Omaha daily bee., 1885-04-03
TOUGH AND WITHOUT FEAR.
Two Remarkably Able Yarns About
the Wild Hog of Texas.

New York Sun.
"Ill never forget the first time l ran
into a drove of peocaries," said an Erie
locomotive engineer, recalling some Of
his experiences.
ga drove of peccsries!" said the repor-
ter, and bis tone must have grated on the
engineer, for he replied testify:
eyes, a drove of peccarlesl You'll adj
nit, l s'pose, that there are peccsries2
Didn't you ever hear that they ran In
droves2"
SO, certainly" said the reporter. "But
they're down In South America, Mexico,
or Central America, somewhere"
"Are they2 Thank you" said the en-
gineer. "Did you s'pose l thought they
were roofing round In this railroad yard2
Had you an idea that l meant they were
chasing the beechnut and acorn up along
the Erie line? l know where peccarles
are, and 1 think 1 ought to. And 1t
wasn't In South America. Mexico, or
Central America that 1 met 'em,
neither. 1t was in Texas, and,
as l said before, I'll never forget the first
time l ran into EN-.
81 had gone down to take a Job on a
Texas railroad, like q good many other
sap-headed railroaders from the north. l
didn't know any more about Texas than
well, than you do; but l went down
there to run a train, and I thought l
could do it. l got a passenger train, and
had a fireman who was from the north. l
had got the hang of the road fairly, and
was billing along one day through a piece
of woods when all of a sudden my fire.
man hollers:
"Jewhilikins! yonder's a drove ofhogs
on the track i
"Sure enough, aboutthree tralnlengths
ahead was a big drove of the uglles1 look
ing hogs l aver saw. They were taking
their time in walking across the track
At first l thought I'd sock on the brakes
and try to stop, but on second thought l
made up my mind that 1t would be safer
to cut through the drove with full head
on. I pulled her wide open and let the
whistle sing. Of course l thought the
sound of the whistle would scare the
hogs and likely cause 'em to scatter and
make an opening for me. But the
minute they heard the sound
they all stopped dead, and the ines that
had got off of the track came crowding
back to get on again. Every hog bristled
up end showed fight, and when | struck
'em they were standing there like q wall
to receive me. OF course the engine
knocked EN- right and left, and cut a
swath through the drove like a red.hot
iron through a piece of butter, but the
ones that were left flew iercely at the
wheels of the cars as they passed, and
were crushed to death by the dozen.
When we got through them l looked
drove. as defiant as ever.
"'Well, says I to my fireman, is that
grit?'
"'Is it?' says he. is No. a aandpaper
grlt?'
"'Funny.looking hogs, aln't they
says I:
he,
$50 when we got on to the next sta.
ton l says to the agent:
"'I ran into a drove O. somebody's
hogs back yonder, and killed a couple O.
dozen O. en-. I s'pose we'll find out
whose they are when the suit for damages
comes In to the company says I, as l
pulled out. The sgent just laid down
and howled, and l wondered what allied
him. When we got to the end of the
r1n l was telling a native ralirosder
about the drove of ugly hogs, and he
says:
ooh! that's nawthln'. Them's pec'rieH.
Lucky ye didn't stawp yer train
"'Why?' saYs L.
why! says he, 'Waal, eff we had a
stawped them pec'ries d a bounced inter
yer cab quicker'n a t'ratuly kin kill a
mouse, an thud a chawed ye up thrum
yer cowllck down to yer last bunion.
Then thud a grounded them cars, an the
fust galoot that opened a door thud a
chawed him up. AFTER a day or 80 the
comp'ny d a missed the train, an i a
cent another ingine out to look it up, au'
when the ingineer found it an stawpsd
his engine to hook on to it, them p%ec'ries
d a bounced on his engine an chawed
him up, and 80 It'd a gone on, an the
business O. the road d a suffered
"'Accordlng to that, says 1, She pee.
cary must be a pusher:"
"'Got more vim in him. says the ma
tive, 'than any other citizen o Texas
'cept the centipede. You mustn't furgit
to NEE. the c%entipede. He'll make We
laugh. The pec'ry's got a mem'ry longer'n
thru n h'yer to New Orleans, too, an
the chances Is that you'll meet them
fellers agln that ye see to-day. Mind ye,
now, Don't stawp yer mime
"Sure as guns, when we went back
next day, there In the very same spot
the remnant of the drove of pee
carries.
"'Waitin' for us, by gravy said my
fireman.
$50 they were. AS We tore down on
m they braced up and met us face to
face. They sprang at the wheels,
grasped at the slde.rods, and fought
every truck on the train as the cara
them. A dozen or more of them were
killed, The peccaries didn't follow us,
but when we went back at the next trip,
there, at the same spot, was posted all
that was left of the drove,
evidently waiting to revenge the death
of their companions. The drove WAS
reduced to twelve. The twelve planted
themselves square on the the track, fac
ing us, and never moved an inch S. we
dashed upon EN- and scattered 'em right
and left along the rails, Looking back
after the train had passed the spot, we
saw one solitary peccary left alive out of
the drove. | told the native at the end
of the rup, about the persistent pluck of