, 1884-12-05
ovER rnE sHERMAr Hi.
How a Conductor Got Bnl Nye on
string.

Stflnr.
BIZ Nye In st. Paul Herald.
Several years ago there wasa red-headcd
conductor running No. I over Sherman
hill, whose name was Boils-atlea that
near enough. No. Z wasn't really a train
Of vanished cars" 1t was an emigrant
train; but it had a comfortable caboose on
behind with leather covered seats and an
observatory on top and oil paintings in it
painted by Michael Angelo PraDg. and l
used to ride over the mountains with
Boils in this caboose quite frequently.
One night there were several Of us COM
ing over the hill and we were having a
good, fair, average time smoking cigars
and telling stories as we poked along Up
the heavy grade of the Union Pacific road
from Cheyenne west After awhile Boils
went through the train, with a self-cock-
ing punch, andmade the usual assessment.
Then he came back and told me that
there was a lady in one Of the cars ahead
who had heard in some way that l was
aboard and was very anxious to meet me.
He said he would go forward and intro
duce me if wished. l rose msjesticaIIy,
felt of my mustache, to see lift we're still
there, and then went into the other car,
where Boils introduced me to a corpulent
oma about IS years Of age, whose
teeth were made for some one else. She
couldn't hear very well either. The train
made some noise, and so when she wanted
very severely to hear what | said she
would lean over on my shoulder with the
cold and somewhat soiled rim of her ear
close to my face. 80 that she could catch
my words as they fell.
She said she was just returning from
the Centennial.
All" 1 said, where do you go to cele-
brate your centennials nowadays?"
"Oh, down to Philadelphy," she said,
as soon as she had collected my question
into her Jumbo ears.
Il should think you would go TO the
Acrepofs," l said, getting a little weary
of my companion, "or to Pompeii.
where you could have a kind of reunion
Of ruins"
Yes, we went to ~Injinopolis, too
she replied.
And so we chatted along up the hill.
While the boys back in the caboose we're
having a nice joyful time, 1 was there yell
ing playful little bon mots and such things
MS that into the dark recesses of an old
emigrant's ear. who, afterwards learned,
thought ] was a foreign missionary on my
way to my charge via Frisco.
Finally, l asked her to excuse me, as l
had to 20 back to the rear car to attend
to a friend who was dying. 1t took me a
long time to work this palpable falsehood
through the neglected labyrinths to her
mind, but finally she seemed to grapple
with it all right.
Then she wanted to go, too. told her
no; it would certainly hasten the end.
How 1 wanted to get hold Of Boils and
bring him to a headl At last l got away
from the aged conversationalist and went
back to the caboose.
1t was locked
l stood out on the platform in the cold
all the way down the west side of the hill
to Laramie, where we arrived at a little
past midnight, as the train was late.
l never felt anywhere near even with
Boils until a year OF 50 afterwards, when
the General Superintendent wrote and
asked him if he wouldn't be kind enough
to resign, 50 as tc give the stockholders a
chance. He told Boils that if he would
and get a job on a rival road, and
be as economical about turning in cash
fares as he had been with him. the com
pany would present him with a gold
headed cane.