Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-04-17
TOUGH AND FEARLESS
A Remarkably Able Yarn Abous
tbs Wild Hog OF Texas.
PseesFies Who fs.ckis . Railroad frszs
sad Die en- tie Erzez - the I~st fzss-
a West-Esid sesry wlsA . sort sf
&sghSkasa fl<ssr Abs1t IA


'.I'l asTer fargsE tne hFst time | ran ints,
drove Of psceariss.1 - said az Erie loco
naot1ss engineer, reeailiag some os his sx-
perisnees-
a drove Sf psccariss.'' said the re-
perser, aad his toas nszst have grated on
ths saEinser, fsE BE replied, testify:
yes. drove of psccariesl Yoau sd-
mss. / s'poss, that there are peecarisss
Didn't yoa ever hear that they ran Ia
drosess'
"Oh, certainly - said the reporter. .But
I they're down In South America, Mexico or
Central America. somewhere"
Are they Thank you" said the engi-
neeF. ~Dii yea sposs I thought they were
roofing found la this railroad ysrds Had
you an idea thai meant they were ehas-
ing the beeehuut and the acorn up along
the Esls linss know where peccaries are
AMI thiak I ousat Co. And il wasnt in
South America, Mexico nor Central Amer
lea taat / met lem, neither. IL was in
Texas, aud. as I said before, IN never for
gee the arst time l ran into a drove of
'em-"
Il bad soa- down 10 take Job on a
Texas railroad, like q good many other
sap-headed railroaders from the North.
di.la't know any more about Texas than
well, than ycu DO, but / went down there
TO run a train, and thought could do IL.
goa a passenger train, and had fireman
who was from the North. 1 had got the
hang OF the road fairly, and was billing
along one day through piece OF woods
when ait OF a sudden my firemah hollers:
Jewhillikins. yonder's drove of hogs
on the track"
Sure enough, about three train-lengths
ahead was a big drove of the ugliest-
looking hogs ever saw. They were TAX
ing their time in walking across the track.
AT first thought I'd sock on the brakes
and try 90 stop, but on second thought
made up my mind that 10 would be safer
% cnt through the drove with full head on.
pulled her wide open and let the whistle
sing. OF course thought the sound of the
whistle would scare the hogs, and likely
cause 'em TO scatter and make an opening
for me. But the moment they heard the
sound they ali stopped dead, and the ones
that had got of of the track came crowd
Ing back 20 get on again. Every hog
bristled up and showed fight, and when |
struck 'esn they were standing there like
wall to receive me. or course the engine
knocked them right and left, and cut
swath through the drove like red-hot
iron through u piece OF butter, but the
ones that were left flew fercely at the
wheels of the cars as they passed, and
were crushed % death by the dozen. When
We got through them / looked back and
there stood the remnant Of the drove as
defiant as ever.
WELL says / to my fireman, is that
grits
els it:' says he. rs No. 4 sandpaper
gritg
80 Funny looking hogs, amt they?'
saysI.
"'So Berkshire In 'em, you bet,' says
be.
so whom we got TO the next station /
says 20 the agent:
- ran into drove o. somebody's hogs
back yonder, and killed a couple o. dozen
Of 'eni. s'pOse ws'n fad out whose they
are when the suit for damages comes in to
the company says /, as pulled out The
agens just laid down and howled, and l
wondered what allied him. When we got
TO the end or the run l was telling a native
railroader about the drove OF ugly hogs,
and he says:
Lucky ye didn's s:awp yer train
"'whys' says l.
"Why. SAYS he. 'Waal, ef ye had q
stawped thera pec'ries "a a bounced inter
cab quicker'ri t'rantuly kin kill mouse,
an thud a chawed We up thrum yer cow
HEX down TO yer last bunion. Then thud a
s'rounded them cars, an the fust galoot
that opened n door thud chawed him up.
Arter Gay Or so the comp'ny "a missed
the train an ID a sent another ingine out
70 look it up, an when the ingineer found
10 an stawptd his ingine to hook on to it,
them psc'ries "a bounced on his ingine
an chawed him up, an so it'd gone on
an the business o. the road ID suffered
According to that says l, the peccary
mus DC a pusher.'
- Got more vim in him. says the native,
than any other citizen o Texas 'cept the
centipsde. You mustn't iuTgit to meet the
esntipede. He'll make ye laugh. The
pec'ry's got a mem'ry longer'n thrum h'yer
10 New Orleans, too, an the chances is
that you'n meet them fellers agin that ye
see to-day. Mine ye. now Don't stawp
yer mime
'Sure as sums, when we went back next
day, there 10 the very same spot was the
remnant OF that drove CT peccaFies.
"'W attn fur Us, by grsvyw said my
fireman.
so they were. AS we tore down on 'sm
they braced up and met as face 70 face.
They sp1srx at the wheels, grabbed at the
sids-rods. aud fought every truck ON the
train as the cars passed them. A dozen or
nlors of them were killed. The peccsries
slidn's follow us. but when we went back
on the next trip. there. st the same spot,
Was posted all that was left Of the drove,
evidently waiting 70 revenge the death OF
their companions. The drove was reduced
70 twelve. The swslvs planted themselves
square On The track, faciag as, and never
| novel an inch a. We dashed upon 'em and
scattered ssm right ard lsft along The rails.
, Loo king back after the train had passed
she spos. We saw one solitary peccsry len
! alive out Of the drove told the native ~
~ ena % the run about the persistent
, pluck ef the pecearies and about killing
, sh-sn al but ora.
! al dcnS s'Fcse ue'n Sc hin again.
sid 4