- become so attached to it that I just couldn't ment, and passed up my bath in as good bear to part from it. order as was possible under the circum- So I have gone—plug, money, and all. I stances." have no excuse to offer except that I couldn't stand to think of you fellows making merry "Well, you had the advantage of hot at that feed without me, and I knew you water, anyway," said Welling. "That's couldn't have the extra eats without the something they didn't give me down in price. Georgia, when I asked for a bath after I'd Forgive me, as you hope to be forgiven for come in from a hot day's work. I told the stopping at a hotel with four bathtubs and proprietor of the little two-by-four hostelry one plug. I don't believe it will be laid up that I wanted a bath, and he turned me over against me in the final judgment—that is, if to the colored boy, who led me out to the you fellows ever get a chance at me before wagon-shed. that time. Yours brazenly, " ' Custodian of the Plug. He told me there was 'rangements fo' washin' ' out there. I was piloted to an aban- "Well," concluded Welling reminis- doned granary to disrobe, after which I was " cently, I guess you can imagine what a to step • ovah to th' othah end whah th' disappointed lot we were. It was too late 'rangements was.' " " to get him back and mob him ! When I got there I found the boy wait- J* ing for me with a line of hose in one hand PAXTON'S HOT BATH. and a big palmetto-fiber scrub-brush in the other, ready to turn on the water and give "CAY, but you were lucky, though, to me a bath, together with a regular horse- have a real bath-tub," laughed Pax- currying with that wire-edged brush. " ton. It isn't every place in the South, even "The water in that hydrant was from a to-day, where you can have that. The tank filled by a windmill from a well, and South has awakened, all right, and is cold enough to freeze the marrow in a fel- booming along; but even now in- some of low's bones. I forswore the bath, and also' the little back - country towns the hotel swore at the ' 'rangements.' service is about the limit, even to a fellow who knows what it is to rough it. A PATENT CYCLONE -CELLAR. "I'll never forget an experience I had one evening in March clown in the wilds of "O PEAKING of arrangements," contin- Kentucky. I had driven thirty miles that ^ ued Welling, "I had an experience day over mud roads, and I was wet and once that beat anything I've ever run up chilled clear through. Arriving at the against. It was in my early days of trav- hotel, which had the outward appearance eling, when I was selling farm-machinery in of being quite comfortable, I inquired if I western Kansas. I had struck some queer could get a hot bath. To my delight, I hotels, but the oddest lay-out of all was was told that I could. owned and operated by a genius named "I went to my room, disrobed, and, Sellers, and I'm willing to wager he was TOLD IN THE SMOKER. 693 some relation to old Colonel Mulberry Sellers. pulled the windmill up by the roots, and His place was in a little village in Sheridan mussed up the best part of town. I thought County, about eighteen miles from Hoxie. it was' going to hit this shack, and so I let " Sellers was a queer character. His spe- you down.' cialty was invention, and he was always "The next morning he showed me the telling of his dreanis of that proverbial mechanism of his arrangement. Every sleep- million. I suppose he had invented more ing-room was, as I had surmised, a double worthless things than any man. Almost room, the inside being on the same principle everytiiing he made would work, but they as an elevator.- He had rigged up weights all required more time and labor than the and counterweights on these elevator-rooms things he had tried to improve. so that by working a small windlass he " His barn-lot and his barn, as well as his could drop all the sleepers in his hotel down little one-story hotel, were filled with the into the cellar until an approaching cyclone things he had invented, and I really think had passed over." he was only handicapped in his inventing J* mania by lack of space to store his creations. - WHY HE ASKED. " When I first called on him for accom- modations, he put me to bed in a small room, "T^HAT reminds me," said Paxton, "of possibly not more than eight by ten feet, a cyclone I once took part in out in with one small window and an extremely Kansas. I was selling windmills and pumps narrow door. One peculiarity I noticed as those days, and the hotel accommodations he showed me into the room was that the weren't anything to make a boast of in the place appeared to have double walls. He territory I was covering. had the reputation of being a fine old chap " One night I had to double up with two generally, or I would have felt a bit squeairir cattle-drovers in one dinky little bed, and I ish about occupying the room. thought that was going some. But the limit "The night was unusually sultry and was reached, three days later, when I came close. With only one window open at the to a small town, tired out from a long drive top, there was little ventilation. During the across country, and inquired of the only night, I was aroused from a sound sleep by a hotel in the place for quarters over night. creaking, jarring, and rumbling. The first " The hotel proprietor said he regretted thought that flashed into my mind was that exceedingly that he had but one small room, a cyclone had struck us. With a bound, I and that was occupied, but he hoped I would leaped out of bed and ran to the window. not object to doubling up with the occupant, "As soon as I touched the floor, a sick- who had already retired. ening sensation of falling came over me. " He lighted me up to the room, showed Everything was as dark as the Black Hole. me the bed, put down the light, and as he In my excitement, I rammed my arm clear started to leave he asked casually: " ' through the window, and was dUmfounded ' I suppose you have had smallpox ? to the point of speechlessness when my fist "'•No, I have not had smallpox,' I re- struck solid earth. plied, wondering at the question. " "To say that I was terror-stricken isn't ' Well, that's bad,' he remarked, and overdrawing it a bit. I was on the point added cheerfully, as he again turned to the of doing something desperate, when, with a door, ' but I suppose it can't be helped.' sudden jar, the movement ceased and we " He was about to close the door, when I began to ascend again, and then stopped called after him: " suddenly. ' Say, what has smallpox got to do with ' " Just as we stopped, a gust of wind struck this deal? " me through the open window, and I was ' Oh, nothing,' he answered coolly, about to climb out through the opening when 'nothing—only your bedmate has it!' Sellers opened die door and asked in a " Right then is when the cyclone started. triumphant tone: > It was a double-header the length of die " ' Well, how did she work ? Were you hall, all the way down a flight of stairs, ' scared, mister? through the cluttered-up, little office, out "In no very mild language I demanded across the porch, and into the starry night, an explanation of what had occurred. finally winding up on the north side of the " 'Cyclone,' was his cheerful reply. ' Took horse-barn, where it just naturally flickered the hoss - barn and two haystacks clean, out because I was winded." - THROUGH BY SUNRISE BY WILLIAM S. WRIGHT. SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. HERMAN TILLMAN, whose real name is George Clifford, son of a titled Englishman, has earned his father's displeasure by marrying the daughter of a Commoner and has sought seclu- sion on a small island off the Scottish coast. Here he is traced by his father's secretary, Peter Raymond, who for his own evil ends leads the villagers to believe that Tillman is a murderer, forger, and robber. An old minister, Mr. Moreland, who has come from Tillman's father, is as- saulted, and Raymond tries to lay the crime at Tillman's door but is, himself, accused by Moreland. The old minister has been instrumental in winning the father over to the extent of providing a yearly allowance for his son, with the proviso that he and his family leave England and settle in America. They are wrecked and, in the excitement of manning the life-boats, Clifford disappears. CHAPTER VI. be in a large steamer or sailing vessel, for the great weight of such craft puts them in In an Open Boat. the position of a buffer, and the waves are liable to dash them to pieces while the ves- S the life-boat in which George sel is trying to ride them. Clifford was being lowered When morning dawned, the sea had to the sea, a block that had somewhat abated, and the cliffs of Dover in some way become de- on the Maine coast stood sheer and high in tached from the rigging the distance. fell and struck him on the Though famished and weak, the men head. He was rendered unconscious, but plied the oars willingly. They estimated his body in falling struck squarely in the that it would not take more than an hour to boat that was being lowered at the time. make a landing. They knew the coast Several of the excited sailors, imagining well. that he was killed, actually kicked the body They had not paid much attention to under the seats of the boat, for, be it known, Clifford, but some time during the night, a life-boat is unusually large and coomy the terrific onrush of the cold water had and its peculiar construction makes it safer brought him to his senses, and he faintly in a heavy sea than an ordinary ship. realized that he was in an open boat at sea. It was useless to ply the oars in order to He thought of his wife and little ones make any headway. All that the sailors and prayed that they were as safe as he could do was to keep them in the water in at that moment. The thought that they the hope of steadying the boat as much as might have perished unnerved him so that possible and wait for the terrible storm to he could not keep his mind at ease. subside. This they did, the terrible black- The position he was forced to occupy in ness only adding to their horror. the boat was more than uncomfortable, but The heavy sea dashed over the boat, he bore it with fortitude, and a kindly sleep drenching the men. The able-bodied sea- robbed him of further torture. man knows how to brace himself against A few hours after the men had sighted such an enemy, however, and when he un- the Dover cliffs, Clifford awoke. The bright derstands that the boat, if not loaded too day startled him. He sat up, rubbed his heavily, will ride the waves like a cork, he head and looked around. There he was in knows that he is perfectly safe. a large open boat. Five lusty men—some He is much sa'fc-r, in fact, than he would in oil-skins, others with scarcely any cloth Began in the December Railroad Ma n'a Magazine. Single copies. 1 cento. 694 THROUGH BY SUNRISE. 695 ing on—were tugging at the oars with all " I wouldn't be surprised if this were the their strength. ' only boat-load saved." Clifford looked around. The air was The words cut Clifford to the- heart. The crisp and cool, the sun was shining bright- man meant to be kindly and sincere. He ly, and the greenish-blue sea with its suc- did not know the terrible force of that cession of whitecaps somewhat fascinated statement which pierced the heart of the him. grieved man as a blade pierces flesh. His first thought was one of thankful- ness for his own life. As for his wife and children—if a merciful Providence had CHAPTER VII. taken them from him, he would bear up At South Devon. bravely under the strain and let the terrible visitation make a better man of him. It A S they pulled into a little cove near would not suffer him to do otherwise, he 7^ South Devon, Clifford gave a sigh of said to himself. He would take it all phil- relief. The men had naught to say. They osophically. abandoned the boat and hastened to the But we cannot always do what we wish to nearest exchange to report the disaster, after do the most. bidding "good-by" to their grief-stricken He looked at the men plying their oars passenger. and they looked at him. Soon the news spread through the little "Are we*' safe?" he asked, his voice town and scores of people left their homes trembling with suppressed emotion. and their businesses to journey down to "There is land ahead, sir," said one of the beach where the boat stood—a grim the men. " It will not be long before we spectacle of the terrible night. pull into shore." Clifford made up his mind that he would " " Where are we ? he asked again. stay in Devon until some news of his wife " Dover cliffs are on our bow, sir. If I and children came to him. Day after day know my bearings, and methinks I do, sir, he went down to the edge of the cliffs and we are not far from Devon." watched and scanned the great ocean for "It was awful," said Clifford, recalling some tidings. He took the solemn oath that the storm that had separated him, perhaps he would not return to his father or tell forever, from all on earth that was dear to him what had happened. In the years to him. come, he would find surcease in his despair "A bad storm, sir," went on the sailor alone—if Fate had separated him forever who was acting as the spokesman. from them. There was a long pause, and then Clif- He decided to return to England. So he ford asked: took the first steamer for Liverpool, and "Is this the only boat launched?" went to live in Devon because it bore the " We were trying to launch them all when same name as the American town in which the full force of the gale struck us, sir. I he had landed. saw one of them cut loose from the davits He stayed in Devon, found employment in and swamp," said the spokesman. " I have a draper's shop, and lived with the great- been in a good many blows, sir, but that est frugality. Every penny that he did not was the worst—the most sudden." need for his living expenses he put away, Clifford pulled himself up into a seat for he intended to make occasional journeys alongside one of the men. to America in the hope of finding his loved Eagerly he scanned the now placidly ones if they were still alive. All diat beautiful water there was no other boat Lloyds could tell him was that the ship had —but ; to be seen: never been heard from and was reported to " I have seen no boat, sir," went on the her owners as a total loss. sailor as if anticipating what was in the Tiring of Devon and having saved suffi- mind of the searcher. "When we got cient money he made a trip to New York. In away, I pulled in the direction of the shore. the big American metropolis he found work It was very hard to discern anything, but and prospered, and he grew to like America I do not think that the old hulk stayed on so well that he resolved to make it his future top long after this boat-load got away." home. "My God!" Clifford hid his eyes for a Time wore On and he prospered more and moment more, and then came the day when he fully " : 696 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. realized that there was no further need to stained, laced with running roses and bow- search so blindly for the wife and little ered in apple orchards, widi a trout stream ones. pusling through the surrounding grounds. Thev had undoubtedly gone to their From a gorse-clad slope, one could glimpse eternal rest in the ocean on that fatal night the play and sparkle of the Channel. —now ten years ago. If they were alive, he "Run down and see us at Lynntor when would have heard from them. you've nothing better to do," said the squire, In the course of time, Clifford became an with a touch of Devonshire dialect. American citizen and established his home Clifford went to Lynntor, and the first in New York. He had been in correspond- night at dinner his host said ence with his father and had received his "Mr. Clifford, you have no nightingales " allowance, but when he renounced the Brit- in America ? ish crown, his father asked to see him no "No," replied Clifford,1 adding with in- more. That was more than he could stand. stinctive patriotism, " but we have mocking- But Clifford did not desert England birds." " altogether. He made frequent trips to So I've heardT so I've heard, and fine South Devon, and in the little church there singers at that, I'm told. But our night- he erected a memorial window to his dead. ingales are—a bit different, I believe, in their He resolved too, that he would make fre- —in their quent journeys to the little town—perhaps "Technique," ventured Mrs. Trelawney. every summer. "Thanks, dear," replied the .squire. "We generally go and listen to them if the night is fine. They're only little brown CHAPTER VIII. birds, but as a substitute for grand opera, they're not bad. Would you like to hear The Nightingale. them?" A GOODLY portion of the summer of " I should be delighted," replied Clifford. 1S9-, had been spent by George Clif- In the late twilight, the party started. A ford in England. It included a lovingly quarter of a mile back from Lynntor was a remembered fortnight in South Devon, so copse, its ledges fringed with clusters of dear to him—a land to whose ruddy head- primroses, whose blossoms shone luminous lands and topaz sands the Gulf Stream, through the dusk. From the copse itself tired of its lonely windings across the At- came many fragrances, including those of lantic, gives warm kisses of welcome. countless violets. The air was rich and Devon not only receives a largess of sweet and full of hints of small, sleepy bird quaint and beautiful seaweeds and brilliant- songs. In the hedges, the glowworms looked hued fish and water like transparent sap- like blobs of brilliant emeralds. phires, but other beauties that are not for The squire indicated the gnarled knee of less lucky coasts. The Devon air is ever a big oak as a seat for his guest, arranged bland and luscious, and the dialect of her shawls on a grassy slope for his wife, and people is full of softened consonants and was in the act of lighting his brier when emphasized vowels. Her maidens are from a point not far distant in the wood famed for eyes of the hue of the deep waters came a tremulous burst of exquisite melody. off Mount Edgecomb. The squire slid quietly down by the side Yet aside from its tender memories and of his wife, dropped his maton, and nodded the memorial window, the thing that made to Clifford, who nodded in return. The the memory of Devon dear and lasting to unseen minstrel's notes grew faint, swelled Clifford was just a little bird. again, quavered, stopped, and then filled Clifford on one of his journeys from New the night with music. York, had as a fellow passenger on the The far-off recesses of the copse yielded Altic a fine, sturdy, mahogany-faced speci- an answering song. The nearer bird replied men of the British squire, who, like him- in those liquidly tender phrases that make self, detested cards and preferred a quiet the nightingale's hymnal so infinitely sweet talk in the saloon or a promenade on deck. and so entirely sad. It was, so Clifford said George Trelawney was his name, and afterwards, as if a lover was telling his he was lord of one of .those English country love to her who loved him and who yet was homes which is a big spreading structure of saddening, at the moment of his triumph, gray stofle, covered with ivy, and lichen knowing that neither love nor beauty last. THROUGH BY SUNRISE. 697 Then, too, there was a longing for things placid gray eyes and trembling lips, who beyond, inspired by the music that seemed was usually dressed in brown and had such woven out of the magic and mystery of the an indefinable charm, was the one that at- perfect night. Clifford listening, felt much tracted him most. that he had not felt before. Most did he Clifford after many guesses at her occu- feel the rebuke that the aspirational purity pation gave it up, but he discovered that of the tones conveyed to him. It was as if she seemed to be at home more than the an angel had come to him in the being of others, and that she it was who was respon- his wife and children. So his eyes were sible for most of the music at night and all misty and his heart beating heavily when of it by day. the}- started home. But what attracted him most was that she appeared to be an indefinable memory of his. He had a vague, haunting impres- CHAPTER IX. sion that he had been with her, or talked with her, amid surroundings that were dim- Back in New- York. ly dear or somberly sweet. TLX E was back in New York once again. A An inquisitorial review of his woman His cozy apartment seemed more friends of the past, and even his mere ac- like home than ever. quaintances, resulted in nothing save the Nor was his pleasure in his habitation conclusion that he had never met the girl in diminished by the discovery that he had de- all his life. sirable neighbors on the other side of the " In all my life," he said to himself, as he hall. dabbed mechanically at a bit- of moonlight There were four of them and they were on a nearly finished canvas, for he had ta- unmistakably bachelor-maids at that. They ken up painting to while away his idle were young, good to look upon, possessed hours. of a certain dainty self-possession many "Perhaps not in this life, but in some degrees removed from effrontery, kept no other life when I was—I was " —here he servant, usually came in burdened with dropped his maul-stick, thoughtfully filled divers parcels and made their abode tuneful his pipe, and smoked dreamily. at night with girl chat and a piano. "When I was what? This is queer! I The walls of the Lysandria Apartments was—unless I'm going dotty on the subject being not too thick, Clifford shared in their —about to get to the very verge of the little talk and their music to the extent of hearing break in the recollections that lead up to a pleasant, if unrecognizable, medley of her, and then—then I come to a dead stop! both. This kind of thing hints at the reincarnation The Lysandria was a "Bohemian cara- chaps being on the right track after all. Yet vansary of the better class. The dwellers it might be inconvenient, not to say unpleas- within its walls were for the most part wri- ant, if we could chuck bridges of memory ters and artists. The histrionic element was over to our own and other people's defunct sparsely represented by a few of the lamb- pasts. Suppose I discovered that a couple kins from the fold of a neighboring dra- of eons ago, I borrowed the equivalent of a matic school, innocents whose papas and thousand dollars from that cad Dauber, and mamas paid big fees in order that their off- didn't make good, and Dauber had a similar spring might learn much which they would revelation. Of course, the debt would be have to unlearn if they ever "backed the outlawed under the statute of limitations, lights," which ninety-nine per cent of them but Dauber would talk horribly." never would. Clifford rose and took off his painting Clifford, after a chance meeting or two coat. with his neighbors on the stairway, decided " Yet I do wish, simply as a matter of sat- that the tall girl frith the pretty face and isfied curiosity, that I could find out what tired mouth was a newspaper woman; that has put this idea about the girl into my the dark, plump little soul, was in business head. Does it come from within or with- —a stenographer or bookkeeper; that the out ? Is it a mild mania or a spiritual in- young woman with the corn-silk hair and tuition? It is—oh, hang it! I'll take in dainty figure was a prospective Maude the Elysian Roof Garden to-night, and come Adams—or thought herself to be. back to sanity." But the last, she of the white forehead, So matters stood for two or three weeks 4 : " — 698 THE RAILROAD ALAN'S MAGAZINE. and, in the interval, the singular impression so engaged. The dumb-waiter door was that the . girl in the brown dress had made open. On the other side of the shelf was on Clifford did not weaken. another opening belonging to the other flat. In spite of his efforts, he failed to estab- Punctuated by the twinkle of plates, Clif- lish a friendship with his neighbors, or, ford couldn't help hearing this as spoken by rather, to advance the acquaintanceship "his" girl and another: whose horizons never came closer than a "Mr. Gillespie says that he must have bow on the stairs and a salutation on the the balance of the rent by Saturday, Elaine. street. I met him on the stairs to-night. He was Man} - were the devices he used to break very unpleasant. What shall we do?" down the barriers of reserve which the girls "Well," came the voice of "his" girl, had built around them, but all to no pur- after a pause, "I still have my bracelet, pose. These devices were, however, of a dear, if the worst comes to the worst." legitimate nature, for Clifford's instinct as "That mustn't be/' said the other, a gentleman debarred him from using aught " you've already done more than your share else. for us all. Besides, if you do part with it, For example, he sent them a formal invi- it will only put off the evil day." tation to one of his receptions. It was, as " We won't say that. Let's say it will tide formally, declined on the score of previous us over to the good day." engagements. A civic procession was to *' That never seems to come." pass the Lysandria. Clifford's windows " But it will if we wait long enoughs On commanded the street, while the windows Saturday, Mr. Baring has promised to pay of the other flat did not. So he sent a mes- me something on account of my work. That sage to the Lysandria janitor to the effect will enable us to look the grocer and the that his flat was at the service of less for- laundress in the face again. I sold that lit- tunate tenants, but that he desired his neigh- tle picture of the surf to Mr. Robinson, to- bors to be included in the invitation. day, for three dollars, so that we sha'n't Again a brief and conventional note of starve to-morrow, anyhow." thanks and regrets. "Three dollars only? What a despicable Meantime, Clifford thought that he de- sliame for any man to offer you that figure tected symptoms of trouble in the other for such a lovely thing." home. The girl with the tired mouth began "His" girl laughed cheerily. "Better to look more tired than ever, and "his" than an empty ice-chest." girl was certainly paler and a trifle thinner "True, but think what things will go than when he met her first. into Robinson's ice-chest that really and The music at night became less and less truly belong to you." and the cheery flood of chatter in the eve- Again the other's laugh rippled musically, nings had begun to diminish. Twice, and as she said in the middle of the month, he ran across "Well, let's hope that he will have in- the man who collected the Lysandria rents digestion. But what about yourself?" calling at the girls' flat with a dissatisfied "Nothing very hopeful. The newspa- visage. pers cut down expenses in the summer, you know. I may have a story in the Planet a week from Sunday; but I'm not sure. I CHAPTER X. have exactly four dollars and eighty cents to collect on Monday, Elaine. I wish I A Woman's Voice. sold matches for a living." HpHEX came the incident which estab- Something like a sob followed. lished his fears. An old Southern "Never mind, May," said the other, mammy had been discovered by him and "we'll pull through yet." " used as a model. Subsequently he discov- I suppose so. But, oh ! it's heartbreak- ered that she was a cook of a divine sort, ing—this perpetual hoping against hope. so he made her mistress of his kitchen and This working for— overseer of his household, much to her de- "Now, May," said the other decisively, light and his satisfaction. " I insist that you sit down, swallow this cup One evening/ he walked out to where she of tea and be good." was transmuting chicken into brown-coated " Don't you think," suggested May, after ambrosia, and he sketched her while she was a silence, "that Nellie and Ethel might " — — THROUGH BY SUNRISE. 699 well, do a little more than they are doing and her employer staring at the gleaming for the sake of themselves if not for others." coffee-pot as if it were a "gazing crystal" " You must remember," said Elaine gen- wherein he was trying to learn his fate and tly, "that Nellie's salary is very small and future. Ethel's allowance is only just enough to An hour passed, and from the flat next cover her studies and incidental expenses." door came the thrill of music, followed by " Incidentals in her case include a host of a series of disconnected, dropping, flute-like things that you manage to do without, I phrases. notice." It was as if a string of melody had broken "Well, what are luxuries to me may be and its silvern beads w: ere falling in rhyth- necessities to her." mical confusion. " " You angel ! cried May impulsively, Presently the notes lapsed and died a " always making excuses for others and sac- death of lingering beauty. rificing yourself. Why, Elaine, you've worn Then came a resurrection of exquisite that heavy old brown dress of yours all this liquid tones, as of a flute played beside a summer, just because— forest brook. The harmony gained strength " I liked it." and shape, but lost none of its repressed "Fibber! Because you couldn't afford tenderness. to buy another, which you certainly would Clifford, listening, felt himself back in, have been able to do if you hadn't done Devon. The primroses loomed through more than your share for the flat, and the dusk, the fragrant copse lay before him, for me-" and the song of the nightingale with all The speaker sobbed again. its love and longing was touching the fibers " You are in danger of being put to bed," of his heart. remarked Elaine severely. The music haunted him all the next day. " I And— —know- that you had intended From out the wreaths of misty emotion it —going home for a—holiday and now had evoked, there seemed to gradually shape you—can't." an interpretation of his feeling for Elaine. "Listen! you bad girl," replied the other, The love notes of die nightingale had with mock anger, " and, listening, dry your caused something in his heart to vibrate in tears 'and rejoice! A winning tale I would unison. The silent music of the girls had " tell thee— at least, I hope it will be winning. renewed the work of the little brown bird." I've struck a theme that is simply delicious. Then a daring inspiration came to him As sure as you're sitting there it's going to one of those inspirations that took imme- capture everybody, make me famous, all of diate action. During the day he dropped us rich and—and—enable us to welcome in on Doure. Doure was a musician, who, Gillespie unabashed on the first of* the had he cared, might have been much more month." than what he was, a partner of and the " Really?" - " arranger " for a well-known firm of music " Positively. The thing has simply taken publishers. He put crude material into the possession of me. It will do the same to crucible of his genius, and the result was the public. And, May," the speaker's voice music. broke a trifle, " I think I shall be able to "Doure," said Clifford, "this is a con- see mother this summer after, all —if one- fidential mission. I've a theme suggested by half of my hopes about it come true." the song of the nightingale. Ever heard' them?" Doure had. CHAPTER XI. "Now, I want you to retain the melody but put your soul into the—the frills so to To Be Answered. speak. I mean the introduction, the ac- AT this juncture Clifford awoke to the companiment,, and the interludes." fact that he was, to put it plainly, eaves- Doure nodded. He was chary of words. dropping. With a flush of self-contempt on Then he listened and jotted notes on a his cheek, he beat a retneat to the dining- music score. room, muttering things of an uncomplimen- "When will it be finished?" tary nature about- himself. " In a hurry?" Later, when Mammy June came to clear " In a desperate hurry." the table, she found her chicken untouched "To-morrow afternoon. No—evening." " : " 700 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. "Good. Come round and dine with me quaintance. He is a very dear friend of and bring it with you." mine." .Another nod and a grunt on the part of She hesitated for a moment, glanced at Doure. and Clifford departed. Clifford, and then stepped inside. Clifford had the knack of writing rimes The man led the way to the parlor, and when the humor seized him, and the humor was in the act of summoning Doure when was strong upon him now. she stopped him. " So he proceeded to fit words to the music Before Mr. Doure comes here," she said that was insistently beating on his heart and haltingly, " will you permit me to ask you " brain. I forget most of the lines, but the a question ? final verse ran thus: " Certainly." " I heard you—at least, I presume it was Oh. bird, Oh! unseen bird! you—singing to-night." Who art by night and leafy curtains hid, Clifford could Whose throat and heart alike by love are stirred, see the unshed tears in her Whose song into my waiting life has slid! eyes. Oh. bird with passioned trill, " Will you—can you—tell me where you Beneath the stars above. " got that song ? Would not thy song with joy more fully thrill, Clifford for the loss In the dear day of love? was moment at a to answer. The situation had developed on Doure was punctual. Dinner ended, and such different lines from what he had an- the pair adjourned to Clifford's den, where- ticipated. She misunderstood his silence, in was a piano. From the flat next door and went on eagerly came the ripple of music. Doure opened " Pray do not think me impertinent. I the instrument. write songs for a livelihood. I—thought I "' Want to try it over?" he asked. had—an original theme on which I was The other nodded, but not without a counting much." curious tightening around his heart. Doure She sighed deeply. began to play. "But I have heard it—to-night—here. Clifford was a fair musician as amateurs It must," she smiled, "have been uncon- go and the owner of a good, robust barytone scious cerebration on my part, I suppose." voice. The influences of the hour were Clifford groaned in spirit as he saw her strong upon him, and his voice waxed more distress. She was younger than he had an- tender, with the advent of each line. Doure ticipated—much younger. Something drew had done his part magnificently, and in the him to her queerly. pauses Clifford, under the spell of the " Miss—" music, once more felt himself in the shadow "Aldyce." of the Devonshire copse. "Miss Aldyce, will you permit me to "Good." muttered Doure, as the song reply to your question before I call Mr. " ended. " Want to try it again? Doure?" Before Clifford could answer there came " If you wish," she said, looking at him a hesitating, rincr at the bell of the private with mild astonishment. hall. "Then pardon me for a moment." The artist answered it. There stood He left the room and returned presently "his'' girl. Her white cheeks told that she with the roll of music and a manuscript. was laboring under distressful emotion. "Before I apologize to you for the great "Mr. Clifford. I believe," she said with liberty I have taken with you and yours, an effort. allow me to show you a copy of the words "Yes. Won't you come in?" you heard me singing to-night. Please no- "Thank you, no," said the girl, and he tice that the date that they bear is three could see the Buttering in her throat. days ago." '• My housekeeper is here, and Mr. Still wondering, the girl looked and read, Doure. of whom you may have heard," re- " The Nightingale. Words by George Clif- marked Clifford with gentle insistence. ford. Music by Elaine— ' Mr. Doure, of Blank & Company?" "I did not know your full name then," " Yes." explained the man quietly. The girl crim- "Oh," said the girl doubtfully, "I met soned, but ansVered not. him once, but— "This was done to-night," went on Clif- "May I suggest that you renew his ac- ford. " ; ! THROUGH BY SUNRISE. 701 There was silence for a spaee, and then wanted. How did you know my theme Elaine spoke. . was the nightingale?" " But what have you done—I cannot un- " I have heard the birds, and you, too, I derstand all this, Mr. Clifford," she said, in - know." a perplexed voice. " Yes." " Will you, as a preliminary, assure me " That shows the faithfulness of your that if I make my motive clear, you wfll treatment of the subject." " at least try to forgive me for those things ? " But—Mr. Clifford, why all this trouble He indicated the music and the manu- —this interest in—an—unknown?" script. " Because— " He looked at her with elo- " — I'm much indebted " she be<*an. quent eyes. "I thought you deserved it, " Is it a bargain? and—Miss Aldyce—it was very hard to " Of which I have unquestionably the get an introduction to you by conventional best." She had recovered her spirits and methods. Now, I'll call Doure." looked radiant. He started to go for his friend. Then " Well, then, I was impertinent enough he halted—looked at her steadfastly a mo- to think that a personal introduction to ment, and said: Doure might be of some service to you. " Do tell me. Where did you hear the " And I knew it could be best brought about nightingale sing? by this." He tapped the music. "Where? Don't ask me, Mr. Clifford. "Then you overheard me playing?" It is too sad a story! I can't bear to think "I did—and I've an excellent memory of it!" " " for music~when I want to remember." You must tell me ! he said. " You " But the words are exactly those that I must tell me! (To be oo ntinued .) FLANNIGAN'S REPORT. BY W. C. DEUEL. Written for "The Railroad Man's Magazine." FLANNIGAN never ran an engine Both her tank-hoses were leaking bad. That he would report " O. K.," " Please test her gage and see, There was always something broken, If she is carrying 200 " Something that had gone astray. She pops at 193 ! He reported stack and head-light The foreman grabbed this last report The air, sander, and the bell, And scanned its width and length: And, according to his latest, " Well, he orto write up prize-fights, " Neither injector -worked too well. His dope sure has some strength ! His wedges were " down," to be set up, The more he read, the madder he grew, His tank-brake traveled too Far! His hair began to bristle; If" they'd clean his rotary-valve, And said, after he'd checked the items off, He could stop without a jar. " He don't report the whistle She burned her fire next to the door, "Does he think this shop is run for him? Left a " bank " under the flues. Sure, I'll attend to his case." Her right main-rod needed a " liner." " Mister Master Mechanic," he wrote Her driver-brake wanted " shoes." Across that report's face: " Me force is small, I'm behind me work, If you'll agree, by thunder! I'll try and jack up this man's whistle! . " And put a new engine under ! — ; ——— THE RAILROAD WOMAN. BY LYDIA M. DUNHAM O'NEIL. " Written for The . Railroad Man's Magazine." HE'S a sittin' by the window, and her hands is folded tight; I^JSl^fS She's a lookin' at the clock with anxious eye She's a waitin' for a whistle, watch in' for a headlight white, An' a high-ball when the engine flashes by. For there's some one that she loves—and he's out there in the dark, With the wind and rain a howlin' all around; And his body may be lyin' 'neath the engine, cold an' stark, Or he may be speedin' safely homeward bound. But the woman never tells him of the countless prayers she's said, Of the long and lonely vigil that she's kept; Never tells of her forebodings, of the many hours of dread Never tells how few the moments that she's slept. For it's his to brave the dangers, an' it's hers to bear the rest Watchin', waitin', and sometimes just weepin', too, , For often there's a special—extra red-ball manifest An' it's Death that is the caller of the crew. Who suffers most when there's a wreck?—the men that's in the mess, Or the worried, white-faced women, miles away? Them that's close enough to curse the worst an' laugh about the best, Or the women, who can only wait an' pray? Though the dawn will bring glad tidings, still the night has left a scar On the woman's heart that time cannot efface; You forget, but she remembers, just how close to death you are Every moment, where the giant moguls race. She's a sittin* by the window in a thousand homes, to-night; She's a lookin' down the track with anxious eye; She's a waitin' for a whistle, watchin' for a head-light white. And a high-ball when the "engine flashes by. U re Fear is lurking in her heart, for it's Death patrols the track, Where, through the stormy night, the engines pound; And she prays to God to bring the man who loves her safely back To guide the mighty mogul, homeward bound. - 702 : — : ! : : : ! : ; The Sunny Side of the Track. What the Busy Joke-Smiths of Our Esteemed Contemporaries Have Manu- factured Lately to Force Our Laugh-Injectors to the' High Point. HER COME-BACK. ious to get the facts of the case, immediately wired as follows to the section foreman on whose ter- train was almost crowded, and the poor THE ritory the animal was seen mother was gently tossing the baby up and down in her arms in a vain endeavor to stop its " Pat Ryan, foreman, Section 24 crying. As the car slowed down at the stopping " Wire complete report on cow killed on right- place the conductor looked in the door and of-way near MP 45, Sec. 24." shouted "George's Cross!" Pat got the wire all right and immediately " started out to find the animal and investigate. 1 Yes ; and perhaps if you were cutting your He found her, " teeth you'd be cross, too," the woman with the and, after carefully viewing the re- baby replied sharply. Tit-Bits. mains," sent one of his men back to the telegraph- office with his answer to the " super." The an- swer read HIS FOLLOWED ADVICE. " Mr. Blank, Superintendent THE president of one of the prominent rail- " Cow killed by train wasn't killed by train. way corporations in America was making She died of eating raw buckwheat, but she ain't a stirring address to an audience of young men, dead yet. If she dies before morning I'll bury and dwelt with particular emphasis on the neces- her to-night. She was a good-looking cow, too. sity of making a good appearance. "' Ryan, Foreman Sec. 24." " When you are looking for work," he said, —Santa Fc Employees' Magazine. " be careful that you are presentable. If you I have only twenty-four dollars in the world, spend twenty dollars for a suit of clothes, three dollars WHAT THEY CALL THE TIME-TABLE. and a half for a pair of shoos, fifty cents for a TICKET-AGENT gives a list of the hair-cut and shave. Then walk up to the job, A names by which people not familiar with wherever it is, and ask for it like a man." the railroad time-table call for that folder: "A This advice was greeted with great applause, book showing how the depot runs in the day- and the railway president sat down amid a storm time"; "a card showing when the railroad comes of cheers. back"; "a diary of the trains"; "a railroad in- very next a dapper-looking young The morning " " struction book ; "a dictionary of the trains fellow into the outer office of the orator, walked " " " " a score-card ; "a catalogue ; "a program ; clerk, and, handing a note to the said " a time book " ; "a fare plan " ; "a transfer " this Please give to the president." " card ; and various other names. The note read as follows " I have paid twenty dollf.rs for this suit of clothes, three dollars and a half for a pair of BLOCKED shoes, and fifty cents for a hair-cut and shave. I have walked from Harlem, and I would like a job HE was traveling on a branch railroad in the as conductor on your line." North. After a series of sudden bumps He got the job. and unexpected stops he became uneasy. J* " Look here," he said to the porter, " is this " ' '."<> f "i r train safe ? RYAN'S REPORT. " It sure am," said the porter. " crew of a way-freight had discovered a " Well, have they a block system on this road ? THE " cow on the right-of-way which they took Block system, sah ? We hab de greatest to be. dead, and the conductor had, by wire, so block system in de world. Ten miles back we reported to the superintendent. The latter, anx- were blocked by a load of hay. six miles back we 703 — — — : —— — 704 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. •were blocked by a mule, just now we were blocked " Yes, madam, the first train." by a cow. and I reckon when we get further souf "Isn't there any freights?" we'll be blocked by an alligator. Block system, " None." boss? Well. Ah should smile." Exchange. "Isn't there a special?" " Xo, no special." * "Now, if there was a speciaj you would " JUST LIKE A MAN! know it ? " Certainly I would." train was about to depart when a stout THE "And there isn't, ain't they?" old lady ran onto the platform. " No, madam, none." The obliging guard at once pounced upon her, " Well, I'm awful glad—awful glad," said the fairly lifted her into the carriage and, as he old lady. "Now, Maria, you and I can cross the slammed the door, the train steamed out of the track." Exchange. station. # The first stopping place was thirty miles up ^ the line. When the train arrived there, the GRAFT. old guard observed the lady stepping out of the "'TP HE directors of the road were a precious boiling compartment in a state of indignation. v lot of grafters." " You nearly missed it, mum," he said. " \' You don't say so ! " Missed it, silly ass! " the old lady. you fumed " Yes, every last man of them had his appendix " didn't want to it all. simply I come by at I removed and charged the cost to operating ex- wanted to post a letter in the late-fee box on the penses." Puck. train. And, now, perhaps, you'll tell me who is going to pay my fare back. Talk about the in- HIS telligence of I'd rather have donkey to MET WATERLOO. "—man, a deal with ! Sheffield (Eng.) Telegraph. JIM FEALEY, transfer-agent, who has some- thing of a reputation for quick and ac- curate replies to all queries, went down to defeat HIS WERE DIFFERENT. while checking No. 6, which had a large theatri- cal company from Denver to Chicago. The com- PASSEXGER-AGEXT—Here are some post- pany disbanded at Joliet and each member had card views along our line of railroad. his own baggage to look after. One handsome Would you like them? young lady, on being told her transfer would cost Patron—No, than k you, I rode over the line fifty cents, replied, "Or a kiss?" one day last week and have views of my own on Jim mildly replied, " No, just fifty cents, it. Chicago News. please." The lady smilingly came back with, " Well, WANTED EQUAL RIGHTS. after a second look, I guess you are right—fifty cents is the cheapest." MAX stepped up to the counter in the A silently retired the ticket office of the Colorado Midland Rail- Jim amid the laughter of way, the other afternoon, and said whole car. E. J. Beton, "What time can a man go to Glenwood?" Jolier, Illinois.— Ticket-Agent. " At 7.30 o'clock to-night," replied the ticket- Santa Fe Employees' Magazine. seller. '" Thanks," said the man. At this point a woman, who had been stand- THE RETORT COURTEOUS. ing back waiting her turn to ask questions, stepped PRESIDENT TRUESDALE, of the Lacka- up. wanna, and President Underwood, of the "Can a woman go at that time, too?" she Erie, were walking up Broad Street, New York, asked seriously. Denver Post. recently, when they met a good-looking colored girl to whom Mr. Truesdale bowed courteously. J* Mr. Underwood looked qucstioningly. FULL OF REAL CAUTION. " Oh," said Mr. Truesdale, " thought you knew her. That's Phoebe Snow. She's been traveling old lady and her daughter entered the THE on the Erie." New York Evening Mail. depot. The old lady wasn't used to travel- ing, and was very ilervous. Her eyes wandered * about the depot a moment, and then she walked AMATEUR. nervously up to the station window, and trem- AN blingly asked: ED—I like to see a man who can forget " Whin does the next train go to New York?" an injury. «r The next train, madam," said the agent, look- Ned—Well, that neighbor of mine should suit ing at his watch, " goes to New York at exactly you. He's suing the railroad company for an in- 3.30." jured leg, and every once in a while he forgets to •' '.'.ill that be the first train?" limp. ' THE BOES AND THE BABIES. BY AUGUSTUS WITTFELD. Loquacious Louie and His Fellow Wayfarer Embark for a Day in an Infant Industry. HAT job of near - work of " She gave me the Exqumaw optic and Pete's, when he did the res- rushed over to an easy-looking mark close cue act at the powder works," by. I saw her say something to him, and said Loquacious Louie, " puts he took the baby. Then she took a coin me in mind of the time I from her purse and, handing it to him, was offered a job holding a made for the ticket-office. I walked over kid for a small woman who was in a large _ and gave him the wayfarers' wink. " ? hurry, and the mix-up my refusal . of the ' What you going to do with the kid job was responsible for. I asked. " "I was loafing outside of a railroad ' I'm going to adopt it and leave it all station one day, when a woman rushed up my money,' he replied. ' What d'you think to me and asked me to hold her baby while I was going to do with it? Offer it for a she went inside and bought a ticket. prize in a guessing contest? ' " ' "'Avaunt, madam!' I replied. 'Do I ' Well, if you did,' I says, I wouldn't look like the first vice-president of a want more than one guess, and that would foundling asylum? You are on the wrong be that your female lady-friend is trying to wireless. My specialty is finance. If you unload that baby on you. Didn't you ever want me to hold your purse while you take hear of that old stunt of getting rid of ' the kid inside and have it checked, I'm a baby ? / legible.' Sure, I have,' he answered. ' But you 9 RR 705 706 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. don't think I'm going to turn down real cause it wasn't me that was holding down money simply on account of an infant incu- that strenuous situation, when a fellow ' batus. do you? rushed up to me, and, before I could enter " 1 Say,' I asked, ' what's the use of any objections, plumped a baby bunting taking chances? If that female don't come into my arms and made a rush for the to claim her kid, I see you doing the shap- ticket-office. - " ' pyrone act for life.' ' Hey, come back,' I shouted. Do I " ' " Aw, shut up,' he growled. Do you look like a depository for surplus in- ' "' want to wake tliis slumbering volcano? fants? "I was on the point of making the re- "That fellow evidently took you for a tort cortuous when a porter deposited a man of family," commented Pugilistic trunk on the platform, as prescribed by Patrick. the code, and the easy-looking mark started "Well, who said I wasn't?" demanded to earn his money. The kid emerged from Louie. " I guess I've had as much family slumberland and gave one of those shanty- as most people. I've had the usual job- cleer crows, but when it saw what was lot of fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and holding it, it started to yell like a Peek-a- grandmothers, and so on. I'm like the boo Indian. blooming aristocrat—I'm long on ancestry " ' Better tell it a fairy-story,' I advised. but short on pro-jenny, and I'm the last of ' That may keep it quiet. Cinder Ella is my line. a favorite with the kids.' "Well, as I said, that fellow shanghaied " The easy-looking mark gave me a scorn- that innocent infant on the largeness of my ful look and started to walk the indigent manly bosom and left me there feeling infant up and down, trying to quiet it. I fussed and fearful. Supposing that kid watched him hiking up and down the plat- took a notion to go into executive session form, and noticed that his interest in his like the one the easy-looking mark was job took him farther away on each suc- holding, I saw my finish. I was trying to ceeding lap. decide on a course of action in case my " I was patting myself on the back be- prize-package awoke from its suspended DO I LOOK LIKE A DEPOSITORY FOR SURPLUS INFANTS?" THE BOES AND THE BABIES. 707 animation, when that woman who had given ments incruing from this deal, and as an the duplicate to the easy-looking mark equal partner in your iniquity, it seems to rushed up and grabbed the kid out of my me that I should come in for a dividend.' " arms. She murmured something that ' Just you wait until a dividend is de- sounded like thanks and mama's tootsie- clared,' he replied. ' There's only a dol- wootsie, and rushed aboard the south-bound lar-fifty in the treasury, and that's not train which was about to pull out. enough to declare a dividend on.' " " ' I felt too relieved to be astonished. ' Say,' I protested, you don't expect to When the mistaken mother relieved me of get any more out of this mix-up, do you?. that kid she also relieved me of a large I should think the incident was closed.' chunk of anxiety. I looked around for the "'Closed?' he said. 'Well, I guess easy-looking mark and located him at the not. Take two fond, doting parents, each other end of the station. I made my way with the wrong infant on hand, and the toward him as the train pulled out. situation is as full of possibilities as your "When I reached him, his infant had head seems to be deficient in ideas.' " quieted down and seemed to be treating him ' How in the name of the infant indus- like, an infinity. It had evidently made up try do you expect to make anything more its mind to accept him at face value and out of this mix-up? ' I asked. " ' take its chances. ' As I said before,' he replied, just you " ' ' Say,' I chortled in triumph, what keep your eye on your Uncle Dudley and did I tell you? She has went.' you'll learn a lot about high finance. If " ' Oh, you're a profit, all right,' he something don't happen in the money mar- growled. ' Likewise you're an innishiate ket pretty soon, I miss my guess.' of the inner shrine of I-told-you-so's. If I "There was no use arguing with that had your power of preception, I'd hire out fellow, especially as he held all the trumps, as a sight-seeing see-saw. What if she has so I shut up. We hung around that sta- went? ' tion for about half an hour, and then a " ' But she's got the wrong kid,' I said, and train pulled in. About the first passenger then I told him about the hurrying Henry to get off was that buckaneer who had acted who had mistaken me for a truant officer, as chief mixer in the mix-up. He still and how the unnatural mother had taken carried the kid in his arms, likewise a me for a bargain-counter, and depleted my troubled look on his countenance. He made stock of babies. straight for me the minute he spotted me, The easy-looking mark grinned. and tried to place the kid in my arms. " ' Here's where I unload on an unsus- '"No, you don't,' I said, dodging be- pecting public,' he said. ' Keep your eye hind the easy-looking mark. on your Uncle Dudley. What's the use of "That fellow tried to circulate around working when gray matter has the red the easy-looking mark, who immediately got corpuskels gasping for breath on the home- busy. He tool?, the kid away from the fren- stretch? ' zied father and made a bluff at examining "He walked along the platform, carry- it to see if it was all right. ing the kid innocently, while I stood there '"See here, you darned stiff,' he said, and wondered what kind of a game he was ' what d'you mean by swiping that kid away going to pull off. from me that was given to me by a lady "Pretty soon that buckaneer what had to hold? A fine mess you've got me into.' " abandoned that infant to my tender mercies ' But what has become of the baby I rushed up and grabbed the kid out of the gave to some one to hold ? ' asked the puz- easy-looking mark's arms, and, pushing a zled parent in troubled accents. " bill into his hand, hustled aboard a train ' I don't know anything about any baby that was about to pull out in the opposite you gave to any one to hold,' answered the direction from the one the woman had easy-looking mark. ' Who'd you give it to?' taken. '"If I didn't give it to you,' answered '"Well, what do you think of that for the puzzled parent, ' I gave it to some one head work?' asked the easy-looking mark, who looks like you. Perhaps it was your joining me. friend,' he continued, looking at me. " ' "' ' ' Great,' I replied. While your brain Say, do I look like that? asked the is working, suppose you tell me where I easy-looking mark and me, pointing at one come in on this. You've got all the emolu- another. ' 70S THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " " 1 The maker of the motion refused to ' Say,' I protested, what you want to vote, so the easy-looking mark continued: ride inside for? Has the possession of so " ' ' I was standing here, this morning, much money at once affected your head? " when a" lady asked me to hold her baby. ' I don't want to ride inside any more While I was performing this trifling serv- than you do,' he replied, ' but you can't ice to the best of my ability, you butted ride on a brake-beam when you're handi- in and forcibly relieved me of the infant. capped with an infant of tender age.' When the lady found that some one had kid- '"But what's the graft? ' I asked. " naped her child she gave me all sorts for ' As I said several times before, and re- my seeming carelessness, and finally took iterate once more again,' he replied, ' keep possession of the infant you had thrust your eye on your Uncle Dudley. Now hus- upon my friend here, claiming that you tle and get that transportation.' had brought the baby here to facilitate the " Well, I got the tickets, and when the execution of your scheme.' train pulled in we climbed aboard. I was " Which way did she go?' asked the glad to get into a good soft seat, for the frenzied father. pace that easy-looking mark had set was " ' Say, look here,' answered the easy- rather strenuous and seemed to affect my looking mark, kinder offended-like, ' d'you physical incapacity. take me for a blooming bureau of informa- "There weren't many people on the train, tion or a sideboard of statistics? You've consequently there wasn't much comment got me into a pretty "mess with your bung- passed about our doing the beauty and the ling. Here, I've got to stand around with beast stunt, although the conductor did this kid and wait for the right owner to look at us pretty hard and asked us how turn up. Who's going to pay me for my we liked riding inside. time and trouble, I'd like to know? ' " When the train reached Berwyn we got The sucker fell for the bait, all right. off. The easy-looking mark went up to " ' If you can tell me where the woman the station-agent and asked him if he knew went,' he said, ' I will give you five dollars, the lady what owned the baby, had she got- and in addition I'll take the child to her.' ten off of an earlier train, could he tell us "'Oh, I'll tell you where she went, all where she lived, and could he spare a chew right,' replied the easy-looking mark, ' and of tobacco? I'll take your five dollars, all right, but "The station-agent pleaded guilty to the when it comes to surrendering this infant first three counts, but ignored the last. He to any one but its rightful owner, it's nix said he knew her, likewise she had got off for you. The old guard may die on the of the 10.20, and lived in the house with job, but it never surrenders.' the gray gables that was anchored on top "'Which way did she go?' asked the of a hill about a mile away, which he sucker, handing the easy-looking mark a pointed out. five-dollar bill. " Also he told us that it looked like rain " ' She took a carriage,' lied the easy- and that the crops needed it, and that the looking mark, ' and she said she was going farmers thereabout were having a' hard time to hunt up the town burgess to see about raising enough crops to pay for their auto- getting a warrant for your arrest. No doubt mobiles. When we were a half-mile up you will find her at his place and be able the pike, he was still talking with his face to square things. Don't forget to tell her and both hands. He was a very vollible that I'm waiting here for her with an un- man, he was. I think that he kept on talk- redeemed package.' ing so's we couldn't get a chance to brace " That fellow swallowed the dope, all him for a hand-out. right, and started off. After he made his "That easy-looking mark was a natural- get-away the easy-looking mark handed me born nurse-girl. That innocent infant treat- a dollar and told me to* get two one-way ed him with perfect trust and behaved in a tickets for Berwyn. dignified, discreet way. We went tramp- ' " ' What you want to go to Berwyn for? ing along that hot pike with peace in our " ' ' Because,' he replied, that's where the hearts and money on our minds, and once, lady what owns this kid went. She asked when the beauty of that pastureal scene me to hold it while she went in and got a caused me to forget myself and offer to ticket to Berwyn. Go on and get the carry the kid, it was only the emphatically- ticket. voiced protest of the leather-lunged young- THE BOES AND THE BABIES. 709 ster that brought me back to the prosaic '"What am I going to do with it? ' she pike. asked in surprise. ' What should I do with ' "When we got near the place, we saw it, but keep it? " the baby's mother sitting on the wide ver- ' See here, madam,' said the easy-look- anda which ran around the house. She saw ing mark gently but firmly, 'that other us coming with the infant and came to baby belongs to the gent what left the other meet us. baby with my friend here. He's back there, " ' How good of you to bring him up,' worrying his head off about it.' ' " she gurgled. I didn't discover my mis- ' I am aware that it belongs to him,' take until I was half-way home,' and she answered the lady, ' but it also belongs to took the kid and started to talk infantyglot me. These two babies are twins. All to it. babies look alike to my husband, so I am " 1 Madam,' said the easy-looking mark, compelled to put some distinguishing mark breaking in on her foolishness, ' the gent on whichever baby he takes out so that he what owns that other baby is down at the will be able to identify it. " other station making unparliamentary re- ' This morning, when he started out to marks about people what don't know their visit his mother, I called his attention to the own children.' fact that little Arthur, whom he was taking "'He is, is he?' says«the lady, kinder along, was trimmed up with blue baby-rib- fussed like. ' Til give him a few points bon. When things got mixed up down at on parliamentary usage when I see him. Palmar, and he found that he had a baby Til teach him how to care for infants.' with pink baby-ribbon trimmings, he natur- " ' But, lady,' persisted the easy-looking ally jumped at the conclusion that he had mark, 1 what are you going to do with the somebody else's baby.' ' " other kid ? ' Then,' said the easy-looking mark, 710 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. with an ear-to-ear grin, ' both babies be- our way to the station. We saw him first; long here/ consequently, he didn't have an opportunity " ' ' Certainly,' replied the lady. I wish to hold converse with us. We suddenly you would tell my husband, when you re- became interested in cross-country running, turn to Palmar, that I have both babies and never stopped until we struck the rail- here, safely at home.' road. "I DIDN'T DISCOVER MY MISTAKE UNTIL I WAS HALF-WAY HOME." "'Madam,' said the easy-looking mark, " We hopped aboard the first freight that ' I don't see how we're going to get back came along, and by night we were many to Palmar. It took all the money we had miles from the land of easy living. The to bring the baby up here. Besides, we've easy-looking mark called a meeting of the both lost a day away from our regular board of directors and declared a dividend occupation. I think some one should make of five dollars and fifty cents apiece. it good.' " I gladly voted him a resolution of "Well, he put it up to her with such thanks, and we separated and went our va- candor that she couldn't very well repudi- rious ways." ate the obligation. She insisted on giving " Did you learn the name of that high him a five-dollar bill, which he accepted financier?" asked Phonograph Pete. with seeming reluctance, and we bade her " I asked him what he was called," re- farewell, after promising to ship her hus- plied Loquacious Louie, "and he s#id: band home to her." ' Wherever I go, they call me blessed.' I "Did you see the father of the twins guess he lied." again," asked Phonograph Pete. "Well," commented Pete, "I wouldn't " Yes," replied Loquacious Louie, " we say he lied, exactly, but I do think he used saw him coming up the pike as we were on the wrong word." A leaky engine is like a talkative woman,— It makes more noise than a good one and refuses to dry up.— The Wails of a Wiper. The A. B. C. of Freight Rates BY JOHN -C. THOMSON. OF; recent years we have heard a great deal of talk between the railroads, the shippers, and the Interstate Commerce Commission on the subject of freight rates. Few writers have given us any information on the subject that has not been such a wearisome maze of unfamiliar terms and expressions, that we might as well have read a Chinook's essay on cheese. Almost every time we go into a store to buy something, particularly if we live in a city, we unwittingly pay freight charges to one railroad system or an- other, so that there is every reason why we should be interested in knowing how these charges come to differ so greatly from each other, and what it is that they go to pay for. The problem of just and equal freight charges which Mr. Thomson ex- plains is one of the most involved in the whole field of modem commerce, but he has approached it in such a simple, masterful manner, and has so carefully avoided confusing the reader with a lot of unintelligible stock expressions, that we believe he has succeeded in throwing a great deal of light on a subject that concerns us all, whether we are railroaders or not. Some of the Difficulties of Apportioning Freight Charges That Worry a Railroad and Keep the Interstate Commerce Commission at Work Hearing the Protests of Shippers. (jC^jrpT is usually the case that an expert roads have wasted millions of dollars in in any line—be it war, medi- trying to educate the public concerning cine, or freight rates—is the railroad freight rates, and that the public least capable of all men to ex- is still in darkness about what deeply plain his profession to the pub- and directly affects every pocketbook in lic. Words that to the expert the United States. are an every-day matter are to the outsider things of mystery; hence they are in the Freight Department Nomenclature. position of a Frenchman trying to explain the " Arabian Nights " in the original to a In other words, as a general rule railroad German, each speaking a different language, men cannot write clearly about freight rates. with no common meeting-ground whatever. The phrases, "water competition," "joint " " ' The best newspaper editor I ever knew cost," blanket rates," class rates," are a used to employ a landsman, even one who part of the railroader's native tongue, as " could not swim, to report all cases of ship- clear and commonplace as the words cow," " " " wreck, because he knew that most of his ax," and home ; and he uses these ob- readers were landsmen, and could not un- scure terms in almost every sentence he derstand the sailor-talk which a seaman writes or speaks about freight rates. But would naturally use in his report. This is these technical terms are not understood by largely the reason for the fact that the rail- the public, and, in fact, are practically an 711 712 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. unknown language even to large shippers eater. The same thing applies to meat, who spend hundreds of thousands of dol- clothing, shoes, hats, and, in fact, to every- lars every year for freight charges. thing used by human beings. In this article I shall try to explain some Therefore, the importance is seen, I hope, of the factors that go to make up freight without further expansion here, of the rail- rates in the words of the man in the street, road freight rate to every .nan, woman, and and shall try to discuss this complicated child in the United States. Nothing affects subject—one of the most complex known the price of real estate, the monthly rent, to the business world—in terms such as more than railroad rates. Cities have been Smith uses to Jones, Smith being a butcher made and ruined by changes of freight rates, and Jones a doctor. If the expert railroad and so have individuals by the tens of thou- man feels inclined to smile at times over sands, although, as a general rule, few of these lines, let him but open a medical book these knew what ruined them, or made their and read a few pages; then he will- see why fortunes, as the case may be> this article is not written in " railroad lan- " " " " guage," but in " United States," with which Mileage and Joint Cost Charges. the non-railroader and the railroader not in the freight department is more familiar. Now, what is a freight rate? It is the To begin at the beginning, it might be total charge made by a railroad, or a ship, mentioned that " distribution " is a part of or a canal- boat, or a horse -and -wagon "production," not something different. freighter, for taking anything from one place When a man sends an article from New to another. What the waiter is to the dining- York to San Francisco, he does just the room, the railroad is to the nation, the manu- same thing as if he moved it from one side facturer in this case being the cook, while of his work-bench to another, so as to get it you and I sit at the tables and pay the bills. into a more convenient position, that he may In this article we shall deal largely with work on it to better advantage. The dif- railroad freight rates only, touching on ca- ference is only one of degree—simply a nal, ship, and wagon rates only as they changing of places. affect the railroad freight rate. At first glance it looks simple enough, What the Consumer Pays For. this matter of making just freight rates. " If it costs one dollar to haul one ton one Now, every business man—in fact, every mile, then it surely costs two dollars to haul consumer—is deeply interested in "the one ton two miles, or two tons one mile," cost of production " we hear so much about, argues the average individual from a com- but few of them fully realize that the rail- mon-sense standpoint. road freight rate is one of its most impor- This is known as the " mileage basis," or tant items. charging for hauling goods according to the For example, suppose a man has a farm distance hauled. But soon we shall see that ten miles from the railroad in Kansas, and this apparently simple proposition is impos- raise; wheat. Wheat on the Kansas farm sible in every-day practise. The "mileage means bread, sooner or later, in New York basis" is the one the public are urging, City or in Seattle He sends a certain while the railroads fight for the "joint-cost" amount of wheat to market, say to New system of charging for hauling. York. The cost of pulling the load from the farm to the railroad by horses is about A Multiplicity of Costs. five dollars, the cost of pulling the wheat to New York City is about five dollars, and " Joint cost " is somewhat harder to make the cost of cartage through the streets of plain, and perhaps a simple illustration, New York City is about two dollars. known to every one, will help to make the This twelve dollars is a part of what the matter clearer. When you go into a restau- bread costs when served on a New York rant and order a twenty-five-cent meal, you City dinner-table. Now, the average man get, let us suppose, the use of the room, will set up a roar if the farmer gets one table, knife, fork, and spoon, dishes, table- dollar and ten cents for his wheat instead of cloth, napkin, etc., free of apparent charge. one dollar; but he usually ignores an in- At least nothing appears on the bill for these crease of ten cents in the freight rate, which items; yet they must be paid for, and paid amounts to the same thing to the final bread- for by the eater of the meal. " THE A. B. C. OF FREIGHT RATES. 713 The meal itself consists of soup, boiled dollars for hauling the wheat, though they beef, potatoes, bread and butter, coffee, and make the trip in the same car, and one takes a piece of pie. The restaurant charges only no more space or makes any more trouble for the meal, apparently; but it is clear to than die other. Here is where the average every one that the bill includes a charge for man sets up a howl, and insists—with much the other things just mentioned, such as the reason, at first sight—that if the railroad dishes, the rent, the lights, etc. Now, the makes a fair profit on the coal for one dol- bread and butter is also free, but there is an lar, it is robbing him on the wheat at two extra charge of five cents for another cup dollars. of coffee, and ten cents for an extra piece Bunching the Charges. of pie. This means that the restaurant-keeper But die fact is, that it is just as impos- makes nothing on the soup. He loses money sible in this case to figure out the exact on the bread and butter. He makes only charge of the railroad president's salary and three cents, gross, on the meat, and one cent, the track-walker's monthly pay that the ton gross, on the potatoes, and four cents on the of coal should bear and that the ton of wheat coffee, yet the whole meal yields him a final should bear, as it is to figure out the same net profit of, say, two cents. problem in the restaurant case just illustra- In other words, the restaurant man does ted. The railroad must bunch the charges not make an equal profit on each kind of and get three dollars for the two tons food sold, but, in fact, actually loses money —one of coal, and one of wheat—even on some kinds that must be served, such as though on the coal it makes only ten cents the bread, or the use of the table or the profit, and on the wheat twenty cents profit. knife and fork, but makes up this loss on In a rough way, this illustrates " joint cost his coffee or pie. So, practically, he charges as the railroad man uses the term when o:. each item just "what the traffic will talking of freight rates. bear," and by putting it all in together, turns But now the plot thickens, as the dime- out a cheaper meal to the eater than if he novelists say. In the preceding paragraph charged for each item separately. we have seen how the charge differs on two different articles when hauled the same dis- A System That Averages Up. tance in the same car. Now let us take another case, the very bone of contention in In fact, it would be practically impossible the present freight - rate situation that is to charge the man who stayed ten minutes attracting national attention. This is char- and gulped down a cup of coffee and a piece ging less for hauling the same article, per- of pie a just proportion of the rent and light haps in the -same car, a long distance than bill, as compared with the family that spent for a short distance. two hours in the place and ate up half a Take the case, for instance, of two tons turkey. So the restaurant man meets these of wheat, one going from Kansas City to " overhead charges," as they are called, by a Denver and another, in the same car, going more or less indefinite "joint-cost" system. on through Denver to San Francisco. When He charges twenty-five cents for certain eat- the car stops at Denver, the Denver man ables as a whole, and out of them nets a pays, let us say, two dollars, to cover the cost profit of two cents. of hauling die wheat from Kansas City. To attempt to charge each man his exact The car door is locked and the car rolls proportion of the rent, the light, the laundry, away to San Francisco. The San Francisco and other bills, would be to try to put into man pays only one dollar to the railroad for operation the "mileage basis." In abstract moving his ton of wheat twice as far as the theory, this last is the proper one, no doubt, other fellow's, and die Denver man shouts but it cannot be put into practise. This is till stones begin to jar loose from die top of clear enough to every one in the case of the Pike's Peak. restaurant man, but it is not so clear in regard to the railroad man and his freight- Where the Shipper Kicks. rate charges, yet it is just as true. The average man, we will say, ships a ton "Rank injustice! " cries die Denver-man, of wheat and a ton of coal from Kansas and many agree with him, including, to City to Denver. The railroad charges him, some extent, the Interstate Commerce Com- say, one dollar for hauling the coal and two mission. 714 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. But at the hearing the badgered rail- To this the Denver man must agree, as road man shows the following conditions, tiiere is no way out of it. But he comes and every one— the Denver man, and even back at die railroad from another point of the Interstate Commerce Commission—feel the compass, thus: vaguely that they are up against a problem " Your railroad is paying dividends of that is almost impossible to solve. Here is fifty per cent a year on the actual money the case. The railroad man shows that if invested. You are making too much money. he charged, say, three dollars to haul that You are getting more than your share. ton of wheat to San Francisco, the man Charge one dollar to San Francisco if you in San Francisco would not ship at all, but must, but cut my charge to Denver down would buy his wheat from South America, from two dollars to one dollar. In other getting it by ship from around the Horn, words, to use a railroader's slang expression, the southern end of South America. reduce the ' hump ' at Denver." The Denver man is more or less right in The Railroad's Justification. this, at least the recent decisions of die United States Supreme Court and of the Then the railroad would have only one Interstate Commerce Commission seem to so ton of wheat to haul—the one to the Denver indicate. As a matter of climax, it might man—and would have to charge him three be mentioned in passing, the Interstate Com- dollars for hauling it from Kansas City to merce Commission is mentioned after the Denver, instead of the two dollars it now Supreme Court, for the court follows to a gets. The railroad must be kept up, and a large extent the fundamental principles two-dollar income will not do it. It must gradually being worked out by the Interstate have three dollars from some one or go out Commerce Commission. In past years the of business. So, by charging the San Fran- court has practically reversed its position on cisco man one dollar a ton, it can afford to a number of vital questions pertaining to haul to Denver for two dollars. railroad freight rates, as national experience But the Denver man says: has educated the court as it has the Com- "You surely will not haul goods at a mission and the public. loss to San Francisco. If you make a profit, say, of ten cents on the one dollar An Unsolved Problem. charge to San Francisco, you should charge me, the Denver man, only fifty cents, and Freight rates, odd as it may seem at first make a profit of five cents." thought, are almost a new item in commer- And the railroad man answers: cial life, especially in America. No human " It costs me two dollars and fifty cents to brain, or no millions of human brains, can run the road, and ten cents to haul to Denver at once solve such a weighty problem. It is and twenty-five cents to haul to San Fran- as vital, as deeply important, as is banking, cisco, both hauls being from Kansas City. with which the world has been experiment- This is a total cost of two dollars and eighty- ing for centuries and has not yet solved. five cents for both hauls. I charge three But in banking, and in money affairs gen- dollars for the two hauls, and make fifteen erally, we are much farther advanced in cents profit. practical working knowledge than in the " Now, if I cannot haul to San Francisco subject of freight rates. for one dollar, I cannot haul there at all; If the United States were as smooth as a therefore, the Denver man would have to pay floor, with the same climate throughout the the cost of the road, two dollars and fifty year in all parts of the country, with no cents, plus the cost of hauling to Denver, snows in winter, no Rocky Mountains to ten cents, or two dollars and sixty cents, plus cross, no big crops to haul in the fall, no a profit, even the five cents he mentions, a other nations to send goods to our ports by total charge to him of two dollars and sixty- ships, and no more people in New York City five cents, or sixty-five cents more than he is than in Reno, Nevada, then railroad freight paying now. Beside?, there then would be rates would be a simple matter. The " mile- no railroad from Denver to San Francisco, age basis" would be the only thing to conr a verv bad thins for the Denver man when sider. But such things cannot be, hence die he wants Japanese silk or Chinese floor- bewildered rate-maker resorts to "joint cost" matting shipped to him from San Fran- to keep the railroad running and growing. cisco." Now, because a system has abuses in no THE, A. B. C. OF FREIGHT RATES. 7] 5 reason for doing away entirely with that on the train by hand, while the iron-ore is system. To set fire to the barn to kill the dumped by the car-load, and nothing except rats will kill the rats all right, but how a blast furnace can change its value. about the barn, the live stock in winter, and Bass drums, baby-carriages, and air-ships the farmer? Because this joint-cost system are more fragile, however, and such kind of has been, and no doubt is to-day, greatly things are roughly grouped into a " class." abused in robbing the public through watered Carpets, gunny-sacks, canvas, etc., might be stocks in Wall Street, this is no reason for grouped into another " class." Crowbars, burning the "joint cost" barn just to kill nails, chains, etc., into still another class, these financial rats. and so on. We, as a people, must pay freight charges, These classes are constantly shifting more according to either the "mileage basis" or or less; that is, on some roads crowbars the "joint-cost" system. At least we must might be in Class III, and on another road use them till some one invents a new system in Class IV, but this is a minor matter. now all undreamed of by man, and that Enough to say that certain things more or seems a long way off. less alike from a shipping standpoint are In some cases the two seem to have been classed together, and the freight charges on combined with more or less success. Thus, all things in one class are equal. the freight-rate charges from the Atlantic " seaboard to the Mississippi River, in the Commodity Rates." States north of the Ohio River, are a mix- ture to some extent of both the "mileage" Thus, if the railroad charges $1 on crow- and the "joint-cost" system. But more of bars it also charges $1 on nails, and if the this later. Enough to say here, that there charge is $5 on bass drums it is also $5 are no mountains to cross in this section, no on air-ships. This is what is meant by wide stretches of unpopulated country, and " class rates," and by the terms " first class," that traffic is regular enough to keep the cars "second class," "double first class," etc., full all the year round traveling in any depending on the nature of the goods, the direction, east and west, west and east, north roads over which they go, etc. In practise and south, south and north—all tilings that these classes are much alike on all roads. deeply affect freight rates. But as we have seen in the case of " joint Now, to change the subject somewhat: cost," some goods will not move, as the rail- The railroad man cannot talk two minutes road man so aptly expresses it, or, in other about rates without using three terms words, will not be shipped, if the charge is that at once cause a blank expression on the too high. Take the case of nails, for in- face of his lay listener. Among these are stance. We will say that both nails and " class rates," " commodity rates," and crowbars are made in Chicago, and nails, "flat" or "blanket rates." but not crowbars, are made in Kansas City. Now the railroad can charge $1 for crow- An Explanation of Class Rates. bars from Chicago to Omaha, but if it charges $1 on nails, then another road will On the witness-stand the average rate- haul nails to Omaha from Kansas City for maker can toss and juggle these pet terms fifty cents, so no nails will move out of of his till the court-room goes round and Chicago for Omaha. So the nails are taken round to the learned judge, and even to the out of their "class" and given a "special questioning lawyer, while the man in the rate " of fifty cents. back" seat reaches for his hat, tiptoes out into This special rate is called a "commodity the hall, and takes refuge in a smoke. For- rate." The public knows what a "special bid a railroad rate man using these three rate" is, but for some reason the railroad terms, and you might as well put a muzzle man prefers to call it a " commodity rate," on him. He can't talk, that's all there is to a term much less apt and clear than " special it! Now, let us see what they mean, these rate." However, the railroad man does three sacred terms. make a "special rate" at times, something First of all, I will give an example of in regard to freight what excursion rates are "class rates." To ship a bass drum costs to the passenger service. Now that we have more per pound than to ship iron-ore. The seen what "class rates" and "commodity drum takes more space in the car, and is rates " are, we will take up " flat " or more liable to get broken. It also was placed "blanket" rates. " 716 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and which are " commodity rates " when applied other near-by cities all want to ship goods to freight, and when tickets are the same to Denver, Colorado, for instance. Each price from New York and Boston to San city has some one claim over all the others. Francisco and Seattle in the passenger New York, for instance, has a large ton- service, we find the corresponding condition nage to ship, while Pittsburg is nearer, in the freight department called " blanket though it has a somewhat smaller amount of or " flat " rates. goods to transport. Also the kind of goods vary greatly. Pitts- No Hair-Splitting. burgh ships iron and New York dresses, hats, and so on. So the railroad puts these Now, let no expert railroad man grin, cities all on an equal footing as to rates, grab his pen, and break into print over this and charges the same price for hauling the rough-cut comparison,, or over other equally same kind of goods, say paint and varnish, rough-hewn illustrations in this article, any from all the Atlantic coast cities to all the more than should a horseman if I had said Colorado cities. that horses and cows were more or less alike To do this is to make a "fiat rate" to in that each have long tails, are covered all the cities alike, or, in the picturesque with hair, eat hay, give milk, etc., as com- language of the rail, to "lay a blanket over pared to whales or eagles. The whole sub- the coast cities and the Colorado common jecpof freight-rates cannot be handled in points." Here we meet a new term, "com- detail in a few thousand words, especially mon points," that cuts a very deep figure in in an elementary way, as I am trying to do railroad freight matters. here. The fact that the cow has split hoofs and •' Blanket or Flat Rates." the horse has not, if applied to freight-rates in this article, would fill this magazine. A " common point " in freight-rates mat- Hence I omit much detail, that, while im- ters is much like the wholesale house in portant in daily practise, would not alter, other business lines. Thus, because of its but rather tend to confuse, the subject for size and location, Denver, Colorado, can the average layman. This matter of con- handle more business than can Fort Collins, fusion is die very mistake ninety-nine out Colorado, which is about seventy-five miles of one hundred railroad writers make, and north and on but one railroad. Just as the something I am trying, even at the cost of man who buys a pound of beefsteak cannot some exactness, to avoid here. Besides, the expect to get the same low price as the man man who knows all about railroad freight- who buys a trainload of steers, so Fort rates has not yet been born. Collins cannot expect to get as low a rail- Just how many elements enter into the road rate as Denver. making of a freight-rate probably no man But Pueblo, Colorado, on the other hand, knows. I am sure I do not, and I have one hundred and more miles to the south never met a man who. did. One thing is of Denver, has a large trade, and is the com- sure, distance alone is one of the least im- mon business center for quite a number of portant items, yet at first thought it might small towns scattered around within one seem to be the most important thing of all. hundred miles or so. In other words, Den- More imporant than mere distance, within ver. Pueblo, New York, Chicago, and other reasonable limits, of course, are terminals. places, are "common points" not only in a railroad sense, but in many other busi- The Part a Terminal Plays. ness ways. In other words, all "common joints" are under a "blanket" or "flat It costs less to haul freight from the city rate." when the freight charges from such limits of Chicago to those of New York points are equal. City than it does to move it through either Comparing roughly freight and passen- city a relatively short distance. The reason ger rates, we have in the passenger service for diis is that terminals cost hundreds of the first and second class, the Pullman, the millions of dollars. Those of the Pennsyl- drawing-roam, the special car, and even the vania and the New York Central in New special-train sendee. These in the freight York City, including the tunnels under the end are " class rates." We have special or Hudson River, are an example of what ter- excursion rates in the passenger service, minals cost compared to the relatively cheap THE A. B. C. OF FREIGHT RATES. 717 construction between the two cities. In Now this seems to be the common-sense making a freight rate these terminal ex- thing to do, but when the railroad comes penses must be considered, though they vary to figure up its bill, then the trouble begins. greatly with each city. Littleton is ten miles nearer Chicago than Chicago is so situated that it can have a Denver, so according to some modes of rea- belt line railroad running around the city soning—the abstract "mileage basis"—for connecting all the railroads that enter that instance—the charge to Littleton should be city, while this arrangement is almost out less than to Denver. If the charge were of the question in New York City. This less, then the shipper would order the ma- " belt line " permits easy switching of a car chine put off at Littleton but the rate to Lit- from one railroad to another, say from the tleton, via Denver, is made the same as to Northwestern to the New York Central, but Denver and in some cases even cheaper than to switch the same car in New York City from Chicago to Littleton direct. from the New York Central to the Pennsyl- This tends, of course, to build up Den- vania costs much more. In the end the ver as a business center at the expense of shipper, or rather the consumer, pays diese Littleton, and Littleton objects, giving many bills, as he must and should. figures, some of which puzzle the wisest of heads. In case one place is much larger Where the Small Towns Suffer. than another and better situated, there is usually little real foundation for putting the When one considers the vast difference in large and the small place on an equal basis; physical conditions, conditions no man can but if the two towns are nearly equal in change, that exists between the terminals in prospects, though with yards maintained at Chicago and in New York City, one cannot only one of them, the other can show a complain if the railroad charges $1 for cer- pretty clear case of discrimination. tain switching in Chicago and, say, $5 for The famous " Spokane case," considered practically the same service in New York by the Interstate Commerce Commission a City. This same question of terminals is few years ago, was somewhat along these one of the roots at the bottom of the quarrel lines. In this case, Seattle was the Denver, between big and little cities over difference and Spokane the Littleton, of the example in freight rates. we have quoted in the preceding paragraphs. We will say that a man wants to ship The equally important " Reno case " is two mowing-machines from Chicago; one to much on the same order. Denver and another to Littleton, Colorado, a small town about ten miles to the south Paying for the " Back Haul." of Denver, botii machines going over the Santa Fe, which passes through Littleton. This condition of affairs is called " the When the train reaches Littleton it must be back haul." That is, goods are pulled stopped and delayed perhaps half an hour through a town to a big terminal, then back to properly switch out the car containing the over the same tracks to the town and the mowing-machine, a delay which costs the local merchant is charged for the entire railroad at least $100, if not much more, haul, the "direct," or "through haul," and counting interest on the money invested in the "back haul." the cars, engines, the crew's pay, etc. Take Spokane as a sample. Say the rate In other words, the freight charge on that to Seattle from Chicago is $1, and the rate one mowing-machine does not pay five cents from Seattle to Spokane, over the same on the dollar that it costs the railroad to tracks, is fifty cents. The charge from stop its long freight-train and deliver the Chicago to Spokane is then $1.50. Now machine at Littleton. it takes the disposition of a saint to stand Hence in practise it pays better to take on the platform and see your goods roll by both mowing-machines straight through to to Seattle, then back to Spokane, and pay Denver, break up the train, and, in a day for hauling them all this useless distance, or two, send one of the machines back ten when they might just as well be put off at miles to Littleton in a car loaded for Little- Spokane. ton. This car is so placed on a local train So the goods were put off at Spokane, but that it is quickly and cheaply cut out and the bill is still $1.50. In other words, the dropped at Littleton without delaying thirty railroad has charged you for hauling or forty other cars. the goods to Seattle and back, although it 718 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. has not hauled them one inch of this dis- two dollars, and the charge to all cities in tance. Rank robbery again! But what are the "three-dollar zone" would be three you going to do about it? "Pass a law?" dollars, and so on. Just what kind of a law, please? The All this looks very nice on paper, and man who can properly word such a law even works fairly well in practise, but how will make himself famous, for before doing about two cities near together, say twenty so he must solve one of the hardest problems miles apart, one in the eastern part of the in the actual operations of a railroad. In "three-dollar zone," and the other in the the case of Spokane and Seattle, the two western edge of the "two-dollar-zone?" places are each large enough to make them Here the two cities are only a short distance more or less equal, and the problem is tan- apart, yet the charge is one-half more to gled, but in the case of Littleton and Den- one than to another. This fifty per cent ver, as I have illustrated, the same principle difference in freight rates from the Atlan- appears in a much clearer manner. tic seaboard spells ruin for the city in the If Spokane is to have certain rights equal • " three-dollar-zone," because the city so near to Seattle, then how about Littleton hav- it in the " two-dollar-zone " will, sooner or ing the same rights as compared to Denver? later, run it out of business, and reduce it But if Littleton has these equal rights, then to a comparatively dead town. how about the lack of great switch yards Now all this may seem merely abstract till at Littleton ? One cannot build many side- you own real estate in that " three-dollar- tracks and maintain a night-and-day signal zone" city, and your rent income drops service at every little jerk-water station, steadily every year. This, in fact, is what where the freight in some cases will not is happening every day to thousands of real average one car a week. estate owners, and the problem to them be- Now here are some of the actual physical comes a very live and important one, in- conditions under which a railroad operates, deed. Yet just how to adjust even this ques- and how to adjust the bills to such con- tion so that things will be right all the way ditions constitutes the whole problem of round we have not yet learned. Even the " freight rates. Clearly the " mileage Basis Supreme Court of the United States does will not do, and the "joint cost" system not know and does not pretend to know. seems to be full of weak spots, while the The usual solution proposed by the combination of the two systems simply three-dollar-town is to demand the two-dol- causes new problems to spring into life. lar rate, regardless of the fact that then the This brings us to the " zones," or certain town still farther west can, on the same prin- sections of country under a "blanket rate," ciple, demand the same two-dollar-rate, and " and a " blanket rate " you will remember so on till the last, the ten-dollar-zone," is is one where the charges from a collection reached. Of course this will not do, for of shipping points are the same, regardless then we would have a " flat " rate reaching of conditions. In the part of the United clear across the continent, just like the States where "the blankets" are most used, postage-stamp system. that is, from the Atlantic seaboard to the This very postage-stamp system has even Mississippi River and north of the Ohio been seriously proposed by some individuals River, the territory is divided into different as a possible solution of the freight- rate " zones." problem. Still it seems hardly right to For instance, say for the first hundred charge a man as much for shipping from miles out of New York the charge is one New York to Albany as it does from New dollar, for the first two hundred miles the York to Los Angeles. The Albany man charge is two dollars, etc., all the way to would find fault, and give loud and long the Mississippi River. utterance to that universal cry, "our rate Now it is easily seen that such a system is too high." of freight charges would divide the country I could go on for many pages giving one into "zones," according to the distance detail after another of the problems that from New York, Boston or any other At- confront the freight-rate man, and through lantic seaboard city. There would be the him, the nation, for as I said in the be- "two-dollar zone," for instance, and the ginning this question of freight rates touches this " three-dollar zone " next to it. The charge swiftly and deeply every pocket in to all cities in the two-dollar zone would be country, though few persons realize it. The second article on "The A. B. C. of F eight Rates" will appear in our next issue. LAZY BILL BEN TA K BY S. O. CONLEY. Had He Not Been Such a Tight -Wad, the King's Treasury Might Have Remained Intact. L HE king wore a crown made of the veil of the uplifted sand had been re- an iron band studded with moved, no eye could discern the king, for brilliants. The king's fore- he had entered his pyramid, and his mare head was low, and avarice was hitched in the shade at its base. He had set its seal upon his face. locked himself in, and began to gloat over His nose shot out from his his enormous and dazzling store. profile like a hook used by sailors when Diamonds, rubies, charmed bracelets, an- catching sharks. It was a nose of active tique rings, jewels worn by Noah, before mien, and seemed ever ready to smell out and after the flood, together with his rich hidden money. drugs, golden candlesticks, pearl-headed The ingenious limner who carved the canes, images in gold and silver, crocodiles portrait of that venerable ruler upon the with emerald eyes, amber full of jet flies, everlasting granite that marks the entrance silver lizards, and bronze serpents miracu- to the Province of Gowat, chiseled beneath lously formed. it the statement that King Olfactus's name Ali Bentak, the humble stone-mason who had been given to him because of the pe- built the pyramid, lay on the bed in the culiar prominence of his olfactory organ. second floor, front, of his unpretentious The king was a miser, and ordered a dwelling on Salem thoroughfare, Egypt. stone-mason to build him a small pyramid His breath came feebly; he was almost ash- —a sort of stone purse wherein he could en in pallor. The doctor who had been at- lock up bis untold wealth. In those days tending him for weeks shook his perfumed money was not loaned out at interest, and curls and waved an everlasting adieu. Wall Street was unheard of, happily for the The good old stone-mason was dying; a simple-minded Egyptians. lingering illness was dragging him into the So the king had the pyramid built, and realms of " the mystic beyond." His widow- during the long, weary winter nights he had to-be leaned over his couch. She was a his hoards quietly carted to his treasury. hard-working woman, and toil had given her One morning at breakfast, while he was eat- a sad countenance. Her left eye squinted, ing his oil-smeared fish and drinking his and was tearful ; her right eye was out, and, wine, the factotum reported that the deposit therefore, could do nothing. had been completed, and, lo! the key! Two youths stood beside the bed of the The king jumped from his seat at the coming mummy. They were his sons; two table and cried: "My mare! My mare! idle boys who had done nothing to earn a The desert!" living beyond holding horses and sweeping The slave bowed his black head, and in the streets of their native city. The stone- a few moments the neigh of the capari- mason, having been the architect of the soned animal was heard at the gate. king's treasury, had nothing to leave his The king mounted—he of the deep, cop- children save a secret and a blessing. per-colored face, he of the nose—and, with What he had put up, he philosophized, the speed of the wind, he sped across the that also could he tear down; and as his plain. A cloud of dust obscured the hori- bill for labor at one dollar and seventy-five zon marking, his trail; but an instant after cents a day had not been paid by the king, 719 720 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. he had no compunction of conscience. He tak sparkled with a few rare stones of name- beckoned to William C. Bentak, his eldest less value, and the dining-room displayed a and laziest son, to draw near. sumptuous supper. ''I have a secret, Bill," said the mason; Frequent were the incursions made into " and, before I die, I want to tell it to you. the hoards by those children of want; aye, " I built, you know, the pyramid for that so frequent and so incursive were they that avaricious old fossil, King Olfactus. He the aged Olfactus was bewildered. His has his treasure in it, and goes there nightly gods were leaving his heaven! Not singly, to see it. but in handfuls, his coins were winging "When he leaves he locks the door and their flight. His crocodile's eyes had been puts his seal upon it, so that any one get- picked out, and his mythology was orbless. ting in will have to break the wax, and the Even his coral eagle had lost its golden king will find him out. There are no win- front teeth. dows in the pyramid, and, therefore, there Where was this to end? Who was the is but one way of entering, and that is evil spirit who was to finish it and him? through the door." In vain he searched with his hooked nose Here old Ali Bentak gave a knowing look among his chests and boxes. In vain he at his son, who winked away a tear and was examined every corner of his mine. No all attention. red gnome or spirit-bat was found tucked "Perhaps there is another way of getting beneath a ruby or crouching in the shady into the strong box," he continued; "and side of a diamond. Amazement filled the perhaps there is a stone-mason who knows king— despair, the miser. Twofold emo- it. By the tail of the holy crocodile, there tions took possession of the twofold man. is! Four blocks up on the side fronting He had entered his treasury, and, as east there is a stone that turns 'On a pivot. usual, the sacred seal of the kingdom was " The eye of the holy ibis might search unbroken. He tapped on the walls; it was in vain to find it, but it is there. Touch it like striking a skull—a dead sound was the where you see a rude and very small mark only answer. He appealed to the ibis, the that looks as if it had been made by the bull, the crocodile, and all other sacred ani- slip of a chisel, and—you can get in. There mals in Egypt's holy "zoo," that he had is a corresponding mark on the inside, and been robbed and robbed vilely; and the by pressing that you can get out." worst of it was he could not discover the Finishing the thread of his discourse, he robber. gave his bronze-colored soul to the protec- Why not take all the treasure away and tion of the holy crocodile and the holy ibis, thwart the miscreant, he thought ? Why not and started for the domain of mummydom. cast it far and wide over the Lybian sands Old Ali Bentak had been sewn into his that stretched southward and westward from last shroud and placed in the front line of his regal home? Why not give it to the the long ranks of mummies in the cata- cutpurses of the desert; build churches to combs, and his widow and sons looked the sacred birds and beasts; crown his around them and bethought of the pyramid. queen with a diadem whose light would As it was the work of the late lamented make her dusky beauty shine like a star head and guide of the family, they felt over the dim mountains of the moon? But a natural pride in this monument to his the old Shylock of the Nile left his great genius. wealth in the dark vault, for its luster to Mrs. Ali Bentak was too proud to take shine on the somber walls and cheer the in washing and too old to marry again, so bandit in his foul success. she entered her right of dower to the secret, The king ate no supper that night, and, and suggested to her hopeful offsprings the next morning, his breakfast left the table excitement that would attend a midnight untouched. He mounted his trusty mare visit to the treasury department. During the and flew around the sacred depository of day it was but natural that the sons of Ali his treasure. No bird had lit upon the apex Bentak should walk around the pyramid of the edifice; no serpent coiling through and admire the handiwork of the man who the blazing sands had wriggled its way to had built it: and while thus listlessly en- cool its scaly skin in the dark shadows of gaged they easily discovered the mark made the walls. The wind from the lone lands by the chisel, and they took note of it. of Africa had hidden the footsteps of the That night the bureau of Mrs. Ali Ben- mason's sons, and all was mystery and all LAZY BILL BENTAK. 721 was dim. Those sisters of seclusion, Silence the worried, fretted, frightened, puzzled and Safety, reigned supreme. king began to lay his plans for the morrow. A storm had gathered in the Afric air. Wrapped in his dressing-gown and his The day had fled, and the night, the rob- thoughts, he drew a chair before the fire ber's friend, was abroad in the land. Loud and, in it, fell asleep. howled the blast, and the mysterious Nile William C. Bentak had cut off his broth- chafed against her reed-fringed banks. The er's head to save his own. He believed Uiat monstrous deities of her flood found safety the force of this argument would acquit him in their muddy shrine as they listened to of premeditated murder. Had both been the rattling thunder of the skies. detected, he soliloquized, both would have All was gloom and darkness, tempest and been destroyed; and, to prevent the secret terror. And, in the midst of it, the broth- being discovered, he had removed the only ers once more left their home for their evidence against himself—his brother's Egyptian El Dorado. The stone turned on speechless head. its pivot, and they entered. A torch was The next morning the king was busy is- lighted and stuck into the ground. William suing an edict. That edict commanded that C. Bentak and his brother picked their way every inhabitant, from the oldest to the in quest of the golden stores. William lift- youngest, of his city and the neighborhood ed from an open box a bracelet that was within a radius of one hundred miles, worth a battle between nations. His brother should pass before a gibbet on which was was staring in hypnotic admiration at the to be exposed the body of the unfortunate sparkling eyes of an ivory god. thief. "Hark! There is a voice at the door! Soldiers were placed near the gibbet whose " The wax is being broken ! Quick ! Fly ! duty it was to scrutinize the face of every It was the younger brother who spoke. person who passed, to see if they could trace Both started to escape. William was first any expression of recognition. By ten out of the secret passage, and his brother o'clock the public square was crowded with was following; but the king was too fast. the dusky people. They passed on, won- He had entered. just in time to see a body dering, but not recognizing. None knew fall to the floor. the mason's son. The gleain of a sword, and the deed was In Egypt, in those days, death was looked done. William C. Bentak severed his upon as a peculiar institution of nature, and brother's head from its body, and the secret great care was paid to the bodies of the de- opening snapped closed. He seized the gory parted. Without burial they could not pass head and fled from the pyramid into the that glorious gulf which separates mortality sheltering seclusion of the stormy night. from immortality. An unattended mummy He gloried in his freedom, and in the was no mummy at all, and was excluded fact that he was outside of his brother's from that paradise where the highest enjoy- tomb. With his brother's head in his hand, ment is a full and social intercourse with he reveled in knowing that he had left the the crocodile, the ibis, and the bull. king inside with the lifeless trunk, and Will- " You must bury your brother," said Mrs. iam C. Bentak ran on and on. Ali Bentak to Bill. The king thought that he had made a " How can I ? " asked the son. gallant, capture; but the lifeless, headless " You must bury your brother," repeated body before him only added to his misery Mrs. Bentak, with seemingly unnecessary and chagrin. He looked around and won- vehemence. " And," she added, " if you do dered whether he was in a dream, or whether not, I will tell old Olfactus all about it." the inmates of the sacred " zoo " had given William Bentak left the room, and pro- him into the hands of conjurers. Then it ceeded to saddle his mother's mule. In the dawned upon him that he had no time to panniers of the impervious leather he poured waste in thinking, i| he wanted to catch the wine; in the. wine he poured a poisonous culprit. opiate ; in the saddle he deposited his per- He dragged the body out through the door son, and made his way toward the public and onto the wet sands. He reentered, ex- place. The sun was setting. . Tower and tinguished the torch, locked the pyramid, dome and steeple glowed in its ruddy splen- and hastened back to his palace. His pri- dor; and afar, over the sands, the wind be- vate guard was commanded to fetch the gan its mourning wail; but onward, in the headless body from the pyramid; and dien deepening twilight, jogged the fratricide. 10 R R 722 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. The people had obeyed, in awe and si- Nile, the crocodile, and his brethren in holi- lence, the dread mandate of the law, and ness, the ibis and the bull, am willing to pardon the wonderful man who has robbed had returned to their homes to talk over the my coffers, killed part of my brave and vic- wonders of the affair. The guard, with torious army, and robbed the gallows of its their white shawls folded over their heads, fruit. with spears and heavy stone and armed Not only do I pardon him, but I invite hammers, were grouped about the base of him to come forward on the fourth day of the gibbet. They were tired with the weary the next moon and stand before my daughter, and useless ordeal. the beautiful Princess Sophina, who will be William Bentak dismounted from his present on that day, beneath the palms in mule and carelessly approached the group. the Golden Hall of the Whispers, in my pal- ace of the Silver Peach. And if he will re- He was the only civilian among the sol- count to her, and prove that he is the person dier}-. It was but an instant's work to prick who performed the aforesaid wonders, he a hole in one of the panniers and let the shall have the hand of my daughter in mar- wine flow out. Speedily it observed was by riage for his astounding and wonderful acts. the tired guardsmen. They rushed to the wine sacks they filled the hollow of their — This was signed in the name of the croco- hands — they pressed their mouths to the dile, and posted in die public square. It aperture they laughed at die rider's well- — had a wonderful effect. affected grief. And what was it to them The Princess Sophina was beautiful whose wine it was so long as they could among women—lovely, but not whiter than drink it! the lotus of the Nile—and heiress to die The wine was not tardy in its potent ef- large estates of the monarch. Day by day fect. Through the brain, through the mar- the princes and peasants filed into the Hall row of the bones, through die arteries of of Whispers to tell their gruesome, concoct- the heart, it flew like molten quicksilver, ed tales. Hope had inspired them with wit, and, worse than the arrows of die sand- and their tongues were eloquent, but none enveloped Bedouin, it killed the life within could account for the mystery of the them; and, one and all, the captain and his pyramid. men were stretched upon the ground. Then, The princess sat in patience. Flowers of with all the dead about him in the thick infinite size and hue exhaled their loaded gloom of the evening, William C. Bentak sweets on the air of the capacious hall; tore his brother's bodv from the tribbet and wondrous birds fluttered from branch to fled to the safety of his mother's house. branch in the evergreen palm-trees of this Poor old Olfactus. His eyes turned so wilderness of shrubbery; and, chained by red from weeping, his famous nose so blue a golden link, a huge crocodile spread his from constant blowing, and his totter- step so flabby feet in a tub of marble inlaid with ing that many thought he had a life begun gold and precious stones, sighing occasion- of dissipation. His treasury invaded, his ally for a freer bath in his beloved and na- guards murdered, the rescued, the cul- body tive Nile. Music, ever and anon, floated prit fled, and, worse than all, the secret of upon the incensed air from unseen instru- the mysterious entrance to the un- pyramid ments, filling the place with melody and raveled ! voluptuous languor. He could not understand the croco- why Sophina listened to the recital of the gal- dile, the ibis, and the bull had been so un- lants of her father's court and the peasants kind to him. He had -acted like king, a he of the highways, amid this scene of inspira- had been open and aboveboard, and there tion, but none could win a smile of credul- was no guile in any of his commands. Why ity from her roseate lips. Like the ima<*e not change it all? Ha! Ha! He would of Silence and Thought, the Sphynx of the be tricky, and he would beguile. He would Sand, she heard, but she answered not. show the populace that in his old bald head — Olfactus was all on fire. He wandered there were a few ideas worth knowing. So about his palace, and he visited his pyra- he feigned wonder and admiration for the mid; but only broke its sacred seal to find cleverness of the mysteries, and published a some other treasure gone—more money lost. brief exposition of his royal views and in- By the yellow snakes of Egypt! what was tentions, in which he said:. to be done? Be it known that I, King Olfaclus, under A figure wrapped in a flowing robe stood the blessing of the great water-god of the before the princess. Two dark and glaring " — LAZY BILL BENTAK. 723 eyes gazed upon her beauty; two eyes that She looked at its withered flesh, its shrunken seemed endowed with the expression of inex- arm, its almost rotting bones. The guards tinguishable suspicion flashed into her soul. gathered around her. They gazed in won- Those eyes read her heart, read her brain, der at the new demonstration from the land read her diplomacy. For one instant they of mysticism. They pursued not the demon wandered toward the shrubbery, and a smile that had just fled upon his wings of gloom. played from the mouth to the eyebrow of the The king tottered into the chamber and de- mantle-covered stranger. The princess was manded the person, who was to be given over seated in a regal chair; the visitor stood di- to torture. rectly in front of her. They were alone, "That hand! That arm! " cried the king. for he had waited until all had departed, "Is his—the fiend's!" exclaimed the baffled and disappointed. daughter; and the skeleton arm fell from " Speak," said the princess, impatient at her grasp to the floor. William C. Bentak his silence. had had the right arm of his brother con- "I know all, and did all!" replied the cealed under his cloak. stranger. "In vain! In vain! Oh, crocodile! Oh, " "Ah! Then tell me." ibis ! Oh, bull ! cried the thwarted king. She listened to the slow and deliberate " Witchcraft and priest-jugglery are against narrative, wondering how so simple a thing me ! By the dome of the eternal catacombs, could have baffled the wisdom of her father. let me die! let me dief Oh, crocodile, take The narrator had just finished, when she, me to thy home ! Oh, ibis, take me to thy too anxious to obey the secret orders of the dominion! Oh, bull— king, hurried forth her hand to seize him, The king fell in a swoon. her fair mouth opening to call the guards Two nights afterward he visited his pyra- hidden behind the convenient shrubbery. mid. More and more of his jewels had gone. He, too, extended his willing and unsuspi- The third night, as he was approaching the cious hand to receive hers. She seized it treasury, a pale green light effused from the with a cry of joy—and William C. Bentak secret entrance. Quietly he entered the pyra- fled. mid by that aperture, and caught William He fled the palace, he fled the court, he C. Bentak in the act of locking a chest. threw his coat aside, he showed both his On the following day his majesty's head hands as he crossed the street. He sought was mysteriously placed on the gibbet in the his mother's humble house, and again was public square. Beneath it was a card bear- safe. ing this inscription: "He robbed his own ,The princess gazed on her suitor's hand. treasury." AN INTERURBAN SLEEPER. A SLEEPING-CAR on an interurban line is battery and not from the trolley. With this ar- not an entirely new thing in this country, rangement the light burns with the same uniform- but such cars as are now being operated daily be- ity at all times, and makes it possible for one to tween Peoria, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, read after retiring if wishing to do so. are proving a boon to the traveler as well as some- A small wall safe is also provided in each com- thing of a curiosity. partment, for the protection of money or other Upon entering a compartment to prepare for valuables. This in itself is a unique and a valu- the night's rest, one finds that the bed to be occu- able addition to the sleeping-car. Upon arising in pied is folded snugly into the wall and that a the morning the cot is again folded into the wall, chair, placed in a comfortable space, is waiting for and the small camp-chair is again used while the passenger. dressing. If the upper berth is not sold it is not let down, The toilet-rooms at each end of the car are which permits of standing upright if desired. roomy and well equipped, and after the prepara- When ready to retire the cot is drawn out from tions for the day are over you return to your berth, the wall, and if tall, you will find to your great when the thoughtfulness of the company surprises relief that it is six inches longer than any berth one still more, for you are served by a porter with you have over occupied, and permits of stretching 'hot coffee and rolls with butter, free of charge. out to full length. We are told that he is amply paid, and the com- In the wall at the head of the bed is an electric pany does not permit him to accept any tips. light, which obtains its current from a storage Scientific American. Holding Up the "Cannon Ball." BY SAM HENRY. THE TRUE STORY SERIES. To think coolly and act quickly while looking down the barrel of a revolver in the hands of a desperate outlaw, requires a nerve one seldom meets in the day's run. With the long list of railroaders who have been killed by train-robbers in mind, the engineer who keeps his mouth shut and does as he is told under such circumstances can justly feel that he has done all that could be expected of him. Engineer Con- verse did not believe in carrying firearms. He did his part and did it well, pitting his wits against the train-robbers' pistols and winning a fight which might never have been won with bullets. TRUE STORY, NUMBER FIFTY-TWO. A Train Robbery That Missed Fire and Ended in a Bloodless Victory for the Train Crew Through the Quick Wits of a Plucky Throttle-Handler. OLONEL, your soldier comrade arkana. Leaving Houston at 5 p. m., we certainly displayed wonderful arrived at Texarkana at 9 a. m., making presence of mind. Your story the three hundred and sixty-five miles in about him reminds me of an sixteen hours. Stopping only at county seats incident, in my railroad ex- and junctions, this train was the fastest in perience, in which the main Texas, at that time. actor was also a soldier, having taken part "Well I remember the engine-boys who in our family row of the early sixties, though had the honor of pulling us! One of them at the time of the exhibition of courage and was William Converse. He won the respect presence of mind of which I shall tell you, of all his fellow railroad men, as he used he was an engineer on a train called the the choicest language, was always retiring, ' Cannon Ball,' which the Gould system, in and never given to swagger. If you saw the early eighties, was running, solid, from him arriving from his run, his overalls Galveston, Texas, to St. Louis, Missouri. would still be neat, and the tips of his white '" I was sorting mail on this train for collar always showed above a well-fitting ' Uncle Samuel ' between Houston and Tex- jumper. Editor's Note: All the stories published in this True Story Series have been carefully veri- fied by application to officers or employees of the roads or companies concerned who are in a position to be acquainted with the facts. Contributors should give us the names of responsible persons to whom we may apply for such verification, in order that fruitless inquiries may be avoided. This condition does not imply any lack of confidence in the veracity of our contributors, but is imposed merely to give greater weight and authenticity to the stories. Strict began in the October, 1906, Railroad Man's Magazine. Single copies, 10 centa. 724 HOLDING UP THE " CANNON BALL." 725 "Pulling the throttle of engines since the bridge except the mail and baggage 1866, and an engineer on the I. and G. N., cars. Five of their pals, they said, were between Longview and Galveston, since waiting there, who, if tricked, would kill 1875, he is, to-day, pulling No. 5 and No. Mr. Converse, should it take twenty years 6 between Longview and Palestine, still to do so. making schedule time on these fast trains. "But now to our story of the part this Too Much for the Fireman. man played in an attempted train-robbery which occurred the latter part of Septem- " After we got under good headway, the ber, 1885. fellow who had the porter in tow on the " Ours was a fast through train, and we end of my car, knocked him on the head were always believed to have lots of money and pushed him off. He then started to aboard, particularly in the fall or cotton climb up over the tender to join his pals in season, when the banks of Houston and die cab, but coming over die tank he Galveston shipped currency daily to the slipped, and fell headlong into the gang- country banks to move the cotton crop. The way of the engine, accidentally discharging government must have realized that we ran his pistol. The fireman, covered by an- some risk in consequence, because they sup- other one of the robbers, who had been try- plied us mail clerks with old army pistols, ing to frighten him by sticking his gun as long as your arm, with the warning, how- into his face and telling him he didn't care ever, that if they disappeared we should whether it went off or not, had been press- have them to pay for. ing up into the cab window, and was now so startled that he went out backwards. Didn't Tote a Gun. "Mr. Converse was also badly startled. He jammed on the air, almost stopping "Mr. Converse was in my car at Hous- the train, but the man cpvering him shoved ton one day, getting a drink of water, while his pistol along his ear and commanded I happened to be hiding my old army blun- him to go ahead. Mr. Converse asked if the derbuss under some sacks, and, seeing what fireman had been killed, and was informed I was doing, he remarked that I evidently that he had caught the last sleeper. " ' did not intend to use it if held up. No, ' I am sorry, for your sake, if that's sir,' I replied. ' It is my opinion that when the case,' said Mr. Converse, ' because, you men get sufficiently desperate to hold up a know, captain, the State penitentiaries are train they value human life very little, and both on this road, Huntsville being only a I am not going to do anything that will short distance away, and the convict guards give them an excuse to use me as a target.' are constantly traveling back and forth, " He said that he, also, looked at the mat- i ter as I did, and therefore never carried a The Train Was a Fort. gun on his engine. " " At our first station out. Spring, twenty- ' They carried a hundred or more con- three miles from Houston, where we had victs to the State farm, near Houston, yes- exchanged these remarks, I heard the por- terday, to pick cotton, and I saw eight of ter, on the opposite side from the station, these guards, returning to-day, get on our shouting at some tramp, as I thought, to train at Houston. All had shotguns and get off. Then I heard him say, ' All right, side-arms, and if that fireman caught the boss,' and I looked out to see him trotting train, as you say he did, the mail and bag- along ahead of a man with a pistol in his gage cars are regular arsenals by this time, hand. and some one will certainly be killed if you " The train was moving off very slowly, attempt to carry this job through.' and they had no trouble climbing aboard " The robber lost his nerve, pleaded with the front end of my car. Then two more him to save them, and threatened that if . fellows came from behind lumber-piles they were hurt his pals would, sooner or alongside of the track, and boarded the en- later, kill Converse. "' gine, with pistols in their hands, which they Captain, I have a plan,' said the en- pointed at the, engineer and fireman. gineer. "I will stop the train on the " They ordered them to pull down to bridge, allowing only the pilot to reach the the San Jacinto River bridge, five miles bank. You can then shout to your com- away, and stop with all the coaches on rades in die brush to run for their lives, — 726 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. and then join them by climbing out over the a passenger, there wasn't a thing on the running-board and going down the track, train that could have made powder smoke. keeping the engine between you and the "And the best of it is, that we never train, so that the guards cannot get a shot learned the story of how the robbers were at you.' frightened away from Mr. Converse at all. "This plan evidently met with the rob- We got it from one of the robbers—from bers' approval, for, arriving at the- bridge, the leader himself, in fact—who was cap- their leader called to his pals in the brush tured about five years later, after doing a to run—that the train was a veritable fort. similar job farther west. In giving an ac- "They then took off down the track at count of the hold-up, he said that he had a speed which would have done credit to since learned how. he had been tricked, but a Texas bronco, firing back at the engine that Mr. Converse's story was so logical to intimidate Mr. Converse, so that he and coolly told that, at the time, he had should not pull up and allow the guards not doubted a word. to give chase. "If you knew Mr. Converse as I do, you "The truth of the matter is this: with would agree with the robber, who said of ' the exception of the messenger's old sawed- him : That engineer was the nerviest fel- '" off. my army pistol, and a .32 belonging to low I ever saw! BALLOON-POWER RAILROAD. A RAILROAD on which the motive power regulate the supply of gas. Safety devices are at is supplied by a balloon, is certainly a hand in case of accident. novelty. Such a railroad has been constructed in Before the car starts up the mountain the bal- Austria under government supervision. Its object loon is charged with sufficient gas to enable it to is to carry passengers up and down Hochstaufen ascend to the summit, and when the top is reached Mountain at Bad Reichenhall. and all is ready for the return journey, some of the The top of this mountain affords a splendid gas is permitted to escape, whereupon the car view ; but the climb to the summit is tedious and starts down hill, its speed being checked by the uninteresting. Accordingly, it was decided that retarding effect of the gas still left in the balloon. the tourists who visit the place would appreciate It was not until the most rigorous investigations the labors of the captive balloon devised to con- had been made and the comparative safety of this vey them to the summit. method of journeying demonstrated, that permis- The balloon was made to run along a track built sion was given to build the railroad. There are at the side of the road-bed. A trailer with many many novel safety devices to prevent accident. wheels clasps this wooden rail, or track, and the The tank and generator from which the gas is passenger-car is fastened to the trailer. drawn answer the double purpose of supplying The operator sits in the car, with a cord swing- power for the railway and furnishing gas for illu- ing .between him and the balloon by which he can minating the town. Chicago Record-Herald. PIGEON AGj S AS PILOT. BLUE pigeon with a peculiar fondness for owner was W. Hall, a resident of Malvern, who A J. railroading, for several months past has took the pigeon home with him, but lets it loose been flying with the Iron Mountain trains be- that it may make its trips with the train. tween Walco and Gurdon, Arkansas, a distance of On one trip, Engineer Gollcher, who was in the thirty-four miles. The bird is known as the cab, tried to overtake it, but it was no use—the " Royal Blue Flier." and it generally keeps just pigeon always stayed just ahead. When the train ahead of the engine on a level with the head- slopped at Arkadelphia for water, the bird flew light, stopping to rest when a station is reached. out to one side and rested in a tree until the fire- For a long lime the pigeon was regarded as a man rang his bell for the start, when it resumed bird of mystery, for its origin was unknown, and its place just in front of the headlight, flying at a it eluded all attempts to capture it. Not long suitable speed to remain about the same distance ago. however, it was finally made a prisoner by ahead, whether the train was going slow or fast. Special Agent J. M. Lambert while it was perched Some of the trainmen are said to regard it as on the headlight of engine 28, which had stopped a hoodoo, and fear that its presence portends some at Witherspoon. He succeeded in getting up to disaster to them, but as yet no accident has hap- the front of the locomotive, and, reaching around pened to a crew while the bird was along. Others tin- smokestack, grabbed the bird. look upon the pigeon as a pet, and are always glad Lambert shortly afterward discovered that its to have it join them on a trip. — Ten Thousand Miles by Rail. BY GILSON WILLETS. Special Traveling Correspondent of "The Railroad Man's Magazine." No. 8.—STORIES OF THE ST. LOUIS UNION STATION. The Con, the Burglar, and the Actor—The Peace-Making of Tom Mooney " Lucky " Herren and His Quarry—The Millions for Which Charlie Gilpin Is Still Waiting. ULLMAN CONDUCTOR FRO- Fromeyer noted that the window curtains MEYER was sitting in section of stateroom A were drawn tight, notwith- 10, car 3, outside of stateroom standing the fact that it was on the shady A. This stateroom was occu- side of the car. pied by a passenger whom It was a Chicago and Alton trtiin. Conductor Fromeyer at first Toward sunset it was within an hour of regarded as exclusive, then as mysterious. St. Louis. Conductor Fromeyer was think- All the way down from Chicago this pas- ing about the occupant of stateroom A. senger .had kept his door locked, having There were seven or eight passengers in opened it only once an inch or so to hand the car. In section 9, opposite the one in out his ticket, just after the train had left which Fromeyer was taking his ease, sat a the Windy City. young man, fashionably dressed. Fro- Whenever the train stopped at a station meyer watched the young man intently aa Scries began In June Railroad Man's Magazine. Single copies, 10 cents. 727 728 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. he took a suit-case from under his seat, " Take my suit - case to the platform, opened it, rummaged among its contents, please." and finally took out a clean handkerchief. The porter did as requested; then said The young man dien closed the suit-case to the actor: and put it back under his seat. Mean- "That bag o' your'n is some hefty, time, Fromeyer noticed that the stenciled boss. Seems like you was carryin' a line " initials on the suit-case were J. J. W." o' hardware." " Guess I'll go to the diner and get a bite while we run into St. Louis," said J. It Was Some Heavy. " I open J. \Y. to Conductor Fromeyer. save time eating merely there to-night—and I'll by "No; neckwear," answered J. now." J. W. with a smile. "Here," hailing a "One of the profession?" asked Fro- station-porter, "put this bag on a cab." meyer. After the station-porter had placed the " Yes. We're playing at the Olympic suit-case at the driver's feet on the cab he Theater." He hastened forward to the turned to the actor and exclaimed: diner. "Gee, but that bag's got weight into it, No sooner had the actor left the car than mister!" something happened that greatly excited "What's the matter with all you por- Fromeyer's curiosity. The door of state- ters?" said J. J. W., again smiling. "You room A opened and the mysterious pas- must be weaklings. That bag is not heavy senger stepped out, carrying a suit-case. at all." Then he called to the driver: " He went directly to section 9, just vacated Southern Hotel!" by the actor, and sat down, placing his When the cab pulled up at the Southern suit-case on the seat in front of him. the bell-boy who came out and carried the suit-case of the arriving guest to the desk Not a Regular Occupant. wiped the perspiration from his brow, though it was a cool day in November. The man was unshaved, his hair un- "Your bag is sure loaded with ore," kempt, his clothes slouchy—not at alLthe the boy said to the actor, after the latter registered sort of person who usually occupied expen- had himself as "J. J. Wilson, sive stateroom A. New York." Looking across at the Pullman conduc- "You're all crazy in St. Louis," an- tor, the man threw open his coat, revealing swered Wilson. " Here's my key. Num- a badge. ber 424. Carry that bag up for me." "I'm Captain McNaughton, chief of po- In his room, Wilson hurriedly opened lice of Hot Springs, Arkansas," he said to his bag with the intention of putting on Fromeyer. "So kindly pay no attention some clean linen before going to the thea- to what I am about to do. I'm after a cer- ter. As he lifted the cover he stared in tain man. You must neither see nor hear." dumb amazement. The man with the badge pulled from Only men of certain professions would under the seat the suit-case marked "J. J. have recognized the contents of that bag. W." He opened it, took out a bath-robe, A newspaper man would have known, in bath-slippers, two shirts, a bag of collars, a general way, the nature of the imple- and a tin box labeled "make-up." Then ments. he opened his own suit-case and dumped its contents in their entirety into the bag He Had Played Burglar. marked "J. J. W.," which he then restored to its place under the seat. Next, he placed A detective or a policeman would have in his own bag all the things he had re- been able to give each tool its name. One moved from the actor's suit-case, closed it, actor in ten might have been able to de- aro?e and carried it back to his stateroom, fine the uses of those heavy objects. pausing on the way only long enough to J. J. Wilson was the one actor in ten. say to Fromeyer: "A burglar's kit!" he exclaimed. " Mum's the word, conductor." Wilson had twice played the part of a When the train pulled into the Union burglar in melodramas, and he knew the Station at St. Louis the actor returned to uses of the folding jimmy, the rubber car > from the diner and said to the porter: gloves, the electric lamp, the "squeezer," : : TEN THOUSAND MILES BY RAIL. 729 and the " pitch " drills that were now re- looked at his watch. It was a quarter to vealed to his astonished eyes as part of the eight. " " " contents of his bag. Hang the bag ! he exclaimed. There's " Some one's playing a joke on me," he no time just now to take it to the police. muttered. " Maybe I'm cast to play bur- Here, boy, take this bag up to 424." glar again—and this is the work of some Hastening across the street to the Olym- manager who loves a practical joke. And pic Theater, which is directly opposite the yet—no, it can't be. What's the mystery, Southern Hotel, Wilson entered his dress- anyway? Supposing I'm caught with these ing-room ; then suddenly cried " things in my possession? It's against the By Jove ! I've forgotten my make-up. law. I'll take them to the police right Dresser—oh, dresser] " he called. away." A tired, seedy man thrust his head in at He emptied the bag of all else save the the door. burglar's outfit, then hurried with it to the " Go across the street to the Southern, elevator. As the elevator reached the lower quick!" commanded Wilson. "Here's my floor it jounced up and down a moment, key. Go up to 424 and get my make-up KINDLY PAV NO ATTENTION TO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO." box. Hurry! Make believe you're " going to a fire ! Five minutes later the dresser reap- peared. The first thing he did was to wink significantly at Wilson. " Well, where's the make-up ? " cried the actor. " I'll be called in less than twenty " minutes. Hand the box over, quick ! " I ransacked your room, Mr. Wilson. But I couldn't find your make-up box. I as elevators will in unskilled hands—and opened vour suit-case during the search, the bag flew open. and—" " Jiminy!" cried the elevator-boy, his eyes bulging. He winked at himself in the Caught with the Goods. elevator mirror as the actor hastily closed " the bag and stepped out of the car. Just Great guns, man ! You found those then, too, a bell-boy stepped up to Wilson, tools?" saying "Yes, sir. That's all right. I under- "You're wanted at the telephone, sir." stand. You're cast to rehearse a burglar's part here in St. Louis." The Journey Interrupted. "Never mind. Borrow make-up from somebody. Be quick!" Wilson hurried with his bag to the tele- After the play, Wilson went direct to the phone-booth, where some one on the wire club, where he performed his professional invited him to come to a certain club after "stunt," and then returned to the South- the show that night to do a professional ern. "stunt." "The clerk would like to speak to you, As he came out of the booth Wilson Mr. Wilson," said the bell-boy. " 730 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " I'm to be pinched for having that kit," the gates to the Rock Island train that was the actor thought. about to pull out for the Southwest. " Mr. Wilson,'" said the clerk when the "Well, here I am," he told himself. actor reached the desk, "a strange thing ""But how the old Harry am I to know has happened in your absence. Captain Captain McNaughton when I see him ? McNaughton, chief of police of Hot Just then a Pullman conductor stepped Springs—he's well known to us—called up to him, saying: and went up to your room and took pos- " You rode down with me from Chicago session of certain tools"—here the clerk yesterday, sir. You occupied section 9, — ' winked "that happened to be in your and you carried a suit-case marked J. J. suit-case. He left word that if you want the W.' All right, chief," turning- to a third personal belongings missing from your bag, man, "this is the actor." you're to come down to the Union Station " Hope this thing hasn't caused you any inconvenience, Mr. Wilson," said the stranger. " A burglar called ' Big Joe ' Finlay took liberties with your suit-case yesterday in the Pullman. He's wanted for robbing the Second National Bank of Hot Springs." Mr. McNaughton then in- troduced himself. "I don't understand," said Wilson. "What's the " game ? " Just this: Finlay knew I was after him. His pals passed him word through the car window at one of the stations on the way down from Chicago that I was waiting to nab him at St. Louis. Now, Finlay knew that I could arrest him only on suspicion. He knew, fur- ther, that to be caught with that burglar's kit would form most damaging evidence against him. So he con- trived to get rid of the "your bag is sure loaded with ore. tools by dumping them into your bag." before the Rock Island train pulls out for " But how and when did he do the Hot Springs at eight o'clock in the morn- trick?" asked Wilson. ing." More mystified than ever, Wilson went In the Trap. up to his room and found, surely enough, that some one had taken the burglar's kit. " It was while you were in the diner. He was awake all night, trying to make Finlay came out of his stateroom, showed a guess as to the meaning of the tools and a fake badge to the Pullman conductor of the visit of the chief of police of Hot here—" Springs. " Fromeycr's my name," put in the Pull- man conductor, shaking hands with Wil- He Meets the Detective. son. "Yes, I've Fromeyer to thank for the The next morning Wilson arrived at the fact that I nabbed Finlay, and also his Union Station and hastened through one of suit-case containing your property," said ' ! TEN THOUSAND MILES BY RAIL. 731 Captain McNaughton. "When I showed liked to air his views on international peace. up on the arrival of your train last eve- One day he said to a conductor, Ham ning, and told Fromeyer that I was after Stone, of the St. Louis local: a certain crook and described him, Fro- "Yes, sir, the day will come when the meyer cried: profession of arms, now regarded as hon- " ' Why, that's the man in stateroom A orable, will be deemed the most disgraceful It's all right, cap. He's in that room now. of callings." He hasn't come out yet. You've got him Declaring War. in a trap. So he isn't a chief of police at all, but just a bank-robber! That same evening, at ten o'clock, while " We then tried to open the stateroom door, Tom Mooney was sitting in his office smo- but it was locked on the inside. Fromeyer king his pipe of peace, four young men en- produced a key and we opened the door, tered excitedly. but the prisoner had flown. He had crawled Peering out through his ticket-window, out of the window. He left his suit-case the station - agent recognized four young behind, however—and here it is, Mr. Wil- men of Jerseyville, headed by Charlie son. Take out what belongs to you." Skates. "We'll get 'em here," said one of the The Lynx-Eyed Explains. quartet. " Yes ; they'll come here to take the train "But how were you able to trace me to for their punk town, Alton," said another. the Southern?" asked Wilson. Just then Tom Mooney stepped out of "Easy enough," replied Captain Mc- his office, saying: Naughton. "Mr. Fromeyer remembered " Sounds like you are declaring war that the initials on your suit-case were ' J. against some one." various hotels, " " " J. W.' We called up the Bet yer ! was the reply. Those four asking if any one with your initials had Alton fellers, with Curley Maretta leadin' registered, and so found you." 'em to the bad, have insulted us and the " But you say the bank-robber, Finlay, town of Jerseyville. They say that Jer- escaped by way of the window," said Wil- seyville isn't on the map, because we're son. "Yet you tell me you nabbed him. some short of the fifteen thousand popula- How's that?" tion of Alton, and because we're on a branch "Yes; we got him, all right. Fromeyer line of the railroad, while Alton's on the and I rushed into the station in the forlorn main. Yes, Mooney, they insulted us, and hope that perhaps we'd catch him passing somebody started something, and we're not through. We got as far as the cab-stand, through with 'em yet. We're layin' for 'em when Fromeyer suddenly cried: here." " There he is, captain—the man get- "You can't use this station for a battle- ' ting into that cab! field," announced Mooney authoritatively. " A minute later I had my man. Good- " Besides," he added, " why not settle your by, Mr. Wilson. Thank Fromeyer for the row peacefully? Instead of punching those fact that you got rid of those burglar's fellows' heads, why not meet 'em like gents tools so easily and that you recovered your and frame up a treaty of peace?" property. I'm taking Big Joe Finlay to Just then the four Altonites entered, and Hot Springs on this train, tools and all." one of the Jerseyville men cried: "Mooney, you stay out of this." The Would- Be Peacemaker. The Altonites certainly heard this warn- ing, yet one of them shouted: A Chicago and Alton conductor, out of "So you Jerseyvillians have got a reen- St. Louis, related this story: forcement, have you? Well, you bet he'll " If ever a railroad man loved peace, it was stay out of this ! Thomas Mooney, the Chicago and Alton station-agent at Jerseyville, Illinois, just The Fight Is On. north of St. Louis. Tom Mooney hated any- thing resembling a row. When the railroad With that, one of the Altonites seized a assigned him to Jerseyville he was over- framed time-table from the wall and joyed. He had heard that Jerseyville sim- smashed it on the agent's head. ply reeked with tranquillity. Tom Mooney This, of course, started the worst row : — 732 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. ever known in tranquil Jerseyville. The citing work of acting as a fire department, eight young warriors closed in, and a ter- however, some of the prisoners began edg- rific hand-to-hand fight ensued. ing away. " " " ! No, no ! cried the station-agent as he Stand still " commanded the consta- wiped the blood from his face. " Don't bles. " The first man who tries to escape " fight, boys ! gets shot." He hurled himself into the melee to sep- The prisoners were marched off to jail. arate the combatants, and received a blow The next morning Mooney arrived at the that sent him staggering across the room. wrecked depot, a mass of bandages and court Not content with hands for weapons, the plaster. warriors now grabbed various implements A Real Fighter, Now! of war, such as the poker, the coal-scuttle, the stove-shaker, and a lantern. One even "Why, Mooney! " exclaimed Ham Stone, lifted off the door from the red-hot stove the conductor of the morning local from St. and let it fly at the nearest of the foe. An- Louis, as he- entered the station to get his other produced a Bowie, and two of the orders, "you look like you'd been in a fight. enemy were badly cut. Thought you we.re a rooter for international While using these weapons on one anoth- peace." er, the battling champions of Alton and " I was, Mr. Stone," replied Mooney Jerseyville herded against the stove. They wearily, " but I ain't no more. Why, um- knocked it over, and the live coals set fire pires at ball-games get better treatment than to the building. peacemakers. Tom Mooney, wounded in a dozen places, "Look at this station! Not a stick of found himself lying flat under a heavy over- furniture left intact. Not even the cast-iron turned table, which, in the wrecking of the stove ! And it's colder to-day than the coast station, had been used as a battering-ram of Labrador. And then—gaze on me. I to fell him. say, look"~at me! One unkind warrior now proceeded to " Ain't I a sight? No, sir! I won't be an jump on the table with both feet, threaten- advocate of international peace any longer. ing to cru?h the life out of the man under- I'm. going to resign my job and enlist in the neath. United States army. Soldiering is far more At that critical moment two constables peaceful than railroading." burst into the room, armed with pistols and But you can't enlist in the army," pro- clubs. All the combatants, were imme- tested Ham Stone. " They won't have diately made prisoners of war. you." "Why?" Mooney Was Well-Creased. " Because, Tom Mooney, this here busi- ness of acting as peacemaker has caused you When they lifted the table from Mooney, to be disqualified physically now and for- however, they heard the well-pressed and ever as a soldier in any army in the world. well-creased station-agent saying in a weak A soldier is a fighting-machine. Do you voice think Uncle Sam wants a fighting-machine " You can't take me a prisoner of war that's been tinkered up in a repair-shop? " no, sir! I'm a non-combatant, that's what Not for a minute ! No ! I am. I was merely trying to restore peace when those fellers set upon me. I'm the In a Barber-Shop. flag of truce. I'm the red cross." " In that case. Mooney," said one of' the A buxom Juliet sat in the waiting-room constables. " you can stay by the wreck, of the Union Station, St. Louis, idling her while we tote these prisoners off to the cala- time until her Romeo returned from the bar- boose." ber-shop. " Fire! " shouted one of the prisoners, re- The rise of the curtain shows the bar- minding all that it would be a good thing ber-shop with three men sprawled in three to set to work and save what little of the chairs in the act of being shaved. Enter a station there was left. fourth customer, keen of eye, alert yet de- All hands, even the eight prisoners, be- liberate, who in a single glance round the gan fetching water, and soon the flames shop seems to take in everything and every- were extinguished. Having finished the ex- body. TEN THOUSAND MILES BY RAIL. 733 Noticing that he will have to wait, he sits Meantime he observed that the man's down, and, while pretending to read a news- trousers were ragged at the bottom, and that paper, makes mental inventor)' of the facial below the knee they were stained either by and physical features and the apparel of the blood or by chemicals. man in the chair nearest the door. When the man arose from the chair, Her- This observant man was one of the clev- ren took his place, sitting in such a position erest railroad detectives in St. Louis—Bill that in the mirror he could see every move Herren. He had never failed "to get his made by the red-headed man. He noted r- ONE UNKIND WARRIOR JUMPED ON THE TABLE. man." He had caught so many train-rob- that the man's coat was faded. As the man bers through sheer luck that he was called took his hat from a peg the detective saw "Lucky" Herren. that it was badly battered. "Never mind die brush," Herren heard What Herren Saw. the man say to the boy. "That man is now going to buy a new Herren noted that the man in the chair suit, after which he will patronize a hat- nearest the door had just had his red hair ter," mused Herren. cropped close, and that the barber was at The red-headed man, having searched present separating him from his red beard. his pockets for coin, produced a few nickels Herren noted further that the man wore new —not sufficient., however, to liquidate the shoes. barber's bill. "That man is gradually getting cleaned Suddenly, after a swift look round the up like one who has suddenly found money," shop, he turned toward the wall, shoved Herren told himself. his hand, deep into his trousers-pocket, ! 734 THE RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE. turned back, and proffered a bill of large nights ago, and for killing the messenger! denomination to the barber. I've got him—he's over in the Four Courts now!" " Couldn't Change It. " What's he to say for himself? "Nodiing—except to ask me to take a The tonsorial boss said he would have to message to that girl that's waiting for him go to the cigar-stand on the concourse to in the Union Station waiting-room. He get the bill changed, and, during the bar- described her, named her as Nora Tully, ber's absence, Herren noticed that the red- and asked me to give her his message." headed man acted nervously. "Well, what's the message?" The barber returned, and began counting out the change; but the customer stopped The Interrupted Wedding. the process, saying: " ' "Oh, that's all right." Merely this : Nora Tully, the wedding " At the same time, he seized the bunch of is interrupted temporary.' bills, rammed them into his pocket, and Some days later Herren again appeared started for die door. at the office of the chief of the Wabash secret Herren. his face covered with lather, service. jumped out of a chair. " You can close diat Chi St. Lou case on "Just a moment, my friend," he said, your books. He's dead," said Herren. stepping between the red head and the door. "Warden have to kill him?" asked the '• If you haven't urgent business elsewhere, chief. I'd like a little chat with you." "No. Suicide. Cyanid of potassium." Without making any answer, the man "Herren," said the chief, "you're the turned and rushed to the rear door—only luckiest man on the force. You first cap- to find it locked. In a flash then he turned, ture this train-robber by sheer accident; drew a six-shooter, and let fly at Herren. then your prisoner, by* poisoning himself, The shot went wild, and the detective saves us the trouble of trying him. Did he " bounded at his man, grasped the pistol with make any statement before shuffling off ? one hand, and began slowly choking his " Yes. He asked us to search the cheap prey with the other hand. Relentlessly Her- hotels near the Union Station for Nora ren's fingers closed upon the man's throat Tully, and give her his last message." until he collapsed. "Well, what's that message?" " ' Herren disarmed him, handcuffed him, Merely this : Nora Tully, the wedding " and, when the man was again able to is interrupted permanent.' breathe, led him away to the Four Courts. "Hanged if I know what he's wanted Gilpin's Lost Mine. for," Herren declared to the prison official. " But I'm reasonably certain he's wanted for Charlie Gilpin is not on the pay-roll of something. Hold him, anyway, for at- any railroad, yet he is a railroad man, and tempted manslaughter." one of die most interesting of the boys at the Union Station, St. Louis. Charlie has Just Knew He Was Wanted. been manager of the Union Station Cigar Company for nearly sixteen years. If you Herren went to the office of the chief of want to know about anything that has hap- the Wabash secret service in St. Louis, and pened in the station at anytime in all the said: sixteen years, ask Charlie. " Do you happen to want a man with red Gilpin is the hero of my tale— the tale of a hair, a red beard, a scar on the right cheek, lost mine. the tip of his left trigger- finger missing, and Some lost mines exist only in a legendary a roll of bank-bills of big denomination on sense—but Charlie Gilpin's is a sure- " his person ? enough, really-truly lost mine. It's some- "The secret-service chief thought a mo- where in the Sierra Madres, in the State ment, then exclaimed: of Chihuahua, Mexico, and some day Gil- " " Chi St. Lou ! pin may suddenly cry, like Monte Cristo, Herren sprang up, saying: "I thought " The world is mine sol It's Chi St. Lou— wanted for that hold- Gilpin put up real money to outfit an up of the express messenger on a train two expedition to find that lost mine, and the TEN THOUSAND MILES BY RAIL. 735 way he came to let the cash loose was some- self in Brownsville, Texas. He proceeded thing like this: to St. Louis, and secured work with a county A negro named Rastus Warren, in the em- official, to whom, after five years' service, ploy of a certain county official in St. Louis, he made the death-bed confession here lay at death's door with smallpox. Calling given. in his employer, Rastus made this death-bed After making the confession, however, confession. Rastus recovered his health in full, much He said that some" years before, while in to the delight of his employer, who sug- Batopilas, Mexico, two greasers offered him gested that the negro lead an expedition into a job at their mine. Rastus accepted, and the Sierra Madres to find the lost mine. made a two days' journey with a burro out- fit, over a trail so rocky and precipitous What Gilpin Says. that the Mexicans called it El Camino Dia- blo—the devil's road. Capital was needed. The county official Rastus found the mine itself way down went down to the Union Station, found in a deep gorge, where it was so dark that Charlie Gilpin sitting oh his dais at his they had to work by the light of torches. cigar-stand, and told him all about the Gold simply exuded and oozed from the golden millions that were out of sight in the walls of the chambers of that mine, and the lost mine. three men merely had to pick it off with The result of this confab was that Gilpin their bare hands by day and hoard it in agreed to put up part of the money for an their shack by night. expedition to Mexico. With Gilpin's cash, plus the coin of sun- The Fortune Vanishes. dry other St. Louisans, six men, with Ras- tus as guide, left St. Louis to cross the Rio Once every three weeks Rastus was sent Grande, and make a dash for the. treasure at to Batopilas for supplies. On his return the bottom of the gorge. from the last journey of the kind he found the two Mexicans murdered and their shack burned. Their hoarded gold had van- ished. Fearing that he would be held for the double murder—if an investigation was made and the bodies found—Rastus started for the Rio Grande, carefully avoiding Bato- pilas on the way. After terrible hardships, he crossed the Rio Grande and found him- 'gold simply exudes from the wall of that mine." : : 736 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. Weeks passed, and Charlie Gilpin had stand and asked his clerk if the boss was made all sorts of preparations for starting about, the clerk called up to a round, robust life anew as a millionaire, when suddenly and rubicund gentleman sitting aloft: he received a telegram from Rastus Warren " Mr. Gilpin, some one to see you." reading Charlie Gilpin descended from his eery. The five men deserted me the moment we I introduced myself, then said: struck El Camino Diablo, leaving me without "Mr. Gilpin, what's the present market cash. Am stranded in Chihuahua. Please send money for transportation and expenses quotation on shares in the Lost Mine of the home. Sierra Madres, in the State .of Chihuahua, Mexico, on El Camino Diablo?" I had heard part of the story of Charlie Now, up to this time Gilpin had looked Gilpin's lost mine on a previous visit to as pleasant as any photographer could wish. St. Louis, but did not learn all the details But now an expression of unutterable dis- until I arrived at the LTnion Station on the gust o'erspread his countenance as he said: " present trip. When I went to his cigar- " Have a cigar ? Mr. Willets, next month, will tell a number of s ries of hold-ups in the Missouri River Country. FROM THE LETTER FILE OF THE SANTA FE. APPLICATION for a pump job recently re- did not express yet. I wish you that you will send ceived by General Foreman Williams at down to here in rigd away. If you want charge Las Vegas: to send for I will pay at here. Yoiirs truly My dear Sir : —I beg to state that I will ask you Mon The " lawyer " club which this for permitt to write you a line or two. Regarding woman held job pumping, if you would be so kind to favor me over the head of the agent at' Miltonvale, is not with it. I have wrote you about a year ago about infrequently used by persons with fancied griev- a job asking you for the pump in Bernalillo, as I ances against the company: was told by Mr. L. Garcia, that hi will retire from the job. So I have an answer from you that you to agt of miltonvale Depot say what is the matter will gave me the first chance you will have, so I with my baggage you better start that on I seen a am waiting yet. And the old men Garcia is not Layier last night he said when I took the trunks able to work as hi is blind, I writing you an- am to the Depot they was in your care: and enother other letter about that if you would so kind to let thing he said they couldent hold your baggage for have the job. I have bin working for A. T. & me an account of that kind and: he said if >ou didnt S. F. for many years as car men, My Dear Sir: let send it to let him no he would send in complaint me hear from, regarding pumping job, if not here to the rail road for damages: as I need my clothes would go some where else if desire, thanking you so bad : now he says he will see that you pay the in advance for the favor I ask for, I hope to bear damages for keeping my clothes if you dont send from early date and hear that for- you at an my them right away; now you better send them and tune is ripe waiting on a pump. I wish my letter save yourself trouble if I dont get them this week will find you in best yumor to keep you from turn I will let him have it to collect same: I will send me down. These pump here I would like to have a stamp for you to send my checks in now please better than any other as here is home, but if my to attend to this at once or I will let some one else is away would one else. already given take some it. see to Mrs. W . I will promise you a steady hand. Yours truly, An inquiry received at La Junta as to whether or not we feed the cars Cashier Skaggs, at Kingman, Arizona, makes a mr. rail road agent sir i am going to ship som guess that the writer of this letter was either a horses to east st louis and i wish you would give Chinaman or a Jap: me the rates on cars and if they run them clear through without feeding them and if they feed To Baggage office Kingman Ariz. where do they feed at. I you'll Gentlemen. promise you that send Kenton okla write write John L . flown my trunk to here on last fly-day. But they • —Santa Fe Employee's Magazine. There's many an honest heart beats on the front end of the blind baggage,—but it's against the rules just the same. —Soliloquies of the Sympathetic Shack. REDDY FLAGG'S REGRETS. BY PETER MULLIGAN. A Few Leaves from the Biography of a Boomer, by His Admiring Friends. OIN' to church to-morrow, a box car that had been left standing on the Bill?" inquired Jack as house track at Reubenville. " Larry Carr's crew settled The air was so full of fine, gritty snow down in the old switch we couldn't see that the wind had blown shanty in the north yard to this car down close enough to the main line wait for sixteen to show up. to sidewipe our engine. Among other little Pop Hickenlooper was on trifles we busted a valve-stem. sixteen that night, and Pop was a man of " There we were in a young blizzard with too much spirit to allow his movements to a lame engine and a trainload of hogs on be dictated by an old time-card. ou-r hands. Fourteen loads was a full "No, I don't have to; I'm immune. I've train on a good rail up the Reubenville hill. associated with railroad men for so long Our conundrum was how to get eleven loads I've got so tough that brimstone wouldn't up with an engine working one side and the feeze me. I'm going to stay at home and coal so full of snow that it was like turning pound my ear." a hose into the fire-box to shovel it in. " I haven't been to church since I was " But I managed to get her warmed up first set up on the Consolidated Combina- finally, and then we backed up and made a tion," ruminated Jack, half to himself. run for the hill. Of course we stuck. " " They gave me a corn-field sailor for head ' Double,' says Jim to the head man. " man on my first trip. His first crack out of Aleck Kupelo had picked up an old-time the box was a straddling switch which rock off the Q for head man that night. He blocked the main line and laid out the limit- was humped up over the boiler-head trying ed three hours. Since expressin my opin- to thaw out and shivering to think of what ion of Mr. Sailor's qualifications as a rail- was coming when she laid down. road man, I've been ashamed to look a " He made some shocking remark or other preacher in the face." when Jim spoke, picked up his glim, floun- "Speaking of language," said Bill, "re- dered out, and cut off behind six. How we minds me of the winter I was firing for Jim ever got up the hill, even with six cars, Fannum on the Rebate Route. There had through the snow with an engine working been a blizzard that had tied up the road for one side, I'll never tell you, but we dW it. three days. As soon as they got a snow- "The switch on the Summit Siding was plow through, nothing would do but they half a dozen car-lengths beyond the top of must ship a lot of hogs from Jaytown, al- the hill on a pretty stiff little down-grade, though a high wind was still blowing and it and, being under the lee of the hill, the snow was cold enough to freeze the hair off a brass was drifting badly. Of course, under such monkey. circumstances, nothing would do but she "We were sent up light to get the hogs. must stop on the center. By the time we were ready to start back it " The new brakey got out the pinch-bar was night, and the wind was coming up and grunted and clattered and slipped and every minute. Some clever railroad man swore until he got her off the center. When had thoughtfully forgotten to set a brake on Jim gave her steam, the wheels spun around 11 R R 737 738 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. in the snow without taking hold; and when went on down the hill to Weed_ Center, Jim eased her., she stopped on the center which was an ail-night telegraph station. again. "When we stopped at the station while '* Brakey pinched her over a second Aleck went in to report, instead of settin' time with exactly the same result as before. his cars in on the side track or going inside By this time he was getting speechless, but to get warm or otherwise conducting himself he went at it once more. like a civilized being, Reddy began prome- " By this time he was getting so mad he nading up and down the platform cussin' didn't know what he was doing. First everybody who ever had anything to do with thing he knew, he grabbed the frosty pinch- the Rebate Route, from the aboriginal own- bar with his bare, wet hand. It stuck to the ers of the right-of-way to the trainmaster bar instantly as if it had been glued. who had ordered us out. "Well, sir, that man let out a howl such " There was a little runt of a deputy mar- as I've never heard come from a human shal, or night watchman, or whatever you throat before or since, and followed it up call 'em, who had just been put on the job. with a reg'lar cloudburst of such outrageous He imagined his nice new tin star was a language that the hogs in the head car special license to butt in on all occasions. squealed and surged madly toward the back So up he trots to Reddy and says, says he: " 4 end to get out of hearing." Say, mister, you ought to try to con- "That sounds like Reddy Flagg you're trol your feelin's. If you was to get a piece describing." of that language cross-wise in your throat " Sure ! That was his name. D'you it might choke you to death.' know him?" " Reddy let out a whoop and lunged at the " Know him ! Everybody knew Reddy deputy, who broke for tall timber with Flagg. He braked on every division from Reddy a close second. I guess Reddy's chas- New York to San Francisco, and switched ing him yet, for he didn't show up again in every yard from St. Paul to Galveston." that night, and I've never seen him since.". "Reddy certainly did have the itching "Of course, you didn't see him again foot. Always rode in the varnished cars, such a night as that. The deputy marshal too." was an interposition of Providence to lead " Yes, he was an insinuating cuss, and I Reddy out of the way of hard work. No never heard of a conductor refusing him a fear of him sticking to the chase. He never ride." stuck to nothing." " Down on the Indian Valley Road, he " I was holding down the hind end for was known as ' The-Man-With-the-Velvet- Billy Train on local on the Receiver's Snap", Touch.' A new man couldn't consider him- one fall, when Reddy floated into town, and self initiated until Reddy had borrowed a I got him on ahead with Billy," said Bill. dollar of him. Permanent loan, of course." "One day we were rawhiding at Water " Wonder what he ever did with his Lake. Reddy was walking sidewise ahead money?" of a string of cars that was backing up try- " Spent it for dictionaries and bronchial ing to get a crooked link into position to troches. I guess. Give Reddy an excuse to make a coupling. say a word and you'd get an artesian flow of " Remember when no two cars with draw- language in a voice that—well, say—when bars of the same make or the same height Reddy was conversing in Denver you could from the ground were ever on thesame road hear him in Omaha." at the same time? Every engine and ca- "Well, you'd have thought so if you boose had to carry half a car-load of assort- could have heard him that night. We kept ed links and crooked links and flat pins and pinching her oh" the center and twirling the round pins and just pins, and it took a spe- wheels around in the snow for half an hour. cialist to make a coupling. Even,- time we didn't move 'em, Reddy "The road was new, the siding wasn't would hook his voice up another notch and ballasted, Reddy got reckless, and down he touch off a new cuss word. went. Before you could bat your eye, the " When we tried shoveling the snow away first car was upon him, of course. from the wheels, it blew back just a little " Billy, who was standing on the main faster than we could paw it out. We couldn't line watching him, yelled at the engineer back them cars up that rise to save our im- and thrashed his arms around like a wind- mortal souls; so we did the next best and mill with the jim-jams, signaling him to " REDDY FLAGG'S REGRETS. 739 stop. Then he flopped down on the end of tion. They were doing a land-office busi- a tie and covered his face with his hands to ness in track-laying on that line in 18S6. shut out the ghastly sight. There were two trains at the front, a steel " Old Tom Quadrant plugged his engine, train and a tie train, and they were laying but couldn't hold 'em quick enough to do about two miles of track a day. Half the any good. I was letting off brakes on the men were Republicans and half Democrats, cars we were getting hold of. When I and there was bad blood between them, ow- heard Billy yell and saw him flop down on ing to the fact that there it was close to an the end of the tie that way it made me feel election. " kind o' sick, for I guessed what was up, but Reddy was braking for Tom Higbee on I hoofed it back at my best gait. the tie train. The country was full of an- telope. "When I reached the scene the cars had Every once in a while a herd of come together and stopped. I could see the the little rascals would come up on the crest hill a of the body lying between the rails. When I tried of a within quarter of a mile works and gaze at us until their curiosity to speak, my tongue was so numb I had to was satisfied; then they would their make several efforts before I could utter a stick up heads and their stubby white tails and go sound. bouncing, stiff-legged, out of sight. It was '" Reddy, old boy,^-says I, ' are you done ' enough to fire any man's sporting blood, for? and Reddy decided, one Sunday, that he "At that he rolled his head slowly till simply must go antelope-hunting. I could see his face. His eyes glittered like "Reddy was the sort of marksman who a snake's when you have been poking it couldn't hit a barn if he was locked up in- with a stick—but he didn't say a word. He side of it. In fact, he had to stop and pon- had fallen between the rails and had had der to make sure which end of his gun he sense enough to lay down till they stopped. ought to point at the game. " He crawled out and felt himself over "Nobody would go with him, for they with great deliberation. were all on to the quality of his sportsman- " There wasn't a scratch on him, but his ship. So he borrowed a rifle from the en- coat-tail had been cut off about half-way up gineer of the steel train and started out his back. He reached under the car and alone. drew out the amputated cloth, still without " He kept to the tops of the ridges, where uttering a sound or even appearing to hear he could have a good view of the country, the anxious questions of Billy and myself. and whistled his loudest to keep from feel- " coat-tail over his two He spread the ing lonesome. For about four hours he like holding a pie-crust, palms a woman paraded the prairies in this style without toward old and matched solemnly Tom bagging any antelopes. leaning out of his cab Quadrant, who was " Then his whistle gave out, and he began still looking blue around the gills window to walk down-hill because it was easier, un- the effect of thinking he had killed a from til he found himself in a coulee which hid man. him from view. Thus he inadvertently ap- " Reddy kept filling his lungs with air and proached so near a herd of antelope that he his mind with ' indignation, and swelling caught a glimpse of a bunch of white tails out his chest at every step until he got his just tipping over a hill' a mile away. face up within two feet of old Tom's. Then " Reddy sat down to lay out a plan of cam- he held up the coat-tail in his palms and paign. He was too tired to stand, anyway. bellowed with all his force: After harboring a suspicion for a few min- " ' You infernal old wooden-headed, utes that something was wrong with his an- leather-jointed, wind-broken misfit of a telope-stalking tactics) he had an inspira- plug-puller ! Do you see what you've done ? tion. I'll " That coat was too short already ! Now He had heard that hunters on the plains have to stand with my back to the sun all stuck up a little red flag on a stick and then winter to keep from freezing to death.' laid down near by and waited for the ante- "Remember the Cactus and Sagebrush lope, which are more curious than a woman, line that sticks out into Wyoming like a sore to come up to investigate, when they could thumb ? " asked Larry. be picked off at leisure. He had no red "Sure; they started to build a road rag and no stick; but he did have on a suit somewhere, but forgot where it was." of red underclothes. Now, if an antelope "Wrong. Reddy stopped the construc- could work up a profound interest in a red ; 740 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. rag, it stood to reason that the animal would "He laid a course for Higbee's caboose be simply entranced with a whole suit of along the track beside the boarding cars red. right through groups of Republicans who " Reddy peeled off his outer duds, cached were lolling about in the shade, smoking, them in a cozy nook in the coulee, and sleeping, sewing, and jabbering; ran through marched off in his flaming undergarments a card-game, upset a couple of men, scared like the pillar of fire that led the Israelites another into fits, and plowed on toward the out of bondage, with his rifle at full cock. Irish end of the boarding train. He was so lost in admiration of his own "Naturally, Reddy's headlong career clever scheme that he didn't notice that the caused some excitement. The Republicans coulee opened into a little flat with a rank shouted and jabbered, and all jumped up, growth of grass, and that he was walking while some ran after Reddy to find out what straight into a herd of cattle which was on earth was the matter with him. The feeding there. Democrats heard the tumult, and seeing a "But a big bull did notice it, and was man who looked as if he had just passed very properly shocked to see Reddy appear through a hard winter running for his life in the presence of the ladies of the herd in with a lot of Republican sympathizers fol- such attire. As soon as he could recover lowing him, they jumped at the conclusion from his astonishment, Mr. Bull said some- that the Republicans were trying to murder thing which was the bovine equivalent for a Democrat. That was enough. ' ' Skiddoo ! and then, for fear the intruder "The Democrats raised a war-whoop and, wouldn't beat it fast enough, he put down seizing picks, shovels, spike-mauls, crow- his head and stepped forward to see that bars, and whatever else was handy, fell upon he went. the Republicans who were chasing Reddy, " Reddy forgot all about being tired. He and drove them back to their own end of threw the rifle as far as he could send it, the train. In another moment there was and set out for camp as if he were going one grand mix-up, without any one know- somewhere for something and was afraid it ing what it was about. would all be gone before he got there. "Reddy couldn't speak for five minutes " Fortunately for him, he had been trav- after he reached Higbee's caboose, and by eling in a circle, aad was not more than a that time there wasn't any one to listen to mile from camp. The angels, who are al- him, for all hands had turned out to try to ways around to take care of those who are stop the fracas—or to get into it. There incapable of attending to the job themselves, were too many old scores to even up, though turned his face in the right direction. and, once they were at* it, those fellows " Reddy didn't take time to side-step cac- didn't care what started the rumpus. They tus-beds or anything like that. He took a just swatted one another all around over the header or two, got scratched and bruised, landscape until the whole outfit was knock- and every step he took the more scared he ed out or tired out. grew. In fact, the more he thought of it "Next day there weren't men enough fit the more certain he became that he could feel for duty to make up the gangs, and the sur- the maddened animal's hot breath fanning vivors were so hostile it wasn't safe to get his neck as it strained to gain the one step 'em together, anyway. The contractor fired more that would enable it to plunge its sharp a few as a warning to the rest. That made horns into his gizzard. some more mad, and they quit ; and others "But he didn't feel anything of the sort; went back down the line to get their heads for the bull and a bunch of steers, which sewed up and forgot to come back. The had followed to see what the row was, had fiirst thing the contractor knew he didn't only kept up the chase to the top of the hill, have men enough to run a hand-car. where they all stopped and stood there ga- " After Reddy had paid for the gun he zing after Reddy, and wondering what in threw away, and had bought clothes to re- thunder the fellow was in such a hurry place the ones he cached in the coulee and about. couldn't find again, he concluded that the "Reddy was pretty far gone when he air at that altitude didn't agree with him, so reached the front end of the boarding train. he pulled his freight. That was the last I His breathing sounded like the exhaust of ever saw of him." an engine that needed her packing-rings set "There's sixteen whistling in! Head out. him in on four, Bill!" — THE STEELED CONSCIENCE BY GEORGE ALLAN ENGLAND. The Degree of Master Cracksman Is Sealed With Graham's Own Blood. CHAPTER XVI (Continued). out, were addicted to "coffin varnish," "white-line" and "Doctor Hall," that is Progress and a Piece of News. to say, bad liquor, which usually ' finished them. JANO and Graham had many more From their conversation he learned of tiie talks, in periods of idleness be- ferocious sentences dealt out to yeggs, when tween crushes. From his former caught, and of how the policy reacted by cell-mate and from the others making yeggs never hesitate about killing, Graham learned to the utter- if cornered. He learned all about " mooch- most detail all the minutia; of ers" and "punk-kids" and "town plugs" yegg lore, the language of the trade, its his- who spy out the land in advance of a raid; tory, and its stringent moral code. The ordi- about the use of "phoney" union cards to nary box-man, he found out, is usually an insure freedom from molestation on freight- ex-mechanic or artisan. trains or elsewhere; and about endless ap- He learned that yeggs always operate paratus used in different circumstances in gangs, for the most part known by the endless methods, too, about which a fair- leader's name, as "Chi Jack's mob," or sized book could be written. He heard "Pitts Whitey's mob." Their true names many tales of fights resulting from the divi- are never asked or given, but are replaced sion of the spoils, and, by way of contrast, by "monicas" derived from some personal came to know all about the collection of peculiarity or from the place of origin. He " fall-money " and the liberality of yeggs grew wise in reading their records on sta- when asked to chip in for the hiring of a tions or water-tanks; such marks as "Long " mouthpiece " to " spring " a friend in Ed, 4|19|08, E," or "B.B., 2|12|09, S," trouble. came to convey much information to him. Ciphers of a score of kinds he learned to He learned that the highest yegg virtue read and write. The art of disguises be- is fidelity; its basest crime, treason. A came for him an open secret. Wise he "bawl-out" or a "leak," he found, was became in methods for distracting the at- always punished by death. Sometimes, they tention of the bulls and misleading them; told him, a mob would have to wait years wise in lampblacking a key and by the to get a "beefer" who turned them up; scratches on it reading the nature of the but eventually the traitor always got a lock; wise in using the jimmy and in enter- leaden pill that sent him up the escape for ing tight places. He learned that a man keeps. can always get into a place which will let The elaborate system of "giving up" or his head and extended arm pass; and that, "greasing" for protection by the police before going in, it is always necessary to he came to understand. He discovered be sure one can come out again. where die proceeds of breaks almost in- Under Piano's careful tuition he learned variably went—to die race-track or the to read the inner structure of a combination roulette-wheel, on the principle of easy by die different sounds produced in turning come, easy go. Very many yeggs, he found the dial. So acute and sensitive did his Began In the October Railroad Man's Magazine. Single copies, J cents. 741 ! 742 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. ear become, that he could tell at what num- Some of the braver and cleverer ones bers the tumblers dropped into place. He he respected; some who sneaked and de- grew to love their fine metallic sounds. His frauded, who, as political heelers, were " in keen senses and delicate fingers attuned right," or who acted as "fixers" and pro- themselves tc the work. fessional go-betweens, "lamasters" or pro- No Wagner could thrill him, no Bee- fessional straw-bail men, he despised. thoven set him dreaming so potently as that There were all sorts, he saw, in the world slight and all but imperceptible click-chink- below, as in the world above. tink, that his instructor taught him to un- One of the favorite diversions of his mob derstand and to divine the meaning of. was to see in the different papers, the morn- Once or twice he had the chance of actu- ing after a break, the varying accounts given ally opening, while out on a " hike," a safe- by imaginative reporters and sensational door by this species of manipulation. It headline-writers. To read that a dozen fascinated and enthralled him. desperadoes had swooped down upon a The others were delighted. Adam proph- town, held it up at the point of automatic esied great things for him, and Piano was revolvers, blown the safe to atoms and de- frankly radiant. Not even the jealousy camped with crackling volleys, pleased which, deep down in his heart, the teacher them immensely; for the truth usually was already had begun to feel, could stifle his as quiet and unobtrusive as they could pos- pride in having brought into the mob so sibly make it. There was a little pepper splendid an intelligence, so deft a hand. in the work, once in a while, to be sure; but The crushes were only incidents, after not once that summer did any of the gang all, in a rather leisurely and luxurious ex- take any bodily harm. Graham came to istence. Much of the time, Graham read believe that the fine old-time epics of crush- and studied. All his former friends and ing were things irrevocably of the past. acquaintances he carefully avoided; where Next morning at breakfast, while read- he had vanished to, none of them knew—or ing an account of the "Desperate Pitched seemed to care. Sometimes, of an evening, Battle Between Townspeople and Masked he walked abroad with Piano in strange Banditti," Piano came across an item that " parts of the city. He visited the " ink-pots made him start and frown. of low-class members of his own trade, He marked the place with his nail and filthy dives usually run by an ex-yegg and handed it across the table to Graham. patronized by unkempt petermen. Graham, his heart beginning to thump, On Park Row, Pell and Doyer Streets read as at a glance: he found a number of such places. Some- PROMINENT PHILANTHROPIST times he dropped in to a " drum " where RETURNS. stale beer and vitriolic whisky were sold Genoa, Sept. 19.—Among the passengers at two and three cents a glass. Again, he sailing to-day on the Koenig Albert is the went the rounds of some of the " doss- well-known lawyer and philanthropist Simon houses"—bare and cheerless dens, with a Dill. Mr. Dill has been for the past four years living at Cannes, Nice, and other resorts whitewashed, pot-bellied stove in the center on the Riviera, in search of health. It is re- of the room, recruiting signs and three-cent ported, however, that this search has been only lunch-room ads on the walls, and discour- partly successful. Retirement from active life aging wrecks of men lolling on the hard seems to have failed to restore him. wooden benches, reading last week's paper. He intends, it is said, to settle some busi- He came to know dozens and scores of ness affairs in New York and then return to curious types, the existence of which he had his practise in Boston. He is accompanied by never even suspected when a member of his daughter and only child, Miss Agnes Dill. the upper-world. Whole strata of society opened out before his eyes, strata with their CHAPTER XVII. own conventions and standards of conduct, Discovery their traditions, laws, virtues and vices, as real, complex, and binding as those of so- /CONTROLLING, by a mighty effort of called respectability. Through and through his giant will, the strong emotion that he came to learn the under-world, from possessed him, Graham laid the paper down, "gorillas" to " scratchrnen," and from carelessly enough, shoved back his chair, got "super-twisters" to "mission stiffs." up and walked into the smoking-room at the "— — THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 743 front of the flat. The look he gave Piano "How about the roof?" asked Graham bade him follow. eagerly. When they were together, and the door "Two skylights. Barred. Alarm at- quietly closed, Graham seized the other's tachments. Fact is, my boy, it looks in~ arm. He thought a singular light was play- fernally awkward all round. I've been sort ing in his companion's eyes, an odd smile of putting it off, putting it off, thinking that lurking about his mouth; but this was now maybe something would suggest itself to me, no time for close analysis. or to you. It didn't look so ugly three "So, then?" said Graham with keen ex- months ago. Just the general idea was fine citement. and dandy; but now, coming right bang up " Piano laughed easily. I guess you against the immediate necessity of doing it, know what that means,*' said he. why—" He ended with a shake of his head. " " " Means ? repeated Graham. Why, it "How about it, inside?" asked Graham. " — it means that the old man's conscience has You've already told me about the armor- been troubling him. No, not that—he hasn't plate and concrete. But just where is the got any. His bump of caution, rather. He the room, you know?" must have known, for some time now, that "Sixth floor," answered Piano. "To- my bit's done and ended, and that I'm at ward the back—so." liberty. I don't doubt my disappearance He drew a floor-plan, with square marks from the ranks of respectability has been for the elevator-wells, a long corridor lead- duly communicated to him. So, then— ing from side to side of the building, and " Oh, he's worried, all right enough. Wor- several transverse ones opening out toward ried, sure as guns! But it isn't that I was the courtyard. thinking about. It's nothing to us, or to "Here," said he, touching a certain spot you, what's bothering him. You've got with his pencil. " I feel that, if we could something of a bother, yourself, seems to me. only get a few moments' interview with that He'll be here, now, inside of fourteen days. door, right there, we'd be going some. The Yes, two weeks from now things will be safe, inside—that's a mere detail. It's get- settled, one way or another. How's your ting at it that bothers me! That, and the " nerve, bo? knowledge that it's got to be done C. Q. D. " Graham laughed uneasily. Not an altogether lovely layout, now, is it? "I guess it's all right. It's got to be! Graham did not answer, but, leaving I wish it was only a question of nerve, down Piano still looking at the plan, put on his there on Spring Street. But from what hat- and went out. They did not see him you've told me, it'll take more than just again till late that afternoon. that." His objective-point was the Public Li- "Right you are. Fact is, the nearer we brary, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second come to this thing, the worse it looks. Give Street. All the way down-town, as he sat me a tOpl-steel mountain and let me get at in a corner of the clattering "L" car, ab- it, and I'll guarantee to crack it plumb in sorbed in thought, his mind was a tumult two; but that crib there, fixed as it is of hopes, fears, plans, speculations, intri- well—" cate and seemingly unanswerable questions. He drew a pencil from his pocket, and First rose to his consideration the fact that on the fly-leaf of a " History of the Italian Dill was coming back, was even now on the Renaissance " that Adam had been reading, steamer, plowing up the Mediterranean to- rapidly sketched out a plan. ward Gibraltar and New York. " Here, you see," he explained, " is Spring That, once landed, the old man's probable Street. There's the courtyard, in back. first act would be to withdraw the packet Every window has electric alarms, so that from its hiding-place, even though he might if a single bar is cut, a whole drove of bulls leave his other goods or valuables at the will come stampeding. No use trying to get warehouse, and put it—where? Graham in that way. Absolutely out of the question. knew not. All that he knew was that, be- "The big door is worse." He tapped fore Dill should have time to carry out what with his pencil on the plan. " Electric- was undoubtedly his plan, the final coup light post right in front of it, you remem- must be put through; all must be risked on ber. Hopeless, even in the dark. A three- this one cast of the dice ; the success or fail- hours' job, even without the alarms. Noth- ure of his whole life must be staked; his ing doing." liberty, his happiness, perhaps his very 744 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. existence, must be pitted against this one occupation must be known to others— a feel- supreme effort which, he knew, baffled even ing which he never could quite rid himself Piano himself, with years of training back of, even though reason told him he was safer of him. and more perfectly hidden in New York He thought of Agnes. Had she, he won- than he could have been in the most remote dered, changed much in those four years village. With an effort he looked out of the which had so altered him? Did she still window at the dingy second stories, the bal- think of him, remember him? Believe in conies and clothes-lines of Manhattan. " him ?- Or had Dill been able quite to poison No use getting a hot box over it, just her against him? That, too, remained un- yet," he assured himself. "Once I lay solved in his mind. He must wait, he knew; hands on a good, up-to-date chemistry man- and only on condition of success in this im- ual, perhaps I'll get on the track of the minent undertaking could he ever hope to infernal thing. But that, even that, won't approach her again with the proofs of his solve the other riddle of how to get into the " first innocence, the justification of all that place at all ! had taken place since his unspeakably iniq- On and on racketed the train. It stopped, uitous sentence. started, swung round curves, and sped its The warehouse came into his thoughts. way. At Forty-Second Street, Graham got He despaired at memory of that massive, out. stern, gray solidity, the type and picture of "Now for the library!" said he. property entrenched and defiant—property, An hour later found him at a broad table, however got, however heaped together. half-buried with books on chemistry, prac- Something new, he understood, would have tical and impractical, analytical, synthet- to come into play; some ruse, some subter- ical, commercial, Heaven knows what not. fuge, some fresh principle, if he were ever One after another he searched them to penetrate that fortress and take back the through, while an attendant brought more thing which was his. and still more books, and, wondering, "But what shall it be? What? How?"" stacked them in front of this singularly ear- he feverishly asked himself, pressing a hand nest young scientist with the mobile, nervous over his eyes. hands, the pointed beard, and the keen, clear The forcing of that door, supposing the eyes. possibility of ever reaching it, would have At last, after more than two hours' pa- to be done quite silently^he knew. In a tient hunting, he ran his quarry to eartii. place of that sort, where doubtless half a He gasped with exultation as a paragraph dozen watchmen were perpetually on guard, leaped from the page of a French brochure and where quick escape would be out of the at him. question, the work could never be under- "Found it, by Jove!" he cried, slapping taken with nitroglycerin. There was no the table with his palm so forcibly that the way of bringing electricity into play, as at attendant frowned and coughed his disap- Reading. Yet — if there were only some proval. method of developing an equal heat, some Again he read the paragraph, translating noiseless way, by chemical means, then part half aloud as he did so: of the puzzle, at least, would become clearer. This substance, known as thermit, pos- The question he had asked himself be- sesses very peculiar properties. It is a sim- ple, grayish-blue compound of fore recurred to him. Vaguely he recalled powdered aluminum and sesqui-oxid of iron. When having once read just where he could not — ignited with magnesium tape, it burns quick- say — a dry, theoretical discussion of the ly, producing a temperature almost if not quite properties of a certain iron compound whiqh, as high as that of electric arc itself. when mixed with some other metal, might, For a moment he sat there as though halt under certain circumstances, produce a very dazed, trying to let the possibilities of this great heat. discovery filter through his brain. Then, as "What was it, now? What was it?" he its full portent dawned on him, his eyes fiercely asked himself, cudgeling his brains sparkled, his chest expanded with a deep in vain for the exact formula. So intense breath, his head came up defiantly. He was his thought that his fa< p became set in closed the brochure, thanked the attendant, a savage scowl. He noticed that two or and took his departure, leaving the dry-as- three people were looking at him, and over dusty fellow in as great astonishment as him came the guilty feeling that his true it was possible for him to feel. "! " THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 745 " Piano, too, was astonished when Graham As for what it'll do—well—I'll show you reached the flat, burst into the smoking- in a minute." room, flung his hat on the table and cried: He reached over onto the table, took up a " " I've got it ! large flat paper-weight which Dave had > "Got it, have you?" queried the other, made out of a piece of some long-since shat- looking up from his paper. "Got what? tered safe rnd set it in front of Piano. Then Measles?" he spilled from the box about a tablespoon- " " - ful of the the middle —, No, no, don't you understand ? an- metallic powder onto swered Graham, too excited even to notice of the piece of steel. He took from his pock- the jest. " Got the solution of the secret et a bit of tape such as photographers use Got the whole thing planned, from A to for igniting flashlights, and poked one end Z! Where's Adam?" he added, lowering of it into the little pile. his voice. "Now we'll see if the scientists are right "Where are the others?" or wrong," said he, fishing for a match. " " Out. Go on, let's have it. Nobody Of course, even if it works right, it won't here but us." help us get into the Security. No; it's for "Good! I — I hardly like to let them in use inside. But we'll get in, all right on any part of this until I know how it's enough. It all came to me— going to work. See here! I got it made up "Hold on!" cried Piano. "One thing for me at the Hooper-Jordan laboratories." at a time. Match, eh? Here." He struck He drew from his pocket a small paste- one. "Shall I light it?" board box, set it on the table (which he "Go on, go on!" exclaimed Graham, " cleared by the very simple expedient of more and more agitated. " Let her go ! shoving half the papers onto the floor) and Piano calmly touched the flame to the removed the cover, with nervous fingers. In- end of the tape. The magnesium flared; side, a fine blue-gray powder appeared. then, suddenly, the powder took fire. "There it is-!" cried he, while Piano Dazzlingly it burned; with a slight crack- stared in amazement. ling sound, yet almost without smoke. The " " There what is ? heat that glared out at them made both men "Why— don't you see? The stuff I was shrink back and shield their eyes. They " looking for ! Thermit ! saw the steel redden, whiten, then go soft "Qh come, come!" ejaculated Piano. and liquid, boil up and disappear. The " How do you expect me to understand you ? powder suddenly went out; where it had Think I'm a mind-reader? What's the— been, their scorched sight beheld a clean - "That's not all," interrupted Graham. edged opening down through the plate. But " Coming up on the train the whole thing they had little time to stare at it, for a dawned on me—not in its details, you smell of scorching wood came to their nos- know; those can be worked out later. But trils. Then little tongues of flame began to the idea, the main idea came to me in a flicker up from around the edges of the flash, so!" He snapped his fingers. "Now, steel. " " " then—" Quick ! Water ! cried Piano. These " "You see here," commanded Piano. papers—they'll all be going in a minute ! " Calm down ! Count out the pill-prattle He beat at the fire with his naked hands, and get down to first principles! If I while Graham rushed water in a pitcher. didn't know what a well-balanced head With a tremendous hissing and smoking the you've really got, I'd think you'd gone fire was put out and the piece of steel suddenly pipes above the ears. Now, take cooled down. But the table was an ugly off your collar and shoes, get into slippers, sight, its varnish ruined, a deep charred like me, light the long pipe and let's have patch burned deep down into the wood. things straight. You hear me? No, no, I "Oi! Oi! Vat vill Hixer Adam say?" won't listen to a word till you get ready to exclaimed Piano with mock grief. Then, in " do this thing right! his own voice: "No matter! What's a Graham found Piano inexorable, so had table, what are ten hundred tables, 'side of to obey. this?" " This stuff, you say, is what ? " queried He whacked Graham enthusiastically on Piano. "And what will it do?" the back. Graham coughed and blinked. "It's thermit," explained Graham, nam- "All right, eh?" cried he. "She'll do " ing its chemical constituents in a few words. business ? " " ' 746 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. " " " Will she ? jubilated Piano. Oh my I flat book interleaved with carbon paper, —Switch, you're one genius, no mistake!" and, asking a few questions, filled out the He seized the younger man by the hand and necessary contract. wrung it till he winced. "Sure as guns!" He passed it out to Graham, original he ejaculated. "Sure as guns—Krupps! and copy. Graham read it over carefully, " " Siege guns ! Mortars ! then signed in a bold, firm hand: H. K. Graham laughed. Everett." "Who's excited now?" he jibed mali- "Payable -in advance," suggested the ciously. " My dear fellow, sit down, will clerk. " One month, at least." you? Light your pipe, and listen. If I "Here's for three," said Graham. He didn't know what a well-balanced head— shoved in six dollars and the copy,' folded "There, now, that's enough!" said Pi- up and pocketed the original, and took his ano, quieting down. "Here, just let me leave. The clerk, suspecting nothing, went brush some of this dirt off and lay a paper back to his ledger, and thought no more of over it, so Adam won't see it all at once, the incident, which was like a dozen or a and I'm with you. Now then?" score of others in his daily experience. He sat down. Graham pocketed the re- Piano, meanwhile, had been hiring a mainder of the thermit and sat down too. small, disused carpenter shop on East Eigh- "My idea," he began, "in its main gen- ty-Ninth Street, close to the river. Neither eral outlines, is like this— he nor Graham dared trust the making of Piano leaned forward, listening intently, the packing-cases to any hands but theirs. from time to time putting in a word or a The very special manner of construction, suggestion, but for the most part letting they felt, must attract attention and might Graham do all the talking. arouse suspicious interest. For an hour they held council. Dave's Next day, Tuesday, garbed like workmen, arrival put an end to it; but already the plan they took possession of the shop—a dingy, was well matured. cobwebby old place, stored with consider- Nothing remained now, they both felt, able lumber and sufficient tools for their but to undertake the practical carrying out purpose. They had already told Dave of Graham's ingenious inspiration. that " something was doing," though just what, they said, could not be for the pres- - - ent divulged, and had enlisted his services. CHAPTER XVIII. Dave was a good driver, they knew. He could attend to the trucking Preparation. of the cases, when ready, from Eighty-Ninth Street to RAHAM went down-town to Spring Spring Street. Street next morning, and dropped in Tuesday afternoon they started making at the office of the warehouse. He asked the cases. Tumbler was out of town ; Adam the clerk to quote him rates on the storage 'was engaged in carrying on some further of two large crates of porcelain. experiments with the thermit, which had so "Not in a vault, you understand of delighted and astounded him that he had course," he said. Merely in one of your quite forgotten to complain about the storage rooms. One dollar a month, you scorched table or even his " History of the say?" For both?" Renaissance," that had been singed. Every- " Per crate," answered the clerk, shoving thing favored. The two conspirators were his pen behind his ear and looking out with jubilant. mild, colorless eyes through the grating. "I tell you, Switch," said Piano as he "Too high." objected Graham. "I can peeled his coat, rolled up his sleeves and get a rate of half that in the United Safety." began hauling out planks from the pile at "Yes. but we guarantee against fire, the back of the shop. " I tell you, this taste water, burglars, and breakage. That of honest labor does me good. It's been a amounts, you see, to insurance as well as long time since I've had a saw or a plane storage." in my hands. Quite an agreeable change " Oh, in that case," Graham returned, from a double-purchase wrench, a ' drag ' ' "if;- quite satisfactory. It'll do. The or a puffing- rod ! You think four feet " goods will be sent in some time next Thurs- by five will be big enough ? day." "Maybe for one of them, for yours," The clerk nodded, took down a large answered Graham. "We'd better make THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 747 mine about five by six. I'm pretty long, "Nothing more to do, now;" said Gra- you know." ham with a sigh of satisfaction. " Nothing "Long you are, bo," assented the other, but to get some more of the powder and a " on brains as well as carcass. Suit your- little clay, then turn ourselves into freight self." Graham thought a tinge of pique and sit steady for results. This thing is had crept into Piano's voice, but he could on the knees of the gods now, for fair. not be sure. Piano went on, casually If—" " enough : We'd better have plenty of room "If it doesn't slip off and smash, things to turn around in. Rather too much than will be didding right away quick," Piano too little. We'll have a pretty long while, off took up his speech. "Well, come on, bo. and on, to spend inside 'em. I don't know It's getting late. We ought to be getting what you're planning, but as for me, I back home. What do you say if we take in take a little lunch and something wet. a good show, to-night, by way of celebra- It'll be a mighty tedious wait." tion? I'm dog-tired. A workingman's life Thus talking, planning the last details is the life for me—not!" of the attack, they set to work on the boxes. Graham smiled absent-mindedly. His By mid-afternoon they had constructed two thoughts were all in the near future, now large and solid cases, of ample size. Loose- so heavy with possibilities of utter failure, ly built, with considerable cracks between of capture, of renewed imprisonment and the boards, and lined with gunny-sacking, suffering; or of dazzling success, the real- there would be no danger of suffocation. ization of all his hopes, justification, and Inside of each case they nailed a soap-box, perfect happiness—which was it to be? to serve as a seat and also as a storage place They padlocked the old shop door, and, for tools, provisions, and the like. like the weary, toil-stained men they were, The lids they made in such a fashion as to slowly started through the fading light for give the appearance of being solidly nailed home. down. This they accomplished by using Piano talked more than was his wont, nails cut off to the length of half an inch, all the way; but Graham was unusually and by fitting hinges to the covers, inside. silent. The close approach of the supreme These could be readily screwed fast or un- trial weighed upon his soul. screwed from within. "How will this end?" he thought, with "There," said Graham at last, straight- alternating hope and fear. "Merciful ening up and wiping the sweat from his Heaven, if I only knew—if I could only " " see!" forehead, i guess they'll do now ! "Do? Well, rather! Beauties, aren't Ali Baba and his mob had only they? If CHAPTER XIX. thought of something like this, instead of their dinky old wine-jars, things might have At the Goal. come out differently for them, eh? Now, perfect was Dave's you' just mark 'em, Switch, and they're done. O O make-up as a team- ^ ster, with overalls, rough cap, clay I'll let you do the brush-work—it's in your line!" pipe, and all, that the cleverest fly-cop on the Slinkerton force could not have suspect- He laughed at the innuendo. Graham ed either him or the true nature of the smiled, too, as with a brush and a pot of two big crates in the. truck which marking-ink he proceeded to give the final he drove slow- ly down Second Avenue a little air of verisimilitude. after four o'clock that Thursday afte.noon. When he had finished his work, each case Without mishap of any kind he piloted was lettered in strictly professional style: his pair of Percherons along the streams of traffic. Now and then he pulled up for a Bailey-Thompson Co., car, a blockade, or the raised white glove of Newcastle, Pa. a "harness-bull." Once or twice he vitup- erated a careless driVer. He smoked, lolled This Side Up. Fragile. USE NO HOOKS! with bent back on the broad leathern strap that served for a seat, and played his whole part to a nicety. Safely he brought his They both stood back, surveyed the ef- team into Spring Street, to the warehouse, fect and pronounced it good. and backed up at the freight-elevator. " — 748 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. It was just before the closing hour when ly. Not a sign, not a sound to indicate dan- he arrived. ger. Something clicked, and the bright lit- " ! Aw. come on, come on, you " growled tle beam of the electric flash fell on Piano, the elevator-man impatiently. " What d'you half-way out of his hiding-place. " ! t'ink dis is? An all-night bank?" Douse it " whispered Piano. The Dave only removed his cap, took from it light faded. a piece of paper, read it slowly—scratching By sense of touch alone they took from his head the while — and, then looked up the cases all the material they would need half stupidly. for the break—the keister with the clay, the " Security Storage," said he. " Two sectional jimmy, the package of thermit, the cases of crock'ry, sixth floor. Here." And magnesium tape, the revolvers, and the he extended the contract to the ill-humored skeleton-key. employee. "Now let the covers down," said Gra- " " All right, shore 'era in ! exclaimed the ham. "So! That's right! If anybody latter. " Gee, but you're the original Bone- should happen to butt in here, everything head Barry, though ! must look all right." Dave grinned. "Correct," answered Piano. "With a " Gimme a hand ? " he answered, climb- little luck, we'll be back inside now in less ing up into the truck. " Easy, now than an hour. Half an hour, maybe. Then e-e-easy! Hey, wot you doin'? Can't you nothing to do but wait for morning. Dave read? Naw, you don't! Dey goes in right- won't fail us! He'll come back with his side up, or dey don't go at all, see? An' story of a mistake being made—he'll take you don't use dat hook, neither!" us out of limbo, all right enough, never you The elevator-man swore. fear!" " " Hey, Bill ! he shouted into the cavern- As he spoke, Graham was already mov- ous dark behind him. " Come git aholt, ing on noiseless, felt-shod feet toward the here; will you?" door, which even by the momentary flicker Bill appeared. The three men carried of the light he had made out. Piano, carry- first one case, then the other, onto the broad ing the satchel, followed him. floor of the elevator. Strangely enough, Graham was now cool- "All right, now," said Bill. er than his comrade. Although anticipa- Dave extended the contract to him. Bill tion of this moment had set his nerves scribbled a couple of crude initials. Dave a-tingle and keyed up his pulse, now that put the paper back in his cap, straddled the actual time had come, now that he was into hi*' seat, picked up the reins, and with within the fortress, on the same floor with an indifferent cluck-cluck! drove away. Dill's storage-vault, he found himself as As he did so the elevator vanished slowly well at ease as though sitting quietly in the upward, and the big, iron-bound doors flat, reading a paper. It had been the same swung shut. at the time of his trial. The verdict had Toward midnight faint signs of life be- overwhelmed him; the sentence itself had gan to manifest themselves in the larger left him unmoved. Calmly Jie played the !iox. There, in the darkness of the storage- light over the door. room, a slight sound became audible, hard- "Nothing hard about this," judged he. ly more than the nibbling of a mouse. It "Only a simple lock; no combination." i ame from the slow, gentle turning of the "No need of any for a room like this," Screws that held the hinges. The screws added Piano, getting out the skeleton-key. did not squeak, for Graham had rubbed " They aren't wasting 'em on chinaware and them with soap before having driven them such. But just wait till we strike the other home. place, down the corridor." One by one he withdrew them. Piano, He fitted the key to the lock, manipu- in the other case, was also now at work. lated it a moment without noise, then turned Hardly had Graham finished, and lifted it. The bolt slid. his cover, when the lid of the other box rose "Cinch!" breathed Piano, as he picked also. up the tool-satchel. "S-s-s-st!" came an all but inaudible Graham extinguished the light, soundless- -i'_'nal. It was answered. Then out ly opened the door, stuck his head out into crawled Graham. the hallway, and listened. He stood there a minute, listening intent- Nothing. No sounds of any sort came to THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 749 him; no echoing footfall, no gleam; noth- It shone out suddenly as a watchman came ing save silence absolute, blackness so dense around the corner. They could see the un- that the hand was utterly invisible six steady lantern-beams dancing along the fire- inches from the face. brick ceiling. "Come on!" he indicated by a tug at Both of them held their breath. The Piano's sleeve. Together they slipped out watchman, a keen-looking, gray-haired fel- into the tiled corridor. Graham shut the low in jeans, stood still for a long minute, door behind them, lest any watchman find listening. He swung his lantern over the it open and investigate. pile of freight. One sound, one slightest - Though neither of them had ever so much movement, would have betrayed them. Gra- as been inside the vast building before, they ham's finger tautened on the trigger. both knew the way as accurately as though For the first time in his life he felt the it had been their home for years. Piano's killing impulse. Not the wrong that Dill previous consultation of the architect's had done him, not even the many and griev- plans—a consultation made in the guise of ous provocations given him in the peniten- a Chicago contractor—had put them in pos- tiary, had ever stirred this feeling as now. session of every detail and every distance. The watchman's life hung in the balance. "Forty-seven feet straight ahead," Gra- Never had he been nearer death than just ham remembered, as in complete silence that moment as he stood there, half suspi- they paced down the hallway, ''then the cious, half angry, surveying the consign- turn to the right. Twenty-four feet brings ment. us to the open space in front of the eleva- Then he saw the box that had fallen. It tors that communicate with the courtyard. explained, or seemed to, the noise that he Cross that, and go straight on, same corri- had heard. He set his lantern down, shoved dor, thirty-six feet. Second door to the the box back out of the way, grumbled a right. Then another turn, and first door, bit, and swore. Then, with some half-mut- left." tered word about " Reportin' that Dugan to ! Almost as quickly as he had thought it, the boss in the marnin', sure " he took a they reached the first turn. Along the final look and departed. His light faded branch hall they passed, almost unbreath- and died. His footsteps echoed, dimin- ing, guided by their sense of touch against ished, ceased. Silence reigned again—si- the reenforced concrete walls. Now they lence and the darkness. " " were hard bv the elevators. A pipe ! Graham and Piano did not move or speak. whispered Piano with jubilation. They crouched there a full five minutes be- All at once he swore, under his breath fore they so much as dared draw a natural yet angrily, stooped, and rubbed his shin, breath. Who could tell but what the watch- which had been " barked " by some hard man might still be listening? But what this substance. Came a slide and rattle; a box might be a ruse on his part to detect the fell noisily to the floor. Some late consign- true cause of the trouble? No novices, they, ment had been left by the warehousemen, to be so easily entrapped, if trap there were. standing in front of the elevators. Into it But, as the time lengthened and no sound Piano had run. reached them, they gained confidence once "Now for trouble!" he said. "Ought more. Piano nudged his comrade, and cau- " to have used the light more, darn the luck! tiously stood up. Graham followed. They Graham pressed the button. By the faint pocketed their " smoking-irons." Present- gleam they saw the elevator-doors and a pile ly they were sliding like wraiths down the of crates and barrels that more than half corridor beyond the elevators. filled the hallway. As they went, Graham kept his hand Suddenly, from somewhere, sounded a trailing along the wall to the right. He footstep. Then, at the juncture of the counted the "doors: "One! Two!" His branch and the main corridors, a very dim pace slackened even more. They reached light began to show. the corner and turned again. " " "S-h-h-h! Quick! There!" Graham Here ! said he, taking Piano by the breathed, pointing over beyond the pile. An coat. instant later, revolvers in hand, he and Both stopped.- Piano set down the sat- Piano were concealed. chel, knelt, and opened it. Graham threw None too soon, for now the footsteps the light on the iron door that was all which sounded nearer; then the light strengthened. now separated him from Dill's place of fan- " — 750 THE RAILROAD MAN'S .MAGAZINE. cied security. He saw the combination; Graham looked again. The stuff had then, above it, a second lock. burned itself out. Now nothing was visible Like many another vault, it had two but just two glowing apertures, like red-hot fastenings, one which could be opened only windows in the dark. " " by an employee, one by the tenant, thus ab- When she cools a bit ! said Graham. t solutely shutting out any unauthorized open- Piano tiptoed to the turn, looked and lis- ing of the door— " Or so they think ! " re- tened, perceived no sign of danger, and came flected Graham, smiling satirically. "Well, back. maybe weH~show them a new wrinkle, eh?" " Oh, but you're the goods, bo! " breathed Already he was at work. Piano handed he in admiration. him the clays He took a lump of it, stuck "S-h-h-h! The jimmy now!" Graham it against the door immediately below the answered, oblivious to all but the immediate combination, and fashioned it quickly into task before them. a sort of shallow trough. The same opera- A few strong, skilful twists broke down tion he repeated for the upper lock. The the last barriers of resistance. The door rest of the clay he dropped back into the swung inward. bag. Piano seized the bag. They both entered Taking the package of thermit, he poured the room. Graham pushed the door shut into both cups of clay a quantity of the mar- behind him. velous compound. He inserted the bits of "At last!" he said coldly. tape, which had already been cut to the right length. "Stand back, now!" he whispered to CHAPTER XX. Piano. The Finding—And After. Both men waited a moment, looking, lis- tening. TLTE stood motionless for a second or two, " " Go on—set her off ! said Piano. flashing the electric beam here, there, A match flared in the black. By its wa- getting his bearings. He sniffed the close vering light their faces became visible, set and fetid air of the long-closed place as and eager, with eyes the pupils of which though it had been perfume. His quick were unnaturally dilated, like a cat's eyes at glance showed him the situation of things. night. Piano blinked, but Graham's gaze The room he saw was very small was steady as his hand. hardly six feet by eight. One side was He touched the match to one tape, then banked up with boxes and packing-cases, the other. There flashed a quick and blind- probably containing the old man's most ing radiance, followed by the blue and valuable books or art treasures. Some large slightly crackling glare of the thermit. Then flat objects, wrapped in sacking, stood to the floor dripped, splashing, an ardent against the wall directly opposite the door rain of molten steel. pictures, no doubt. Gralvm turned impa- Piano looked anxiously over his shoulder. tiently from these. But Graham, merely smiling, stood there "Well?" queried he. "Nothing but " and watched the wondrous flame eat into junk here, after all ! " " the door. Slight chance, he knew, that the There ! answered Piano, pointing to- light should be twice or thrice reflected so ward the right. as to reach the main corridor. With in- Graham turned the light that way. It credible rapidity the combination fused, lost flicked spots of brilliance from metal. form, ran down, and dribbled along the Graham saw a safe-door, apparently built plates of steel. Graham threw in another solidly into the wall itself. ! handful of the stuff; the metal rain in- " There she is, Switch " said Piano ex- creased. Then, where the lock had been, a ultantly. "Now for business! tiny hole appeared. Graham stepped over to the safe. To- It widened to a white-hot gap. Graham gether he and Piano quickly inspected it. closed his eyes, which felt as though seared. Graham smiled. A green light seemed to fill them. He stood "I guess we sha'n't have to waste any there, listening to the coruscating hiss of the more good ammunition on that!" decided thermit. No sweeter music in all his life he. "Just you keep w£tch a minute, and had ever reached his ears. 111 see what I can do with this pretty little "All right— all right! " whispered Piano. gopher." " ! ! THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 751 Piano took the light from him. Graham eager to grasp, a singular expression on his knelt before the combination. Lovingly he fine, intelligent face, the color a trifle height- laid his ear against the steel plates. Like ened in his cheeks. a maestro touching a long-familiar instru- "Eh? Don't see it? "asked Piano breath- ment, he delicately took hold with his sen- lessly. sitive, artistic fingers upon the knob of the For all answer Graham began taking out device. the contents of the drawer. He turned it slowly, carefully, listening There were deeds, mortgages, bonds, all the while. Thrice round he sent it, then stocks—ah ! what was that ? A bulky pack- thrice back, noting each tiny sound. For- age wrapped in manila paper and tied with gotten seemed to be the perilous situation, lawyers' tape, the knots of which lay buried forgotten the presence of his companion, under seals of dark-red wax forgotten even the object of his quest. All Graham laughed a slight, cynical laugh. his attention, keen and absolute, centered If Piano had expected him to taste the cop- upon the minute, fine, hardly perceptible per of excitement, to jump up, to indulge in little indications there within the combina- jubilation, he was disappointed. With tion. hardly more emotion than as if finding a At last he nodded. bunch of newspaper clippings, Graham took " I've got it," he announced. back his own. Took back his property, the He spun the knob, stopped it at 85, drew justification of all that he had done; his it back to 40, then whirled it twice round. proof, the thing which was to give him once To 20 he brought it. more all that was to him far more precious, "Sixty, now, and—you see?" more dear, than life itself. " " The action suited the words. The com- Justice ! Piano heard him say. Only bination clicked. Graham pulled down the that one word, as he slid the bundle into handle, tugged a little at the door, and his breast-pocket; then, without rising from swung it wide. his knees, began carefully laying the other Piano said nothing. His eyes narrowed, papers back into the drawer again. though, as he stood looking down at Gra- Piano stared at him, amazed. The yegg's ham's broad back. In them that strange jaw dropped. He frowned with astonished look had appeared once more—the look displeasure. " " that Graham had sometimes noticed there, Say, Switch ! he whispered in an eager, as though the man, Graham's one-time trembling voice. " teacher, harbored some secret jealousy or " Well ? some more poignant feeling. But of this " What—what the devil—" Graham knew nothing; it passed, too, for "You mean— " the moment, in Piano's growing eagerness. Those papers ! Securities of all kinds One more, and we're in," remarked Worth—" Graham, tapping the smaller inside door. " I don't know that it's any particular " Don't waste time figuring on that," said concern of mine what they're worth, is it?" Piano. " It's nothing but an ABC lock. answered Graham, closing the drawer and Here!" making as though to swing the outer safe- He took the light in his left hand. With door shut. his right he drew from the satchel the skele- Piano laid a hand on his arm, staying it. ton-key. Graham noticed that the key shook "Maybe not. Maybe you don't care. / a little as Piano fitted it into the lock. He do!" wondered momentarily -at this, but had no "Why?" time to give it more than passing thought, "Why? There's swag to the value of for already the inner door was giving way. half a million, perhaps, and you—you ask Piano dropped the key back into the bag why? What are you handing me?" and pulled the door. It yielded. Dill's Piano could hardly articulate, so great secret hiding-place stood open wide at last had become his excitement and indignation. before Graham's searching eyes! Graham only laughed again. For a minute he did not see the thing he "So that's what you let me think this sought. In the drawer lay many papers. thing out for, is it?" he questioned. The sealed packet that Piano had told him " That's why you let me solve a problem that about was hard to distinguish. He knelt was too hard for you ? Not for the sake of there, head bent slightly forward, hands justice—not for the right of the thing—only " " 752 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. for a haul? Took me in, taught me, frater- Graham felt the man's hands striving to get nized with me—" He broke short off. a hold on his throat. Piano shoved his face close up to Gra- But Piano, in attacking him, had reck- ham's. The rays of the flash-lamp, reflect- oned without his host. Graham, though ten ed from the wall of glazed brick, made only or fifteen pounds lighter, was twice the ath- a dim twilight; yet there was light enough JatSjbat Piano even in his best days had for Graham to see how ugly the other's ex- ever been. pression had become, how bitter, angry, and The yegg's fingers could not find a hold. covetous. With one arm Graham guarded his throat, It was as though all the jealousies, the and with the other dealt stunning blows upon half-perceived antagonisms of the past the man's head and neck. His fist landed months, had suddenly crystallized, had now savagely. in a second been made visible. Piano grunted, trying in vain to guard, "Hop-talk!" sneered Piano. "Trying and at the same time to inflict some damage. to play the parson all of a sudden, now, are The tide of battle turned. you? Think I risked my skin for nothing With a supreme effort Graham broke " but to see you get yours? Where do I fit? Piano's grip, flung him aside, and staggered "Oh, if it's money that's bothering you, up. Piano clutched at him. Graham, des- I guess I'll have enough before long so that perate, kicked at him full force—the only ! I can pay you for your time " Graham's time in his whole life that he had been tone was so caustic and so stinging that forced by gutter-fighting methods to reply Piano reddened. in kind. " " " Drop that ! he answered. It isn't He felt his boot strike crushingly, heard yours I'm after. It's the rest, there, inside. a cry, got free, and leaped away. I want it, you understand?" Half dazed by the sudden attack, the " Sorrv. Because vou can't have it—vou darkness, and the violence of the struggle, see." he stood there a moment pulling himself to- " Can't, eh ? " and Piano thrust Graham's gether. He heard Piano's labored breath, arm aside. "Why can't I?" heard the man groan and swear; then, al- "Largely because I say so. Not one though he could see nothing, knew by the dollar of it. Not one cent. You hear. I sounds that his opponent was getting up didn't plan this crush for loot. Planned it again. — " " for nothing but Well ! Had enough ? Graham gasped. " I know all about that. But you and I Piano's only answer was a growl. In- are two different persons. You've got yours; spiration flashed to Graham. He dropped now I'm going to get mine. Stand off! to his knees, felt here and there with his "No!" hands gropingly, found the valise, then the " Switch," said Piano, holding his rage electric lamp. - with an effort, " see here. Youll let me at " Curse you ! " he heard Piano say. that gopher, or I think there'll be a muss " What are you up to now ? Wait till I get in just about one minute." a—" " I think so, too," answered Graham The voice broke off. cheerfully. " Half a minute, maybe." Graham heard a sound he knew right Piano, his anger now wholly out of hand, well—the click of a revolver-hammer going cursed Graham and struck at him. Gra- up. ham caught his wrist in a grip like that of a Even then, singularly enough, he felt no vise, and held it. fear, but rather a- wild sprt of exultation, " " " Fool ! he exclaimed. What kind of a a keen joy in battle. With no light to guide place is this to raise a row in?" Piano's aim, the chances, he knew, were "Thick-walled enough, I guess, so no- good for escape, even should the now mad- body'll butt in!" panted the yegg. "You dened man venture to shoot. Guided by going to let me at that box?" Piano's breathing, Graham crawled away, "No!" crouching, and on one hand. The other Piano threw a muscular leg round Gra- hand clutched to his breast the satchel, into ham's, and tried to trip him. which he had slipped the flash-lamp, and They clenched, staggered, stumbled over which contained the skeleton-key. the valise, and fell, with Piano on top. "Stick and slug!" He remembered the The light went out. In the utter dark, motto; but now, when his comrade had bro- " THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 753 ken the pact, had set upon him, and was As he ran along the dark corridor, with even threatening his life, he felt all the the sounds of pursuit growing rapidly bonds of the underworld code were utterly louder, nearer, he saw the exact situation. severed. The hall, he knew, extended some forty Answering no word, then, but reaching' feet toward the rear of the building; then the safe-door, he pushed it and spun the a turn to the left would bring him to a knob. series of stairways that connected all the As he did so, Piano, wholly out of the floors. bounds of caution with rage, fired. Up these stairs,.. if he could only throw The report almost deafened Graham in his pursuers off the trail, he could reach the that small and confined space. The stab top story. The skylights, he believed, of- of flame from the heavy - calibered pistol fered at least the chance of getting out onto singed his hair. By its instantaneous light the roof. Once there— He did not know. he got a glimpse of Piano, crouched between Yet, since that was the only possible ave- him and the door leading into the hall. nue of escape, he bent all his energies Before Piano had had time to pull trig- upon it. ger again, Graham had rushed in on him, Just before the watchmen debouched at a smitten him furiously upon the head with run into the hallway where he was, he the heavy tool-bag, and floored him. reached the turn. Then, waiting for nothing else, he sprang A barred window, twenty feet away, let to the exit, seized the still warm door, and in a few filtering rays of light. Graham's pulled it open. eyes, accustomed now to the gloom, vaguely Somewhere in the great dark labyrinth perceived the iron stairway. of the warehouse he heard steps echoing; As with instinctive knowledge he felt that then a bell rang. His heart leaped. The his pursuers would all but inevitably con- alarm, he knew, had been given. clude that he had gone up, if they did not Yet even then, when every second was see him when they arrived. Therefore, fol- more precious than gold, he could not desert lowing the dictates of that instinct rather his former comrade without a last appeal. than of his reason, he hastily and noiselessly He turned back, and, peering into the slipped down the stair beneath the ascend- gloom, exclaimed: ing one. "They're on! Come, hike! Here—the Hardly had he reached the floor below, " door's here! I'll wait for you! when he heard excited voices there above No answer save a snarl and the click of him. the revolver- again. "Where is he? Which way? Up, of Graham, realizing at last the futility of course, you solid ivory!" trying to reason with the infuriated yegg, He recognized one of the voices as that said: "Well, good-by then. On your own of the watchman who had threatened to re- head be it!" port Dugan " in the marnin'," In spite of He drew the iron door shut. Down the his imminent peril and throbbing heart, he corridor he silently ran. had to smile. As he crossed the transverse hall where "Guess I sized up your mentality, all the elevators were, he saw lights at its fur- right enough, my friends," thought he. ther end—lights, and three men. A moment he waited; then, sure enough, " " He heard a shout : There he goes ! feet sounded on the upward stair. Graham knew that he had been seen, Graham kept utterly still; all his senses that he.was trapped there in the dark mazes seemed as though merged and centered just of a place stronger, more formidable, than in die one sense of hearing. To him came a penitentiary itself. disjointed fragments of speech as the men, staying together through an irresistible feel- ing of dread, searched the corridors above. CHAPTER XXI. They came back to the stairway, puz- zled. heard one of diem say: "Well, he The Leap. He can't git out, nohow!" Another answered: ACROSS his mind flashed, clearly as "Wait, now, till I ring up th' rest of 'em. though it had been outlined in flame, We'll have the bunch here in no time. Oh, the plan of the warehouse which he had so he can't dodge us long ! often and so carefully studied. Somewhere in die stillness an electric bell 12 RR —: ! 754 THE RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE. trilled. Then, on the stairs above he Graharn realized with a thrill of exulta- heard the men's feet climbing higher still. tion that now all the men were below him! A daring ruse occurred to Graham. He Now notiiing intervened between him and issued from the corner where he had taken the top floor. Thanks to the stupidity of refuge, and as die. men went on up-stairs die men themselves, and the diversion caused he followed them. by their finding Piano, his way stood clear " The windows all up and down the stair- Dom funny how we missed 'im—how way helped him greatly. He neither hesi- he got down there ag'in when I seen him tated nor stumbled; he' made no slightest wid me own eyes runnin' up!" he heard sound. Yet steadily and swiftly he mount- one of the descending watchmen exclaim. ed die stairs in the gloom, blessing the He did not wait for more, but quickly stole thick felt-sole shoes he wore. away up, ever up, still with the precious On the sixth floor he paused—the floor packet safely in his keeping, still with the which but a minute or two past he had satchel gripped in his right hand. His quitted, and where the watchmen had so pistol he did not draw, but kept that for recently stood consulting. To his mind extreme emergencies. came the idea of seeking refuge among the It took him but a few minutes to attain piles of freight out by the elevators; but die upper story of the tremendous building. this plan he at once abandoned. Those As he went, the light, though still very dim, boxes, he knew, could at best give him but kept growing a bit stronger; it served him very brief respite. If he hid there, he must passably well. Inasmuch as he did not yet surely be caught. dare to use the electric flash, he thanked In this momentous game of hide-and-seek, fate that the warehouse windows opening upon which all his future, all his life, de- on the courtyard were not shuttered as were pended, he must at all hazards keep clear those that overlooked the street. and free of entanglements. Even a dozen On the top floor he stood still, listening. watchmen, he Ut certain, could not suffice His heart pounded with the exertion of the to entrap him in those many, dark, and long, fast climb, and with the excitement of winding hallways. If he could only outwit the chase. Far down below, the sounds of them until he could reach the top floor struggle had subsided. Piano, he knew, but after that, who could say? He set his was eidier dead or had been made a prisoner. jaw and vowed that once there, nothing The watchmen by now, he felt positive, should stop him. Forgotten was his scorched must have recognized their mistake; must head, where Piano's shot had grazed. know that there had been two intruders and Now the watchmen were climbing again. that one of these 'had succeeded in giving Again he followed. This brought him to them the slip. "the seventh floor, while they were poking As a matter of fact, it seemed to him they about on die eighth. But now he heard were coming up again, some of them; though sounds below him. Reenforcements were every sound in that echoing, maze-like place, coming! Suddenly a shot cracked. Sounds was so broken, enlarged, and distorted that of a scuffle burst out. he found it difficult to tell just what was Up from below rose a voice of command going on. "You big stiffs. Here, you, what you "At any rate, out's the word for me!" doin"? We got him!" Shouts followed; said he to himself. came another shot, a howl, an oath. He hurried along the hallway skirting Graham, fully realizing what had hap- die courtyard, looking for one of the sky- pened, shrank back into the hallway cor- lights that Piano had assured him were responding to the one leading down there there—but all in vain. Cautiously, as he below, from the vault to the stairs. went, he raised the flash-lamp high in air He heard feet running rapidly down, clat- and pressed the button, throwing the little tering heavily in confusion. The watchmen silvery beam up against the ceiling of fire- reached the floor where he was concealed. brick. No skylight! No trap -door! No For a moment his heart stopped still. Not opening of any kind! five yards from him the searchers were. "What? " thought Graham. "Penned in, Suppose they should happen to conic- after all I've been through? After all I've through the passage where he stood all done, and suffered—just at the very last open and defenseless? But, no—on they of it, just within an ace of going free, shall went, on and down the stairs again. I be caged up here like a rat and taken by ! — THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 755 those idiots? By God, I won't 1 Not while Graham shoved these out, so that they fell I have life!" in the court, a hundred and twenty feet be- He reached a turning to the right, took it, low. The slight noise he made could hard- and sped silently along the west side of the ly, he felt certain, reach the ascending court. watchmen way round on the other side of At his left he vaguely saw a row of doors, the great warehouse. with here and there the gaping mouth of a In less than two minutes he had broken hallway; at his right, windows that looked the wires all about the pane, had .lifted out out into the yard, twelve stories below the glass and laid it noiselessly on the floor windows all heavily barred. beside die satchel. He stopped, peered through into the There remained, then, only the bars. night, and pondered. Where, thought he, At the base of two of these he dumped all were the skylights that Piano had reported? the remaining thermit and hastily set it off. He did not know, nor could he, that the The stuff, so potent with steel, ate the mere architects' plan had been changed in that wrought-iron like so much wood. Present- respect. Puzzled and confused, he stood ly Graham saw that the bars were melted there to breathe, to rest an instant. He clean through. With the jimmy he pried pressed a hand to the singed spot on his them aside, then bent them sharply up and head. out of the way. A light, below him and off to the right, "Now!" said he. drew his attention. Through the windows He thrust his head far out and looked on the south side of the court he saw a down. He could see nothing, there below, lantern swinging upward ; saw legs moving save a black, fathomless gulf. The court- up a flight of stairs. yard was wholly lost in shadow. Above, "After me, again!" he realized. Far the cornice made a dark line across the away echoed the sound of footsteps climb- gray night-sky. A desperate venture in- ing, climbing. deed, he realized, to try .vid reach it, to ^Desperate, he ran forward once more. pull himself up and over it; but nothing Then he stopped. else remained. " " "It's no use," said he. "This game of It's that or—living death! thought he. tag, with me for It, can't last long. They'll "Now, then!" get me sure, this way—if not now, then Hesitating no moment, he pressed Ms later. It's a losing fight. I've got -to make a hand to his breast, assuring himself that break the sealed package still rested safely in his " If I die, doing it, that's all right, too. pocket, then lightly climbed to the sill. That's a thousand times better than to be Hark! What was that? A cry, far down taken, robbed of everything I've waited and the corridor—the flash of a lantern—the sent back to suffered and labored for, and crack of a pistol-shot ! A bullet snarled past " " 'stive!' Better, ten thousand times!" him. There he goes ! Quick, you ! he Again he peered through a window. heard a voice shout. Above it, perhaps three feet from the top Graham laughed wildly, then with the of its bars, projected a broad cornice. Once agility of an acrobat climbed through the there, he hoped, he might be able to swing opening he had made. himself up onto the roof, and from the roof He turned, clinging to the bars, and what possibilities of escape might not exist? quickly scaled the tall window. He scrutinized the window-pane, vaguely Now he was at the top, outside the build- seen by the infiltering dim light that al- ing, with nothing below him save a sheer ways hangs above a city. drop into the darkness. Twining his legs "H-m-m-m! Wire-glass!" said he. around the bars, he reached outward for '•That's a job in itself 1" the edge of the cornice. Just a little too Saying no further word, he opened the far for both hands to reach! Strain as he compass it. satchel, took out the jimmy, the remainder might, he could not of the powder and tape, and set them on "Here! Here! We got him!" cried inside. Graham heard feet run- the sill. somebody, With a quick, firm blow he struck the ning, full tilt. jimmy through the glass, and one by one Desperate, filled with the strange abnor- began twisting the wires off. The glass, mal strength that comes to men in time of held bv the wires, fell only in small pieces. supreme peril, he grappled a bar witli one 756 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. hand, raised himself, loosened the grip of of them, maybe more—armed, ready for bat- his legs, and stood there above the chasm, tle, ready to kill. one foot resting on a cross-bar. " I've got to get down off of here—down W ith a desperate effort he managed to get —some way!" panted Graham as he ran. his right hand up and over the edge of the His heart leaped painfully; his breath eaves. seemed to choke and stifle him. Like a hor- The fingers clutched and tightened. rible dream, a nightmare, the whole thing Graham let go with his left hand. He seemed—a nightmare from which he knew swung clear. For a moment he hung there he could not wake. On his forehead he felt by one hand alone, in mid air. the sweat starting copiously. A sudden A dark form appeared, at the smashed weakness came over him, and he' began to window. tremble. He pulled up short. " Hey! Quick, here! " screamed the pur- " Come, come, boy ! " he exclaimed. suer. "This won't ever do!" He tried to get Graham kicked at him, striking him full himself in hand, to think a moment, to plan. in the face and blinding him, as he flung A noise on the other side of the build- up the other hand and caught the eaves ing, on the roof across the gaping black with that also. square of the courtyard, came to his ears. His biceps tightened. The big muscles He turned. coiled and swelled. Graham pulled himself, By the vague light of a lantern, that inch by inch, up, up. till now at last he seemed to be shooting its rays upward could get one knee, one foot up into the through an opening of some sort in a long, metal gutter. inverted cone, he made out the head and Summoning his last ounce of strength he shoulders of a man. " " " held, so, for a second; then with his right Come on, youse ! he heard a cry. All hand clamped hold of the graveled edge of we got to do now is keep him bufy till the the roof itself. cops come!" A moment later he had hauled himself, Graham fell on hand and knees again. panting, spent and dizzy, up onto the flat Away behind the chimneys he crept, sound- roof right at the very lip of the abyss. lessly. Beyond them he passed. In front of The space of ten rapid heart-beats, per- him, now, he perceived the edge of the roof, haps, he lay there while below him rapidly running at right angles with the street. swelled the chorus of disappointed execra- " It's there or nowhere! " thought he. "If tions, of threats and confused commands. nowhere, then I fight!" Then away from the canon-like emptiness He reached the edge, crouched there and he crawled on hands and knees up a sjight peered down. rise over tar and gravel. By the half light that filtered up from the Safe for the instant, he scrambled to his street he saw at a glance the situation that feet and looked around him. confronted him. Dimly, at the low crest of the roof, he An old-fashioned building joined the made out a cluster of chimney-stacks and warehouse, its peaked roof, slate covered, ventilators. To right, a housing of some twenty- five or thirty feet below. sort, possibly containing the wheels and top A man, leaping to it—even though he framework of an elevator. To left, a dull could endure the shock—must land direct- upthrow of light from Spring Street at the ly at the ridge, else he would skid down front of the warehouse. the slates either to back or front, and shoot Not that way. he knew, lay escape. He off into the alley or into Spring Street. The turned to the right, ran rapidly along the drop from the eaves, Graham knew, could pebbles, reached the corner of the court and not be less than seventy feet. Sure death, turned a.«ain to eastward. to miss the ridge! Ahead of him he vaguely saw more chim- He groaned involuntarily, and looked Oeys. For a moment he thought of crouch- back. ing behind them, of hiding there like a hunt- Already the lantern bearer had climbed ed animal at bay; but that idea he instantly up the scuttle on the roof of the warehouse. put from him. It could not serve. The pur- Graham could see him, and two others, cau- suer- knew now where he was. I'p some tiously treading along, casting fantastic stair or ladder he felt certain they would im- ghostly shadows up against the chimney mediately be after him again—half a dozen stacks. — THE STEELED CONSCIENCE. 757 "In three minutes they'll be on me! In Maddened then, as though by the long, " . two ! realized the fugitive. " I've got to savage succession of pursuit and suffering, do it!" he flung his whole strength against it. Summoning all his nerve and powers of Something broke. The door swung open. cool calculation, he peered down again. Graham staggered in, holding the latch. The slate roof, he saw, was broken by a Vaguely he heard the disappointed shouts row of dormer windows. It terminated and oaths from the warehouse; they seemed sharply, fifty or sixty feet away. Beyond it, very far, very strange. was another flat roof, somewhat lower. He stood there an instant, swaying in There, he felt positive, must be a skylight or the gloom, still clinging to the door. some means of getting down to the street. " Where am I ? " thought he. Everything "Well, here goes,'' said Graham. "If I seemed to whirl and spin. A roaring filled pull through, all right. - If I don't, that's all his ears. right, too. I've done all a man could do. "Buck up!" he said aloud. "Why, " Now, it's up to Fate ! fool, you aren't going to cave in now. are Erect on the very edge of the warehouse you?" roof he stood. Right on the eaves he bal- As though the reproof had been spoken anced. A shout, behind him, and feet that in scorn by some one else, he pulled to- struck out a tattoo over the gravel, told him gether. He looked about Mm. he had been seen. He only smiled. It was, he saw, an ordinary roof house " Too late, now, for you to take a hand in that he stood in. Before him, stairs de- " this ! he cried. scended. At the bottom, a low-burning gas Coolly he judged the distance, as so often flame fluttered in the draft from the open he had done in the University gym. Then door. he clenched his fists, crouched, paused a Quickly he closed it. He squared his second—and launched out, down, into emp- shoulders, hastily brushed the gravel and ty space. soot from his knees, dusted his hands on Despite his careful judgment and his his trousers, and with only a slight limp skill, the shock all but stunned him. The despite the growing pain in his ankle, start- breath' was driven from his body. He lay ed confidently down-stairs. there, dazed and gasping, conscious only of Two minutes later, before any of the one thing—that he had struck the ridge, cautious tenement dwellers had had time to that he was not sliding down the roof,' that awaken to die situation or molest him, he he must hold on. issued into the street below. Then came the realization that he could Another minute, and he was round the not stay where he was. Painfully dragging corner. On the opposite sidewalk he saw himself along the slippery peak, he crept two patrolmen running, full drive, toward away. A sharp pain in his right leg told the warehouse. His nerve was good enough him he had injured it, though how badly to let him stop, turn, and watch them with he could not tell. In his tense excitement an interest which would have disarmed the he put the pain out of mind, and kept on, on, suspicions of keener brains than theirs. with the steep, slippery precipice yawning A car came by. He signaled it, swung for him at either hand. aboard, went inside and sat down calmly. He reached the farther end of the old He picked up a newspaper lying on the roof. seat; behind it he hid his face, easily From behind him he heard shouts. A enough, from the sleepy and indifferent fusillade crackled. He felt a dull twinge in glance of the conductor and the two fagged his shoulder, as though it had been hit by a passengers. hard snowball. Before the warehousemen had reached die Before him he dimly saw the next roof, street and had incoherently, explained things only a few feet lower. To it he fell, rather to the officers, he was a dozen blocks away. than jumped. He hobbled grotesquely off Only then did he realize fully that he had along it. A housing loomed in front of been shot in the left shoulder. Despite that him. fact and a sprained ankle, he gamely board- Round it he dodged, out of range of the ed an "L" train. By standing outside on revolvers. the platform, he concealed that fact from the He saw a door. All but exhausted he guard and also managed to keep from faint- tried it. The door resisted. • ing" from loss of blood. 75S THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. At One Hundred and Fourth Street lie As you come up the road from the river, left the train. A few minutes later he had pass through the grove of pifions and by a reached the flat, and was safe. graveled walk approach the bungalow, you The danger was all past, and die prize can hardly fail to see a little spade and hoe won. His degree of Master Cracksman had in the pathway, a toy wheelbarrow or a been signed with his own blood, sealed and sand pail. A miniature iron locomotive lies delivered. The way toward justice had on its side at the end of a long furrow been made free and open. His last, his where childish hands have dragged and left greatest " crush " was at an end. it for some other play. Perhaps you may catch a glimpse of the little boy himself, off down the slope among the rough-barked, CHAPTER XXII. odorous trees. His mother, too— " Munner Agnes" he calls her you may happen to Fiat Justitia. — see as she walks among her garden beds, "E\\R up toward the headwaters of the San watchful always of him; her white dress Luis Rey, on a pine-grown plateau gleams among the greenery. overlooking the fertile valley to westward There is an old man, bald and feeble and with its orange groves and dotted towns, much broken, whom the boy calls grandpa. stands the bungalow of John Graham. Very spent and wasted he seems as he pot- Away and away behind it the snow silver ters around, unmolested, in the flower beds. of the San Jacinto peaks, and to north of He never looks at you with level eyes, but them the San Bernardino ranges, stand always with a curious, blinking, sidelong boldly out against the untroubled blue of glance. You might think him a trifle in his the California sky. On clear days the flash dotage. He creeps about, here, there, in the and sparkle of Santa Catalina Gulf can be sun, lingering out the" little fag end of life seen very far on the horizon, from the broad that still remains. Agnes sees how rapidly veranda that circles the broad, low dwelling he is failing. In her heart of hearts—what place. does she think? Not even you can tell, (The end.) ANOTHER RAILROAD DOG. His Name Was Jack and What He Didn't Know About Traveling Wasn't Worth. While. THE following interesting dog story was sent Train No. 14, a passenger, was leaving Lexing- to us by one of the old-time readers of The ton at 4.40 A.M., one cold, snowy morning when Railroad Max's Magazine: the hostler, W. O., Vaughan, climbed on to the Jack was only a pup, a black-and-white fox- pilot lo ride from the depot to the crossover to terrier, when I first saw him dodging around the throw the switch. Jack got aboard with him, but roundhouse at Lexington, some ten or eleven did not get off when he should have, and was years ago. It took about two years to get Jack carried on out of town. Wiltshire did not know to board an engine, but when he once got ac- that the dog was on his engine until Jack crossed quainted with the cab the strides that he took in over the steam-chest, made the trip along the run- Lis education were startling. ning-board and scratched at Ihe cab door for ad- He soon learned to sit on the fireman's seal-box mittance. How he ever got from the pilot to Lind hnng his head out of the window with his the steam-chest has always been a mystery. paws on the arm-rest. He gradually got up suf- I have seen this dog on three different divisions ficient courage to keep this position while the of the L. and N., and on a number of trains be- engine was under headway. My father, who was tween Louisville and Cincinnati. He would strike on the road at the time, taught him to start the a freight out of Lexington and would not be seen bell by pulling the cord with his teeth. in that city for months, but would be heard of Jack bad his favorite engineers and among now and then from one of the other divisions tiiem were Uncle Dallas Pulliarn and James Will- where he could be seen riding in the engines. forgot a kind shire. One of the most thrilling rides that Jack Jack knew his friends, and never ever had was Willi Wiltshire on the 11S2. word. Likewise he never forgot a harsh one. ON THE EDITORIAL CARPET. Where We Let Some of Our Superheated Steam Escape, and Listen for a Pound in the Air Cylinder. to many politicians and others who found it ne.ces- OUR first section of the 1911 special will make the run in schedule time, unless some of you sary^to travel without paying. We all know how flag it along the line. Every car is newly painted, the government put a stop to this form of graft a the brasses are all polished, and the big Atlantic is few years ago. If you will turn to the old letter by steaming and ready. As we look it all over before Bill Nye which we print on page 616 of this num- it starts on its journey, we cannot find one flaw, ber, you will see what was an unexaggerated form but we want our readers to be in their respective of demand some twenty odd years ago. Though towers of criticism ready to send word ahead* to Bill was a humorist, the railroads received demands the should they find anything that for passes which were equally as preposterous. We give us arm, . does not please them. have a special article for February which tells of the That is the only way in which we can make a the old days when railroads considered passes magazine to give satisfaction to every one. equal in importance with rolling-stock. How the Nq train leaves a terminal without some com- railroads were annually held up for these special plaining passenger, and, perhaps, no other train privileges makes one marvel that they stood for it carries so many passengers as the one we are so long. proudly starting on its monthly journey. In the The Help for Men Department will contain an article special to little back shop here in New York, where the con, of importance young men em- the eagle-eye, the shack, and all the rest of the ployed in the business side of railroading. Then there other; articles. tells crew are forever busy, it is a pleasure more than a are One of the pain to know that you have found a poem with difficulties encountered by tramps sleeping on disconnected joints, a story that reads like a lot of trains. We will have the second part of Mr. splendid article flat wheels on the down grade, or a special article Walters's on bridge-building. Wal- that looms up as sadly as a hogger who, aiming for ter Gardner Seaver's roundhouse tales will appear " " a record, has got the washout sign. again. Ten Thousand Miles by Rail will have We think pretty well of this January section. its customary place, and Mr. Willets will tell of the We have tried to start the New Year right. Now famous hold-ups in the Missouri River Valley. let us take a little look at our February way-bill. And at the front table of the diner will be our There will be some excess pressure on " The friend and philosopher, J. E. Smith, and hjs A. B. C. of Freight Rates," by John C. Thompson. " Observations." The second part of this all-important discussion In the short-fiction cars you will find a par- will have a plush seat in the February Pullman. ticularly good story by George Allan England " Robert H. Rogers is another one of our writers entitled At the Semaphore." Robert Fulkerson " who went abroad last summer. While there he se- Hoffman contributes one in his best style, Bluff- cured some red-hot cinders in the shape of articles ing It Through for Abel." F. H. Richardson which are going to be mighty valuable to you boys. writes about Bill, the fireman, at a high-brow They will show you the great differences between lecture. Sumner Lucas, Augustus Wittfeld, and American and foreign railroads in all their others equally as well known will be aboard. branches. Both Mr. Rogers and Mr. Carter ran as Suffering feed-valves ! We almost forgot! Honk extra trains while abroad. Mr. Carter's " Europe's and Horace have the time of their gay young lives Old-Fashioned Railroads " appears in this number. breaking into polite society. It clearly indicates that some of the railway Two white flags at the boiler-sides for the February express! methods still in vogue in Europe are about as funny as a lead crown-sheet. Rogers's first article will tell of the fast run . Mr. PUSH IT ALONG. of the French express—how a crack European flier is operated as compared with one of our own. THE letters of praise which have come to us It is worth knowing. during the past three months from countless We have a splendid bunch of stories about rail- of our readers are more than deeply appreciated. road men and their encounters with animals. All We say this with modesty bubbling from all our railroad men love animals, and these stories are flues. When one man says, " I would not miss a the kind that hoist the steam in the laugh-injector. copy of The Railroad Man's Magazine for five " The day of the pass is still a pleasant memory dollars; another, " For my regular monthly laugh 759 : — 760 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. oiler water-tender I go to J. E. Smith and Emmet F. Harte," and an and and you. are ready to go another. " I read twelve magazines, and yours is up for your examination before the United Stales " inspector of hulls and boilers. If you you the best —with such words as these coming along pass, receive a third assistant's " ticket." we feel as if we had struck a running as easy as If the applicant has no shop practise it is much a down-grade on a sunny morning. harder. The length of time spent at sea is about boys friends how good We want you to tell your six years. Two years in the shop and three at the magazine is. We know you like it. and when sea, however, will prove satisfactory. you meet a friend who finds that his reading is The pay for oilers on the Pacific Coast, is $45 not just up to the mark, ask him to look at The a month and found. A water-tender gets $55, while Railroad Man's Magazine. We believe it will both oiling and water-tending on small jobs also brings about $55. On the Atlantic Coast, interest him even if he is not a railroad man, and these jobs bring about $5 a month less, according it is surprising how many readers we have whose to the regular union schedule.—G. E. M., San only interest in railroading is the wonderful ro- Francisco, Cal. mance, courage, and heroism which we describe in our pages. You will do us a good turn by pushing a good MOMENTS OF EMERGENCY. thing along. We will reciprocate by giving you Editor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: each month the very best reading matter that we can possibly secure. IN your issue of October, 1910, I read of the .* experience of one Joseph Lutz, engineer, to which I would like to take issue with you. " RAILROAD EDUCATION. Under the heading of " Moments of Emergency is the story of how said Lutz got out on top of his engine and shut her off when " RAILROAD education in the University of his side-rod strip- ped " her. Illinois appears to be assuming unusual In my experience (which has been long and proportions. It is planned, we understand, to varied, and some of it right on that division, too) building at erect a large transportation Champaign, such a thing could not possibly be done. Illinois, where technical railroading will be taught. Maybe you can explain how it was done. If The idea has been approved by railroad men, and, you can, you will certainly relieve the minds of a it is understood, the railroad companies of Illinois big bunch of railroaders. will lend substantial support to the originators in If you will publish this in your December issue of 1910, it will prove to all of us that not their attempt to secure an appropriation from the you do fear criticism. J. D. Hoyle, Winnemucca, Nev. State Legislature for the new work. — The Santa Fe's shops are crowded with ap- We could not grant Mr. Hoyle's request regard- prentices. The Pennsylvania's schools at Scranton ing the publication of his letter in our December Bedford have their usual quota of ambitious and number, as that number had gone to press when young men who are looking to the railroads for the letter reached our office. their future. The International Correspondence The story of the snapped side-rod told in " Mo- Schools, which give an excellent education in all ments of Emergency " in our October number branches of railroading, are receiving their large seems impossible to any one not familiar with the percentage of students who are destined to become type of engine commonly known as the " hog." railroad men. The side-rods churn along immediately beneath With all this, it looks as if the railroads of. the the cab, which is divided into two parts and strad- future will have the very best men that the country dles the boiler at its middle. produce, educated up to the standard of tech- can In this particular case, as soon as the side-rod nical and theoretical expectations in the most broke the engineer was at its mercy. It swung approved manner. have increased in rail- Wages up with terrific force, wrecking his side of the cab roading greater rate, perhaps, than any other at a and throwing him to the floor badly hurt. Even calling, but it is a calling for men of determination, if he had been able to lift himself at once to his courage, initiative, because its future holds and feet, the mechanism was so badly battered that it out the possibilities. greatest would not have responded. There was no way to stop the engine from the cab. J* As soon as he realized what had happened, he MARINE ENGINEERING. knew that nothing remained hut to cut the air, and, working his way through the scalding steam, which Eeiitor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: was escaping in great clouds, he passed over the IN the October issue of The Railroad Man's boiler, crossed to the tank, and, at the imminent Magazine. I noticed an article in the Light risk to his life, swung down between the pounding of the Lantern Department asking for infor- cars and opened the valve. what it is mation regarding necessary to do to The hero of the accident, Fred Wooley, whose become a marine engineer. My advice on the sub- identity was confused in the original reports of the ject, based on my own experience, is this accident on account of his extreme modesty, has First serve four years in a shop if possible the time served in a railroad-shop counting the since received recognition for his heroic action in same as any other Next, spend a year at sea as bringing the train to a stop and preventing a ON THE EDITORIAL CARPET. 761 wreck. The Central Railroad of New Jersey pre- the disadvantages of telephone despatching, which sented him with a handsome gold watch, on which are numerous, indeed. It is inscribed a description of the accident and the seems to me, if Morse were living and saw the brave part he played. new arrangement called a telephone system, he would laugh it to scorn and say, " Why, that is no system at all." And we operators would ad- vocate GILSON WILLETS'S Morse's views too. NEW BOOK. On this road, LCumberland Valley Railroad Com- pany] of 5>i GILSON WILLETS, well-known to readers of 116 miles single track, and, possibly. miles double track, The Railroad Man's Magazine for his I have not heard of an operator that likes the telephones. I will not say, " tele- stirring stories of life along the right-of-way, has phone system," as it can not be called a system, just published his first novel, a thrilling romance for various reasons. • of mystery and adventure in Mexico of to-day, First ; As the operator cannot be at the phone " entitled The Double Cross." The story is full more than half the time he does not know whether of exciting intrigues and hazardous undertakings the scheduled trains are .running on time or with an undercurrent of plot arid counter-plot, in whether they are two hours late. which a secret insignia plays an important part. Second : He does not know whether there are any extras out and, if there are, whether within The author's extensive travels in Mexico arid ; one or ten miles of his station. Central America have given him a deep insight Consequently, when he hears a train whistling, to mafiana land. He has instilled an atmosphere he rushes out and looks up and down the track, if of soft perfumes, radiant moonlight, and flashing there are curves near the office, to see which way black eyes that few could equal. the train is coming. When he ascertains its The book is sure to be a success with rail- direction, he rushes back into the office and gives roaders who appreciate a good, lively story. It the train the proper signal, not knowing whether won't let go of your interest until you've turned the train is No. 79, 83, or S5, unless he can judge by the make-up of the train. The poor, unpro- over the last page. It is illustrated by J. C. Chase. tected operator is working in the dark, no one but G. W. Dillingham Company. Price $1.50. the despatcher knowing what is going on. J* Third : When the operator wishes to talk to the despatcher, he has not time to stay at the phone THE BRAIN TEASERS. for half an hour at a time, consequently he must go to the phone, take down the receiver and ascer- YOU will notice that the Brain Teasers are tain if the line is busy. If he finds it busy, he not in their accustomed place this month. dare not break in. He goes back to the ticket- We regret this just as much as the mathematical window and waits on half a dozen customers, then minds-who seek recreation in solving these choice steals another minute and tries again with the twisters from month to month—but the fact of the same result. He repeats this operation probably a matter is this: The last crop of teasers was so dozen times, gets disgusted and swears he will go old that we did not deem them worthy of a place where there are no phones—and do you blame even on the slow freight. him ? Heretofore, the telegraph system, We hereby issue orders to all our readers to send under when the despatcher called for an order, the operator could in some new teasers. Scratch your think-domes answer up and then resume his .ticket-selling until and s»e what you can give us. A puzzle for The the despatcher had raised all the offices he wanted Railroad need obey only these Man's Magazine for the order. Now he must stay at the phone three rules: until several offices are raised and all have re- 1. It must be a railroad puzzle. peated the order, while behind him he hears the 2. It must be solvable. muttering of impatient, scolding passengers. 3. It must be accompanied by its correct answer Would it be any wonder then that he would get and solution. the order wrong, when he divides his attention be- tween what is going over the phone and what the The following are the answers to the teasers passengers are scolding about? published on page 570 of our December number: Fourth : There are so many words sound alike (14) . Two miles approximately. Explanation: on the phone, and the operator may think he is With the temperature at 32 deg., sound travels right and be wrong all the time. 1090 feet a second. To travel 2 miles, which" is Many people have a mistaken idea that the " " 10,560 feet, it will require 9.69 seconds, which is phone is the faster. I have a learner's instru- between 9 and 10 seconds, making the train about ment in this office and have experimented on it two miles distant. with the following result: Order repeated back before the operator on the phone was two-thirds (15) . Fifteen cars. done. J* To sum it up in a few words, railroading has DESPATCHING BY TELEPHONE. lost its charm. Heretofore the op., no matter in what part of the building he happened to be, Editor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: could listen to the merry hum of the instruments HAVING read the article on the telephone, and know as much about the location of the trains which appeared in the December issue of as the despatcher himself—and it was music to The Railroad Man's Magazine, and no- his ears. Now he must put die harness over his ting that it sets forth only the advantages, I beg to cranium, and, amid the hum of various noises like submit to the readers of your magazine some of so many horses going into a barn, endeavor to — r 762 THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. l v pick out what he is supposed to get, while a mob No. 5 connects with C. G. W. No. 4, eastbound. of angry passengers are making a break for the Will sell tickets to any part of the United States, train without tickets. handle Wells Fargo Express and have money- The leverman. who, heretofore, listened to the orders for sale. instruments and threw levers at the same time, Franklin Miller, Agent. must wait umil the despatcher sees fit to allow The Hanover may not cover the entire State of him to leave the phone. If he fails to get the track Illinois, but Superintendent Miller has more work lined up properly for the approaching train, it to do than any agent on one of the big roads. He mean? ninety days in the pie-house for him, or, whole works perhaps, dismissal from the service. is the —station-agent, passenger-agent, " freight-agent, Do you, readers, call that a "system? bookkeeper, and conductor. It keeps Under the telegraph system, the operator knew him hustling both day and night to do all the when a train was nearing his station and knew work in his various offices, as accounts of all what orders he. had. If the despatcher's attention transactions must be kept as thoroughly and ac- elsewhere, called despatcher's was taken Up he the curately as on any of the big railways of the attention to the fact that the train soon be would country. in and want orders. ^ But how is the situation now? Often a train EARLY WALSCHAERT GEAR ENGINES. gets by a station when it was the despatcher's in- tention to give orders at that point. The only Editor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: instance I could point out, where a telephone is of Walschaert Valve Gear has been in use in 1 THE any advantage, is where the operator has nothing" • this country since 1874, on the Boston, else to do but listen to the phone. Those places are Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, and on scarce, very scarce. Clarence B. Naugle, Opera- narrow-gage locomotives built by William Mason tor, Xewville, Pennsylvania. of Taunton, Massachusetts. Shortly after Mr. Mason built a standard-gage " CERTAIN SIGNALS. locomotive called the William Mason," for the ANSWERS TO northern division of what was at that time the "/^OXSTAXT READER," " Old Switch- Old Colony Railroad, running between New Bedford and Fitchburg. The writer was well V--< MAX," J. DOTSON AND . OTHERS.—The acquainted with"" this engine and its engineer, words of the song. " Casey Jones," were printed in having ridden on it several times. our July, 3,910, issue. You may secure copies by In 1876, William Mason built a narrow-gage en- sending 10 cents to this office. gine named " Onward," fitted with the Walschaert V. C. W, Chicago.—Gilson Willets is a man Valve Gear. This engine-.was on exhibition during and is very, much alive. He was born on Long the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, haul- Island. New York, forty-one years ago. ing passenger-trains around the grounds. As die Frank Tower, St. Louis.—All of our true road was composed almost entirely of sharp curves and steep grades, this service was exceedingly stories are absolutely true. We take the greatest hard, but the engine performed the work satis- pains possible to verify every one. factorily, and at the end of the season it was in S. G. F.. Buffalo.—We could not print the almost as good condition as when it commenced music of your railroad hymn. Send on the words running. and let it go at that. Our boys will sing it all At the close of the Exposition, this engine was right if it contains the proper sentiment. sold to the New York and Manhattan Beach Rail- road, which resulted in an order for nine more J* engines of the same pattern. I remember this Editor. The Railroad Man's Magazine: engine and its engineer— the late William Parks of T AM not a " rail " or a " snake," but a constant Taunton, Massachusetts—very well. Between 1878 and 1883, built A reader of your magazine. I like it very much. Mr. Mason In my travels this summer, I came across a twenty-five engines for the Denver and South Railroad, fitted with the Wal- queer little railroad here in Illinois—named The Park and Colorado built Hanover. I thought that the enclosed time-table schaert Valve Gear. In 1884 he a standard- Rail- clipped from the Hanover Journal might get a gage locomotive for the Nantasket Beach road; in 1885, one for the Boston and Maine, to chance in your grand magazine.—C. A. B., Canton, Illinois. run between Boston and Mcdford. These engines were also very satisfactory. The HANOVER RAILWAY TIME-TABLE. writer had an opportunity of riding on 'both several times. After Mr. Mason stopped building Schedule Xo. 1. effective March 28, 1910, 7 A. M. SOUTH NORTH BOUND. locomotives, the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn BOUND Railroad secured these patterns and had several ARRIVE HANOVER LEAVE locomotives built in Manchester, New Hampshire, No. * No 2 No. 6 1 No. 7 No. 3 No. 5 flitted with the Walschaert Valve Gear. They have now about 25 engines in service.—J. F. Damon, 12:35 10:30 ar J8:30 an. 11:45 am 5 : 15 pin 6:35 pin pro Mil ford, Massachusetts. N HANOVER arrive J* 6:20 omU2:20 puiJlO-OO am|9:00 ami 12 noon If.: 00 Pra AND EVEN THE EDITOR. THE writer is a ham operator, an amateur loco- Xo. —Way freight—connects with C. G. W. motive fireman and engineer, a street-car • for experience, a stenographer No. 6. t-ambound. . i motorman M t Xo. 3 connects with C. G. W. Xo. 3, westlxmnd. and typewriter for emergencies, an organist for : ; —— ON THE EDITORIAL CARPET. 763 pleasure, and a steady reader of The Railroad First the roadmaster comes, and he looks at the Man's Magazine for profit and recreation. Agree- job, able to request for a vote, I attach mine, and you " Sure," sez he, " you're not doin' this track - will see I have checked all on the list, even to the layin' right." " editor. What more can a fellow say if the magazine But it's Mr. White's blueprint," sez Oi, " Mr. can supply thought and pleasure and profit to a Flynn." " man who can still do all the aforesaid and run a Damn the blueprint," sez he, " damn the print street-railway—be superintendent of a big manu- and damn White facturing plant and yet, values the magazine abqye Faith, ye'll do as Oi tell ye or git off the job." " all that he can find time to read. Sure Oi will, Mr. Flynn," sez Oi, bowing a Faithfully and' fraternally yours—A Ham. few. And the chafe ingineer raised Nid the next day. J* Sure it's hell if ye don't and it's hell if ye do. APPRECIATION. A WOMAN'S The superintendent comes along in his car, " Phwat the hell is the matter? Look here, Dan " Malone ! Editor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: " But the chafe ingineer gave the orders," sez Oi. 1HAVE been a constant reader of your maga- " Damn the chafe ingineer ! Let him lave ye zine ever since the first number, and very " alone ! few of them have I missed. That's the way they go on, sure Oi'm spaking the I am not one of the railroad boys, but just a truth ; wife of one of the engineers of the Southern Pa- For the poor siction boss has. of troubles a few. cific Company, Los Angeles division. Sure, Oi'd rather be back tampin' ties be the day, However, I take a great deal of interest in all For it's hell if ye don't and hell if ye do. of their work, and enjoy and appreciate The Railroad Man's Magazine very much. I like J* the Editorial Carpet, and Honk and Horace, I think, the best; but I do not miss anything ex- Editor, The Railroad Man's Magazine: ' the brain teasers, which, of course, are not cept following poem I found in an old maga- intended for wives. THE zine. I take pleasure in forwarding it to I do want to mention a story in the September you. I feel quite sure that it will be ac- number. " Miles by Rail."' svhete Ten Thousand ceptable to the majority of your readers, as it is Mr. Willets speaks of Mother Allen. I cried when of slightly higher tenor than the most of railroad I read that story.—Mrs. F, T. S., Los Angeles, poems California. THE BRAKEMAN ON THE FREIGHT. OLD-TIME POEMS. BY GEORGE E. BOWEN. one of our readers in Pennsylvania we FROM By my warm window snugly wrapped " have received The Section Boss's Lament." Away from winter's wrath, " He says in his letter : I enclose a copy of a I watch the tide of life go by ' classic ' which I discovered when looking over Along the commerce path. some old papers recently. From actual experience, They hurry on—the young, the old, in the maintenance of way department, I can vouch The hungry, rich and poor for the truth of Danny's remarks." Our friend A swift procession toward the prize -~ All struggle to secure. refers to his road : THE SECTION BOSS'S LAMENT. I may not measure them aright, Yet through" each guise I peer father, me brothers, says Danny, the boss, ME Into the purpose of the heart all of that iver have And me kin Oi That knows the least of fear. known, And though full many a hero may Has worked on the road since they laid the first Among them battle fate, jtie, I hold above his fellows all, is the Revered and renowned name of Ma lone. The brakeman on the freight. For twinty-one years on the siction Oi've toiled, » In the rain and shine, in the fall, summer and No wreath of holly waits for him worthy, the Because Oi was roadmaster said, Who struggles through the night put in here as the of They me boss them all. To make his sleepless duty whole And guard with anxious might Sure me loife was contint whin Oi worked on the The treasures of the rushing train road, That thunders on its way And niver so much as a kick did Oi make; To feed and clothe and shelter men But now Oi could quit any toime of the day. And help them as it may. When Oi think of irie head and the way it docs ' ache. No feast for him is richly spread For it's aisy to do what the siction boss says, Who through the storm's delay, But arragh ! when you're bossin' a hundred or Brings succor to his starving kind two And drives their fears away It's different, sure. It's the truth thot Oi spake, A royal banqueter, he sat, For it's hell if ye don't and it's hell if ye do. With duty long and late, — — —— — ! ! ! THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE. While polar plenty surfeited Hold fast ! and duly give you grace, The brakeman on the freight. * On curving track or straight, To fail nor fall while you shall be Sometimes the heat is pitiless, The brakeman on the freight. Again, the fatal sleet Spreads death along the narrow way Trusting that I am not encroaching upon your Thai offers no retreat. time, as I know so many do, I am respectfully Yet. be his train a solid one yours,—W. E. Fiedier, Louisville, Kentucky. Or mixed by wretched fate, Thank you for the poem, Mr. Fiedler. You may One duty calls forever to *' " encroach on our time as soon as. you like if you The brakeman on 'the freight. find another old one as good. Always the crashing, mighty jar Of wheels that shake the earth Proclaims the hero of the road And tells his rugged worth. ONLY A BRAKEMAN. His constancy is color fast, BY W. C. HAFLEY. • And wears through sun or rain, The same devotion, night or day, (Published by permission of the Charlie Tillman Song Though long or short the train. Book CompanyV Atlanta. Ga., owners of the copyricht.) I don't forget the engineer J' I "* WAS oH^^poor dying brakeman, His is an honored name, A Simply 5^ hard lab'ring man, For all the world has sung his praise And the smoke ancrtthe soot of the engine, And glorified his fame. Had coveredhis face of tan. But I propose more than a toast 'Twas only — fongled being, Wherein to fairly rate Nobor!. ..iiew What's his name," The conscience and the credit of And they buried him out by the wayside, The brakeman on the freight. In a rustic-like coffin and plain. Winter or summer, wet or dry, CHORUS. On mountain or on plain. You'll find him loyal to his trust— Only a brakeman. only a brakeman, of his train. The genius Out and away from his home; The language of his lantern cries And the loved ones to-night in their sadness, Along the blackest night, Arc waiting and watchin^'done Defying death, that men may live From cars delivered right. 'Twas simply the old, olden story, No one to smooth down his hair; The roughest work, the toughest fare, There was no one to kiss him for loved ones, Make this grim conqueror No one to offer a prayer. A rugged force of stoic mien There -was no one to tell him of heaven, And hard exterior. No one to point him to God But manhood's independent pride But quickly and deeply they laid him Crowns the subordinate Away in the cold, cruel sod. A ruler of the rail while he's The brakeman the freight. on Repeat Chorus. I wave to him my best salute Oh, roughly they wrote on his head-board, Whene'er his train goes by " One simply killed at the brake," A brave commander tightly perched they said not a word of his hardships, Upon a cartop high But A-working for others' sake. Xo field of battle ever knew 'Twas only poor dying father, • Of courage grand or great, a A stouter kind than surely leads Out and away from his home And the loved ones, to-night in their sadness, • The brakeman on the freight. Are waiting and watching alone ! ^ Good cheer to you, my steady friend, Come weather foul or fine. Repeal Chorus. Long may you live, and ever bright Your starry signal shine. 'Twas simply a few little children, wife, Where'er you go, oh, be you safe Only a heart-broken suffered, The tempest for- your mate Privations for ihese he had And all the tvorld a lover of And gave up his own precious life. The brakeman on the freight. God pity these poor, struggling brakemcn. Pily each hard lab'ring man, Until another time, good friend, And make us feel kindly toward them, Oh, let it be adieu I God help us to hold up their hand! For, by my i_,in, a braver heart Than yours I never knew. Repeat Chorus. — THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. When love languishes Love chained to a coal-hod is a sorry spectacle. Men chafe at the burden of climbing stairs with a coal-scuttle—once in a while they do it with an "Oh- ' let-me-help-you-dear ' expres- sion, but the moment it becomes a daily duty, the joy is fled. American* Ideal il Radiators ^IBoilers do away with coal-hod slavery for men and women. Then, too, the coal-hod kind of heating means ash-dust, embers and soot spread through the li Ing rooms, which in turn means incessant toil to make the rooms clean. No woman is ever happy to see her efforts wasted. Women love cleanli- ness and if this is impossible then the house is not a home. No architect or manu- facturer would think of heating a factory by grates, stoves or hot-air furnace. Why should men expect their wives to put up with such old-style methods? In an IDEAL Boiler the fire will not need rekindling in the whole heating season—will run 8 to 16 hours or longer without recoaling depending of course upon the severity of the weather. A child can run the outfit. Ask your architect to specify and insist on IDEAL Boilers and AMERICAN Radiators. Fully guaranteed. Do not take any other. Every owner or tenant—small or large—in town or country — ought A No. 22 IDEAL Boiler and ANo.C-241 IDEAL Boiler and IDEAL Boilers (free). - 240 ft. of 38-in. AMERICAN 555 ft. of 38-in. AMERICAN to have our catalogue If and A M E R Radiators, costing the owner Radiators, costing the owner the care of old fashioned heating 1 C A N Rad i- were used to heat this were used to heat this ators keep a $115, $250, is robbing you of two hours a collage. cottage. new house new day which could be devoted to and cause an At these prices the goods can be bought of any reputable, better purposes, don't delay old house to competent Fitter. This did not include cost of labor, pipe, have i t s 1 i f e longer. All inquiries cordially valves, freight, etc., which installation is extra and varies and value pro- according to climatic and other conditions. welcomed. longed. Showrooms in all Write to Dept. J large cities AMERICAN TfoDIATOR COMPANY Chicago In answering this advertisement it is desinibte that yim mention THE Railroad MAN'S Macazine. — — lilK RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION The Drawing Pen is Mightier IT'S so easy to enjoy yourself. Never were there so many different forms of amusement as there are to-day. But the fact cannot be denied, if you wantto fatten your own pay-envelope and succeed in life, you must draw the line somewhere. Yes—there is a way for you— a way that has been blazed and followed by exactly such men as yourself. These men had all the inborn love of a good time, and still have it. But they came to realize, before it was too late, that much of their pleasure time could be spent to far better advantage. And this was the result: Joe Stieren advanced himself from machine-wood worker to Assistant foreman ; Jonathan Thomas was promoted from miner to Mine Inspector; Ralph Davis changed from elevator man to electrician ; Charles V. Cosby moved up from paymaster's clerk to superintendent of construction ; Tom Walsh from proofreader to draftsman ; Bert Spark's salary jumped from $50 a month to $1000 a year. John Wing's salary doubled itself in less than two years—and so on, without end. These names are picked at random from the list of thousands of successful students of the Inter- national Correspondence Schools—men who were helped in their spare time to win success in their chosen line of work. Now What are you going to do about it? It's a pretty poor sort of chap who hasn 't the ambition to find out how he can be helped—especially when finding out costs in tntwering tin* mil erlUemenl it i* detimbie that you mention Tns Hah.huai> Mim'j Mahazins, . THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION than the Billiard Cue nothing. What are you going to do about it? Have you enough ambition to mark the attached coupon to learn of the special way by which you can have your position bettered ? Marking the coupon costs nothing, and is in no way binding. On the contrary, it brings you advice and information telling how you can qualify through I. C. S. help for splendid positions in the occupation oiyourown choice, withoutleaving homeor stoppingwork. So long as you can read and write, it is absolutely immaterial who you are, what you do, where you live, what your salary, where you got your schooling, or what your age — e 'he I. C. S. has a way for you by maKg JSe coupon now. Now—Don't you think it well worth your while to get in line for the really good INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS, things of life when the way is so easy? Box 861, SCRANTON, 1»A. Over three hundred I. C. S. students every Please explain, without farther obligation on my part, how I can qualify for the positioi trade or profession month VOLUNTARILY report salary in- before which I have larked X creases and promotions won wholly General Foreman Electrical Engineer K. It. Shop Foreman Machine Oeslguvr this I. 331 heard through C. S. help— were K. It. Traveling Eng. Electrician R. R. Trav'e Fireman Mining Engineer from during October. Locomotive Engineer Mine Foreman Air- It rake Instructor Foreman Machinist %o long as you can furnish the ambition, Alr-ICrake Inspector Chemist Air Hrake Repairman 1. furnish the training— Assurer the C. S. can and Mechanical Engineer Architect in such an easy way that the cost will Mechanical Draftsman Bookkeeper ILK. Construction Eng. Stenographer not be a burden to you. •Surveyor Advertising Man Civil Engineer Automobile Running You've got to wake up some time and look tanking Concrete Construction this matter squarely in the face. Wake Name up NOW—before it is too late. Employed by. R. K Markandmailthecoupon to-day. Then the Employed as I.C.S. will stepinandshowyou beyond any 8treet and No._ question of doubt how you can be helped. City State_ Railroad Man's magazine. in answering this advertisement it is desirable that yon mention The THE RAILROAD MAN S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. % ^ >' From Camp to Table Syrup in Cooking Better and More Palatable than Sugar Towle's Log Cabin Syrup Full Measure Aside from being: good on griddle cakes, waffles, etc., gives a delicious New Flavor to all cooking that is most delightful. You will be surprised lo know of the many ways Towle's Log Cabin can be used. We have prepared an attractive book "From Camp to Table" which tells how to make the dishes illustrated and contains thirty-three prize recipes. Every housewife should have it. You will delight your family with the many new delicacies you can make. Send for it. It s FREE. How otten have you or the family expressed a desire for something new, — something different? So positive are we that Towle's Log Cabin Syrup wi!I satisfy this craving that if your grocer hasn't gut it, it will pay you to go to one who has. & Towle's Log Cabin Syrup Full Measure— Full Quality— Full Flavor fav- ^SftflMHR- h i-; the ouly Maple Syrup used extensively, mid known orably all over the world. Wherever Syrup is used, the names "'Towle" and" Log Cabin" are recognized as synonymous with the very highest quality in syrup. Tbere t» « coupon ou ttfttj ran or Lox Cabin wblch eu*bl«w >nn to — bMiiiifiil, fall ilM, lone weiring, d Mitel* * ^p__1__fc^ • i|>*- < Ial>4 t *•»{•<) uli Souvenir Cabin 10 wnl* in "1" r tt+A+t tit tM» n-l*^lU-u«t.l WbO Mndl j of Mat Uhlfrd BltlCS • i«nip«, we will mall pMtjUi.d oue 1MM The Towle Maple Products Co., St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A. Refineries and Offices : San Francisco, Cal. St. Johnabury, Vt. St. PbuI. Minn. Pacific Coast Headquarters. lie Virgin Maple Sugar Forests. In the Center of North America. Mauazi.nb. In nnticcrltio lliit a'lvcrlUcment U \» d'sirnbtc that Umi menllun The IUilboad Man's THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. in answering this advertisement it is desirable that you mmtion Tin: KaiukAd man's Maoazise. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION". If 3'ou want to succeed with poultry as the CURTISS brothers have succeeded, subscribe NOW and get the new CURTISS POULTRY BOOK which tells how Roy Curtiss, a New York farmer's boy, starting about twenty years ago, with a few neglected hens, has built up at NIAGARA FARM the LARGEST PRACTICAL POULTRY PLANT IN THE WORLD, with sales of OVER $100,000 A YEAR Roy agreed that if his father (a grain merchant and farmer) would furnish the feed he (Roy) would take all care of the flock and supply eggs and chickens for the farm table, and all that were left over were to belong to him. In two years Roy was using so much feed that his father had to cry quits, but the boy kept right on. He would start at two o'clock A.M. for Niagara Falls, 13 miles away, with poultry and eggs to sell. His brother joined him, and the business grew and grew. They took the farm and paid off the mortgage. They built and added to their plant, learning slowly how to avoid losses and make the greatest profits. But tliev had 110 guidance, and had to learn by their own mistakes. If they had had such a guide as the CURTISS POULTRY BOOK it would have saved them thousands of dollars and years of lost time. This capital book was written right at Niagara Farm by the veteran poultryman, MICHAEL K. BOYER. Mr. Boyer had the Curtiss brothers right at his elbow with their records and data. He says he never saw a general poultry plant so well managed at every point. No "putting on style." no fancy buildings, no ornaments, but straight, solid business. Everything is planned for months ahead. Every day shipments go off, every day money comes in. You could hardly be- lieve how little they lose. Their percentage of fertile eggs, of live, strong chickens hatched, of day-old chicks shipped, without loss, to Kansas or Florida, is really wonderful. > And this book gives all their methods of managing incubators, handling eggs, feeding chickens and ducks, killing, dressing, packing, and marketing, their formulas for mixing feed at different ages. And all these have been tested and improved by years of experience, resulting in the most profitable general poultry plant in the world. Whether you raise chickens, ducks, or eggs, whether you keep forty fowls or forty thousand, you will find here help that you can get in 110 other way. Profusely illustrated, with many fine engravings, from actual photographs taken from life. Have you use for such a book? Then read the offer below. The CURTISS POULTRY BOOK is sold in combination with the Farm Journal, Philadelphia, Pa. The FARM JOURNAL is the standard paper for everyone who lives in or near the country, or ever has, or ever expects to. A particularly fine poultry department, more valuable than most poultry papers. 33 years old, 750.000 subscribers and more. Goes everywhere. Clean, clever, cheerful, amusing-, inten- sely practical. Cut to fit everybody, young or old, village, suburbs, or rural routes. Unlike any other paper, and always has been. AMERICAN POULTRY ADVOCATE, the great New York State paper published at Syracuse, and lull of good reading matter, is always welcomed by the subscriber. Now in its iSth year. It is con- ceded to be one of the best poultry papers published in the United States. Well edited by recognized authorities on the subject of practical poultry raising. Has a circulation of 45,000 copies per month. ' " r "" casn nioney order or check) we will send postpaid the Special" Offer ( ' Curtiss Poultry Book and the Farm Journal for two years, and American Poultry Advocate two years, all for $1.00 if order is sent at once to AMERICAN POULTRY ADVOCATE, 46 Hodgkins Block, Syracuse, N. Y. In 'jfMircrinp thU.aivertnement it /• tcttrahle thai y,u mention Taa Kaimiuau Man's Ma'iazink. s— THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. SHADING LaT««- Three Kinds of Best Stick, Powder and Cream You now have your choice—whichever you choose, the lather is the best — the Famous Colgate Quality. Softening, soothing, sanitary. Best in its lasting abundance. Best in its antiseptic qualities and freedom from uncombined alkali. (See chemist's report below.) And best in the comfort of its skin-refreshing effect. Do not ill-treat your face and handicap your razor by using an inferior lather. Colgate's is the lather that can be made in three ways with one unvarying result perfection. "/ hare made careful examination of Colgate' Shaving Stick, Rapid-Shave Powder and Shav- ing Cream I found that all of these Shaving preparations arc notably free from uncombined alkali and in theform of Shaving lather all arc germicidal. 1 ' (Signed. Frank B. Gallivan, Ph.D. jtiiC. 25. 1910 Hotha-.vay lttit& .. SoxMli Mass. Colgate 's Shaving Stick is the " Magic Wand of Shaving" in the original nickeled box. Colgate's Rapid-Shave Powder is the "Powder that Shortens the Shave." Colgate's Shaving Cream is the " Perfected Cream." Trial size of Stick, Powder or Cream for 4 cents. COLGATE & CO.. Dept. 53 199 Fulton St. New York Makers of the famous Cashmere Bouquet Soap POWDER CREAM In answering this advertisnnent it is desirable that you mention Tub Uaiuioau .Man's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZIN E—ADVERTISING SECTION. STOP RIGHT HERE AGENTS SOMETHING NEW LISTEN Sells on sight. No experience necessary. Send your name and address today for free information. Phenomenal opportunity to make money. We want Agents, General Agents and Managers in every county. Anyone can do the work. 100 / PROFIT TO AGENT. No charge for territory. You will earn $45.00 TO $90.00 A WEEK ^^^^BMM^^^^^H^I ^H^^^^H^^^^^^H^^H^^^HKB ^^^^^^MM^^^^^HM^^^^^H easily nt the very bejriniiing. Grand free advertising special introductory plan for agents on Hie mosl sensational selling article of the age. Kvery man a buyer— quick. Every call a sale. Success is yours. .Money in abundance is coming to you. Indepcnden.-e - pleasant position—luxuries—a start in real life—SI r Odp mm 1 Hiram Purdy) look 27 orders firM* rtay out (sworn statement); profit .$10.50. 20 orders next day. Once our a^reut. always a money maker. Get out of the nit. Sond lor ahiol ute proof. Young men, old men, farmers, teachers, carpenters, students, bank clerks— ever? boil* ninkex money. reports. J. I ICTCIJ Tfl CIIPPPQQ" "Read these J. Green started selling in Louisiana and became General Agent GOn- Lid I CIi IU OUUUtOOi trolling exlensive territory. At a single time lie ordered .10 asfiils' oatfitw. Land office business right off the jump. Orders, orders everywhere. A. M. Clark, of Kansas, wrote, " I was out of town the other day— did not sro with the intention of doing any soliciting. Jum irol lo l:illt in~ and «.ol<| before I know it." Prolil. S9.00. ISrand new bnftlueu for aseutx. Sales roll up everywhere. 400,000 IN 4 MONTHS A positive automatic razor stropper—absolulely •rnnrmitetMl. Here at last. The JUST THINK OF THIS! thing all men have dreamed about. Inventor's genius creates the marvelous IM- PROVED >EVER FAIL- perfect in every detail, under every test. With it you can instantly sharpen to a keen, smooth, velvety edtre any razor—old style or safety—all the same. Ilumlles any and every blade aiiioiiiaiii'all.t . Few seconds with the IMPROVED NEVER FA II* puts a razor in better shape to give a soothing, cooling, satisfying shave than can an expert hand operator in 30 minutes. Nen Idea. Works great. Makes 1 1 j«'i.ds i-v.-rywhere. Sells itself. Men are all excited over ibis little wonder machine -^ver iis m,Y*t4>rion« acenrac.f and perfection. Eager to buy. Agenln eoininu monev. Field iintouelied. Get territory at once. We want a thousand Agents, General Agents, Salesmen and Managers. Act today. Exelnni ve territory. Just your name and address on a postal card and we will mall SEND NO MONEY. complete in format Ion, details, and :- worn to proof FREE. Don't delay. Territory is going fast. Give name of county. Write today. Address, 919 COLTON THE NEVER FAIL COMPANY, BUILDING, Toledo, Ohio IF YOU LIKE HUNTING, -*^—^> Agents FISHING. Thousands Wanted CAMPING. have written for every- where. You will like the my big dollar NATIONAL offer. Have SPORTSMAN you? It is the This magazine contains 100 biggest money's pages or more, crammed from cover to Cover wllb photos worth I know of. from life, stories of bunting, fishing, camping and tramping which will thrill and Interest This is your opportunity to yon. TbltCmontbly visitor will lure yon pleasantly away from prove conclusively that the monotonous grind of everyday work to Die heal Mi fill atmosphere of Field, Worn! a n d Stream. Single copies subscription, with MAKAROFF 15c. Yearly watch fob, $1.00. Ask SPECIAL TRIAL RUSSIAN Your OFFER Liu art er Dealer Send us 25 cents, stamps or coin, and we will fend you the CIGARETS National Sportsman for 3 months, also one of our heavy are all that we claim for them, and burnished Or mo I u claim a lot. Better write today. Gold Watch Fobs we (regular price 50c.) as here shown, with ni--i-t b-atbei strap and gold-plnted buckle. Also a copy of our new :*2-puge Mail address—95 Milk Street, Boston lllnstrated premium list. NATIONAL SPORTSMAN, 39 Federal St., Boston, Ma«5. Man'b Maoazisb. l« aniiecrinff any advertisement on this page H it desirable thai you mention Tins IUiuioad THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. p> Here is the way through OUR "Deferred Tuition Schol- arship ,x supplies the way and removes the last barrier between the progressive, ambitious young man and the higher position and salary to which he aspires. ead every word of this offer. We mean it, and there is a fine chance for you if you improve it. This country is OPPORTUNITY COUPON full of energetic, American School of Correspondence. Chicago, U. S. A. Please sent! me your Bulletin and advJsc mc how I can capable men quality lor the position marked "X.** R, R, Man's, whose days are spent in work which is not .Book-keeper . . . .Draftsman .Stenographer . . . .Architect suited to their natural talents. Thousands .Accountant. Civil Engineer .Cost Accountant . . . .Automobile Operator of these men realize that all that stands be- .Systematizer ....Electrical Engineer .CertTd Public Acc't Mechanical Engineer tween them and good positions with big pay .Auditor Moving Picture Op'r .Business Manager Steam Engineer is their lack, of special training in some one .Commercial Law ....Fire Insurance Eng'r .College Preparatory . . . .Reclamation Engineer thing. They lack the time and the means to stop work and take a course of training, and so they go on year after year, always getting farther away from what they most want. We are going to help these men. We are going to lend them the cost of the training they need and let them make their own terms about repaying us. This is the greatest offer ever made to men who have "got it in them to rise." We have studied the matter very carefully, and are fully prepared to help everyone who comes to us in earnest. If you are one of these capable, ambitious fellows, willing to study for an hour every evening after working hours, willing to stick to it with the kind of persistence that wins, and without which nothing worth while is ever won; then you are on the right track. Check the coupon, mail it to us, and we will explain fully our "Deferred Tuition" plan, how we will lend you the cost of the tuition, and allow you to pay us back when the increase in your yearly income equals the amount of the loan. No Promotion— No Pay— that's what our "Deferred Tuition" scholarship means. Ask for the little book, "Profitable Worldly Wisdom.'' It will be sent to you free and will help you. AMERICAN SCHOOL of CORRESPONDENCE CHICAGO. U. S. A. In answering thU advertisement it is desirable that ijmi mintinn Tub Railroad Man's Magazine, THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. A LIVING FROM POULTRY $1,300.00 from 60 Hens in Ten Months on a City Lot 40 Feet Square 'T'O the average poultry- * man that would seem impossible, and when we tell you that we have actually done a $1500 poultry bus- iness with 60 hens on a corner in the city garden 40 feet wide by 40 feet long, we are simply stating facts. It would not be possible to get such returns by any one of the systems of poultry keeping recommended and practiced by the American people, still it can be ac- complished by the PHILO Sola the condition ot these three month* old pullets. These pullets and llielr ancestors for w-n SYSTEM outside generations hare never been allowed to run the coup*. THE PHILO SYSTEM IS UNLIKE ALL OTHER WAYS OF KEEPING impossible to cot a large egg yield without green food as It is to keep a cow POULTRY without bay or fodder. An 1 in many respect* Just the reverse, accomplishing thine* in poultry work OUR NEW BROODER SAVES 2 CENTS ON EACH CHICKEN \txAl have * I way* been considered impogblble, ami getting unheard-of result! over-heating that are bard in believe without seeing. No lamp required. No danger Of chilling, or burning up tho chickens as with brooders using lamp- or any kind 01 Are. They also keep tho THE NEW SYSTEM COVERS ALL BRANCHES OF THE WORK lice off tho chkkeiiH automatically or kill any that may be on them when NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS placed in the brooder. Our hook gives (tilt plana and the right to make and use them. Ouu can easily bo made In an hour at a cost of 2G to £0 cents. from selecting the breeder* to mart;el it is the product. It tells how to get eega that will hatch, how In batch nearly every egg and how lo raise nearly all the TESTIMONIALS cblefcf. hatched. It give* complete plan* in de'ad bow to make everything Ht Dear PniLO :— Valley Falls, Oct. I, Mr. N. , 1910. nece»*«ry to mu (he bushier and at less than Imlf the coat required to handle Y After another year's work with your System of Poultry Keeping the poultry bu-lnesj in nuy other manner. tinaklng three veara in all) I am thoroughly convf (teed of Its practicability. I raised TWO-POUND BROILERS IN EIGHT WEEKS all my chicks In your Brooder-Coops containing your Ft rales* Brooders, and kepi th<*tn there until ihey were nearly matured, decreaHiug the number are ratted in A »pace of less than a square foot to the broiler, and the broiler* In each coop, however, as they grow in sUe, Those who have visited are of the very be*t quality, briuging here 3 cents a pound nlwve Hie highest my plant have been unanimous in their praise of iny blids raised by this System. market price. Sincerely yours, ittev.) E. B. Templor. OUR S.XMONTH-OLD PULLETS ARE LAYING AT THE RATE OF Mr. E. R. PHILO, Elrafra, N. Y. Klmira, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1909. 2i EGGS EACH PER MONTH Dear Sir:—No doubt ;uu will be interested to U-ar i oi our success In keep- Philn In a spice or two square feet fitr each bird. No green cut bone of any de*crip- ing poultry by the System, Our Ural J'eap's work Is now nearly cont- It has given us from sit lion I* fed, and tfie food u-.nl 1- inexpensive as compared with food others pleted. an Income of oyer $500,00 pedigree hens and are using. one cockerel. Had we understood lite work as u«-ll ns we now do after a year's experience, we could easily have made over IIOoo.OO fiom the six liens. ill! PniLO SYSTEM OK Pol'LTKY KEEPING, given ttfll particulars regarding these wonderful discoveries, with simple, oaity-to? In addition to the profits from the sale of pedigree chicks we hnve cleared Understand direction* that are right to the point, and 15 pages of Illustra- over $9C».0D, running our Hatchery plant, consisting of r.i> Cycle Hatcher* Wfl |rieaaed tion* showing all branches of the work from siArt to imisti. nre with the results, aud expert l«> 'I" better lh» coming year. With best wishes, wo are Very truly yours, (Sirs.) C P. Goodrich, DON'T LET THE CHICKS DIE IN THE SHELL list EC, IE. PHILO) Klnilra, N. T. South Britain, Conn., April 19, 1909. One the secrets of success Is to save all the chickens that are fully of de- Dear Sir :— I have followed your System as close a< I could ; the result Is a Teldpei] at batching lime, whether Ibey can crack the shell or not. It la a complete success. If there can be any Improvement on nature, your brooder I rirt. he secret the •imp'- and believed to the of ancient Egyptians and is It, The tlrst experience I had with your System was last December. I wlilcli enabled iheiu to Hell the chicks at ID cents dozen. CbtntU a batched 17 ebb ), under two hens, put them as sootl M hatched in one of your brooders out or doors, and at the are ot three months I sold Ihein at :t."c. CHICKEN FEED AT FIFTEEN CENTS A BUSHEL a pound. They then averaged lbs. each, ami the mini I Bold them to said tells the best green food with but trouble >»>.r book how Uj make little and they were the ilnesl he ever saw, ami he wants nil I can spare this season. h*ve « fled supply any day Hi the jear, wluler or summer. It I* jn-i as Yours truly, A. K. Nelson. SPECIAL OFFER Send $1.00 for one year's subscription to the Poultry Review, a monthly magazine de- Voted to progressive methods of poultry keeping, andwe will in- clude, without charge, a copy of the latest revised edition of the Philo System Book. E. R. PHILO, Publisher Pkulorrat.h Sbo-lno a I'nrllon or lhi> Phllo Saltonal Poallr, In.lllnlF Puullr, I'lanl. Hlirr.; Tlirrr ir» llt.r St., Elmira, low o. 1)1X1 PrUlgnr Ulilli- l>r|.lnB> »n. on I ... l imn a Hall ttrc of Land. 2633 Lake N. Y. /n anwerlng Hilt oiverUtcment (I It icllralitc that you mention 'I'm: I{aii.hoai> Max's SIaOWiNE, THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. WALTHAM WATCHES 8tfplLsSS For Holiday Gifts—Big Specials FULL JEWELED WALTHAM $|Q65 In Fine 20-Year Gold-filled Case. Guaranteed to keep Accurate Time SENT ON FREE TRIAL, ALL CHARGES PREPAID. You do not pay one penny until you have Beon and examined this High-Grade. Full Jeweled Waltham Watch, with Patent Hairspring, in any style plain or engraved Case, right in your own hands. Greatest Bargain oSSEd $1 a Month, BIG BARGAINS. Diamond No matter how far away you live, or how small your salary or income we Rings, any style mounlinrj. will trust you for a high-jrrade adjusted WalLham Watch, in (rold case, Terms: S3.75 per Month. warranted for 25 years, and guaranteed to pass any railroad inspect" THE OLD RELIABLE ORIGINAL DIAMOND Write for our handsome Holfdiiy AND WATCH CREDIT HOUSE log, filled with beautiful photograph' trations of Diamonds, Watches, solid gold Jewelryv IOF.TIS Dept. A 661 92 lo 98 STATE ST.. CHICAGO. ILL Silverware and choice Novelties for Christmas presents. Select any article UBS BROS & CO. its* Branches: Pittsburg, I '•/ „ St.Lou.is, Mo. you would like to own or present to a loved one; it will be sent on approval. rTrirfngle 5-PJYcaUaps Showing the Stout Stay and Slanting Buttonhole of Triangle 5-Ply Collars. The Slanting Buttonhole holds the points together firmly and AND the Stout Stay prevents the buttonhole COCOA from wearing or tearing out. CHOCOLATES Triangle 5-Ply Collars do not come back from the laundry with the broken ARE STILL THE BEST bcocoa buttonholes and gaping fronts of SOLD BY CROCERS EVERYWHERE ordinary collars. These points in addition to the 5-Ply features, enable Triangle Collars to hold their style to the end of a much longer life. The Pager is a new style 234 inches high. Same price as any 2 for 25c collar. If your MORE MONEY dealer doesn't keep them, send us his name and 50c for 4. In Canada 3 for 50c. the beginning of Western Canada's future indus- Write us for " KCcy to Correct Dress and trial and commercial centers, than in any other sample buttonhole, shovving Stout Stay. way. It is estimated that VAN ZANDT, JACOBS & CO, 618 River Street. Troy, N.Y. ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS was made in the year ending July t, 1910, by The Collars of Quality' those had the foresight and courage to who make IMPORTED such investments. from FRANCE IT IS ALL GOOD, CLEAN MONEY, TOO SEE THEM BEFORE PAYING! These Gems are chemical white sapphires. You invest as can little as $10 a month and gel your share Can'l be told from diamond? except by an of it. Let us tell you about Fort George, the last great expert. Stand acid and fire diamond tests, metropolis of North America, and other opportunities for o hard they can't be filed and will cut glass. Bril- investment in lauds, business openings, etc., in British liancy guaranteed 25 years. All mounted in UK. solid Columbia. gold diamond mountings. Will send you any style ring, pin or stud on approval—all charges prepaid—no money in advance. COMMERCIAL CLUB /" OF FORT GEORGE C Write for Free Illustrated booklet, uppelnl pH..-- and rinp measure. Publicity Bureau, 613-S Bower Bldg.. Vancouver. B.C. WHITE VALLEY GEM CO.. 704 Saks Bldg.. Indianapolis, Ind In answering anu advertisement on this page it is desirable that you mention The Railroad Man's Magazine. ! THE RAILROAD MAX'S M A( ; AZI X E— A D YE RTISIXO SECTION Everybody's Chewin' Sure thing—just must— can't help it ! "Violet Chips" and "Mint Chips" —the cheer-up, happy-days kind of chewing gum that jollies digestive machinery, injects vigor into your spirits, tones up your breath—sets you plumb-right to rub up against this old world's rough spots Just Ask for Colgaris Chips Mint or Violet 10 chips in a sanitary melal box, 5c. Choice of wisefolks— particularly sportsmen. Sold everywhere, or we'll send a full-sized box of each for 10c. Ball player's picture in every package COLGAN GUM CO.. Inc., Louisville, Ky. Jit aiuiceriu'j una mlrciliHCmenl on Ihit imyi il in tletlrable llml you im ntion The Kaii.huaij Man's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. This year make your Christmas Instrument an EDISON PHONOGRAPH Make it an EDISON because— 1st—The Edison Phonograph has just the right volume of sound for the home. It is not loud enough to be heard next door or loud enough to echo to the farthest comer of the dealer's salesroom, but in your home its sweet, modulated tones will entertain you and your family in a way that never grows tiresome. 2d—The Edison Phonograph has a Sapphire Reproducing Point that does not scratch, docs not wear out and never needs changing, and which travels in the grooves of the sensitive Edison cylinder Records, bringing out the sweet tone for which the Edison is famous. 3d—The Edison is the instrument that plays Amberol Records — records playing twice as long as ordinary records and giving you all of all the world's best music. 4th—The Edison Phonograph permits of home record making — a most fascinating form of entertainment. It will record what you or your friends say, sing or play and l hen instantly reproduce it as clearly and accurately as it reproduces the Records of Edison artists. These are a few of the Edison advantages. You want them in the instru- ment you buy. So go to a dealer's—there are Edison dealers everywhere —and insist on hearing an Edison—the instrument that has been perfected and is manufactured by Thomas A. Edison. Edison Standard Records $ .35 There is an Edison Phonograph at a price to suit everybody's Kdisun Amberol Records means, from tin- Gem at $15.00 to the Amberola at $200.00. (play twice OS lone) - .50 Ask your dealer lor complete catalogs of Edison Phonographs Edison Grand Opera Records $ .75 to 2.00 and Records, or write us. NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH COMPANY. 92 LAKESIDE AVENUE, ORANGE, N. J. With the Edison Business Phonograph you don't hold up any one else's work while your dictation is going on. iii answering this attverliiivmenl ii in dimirable that ymi mention Tun Railboad man's Magazine; THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. TheMUNSEY If l ;munseyI i MAGAZINE I if ,0 HRISTM A Women Who Have Upset Thrones Undappy monarchs whose empires have crumbled al woman's Hi touch, from the days of Mark Antony to King Manuel of Portugal. Insomnia, and Insomniacs By Dr. Woods Hutchinson A commonsense talk about a widely prevalent but easily avoided disease. Loeb, the Man at the Gate By Herbert N. Gasson What honesty in the customs service has meant to the coffers of Uncle Sam. The New Apportionment of the House The difficult task of readjusting the membership of Congress accord- ing to the recent census, and the many political bearings of the problem. The Story of the Trained Nurse A history of the profession thai has made possible ihe modern hospital and revolutionized the care of the sick. Twelve Short Stories : : : One Serial Seven Special Articles For Sale on All News-stands at 10 Cents a Copy or Sent Direct by the Publishers THE FRANK A. MUNSEY COMPANY, 175 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. ACENTS SALESMEN WANTED MANAGERS WANTED STARTLING OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MONEY FAST. AT HOME OR TRAVELING—ALL OR SPARE TIME Experience not necessary. H onesty and willingness to work all we ask. We will give you an appointment worth $50 to $75 every week. You can he independent. Always have money in abundance and pleasant position selling greatest labor saving house* hold invention brought forth in fifty years. LISTEN:— One man's orders $2,650.00 one month, profit £1,650.00. Sylvester Baker, oi Pa., a boy ol 14, made f9;00in 2»4 hours. C. C Tanner, la., 80 years old, averages five sales to seven calls. See what a opportunity ! wonderful Room for YOU, no matter what your age or experience, or where you are located— if you are square and will act quick. But don't ilei.iv— territory i- going Gut. Read what other*" are dolus And he Influenced by their miutcoss. HOKK r'oil i s ami i;i i I; if' II. " •I do not He lion n lit? Her seller enuld lir mnnii motored,'' writes Parker J. Townsend; Minn. Called at twenty home*; made nineteen sales,'' '• necessary —E. A. Martin, Mich, Most simple, practical, household article I have ever seen," says E. W. Melvin, Son Prancitico. '*Took r-ix dozen orders In four day-," — W. K. Hill, III. ** Went out iir*t morning, took sixteen orders,"—N. H. Torrence, " Started out 10 ii. in., i>uld hj " 1 ' SCW York. Hllrty-Bve 4 o*eloek,'*— J. IC. Tiioman, Colo. Sold 131 in I no days, " THE NEW EASY WRINGER MOP — G. W. Handy, New York* I h.ive Mold goods for year-, hat frankly, I have nover had a seller like this."— W. P. Spansenherg, N. J. - (nnvas-.ed eleven lamilies. look cleren orders,"— E, Kandall, Minn. M SOLD TURN EIGHTEEN MltsT 4> HOURS. Wil man for me todav, Saturday,"— u Working auother Elmer Menu. CRANK Wis. TLc*e nurds are real— they are honest. \OT i AN MAKE THIS HONEY : You ran make TO $3000.00 in 3 Months WRINO The above cut shows mop wrung up dry and pictures the good, strong, kiio- stautial material New Low Priced Household Article. «ni.^oi> ia ^ud' selling this great invention—The Easy-Wringer Mop— the biggest money maker of the age. from iloor it auto- m a l 1 c " ' Think ol it 1 A Self^Wringing Mop. No pulling hands into the dirty water. No aching . , , backs. No slopping against woodwork. No soiled clothes. No contracting deadly disease Jiady water for from touching hand'* to filth and germs that come from floor. Can use scalding con- wrJhjf'ing taining strong lye. Two turns of crank wrings out every drop of water. Makes house- keeping a pleasure—Makes the day happy. Simple, practical, reliable, it lasts for years. Kvery woman is interested—and buys;. No talking necessary— it sells itself. Simply show it and take the order. Could you imagine an easier, quicker, better way to make money than supplying this demand already created. We want more agents, salesmen, managers, to fill orders, appoint, supply, con- trol sub-agents, ISO per Cent profit. No investment required. We own patents and give you exclusive territory, protection, co-operation, assistance. You can't fail, because von risk nothing. HUN- DREDS ARE GETTINU RICH. Act quick. Write for your county today. WE WANT A THOUSAND MEN AND WOMEN. This smaller picture Only your name and shows mop on floor. Send no Money: address on a postal It spreads out and is card lor information, offer and valuable twnkle'l FltEK. heid down to floor at Tomorrow helongs t>> the one behind—thie opportu- all points. nity Is Open TODAV. Write ypiiX miineand address clearly, giving name of county. The U. S. Mop Company, i 199 Main St., Leipsic, Ohio. The Story of an Extraordinary- Advertising Service is the name of an interesting booklet we would like to send to every manufacturer and every business man who is not now taking advantage of the best selling force in the advertising field to-day. We can suggest a solution of the problem of national distribution, with the jobber, the retailer, or the consumer; we can help the manufacturer to develop his business along entirely new lines. A postal brings full details of this service. Write to-day, and tell us what we can do for you. THE FRANK A. MUNSEY COMPANY 175 Fifth Avenue. New York In answering any tnlveftt»e>ncnt on this page if is desirable that you mention the Railroad Man's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. MARK ENDERBY: TT WOULD COST more ENGINEER A than $17,000 to send a By Robert Fulkerson Hoffman post-card to the 1,700,000 and more homes that read VERY one of you railroad men — and your J wives and mothers, too — should read this "The Munsey Magazines" story of mountain railroading in the Southwest every month. because its characters are the kind of people you work with every day, and the scenes and events Advertisers who know are described are familiar to you all. using this short-cut The Rock Island Employes Magazine says: "It's i book that a man with the vim of the toad in his blood will simply have to read if he once gets his eye on it. One of the best things about it. is the fact that it is not one of those long-winded novels that a man, as busy as a railroad man. can only read in unsatisfactory snatches. Rather, every chapter is a powerful story in itself. Just the thing for a cleric to tuck away in his desk till the latter end of noon hour; a book that a trainman might put in his locker to read when he has to lay over sometime; Just the sort for an engineer to slip into his cab scat to read when he has to hang around at some little place on the line." Classified Advertising liate per Line the book today you will read it over Get — Munsey's Magazine $2.50 and over again, and like it better each time. The Scrap Book The Argosy $1.50 Special All-Story Illustrated in color by William The Magazine 1.00 Combination The Railroad Man's Magazine .75 Harnden Foster. $1.50 Rate The Cavalier .50 $5.50 all bookstores or by mail from the publishers $6.25 Minimum i lines; Maximum 12 lines, Ten per ceut A. C. McCLURG & CO. discount lor six consecutive insertions. The Frank A. Munsey Company Francisco New York CHICAGO San ns^Fifth Avenue, New York pk to; to cents: UNTIL you have read The Scrap Book you THE cannot fully appreciate how engrossing, how interesting SCFIAP a publication of this kind can BOOK be made. At ten cents a copy it pro- vides a fund of entertainment month by month that can hardly be duplicated short of a CHRISTMAS shelf-full of miscellanies. ALL NEWSDEALERS In nn.u-T.n-i -imj I'h i rtiocment on thin pttgt il U dcnlruhlc that v>u nn niton The Kaimioad Man'k Magazine. a THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZIN E—ADVERTISING SECTION. This Edison This (greatly re- Fireside Model duced) shows a por- Phonograph tion of our famous Shipped "Prairie Girl" pic- FREE! ture. This handsome Read This Great NEW Offer portraitis reproduced in 12 colors exactly like the original and is printed without advertising, on fine plate paper ready for framing or hanging. Equal to pictures Shipped FREE! costing $1.50 or The la test and greates t offer on the Gen uine more at art stores. Edison. This offer is for every one who has not yet he.ird our Edison in his own home—for you to near concerts and entertainments by the world-famous This beautiful picture will be sent to you postpaid musicians-rjust siicli entertainments as the metropoli- upon receipt of ten cents in stamps or coin and with it tan theaters are producing. we will include Iree. our big illustrated catalog show- If APPm 1 will send you this Genuine ing the most complete line of revolvers, rifles and Mf llrrrlf Edison FiresideOntnt(newest shotguns made. If | | y| | Lin model Jcomplete with 1 dozen Ed isonGold Moulded and Am- berol Records, for an absolutely Free Loan. I don't ask THE HOPKINS & ALLEN ARMS CO. money 58 Chestnut Street Norwich, Conn. any down or in advance. There are no C. O. D. shipments; no leases or mortgages—absolutely nothing but a plain cit-and-out oiler to ship you this phono- graph together with a dozen records of your own selec- tion on a free trial so that you can hear it and play it in your own home. IN 110 $13,245 DAYS Why I Want to Lend You This Phonograph I know that there are thousands of people who have never heard the $30,000 in 9 Months Genuine Edison Phonograph. Now, there's only one way to convince people that t he Edison is superior, and that is to let them actually see of orders from lnd\. Amount R. V. Zimmerman, and hear this remarkable instrument lor themselves. That is why I farmer {address upon request)\ lor our am making this offer. The only ~,vay to inakeyon actually real- ize these things foryourselfis to loanyou a Genuine Ettiitm Phono- NEW INVENTION graphfree and let you tiy iV. First experience as an agent. M. Sloneman, Ncbr.. All I ask you to do is to invite as many as possible of your friends to artist [address uton request), stare time orders lolal All | You Need Do hear this wonderful I-'ireside Edison. OVER 95 15,000.00 I feel absolutely certain that out of the number of your friends who will hear your machine there will be at least one and probably more who One order exceeds ^(tiOOOi " Rest thing ever will w .at an Edison of his own. If there isn't (and this sometimes sold. Not one complaint from 2.000 customers." happens) I won't blame you in the least. You won't be asked to act C. A. Korstad. Minn, {address uton reqiust). as our agent or even assist in the sale of a single instrument. Orders $2,212 Worth in Two Weeks If You Want to Keep the Phonograph Hundreds enjoying similar prosperity.Age n Is break- » make the phonograph your own, you do so. Either remit us the ing all records—actually gating rich. Let us re- may price in full, or if yon prefer, we will allow it fer you to VO more whose you to pay for on the total orders ex- easiest kind of payments. ceed $51,000; to hundreds like O.Schleicher, Two Ohio (minister), fllll" FaCV Patfltiont Plan dollars a month pays foran uur tdj»y rdyiiieni nan om ,it. nun- is absolutely whose first 12 hours, no lease or mortgage of any kind, no guarantee from a third party, no work sold outfits' 30 going before a notary, no publicity of any kind, ami the payments are (profii $81.90). A. so very small, aud our terms so liberal you never notice the payments. Wilson. Ky., who or- Justsignthiscoupon " dered $4,000 worth FDrF nowand Ml^ mail it to us. 1 will send y. ..iJ^V and sold 102 in 14 r Nr r _ Sect ional I I llkla our Edison Phonograph Catalog, the F.K.BABSON days profit $278.40'. very latest listof EdisonGold Moulded Free Sample, Credit, Liberal Terms i M i«in, ^ »oppfte« capital, InreaU- gntr in nil mean*. Adtlren 1 today for lull detnllS—deolde nftorwnnla. I — ^AAddress.. ALLEN MFG. CO., 3161 Allen Bldg., TOLEDO. O. * In antwerlii'j any advertisement on (his /mar it it degtrable that mm mention The Railroad Man's Magazine. — — — THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. S5 Children Are Blessed With a Sweet Tooth So are you — and you should encourage it, for the system demands sugar more than meats. Of the three nutritive elements which support life sugar, protein and fat sugar is the most important. You can't eat too much of it in its correct form. It is the native sugar in good ribbon cane syrup that gives it its wonderful food value —the whole substance is wholesome sugar. The "sweetness" of many syrups sold to the public is a little sugar or saccharine matter added to an insipid by-product "filler" tasteless until the sugar is added. Such syrup, by itself, or made into cake and candy, has about as much food value as shavings. SYRUP is the finest example of a succulent Georgia ribbon cane syrup, made by the old plantation "open kettle" process, put into cans direct from the evaporator while hot—thus insuring the permanency of its natural sweet flavor and inimitable taste. It's the good old-fashioued taste you remember in your grandmother's pantry—the most welcome food children can have. If your dealer doesn't keep Alaga write us and we will see that you are supplied. Austin Nichols and Company Largest Importers, Manufacturers and Wholesale Grocers in America New York City Distributors for the East Packed by Alabama-Georgia Syrup Company Montgomery, Alabama In tuitmrtno tM» advcrtUimcnt (t it ilcetruble that you mention Tin: Haii.iioad Man'h Maoazi.nk. : THE RAILROAD MAX'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. Bister Brown s GUARANTEED Stockings Fighting .FOR MEN the Trust!! .WOMEN' The Smashing Anti- £»CHILDR£l Trust Fight Now On! Trade Nark Registered *7 DARN! Why Darn? rOB HAVE BEEN DAKMNC AM, YOIK LIKE, ft VOV WANT^' TO QUIT Il.tltMMI BUY HI' ST EH BROWN'S GUARANTEED DARKLESS STOCKINGS FOB THE IHIOI.i; FAMILY. Silk Lisle Half Hose for MEN : black, tan. navy, pmy, wine, purple unci heliotrope. Lisle Hose for LADIES ; median] and gauze weight black or tan, Combed Egyptian Hose for BOYS: lisht and heavy weight ; black or tan. Lisle Fine Onus.- Bibbed Hose for MISSES; me- dium and light weight, black or tan. Prices MISSICS Silk Lisle Kim- < .;ni'_">-, Ribbed, blacker tan. 2Ge it Pair, four Paint to tltr Box, .fl.OO I.AniEs silk at Last! I.UIe BltliBt, black or Inn: tllMta pairs lo l„,x, 81.00. Eclipsed GUARANTEED FOR FOUR MONTHS An absolutely first-class high- Fur tittle MOST enrittehert hut il Hour ttirrrliitnt pill grade watch at a price within IW" wild im upsr wi the reach of the people—The Burlington Special iter, /titling kind, ItfM ,ki rnlnr Waiited, anil ice trill mp- Anti-Trust Watch. j'/w Him direel, ureiKiyina fwjfajfe. The World's Masterpiece of -watch manufacture—the Write For Butter'* Burlington Special—now §old direct to the public at Iti /,/•„' FuiltlU ISooK, rock-bottom, anti-trust price (and besides without FUSS. middlemen's protits. Buster Brown's Hosiery Mills. We do not care what it costs'™^ Sherman A vis,, Ghattaliooni, Telin. ^ dependent Hue and so we are making the most sweeping, baffling offer ever made on watchea. "DON'T SHOUT" Some trnsts are legal and Rome are not. We do not say " that the watch trust in Illegal; but we do say tluit the I hear you. \ can hear now as well as methods of the giant factories in making "contracts" with I anybody. 'How?' Ob, some- dealers to uphold double prices on watches is very un- thing new—THE MORLEY fair— unfair to us and unfair to you. Hence our direct offer oa die Burlington at the very same price the Whole- PHONE. I've a pair in my ears sale Jeweler must pay. now. bul they are invisible. 1 would not know 1 had them in. myaeif, This is your opportunity— NOW—while this great Anti- only thai I hear all righl." trust offer lasts—get the best watch made anywnere;atat The Itlorley Phone for the one-third the price of other high-grade watches. Fur- thermore, in order to tight the Trust most effectually, we even allow terms of $2.50 a month on our DEAF finest watch— easiest possible payments at the makes low sounds and whis- rock-bottom price, the identical price the ^ «. pers plainly heard. Invisible, Wholesale jeweler must pay. comfortable, weightless and W harmless. Anyone can adjust Watch Book on request it. Over one hundred thousand sold. Write for booklet and testimonials. j^Jfc. miss this f THE MORLEY CO., Dept. 721. Perry Bid*., Phila. Now do not opportunity. At least wo want yon to know about SCOTCH CALABASH PIPES CA- each or 3 (or $1 WATCHES and WATCH Jut PRICKS. Write Today. Make ideal Xmas presents delivered free for your friends. Scotch Cala- Be posted postal or letter bash Pipes ensure a cool, Send a mail coupon sweet smoke by absorbing all or simply without sending a letter nicotine. Money back if not and get the free oooK. satisfactory. THE ROYAL PIPE CO» Stamps BURLINGTON 216 Broad Street Nashville, Tenn. Taken WATCH CO. Dept. lioi diamonds 19tbamJ C?'jA>> * ft ^ 1\/"YUx"YIAyTAH1 MINED FROM THE EARTH Marshall Blvd. M J* ••THEY ISAEIXE DETECTION" CHICAGO ^ O&V-^fP Mounted in Solid Cold Blng*—Any Style 1--" All th* »(iarldc beauty ami brilliancy of ttw genuine, at . < the cost Stand ncM, fire, alkali and fillnx trstB, anil examination (•'iiiir»nt>> ed years. SKST V. <>. fur damnation. (HARGE9 I'KKPAID. VTrfc« tot and ring Ire* tllu In answering any advertisement on tins page it is desirable that you mention Tue Railboad Man's Magazine. THE RAILROAD MAN'S MAGAZINE—ADVERTISING SECTION. i-r 1 For a Man's Christmas Is there anything that so delights a man's heart as a fine watch— one that permits him to speak the time with authority? It is refined and I beautiful, as a gift should be, and besides is his most personal and useful possession. For years he carries it wherever he goes. But his satisfaction depends upon its being an exact timer. Among watches there is one, though moderate priced, which has come to be con- spicuous for its close liming—accurate as only high-priced watches have been. A Superior Watch 7 and 15 Jewel Models i 5to*i5 home No handsomer watch has ever been made. It will keep time for a generation. Your 1 jeweler can sell you an Ingersoll-Trenton and he will stand behind it. It is sold at our advertised prices by all who handle it and our price ticket is on each watch. The I-T is sold exclusively by responsible retail Jewelers, because fine watches should not be bought by mail nor from those who do not understand them and their adjustments. ag Over 9,000 good jewelers now handle it. Go to your own jeweler's and examine it before buying any watch. If, by chance, he hasn't the l-T. we will gladly send ihe name of one nearby who has. Our book- let. "How to Judge a Watch." is the best explanation of a watch ever written, arid is free on request. The $5 Ingersoll-Trenton has 7 genuine jewels and is in a solid nickel case. The $15 Ingersoll-Trenton haa 15 jewels and is in an l-T 25 year guaranteed gold- filled cane of the highest quality. Equally accurate models in a variety of l-T cases at S7, $8. $9, $10 and $12. Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro. 62 Frankel Bldg., New York % i in antwettno tiHttUtVMni '« ttHtfdHi thut ywi mention The RirtBOAD man'm Mauaxink. A Fairy Complexion Fairy Soap not only agrees with the tenderest skin, but improves any com- plexion. It is made from edible products — the kind seldom used in soaps. It is white — undyed — because it has no impurities or cheap ingredients to hide under the mask of coloring matter. Fairy Soap not only cleans, but cleanses. The handy, floating, oval cake — price but 5c . THE N. K. FAIRBANK COMPANY HayefYou CHICAGO 1\J [y little *I&iry inYour Home? m : w MM 1 ml 1 "here's to ?Tsmall' I V another year I. | — arte years I arifc years of Tlerves [ Steady Clear In-ains atrt> Viaorous T^ealtb" Every year more people quit coffee and use MPOSTUM There's a Reason" Postum Cereal Co., Ltd., Battle Creek,Mich.,U.S.A. : ^-