Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-04-10

hot soy thao uo r"eiy PA, $500
that lived in a state of extraordinary
excitement from that day forth until the
machine was completed.
1t was strange affair to look at, re-
sembling a reaping machine, a trotting
sulky and patent coffee mill about
equally. The young machinist explained
some that his model was merely test
Of the principle, and that a large one.
built more carefully, would 60 much
faster. ,
al do not expect this one to get more
than 1000 revolutions q minute for its
balance Wheel" he said, "and that
would give speed of 17S miles per
hour on good road" y' Ha
I had an idea that this would do for
ordinary travelling, and inwardly prayed
for the night of the trial to come. 1t
came-one Wednesday night, when, for
some reason or another, there would be
no trains through either way, and 1
fastened to stop where the model stood
in perfect readiness for the track. With
little trouble we rolled it down to the
rails and placed its wheels upon them,
for it weighed but few pounds more
than a common hackney coach. We
then took our places on sort of buggy
seat, with strong handles in front to hold
on blythe machinist pulled string,
and off we dashed, beginning with a
jump of some twenty feet, and a slide
of ten more, before the wheels got into
revolving. The lights of the village
gradually heightened out into long rib
bons of flames, as we flew through the
suburbs, and by the time l could catch
my breath, some similar ones appeared
gliding swiftly past.
"What lights are those?' l asked.
8. Tarbucket Station" replied my
companion.
"But Tarbucket is five miles from
Slingwheel."
"Yes, and we have been nearly three
minutes on the road"
"Pretty good speed?"
Yes, but am going to try it little
faster.r
This conversation was held at the very
top of our voices, for no ordinary sound
could be heard at the rate at which we
were going. The wind seemed blowing
gale, although had remarked, before
we started, how very unusually still the
wind was. My companion now turned
small crank, with ratchet upon it,
that was attached to the machine just in
front of him, and sheet-iron cover rose
toward us in slanting direction, so as
tobr eak the force of the wind-already
about as strong as we could stand.
Hold on your hair" he said, Sand
look out not to move about. am going
TO let her do her prettiest now"
With this he suddenly drew out some
thing like an organ stop, and l realized
for the first time in my life how the in
habitants of a comet must feel when un-
der..fnll headway., l had been able to
see occasional objects before at no great
distance from the road, and could make
out the horizon very well. But now all
was blank. Sky, earth, woods, water
all were plain mass of gray indis-
tinctness. Directly my companion look
ed at his watch, and putting his mouth
to my ear, made an immense effort to
speak.
1--WE have probably passed Spear
mint bridget" he shouted-"t twenty
miles In eight minutes!
The words came very family to my
ear, and began to wish that l could
see something, if it was only so as to
know where we were, and how fast we
had really come. began to feel Just a
little uncomfortable-it seemed some
thing awful to be sitting there in that
silence, seeing nothing and knowing
nothing, except that We we're liable to
60 out of the world at any minute!
While these thoughts were passing
through my brain, l heard a faint
sound like a s,eam-whistle, and almost
at the same moment flash of light,
apparently under our wheels, and felt a
slight jar. '
81 III