The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-10-18
A TRAMP'S STORY.

A TRAMP'S STORY.
Jumping tho Railroad Trains and Stealing
nRtde---ThrouEh Kansas on Foot.
A tramp who was doing Kansas on
foot concluded to try the cars, and re-
lates his experience as follows: / ran in
between two cars and examined them as
we'll as I could in the faint moonlight. I
found that there was a small projecting
ledge at the end Of each car, upon which
I could place a foot, and that 1 could
hold on securely to eslats that formed
the framework OF the car. I accordingly
jumped up a%ndplaced myself in position
and b~reathlessly awaited the starting OF
the train. The whistle sounded, the
bell rung and off We went-myself likes
circus performer, riding two fiery, un-
tanned cars full Of Texan steers.
In about q quarter of an hour, how
ever, and before I had time to accustom
myself to my strange situation, q head
appeared from the roof of the car above
me, and q voice exclaimed: "Hellol
what are you doing thereF"
"Getting O free ride," said 1.
"Well, don't stop there in that dan.
gerous place; climb up the steps to the
roof here" -
I obeyed, and soon found myself
lying on the roof near my new interlocu-
tor, q young brakeman. he questioned
me very closely as to where I had been,
why I was taking free rides, and so on;
to all of which, I regret to say, 1 was
obliged to answer somehow. Finally,
taking a liking to me, he told me he
would give me q free ride to Kansas
City if he could; but that the conductor
was q terribly smart man, and that he
did not think I could escape his eye.
He was right; the conductor spied me al
Abilene, the first station, and 1 was
turned off the cars after q brief, inglori-
Gus ride of fifteen miles. The expert
ence was notifying, and | said to my
self: Humping the railroads is not
what it is cracked up to be-"
It was a glorious, delicious night, and
I threw myself down on the verandah of
the depot and went to sleep.
An hour OF 80 after, I was awakened
by the dull laundering Of another east
ward train, as it came rolling into the
station. It was another immensely long
cattle train, with a passenger car ct the
end, for the accommodation OF the
drovers. "Try again." said the inward
monitor. I ran forward, and seated
myself on the steps at the end OF the
last car, and in a few minutes wa again
flying over the rails. I was discovered
about a quarter of an hour before get
ting to Junction City twenty-five
miles). The conductor, a short, fat,
good natured man, told me to come into
the car and take a seat.
"You know" said he, "you ought
not to be doing this sort of thing. You
are a man of intelligence, I can see, and
you know you are doing wrong"
"Well," said I, 81 know it is wrong,
but necessity sometimes eompels US to
do things we don'tilike."
Haven't you any money!" said he.
"Not a cent" I replied, which was
the truth.
"Well, now mind, you'll have to get
of at Junction City," said he.
"All right" said l..
At Junction City, however, when he
came and shook me mot Ill naturedly),
and asked me why I had not got of, I
promised I would disappear without
fail at the next station. kept my word.
But I felt ore about giving up this CAPT
tai chance for o free ride. So 1 thought
that without casuistry I might be justi-
fed in getting between the cattle cars
again. So I chose as convenient q pair
of cars as I could find; laid myself as
fiat to the front car as I could, to es-
cape observation, and awaited the next
move. Several Of the guards and brake
men flashed past me with their Ian.
terms; but not n observed me. The
whistle sounded, and off we went.
The experience that I had in this
novel and exciting position lasted for
upward of three hours, so that I had
plenty of time to take note of all that
was interesting. It was not nearly 30
dangerous as might be imagined. The
iron couplers prevented the cars from
coming together so as to crush me. 1
had a fair footing about three inches
wide for each foot. All I had to do
was to keep q firm hold of the Stats.
The highest speed of the train was
about fifteen miles per hour.
The Car in front of mo contained about
twenty head OF cattle, all immense
Texan steers, with horns of prodigious
proportions. The car in the rear con
tanned, I suppose, the same number Of
cattle. They had not been wntered, as
I afterward learned, for two days, and
consequently we're in a feverish, restless
state.
Close to me was q white bull, rather
smaller than the average, but a creature
of O very resolute disposition. When L
first began to notice my fellow passen-
gers, this bull had OF his horns fIed in
the lower tier Of Stats, and was making
violent efforts to free himself. In this
he was presently successful. he then
took it into his head that he should like
to see the country, as presented on the
other side of the car; and after squeez-
ing himself and his companions unmer-
cifully, and crushing n Of my fingers
with his horns, he got round to the de-
sired position, and for q few minutes
seemed we'll content. But q storm Of
lightning and thunder was raging all the
while; the flashes set him up again in
his tantrums, and The last I saw of him
at hat time he was blowing his way to
the other end of the car.
The three brutes that were now near
est to me, in a kind of bovine tangle,
were evidently suffering terribly from
thirst; and every time we came near
water would fight and thrust at each
other with their horns in a desperate
manner.
When, however, they had subsidized
into something like. quiet, the poor
brutes would seem docile enough, and
would rub their great rough noses
against my hand. But then I got several
violent blows from their horns, which
rather overbalanced this display of SYM
pathy.
The lightning and thunder, in the
mean time, were tremendous. There
was no rain, but I afterward learned that
there was q terrific rainstorm at Topeka
and the surrounding country.
At length I was inexpressibly relieved
to see q streak Of dawn; some cocks
crew on the neighboring farms; and
soon the east was q blaze of rosy splen-
dor.
We had just finished one of these in
terminable waitings at q station, which