Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-03-13
The Paw Paw Railroad.

Mr.. Ralph E. Hoyt contributes to the
Chicago Mail the following amusing
paper on the shortest railroad in the
world
Michigan can boast of possessing the
shortest railroad on the American con-
tlnent, and Paw Paw is its name. 1t
runs from the town of the same name to
Lawton, small village, only four miles
distant, On the main line of the Michi-
gan Central
Paw Paw is the county seat of Van
Buren, county, finely located on the Paw
Paw river, which furnishes excellent
water power for the manufacture of
public sentiment in favor of saw-mills
and grist-mills. The town derived its
name from the river, I presume, or else
the river was named in honor of the
town. There are numerous interesting
features of this place well worthy of
mention, but have time and space now
to particularize only with reference to
the railroad. Before this railroad was
built, passengers were conveyed to and
from Lawton by Wheelbarrow Ex-
press line, which did tearing business
for three or four years; but the COM
pany became SO rich and lazy that the
line was laid up Subsequently the
Paw Paw railroad was built, and that is
now the popular mode of transit between
P. P. and the little village where the
famous Lawton blackberry was invented
The " train which runs regularly over
this elaborate road consists of a locomo-
tive and one second-class car. On the
down trip, from Paw Paw to Lawton,
a Il
on the return trip the passenger car goes
ahead, drawing the locomotive. The
speed at which this train runs is simply
territic-to persons accustomed to trav-
cling by canal boat or OK teams. A few
years ago the company put on sleeping
car to run with the night train which
left Paw Paw at 6 p. M, but the con-
ductor and engineer "played it on
their employers in way that spoke vol
umes in favor of total depravity. Soon
after leaving Paw Paw, the engineer
(who was his own fireman) would fire up
lively, open his throttle-valve wide, and
being sure that there was steam enough
in the boiler to run the concern through
the night, he and the conductor would
get into the best berths of the "sleep-
er, which the conductor was careful to
reserve, and there sleep undisturbed I'M
til morning, while the train sped on,
utterly unconscious of any such sharp
practice. A few minutes before reach
ing Lawton, the conductor andhis "pal''
would crawl out of their nests to their
posts and prepare for breakfast. This
sly game was kept up nightly for nearly
six months, when the Superintendent
discovered it, and, Diminishing both en-
ployes, ran the train himself.
A few months ago a terrible and fatal
collision occurred on this remarkable
railroad. The train was running from
Lawton to Paw Paw one morning, when
suddenly the engineer discovered hog
on the track about fifty yards ahead
Unfortunately the hog was running in
an opposite direction from that pursued
by the train. Had he been travelling the
same way there would have been no col
lsion. Quickly approaching the dan
ger, the engineer whistled down brakes
The hog did the same thing, and both
engines were reversed. But it was too
late the impetus of two such ponderous
bodies could not be checked within so
short space. The whistles were blown
at fifteen minutes past 10 OF clock, and at
IL o'clock the collision occurred. The
crash was a terrible one, proving, IL
stantly fatal to the hog, and almost so
to the locomotive. The locomotive tel
escoped into the vitals of that unfortun-
ate porker in most extinguishing man
ner. His upper works were carried
away, and he speedily sank to rise no
more, having only time sufficient to
squeal forth his regrets at not having
his life insured. The engineer managed
to save himself by swimming ashore on
the broken smoke-stack. Not one of the
500 passengers was injured, though all
were badly frightened. One of the
number, a shrewd old Yankee, on reach
ing Paw Paw by Walkers line, immedi-
ately purchased an accident ticket, and
had it dated at 9 o'clock that morning, to
cover the collision. He afterwards
claimed damages from the insurance
company, on the ground that the acct
dent had broken a nap which he was
taking when the accident occurred. He
never could be coaxed into riding on the
Paw Paw railroad after that awful
smash. Whenever he has occasion to
travel over the road, he buys ticket
and then walks along the track in front
of the train, keeping a sharp lookout for
hogs and things.