The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-01-31
When I first

ion where every train but a., a as,o .
lay has to stop: He we al the proprietor
4 that yard. He was ~,,.-;sd .mnIove.
ike what merchant s..ys .Ssxs- He
oougns the cOai' I'd tire chap that owned
he yard sold ec,sin at a biz proft-at
cas-. guees <mrst nave sold some of it."
ADu Ps s,, whist xort of mo1ey did Carlo
pay ior III Z I est.d.
AN" IS, tfs, replied the engineer, olsen
Ssgin < OsTbos fingers from his beard,
wn' Oh the. attentive little fellow was care
lily eembings "sntics, cir, and prsnks.
This was the how Of it: Carlo lived, as L
say, " it'll 8 man that owned little house
and yard right where the engines mostly
stepped at x Junction. Coal was dear
that winter, and so this man lighted on a
dodge to make Carlo Keep him In coal free
of all expense.
"He set up pole, in the middle of his
yard, twenty feet high, and on top Of it ne
set a little platform with q little roof over
it, and on that platform he tied this
monkey. Well, sir, that man knew human
nature well, for he reckoned that not an
engine would stop there but the engineer
and his mate would have shot with q
chunck of coal at that chsttering monkey
on the pole, and every ohunck would fall
into his yard. And l guess the old man
he wasn't so old either, but he was dry
kind of chap as always had sly grin on
his face, as if he was chuckling at the way
| we boys slinged good coal into his yard-I
| guess be reckoned Alright. Msny's the time
when I've chucked half dozen Jumps of
coal at his little chap, never thinking how
1 was a-feeding the old mans stove with
| the company's coal, / reckon Carlo must
have made ss much as two hundred weight
of coal q week 1t seems 9 heap TO
give away, but, bless you'll I never
guessed that any other engineer
but me ever threw coal at that
monkey. But thought good deal of it
afterward, and made up my mind that
every one of 'em did, ana their mates too
such is human nature. Not that we wanted
to hurt the little beast, but he was such q
good mark, though never heard that any
one ever hit him. he was so quick"
swell, sir.' said, as the engineer paused
to light his pipe, "thst is the best true mon
key story I've heard yet, and 1 guess it is
true. But how did you come to get him7
should think he would have been too valua-
Bile to be parted with"
There's story to that, too, Colonel" he
replied. cit was year ago, Just about
this time, that the family that Carlo lived
with got burned out one windy night,
P'r'sps they'd been using coal teo tree, see-
ing as they came by it so easy. Anyway, l
came up one morning OF my engine, and
there the little house and the cow-Shed and
the little corn-crib was in heap of smok-
ing ashes. 1t had caught fire in the night,
and burned down in twenty minutes, so the
neighbors said. The poor old man was so
badly burned trying to get his COW out of
the shed that be died inside Of two days;
and his wife and daughters escaped in their
night clothes, but that was all they had.
The neighbors took them in, but every
thing they owned, except few acres Of run
down land, was burned up.
"Of course it got talked of along the line,
and by-snd-by it came out that every engin-
eer and fireman as come along had chucked
chunks of coal st that monkey on his pole.
Well, the agent at k was kind-heart-
ed chap, and no fool either, and he thought
he'd gel up q benefit to help the
poor old woman. So he had
handful printed, telling
how the family had been burned out,l
and the old man killed, and how that al
they had left was pet monkey. Then il
went on to say that the monkey would be
rsfiled for at two dollars q share, and called
upon every engineer and fireman who had
thrown the company's coal at the monkey
to take share for the benefit of the widow
and orphans.
"Well, sir, that handful was circulated
all along the line, and the boys came to
think how they'd been throwing away the
compsny's coal flor the neighbors told the
whole story when the old man was dead),
and they felt mean. Then the company
refused to take any shares when it was
brought to their notice, so the boys thought
they'd make it right with their consciences
by buying a share with what they owed
the company for coal they'd thrown at the
monkey.
Sand so, ss every train came up after
payday, the boys handed In two dollars
apiece without growl, and some of Us
took two shares apiece. Then the handful
had got into the cara, and some of the pas
sengers who read the story bought shares;
and so, when it came to be footed up, the
value Of this little chap here was found to
be five hundred dollars, all paid up.
swell, sir, we appointed committee
to conduct the rsfls, and one night 1 got q
dispatch from Perkins, the depot agent at
K, saying: Monkey is yours. Will
| lOu lakO bWouSf WlEcO
back: No, nor two hundred. Keep him
until come up with Number r. So next
day 1 got him. You see, I'd been thinking
good deal about this monkey, and now I'd
won him thought he'd keep me in luck.
Well, I've had him nigh on to q year now,
and wouldn't part with him for as much
money as he brought the widow"
II don't wonder at that" said; "snd he
seems very fond of you, too. But what be-
came of the widow and orphsnsf
"Oh, she's done finely. She bought out
q small grocery, and she got SO we'll known,
owing to her misfortune, that all the folks
came to trade with her. 1 drop in on her
sometimes when have to lay over for sn
hour or two, and shealways asks after Jocko
as she calls him; but it's such a common
monkey name that l called him Carlo
which means something; and then she mostly
cries little, thinking of the old man.
don't know as she thinks Carlo brought hel
much luck altogether, but he kept the FAM
| lily In coal tor whole winter-no one would
ever have thought Of throwing at dog
even on top of a pole-and he brought five
hundred dollars that saved 'em from the
poor house.
''But here's the express signaled, so
guess you'd better get down. I've told thai
story hundred times, L reckon, and I'm
most tired of telling it; but saw you was
stranger in these parts. so 1 didn't mind
1 A IL. a. - =