Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-28
As to That Mail Crane.

! in order to receive the newspaper mail. Thu
+ order of the company will not, to many read
r ers, appear to display any great amount o
whole-souled liberality or any immense spir
it of accommodation: but to those who know
how the road has ever battled against thu
, town and striven to lnjure it in many ways
it seems to be an unusually magnanmou:
act, and shows that even the smallest souls
/. are sometimes capable of expansion, though
the reaction is generally disastrous. 1t is
unnecessary to revert to the original cause OF
hostility on the part of the railroad toward
Ironton-a hostility which caused its man.
ayers to refuse to build depot at this point
except for substantial monetary considers
alton, and then only to build it at the extreme
northeastern limit of the town, far from the
hotels and business houses, when convent
ent site could have been secured within a
few moments walk from the business and
residence portions of the city. When the
brakemen on the trains yell "Ir'nt'r" as the
trains pull up at our classic-looking depot,
passengers gaze out the car windows on the
east and west, and the idea they had had of
| a beautiful and romantic looking town, nest
ling among the mountains, is rudely dissi-
pated as they behold "SmoKy Row. and 9TH
er choice portions of the southern extremity
of Pilot Knob, which they naturally imagine
are a part or all of Ironton.
| AS the road, since those days, has passed
| under another management, there is no rea
son for the continuance of any enmity on the
part Of the company, and no explanation for
it unless, indeed, Mr.. Allen sold his hostility
| along with the rest of the road. Perhaps
| then there is no actually enmity on the part
of the road toward Ironton. If not, the in
difference with which it is treated by the road,
is equal to hostility in the result. Ironton is
made an insignificant flag station for the
| night trains, regardless of its Importance as
| business point, regardless of the fact that
| large mails are exchanged nightly, and re-
| gardless of the fact that Ironton is the dis
| tributing point for all mails for the adjoining
country, including Munger, Edge Hill, War
| ren's Store, Goodland, Goodwater, Einstein
Silver Mines, etc. The company erected a
miserable looking affair several hundred
yards north of the depot, which they digni-
fly with the name of crane, where the mails
must be exchanged, as the trains are order
ed not to stop for this purpose. Cranes at
best are unreliable. They work with mod
erate-very moderate satifaction W here light
pouches are hung, containing postal or
two and perhaps letter, and where it is of
small Importance to the writers as to wheth-
er the mail reaches its destination in ten or
forty hours; but when the pouches are well
filled and heavy they frequently "fall through
the crane, '"fall from the crane" get"knock-
off by the train," etc., as the postal clerks
az IN
passed down ahead of the passenger, in vio- |
lation OF the laws. No one would have kick |
ed about this, however, had not a board pro- |
Jectmg from the freight caught the mail |
pouch on the crane and carried it down to |
Hogan, where it wasn't wanted. The agent |
there, being telegraphed, waylaid the freight, |
contiscated the pouch, and returned it by |
pusher.
Another time an erratic freight, envious |
of the greater Importance of the mail train,
seized the pouch on the crane and carried it |
above the Knob, much to the disgust of the
mail carrier,who is not in sympathy with the |
eccentric idea of freight trainsr Sometimes,
to add insult to injury, mail train knocks
the pouch off of the crane before the postal
clerk has an opportunity to ''catch on" All
but certainly they are annoyances to our
business men. The boys may revel in de-
lirum of bliss, but the frogs are more I'M
happy than the man in the moon during
volcanic eruption in that celestial orb.
While it is true that town of the size of
Ironton with its business interests, its pas
senger traffic-especially in the summer
months-its postal interests of the adjoining
country-deserve better treatment from the
railroad company than is receives, the ques-
ton arises, how is it be obtained?
1t is doubtful if there is another city on
the road which does not receive more con-
sideration. The writer knows that efforts
have been made time and again for several
years past to get the railroad to furnish
Ironton with better mail service, and that |
the superintendent of the mail service at st.
Louis has used his influence to this end, with
The company refuses to stop night trains at
this place to exchange the mails, under their
contract with the Department to exchange
mails at certain towns by means of cranes; |
but as the crane system is altogether unsat-
isfactory, and as the road does not exchange
the mails at the crane with any certainty, the
trains ought to be compelled to stop for that
purpose. They have to stop anyhow, more
than half the time, to take OH and put off pas
sengers, and they had just as well stop
every time. Then there will be no more
trouble about the night mails, us far as the
railroad is concerned. But compelling them
to stop, is the rub. Every time they fail to
catch pouch on the crane, the fact is
promptly reported to the proper party, viz:
the superintendent of the railway mail service
at st. Louis, an officer of the Government
and not of the railroad company, whose BUSH
ness it is to attend to all matters of this sort.
But he is powerless to compel the trains to
stop. Under the existing circumstances,
perhaps the best way to induce the trains to
stop at night is to enlist the interest and
efforts of those who are friendly to Ironton,
and who may have influence with the rail-
road officials.
Badness may be avoided by the use of
Halls Hair Remover, which prevents the
falling out of the hair, and stimulates it to
renewed growth and luXuriance. 1t also
restores faded or gray hair to its original
dark color, and rad cally cures nearly every
disease of the scalp.
Mr.. James c. Paulus is requested to send
his address to b. ZwART, Ironton.
The Receivers Report.