The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-07-11
TOUGH AND FEARLESS.
Two Remarkable Able Yarns
About the Peccary.
A Drove Tackles n Railroad Train and
Dies ON tho Track to the Last Hog
Rattle Between wild Hogs and
Tornado

"I'll never forget the first time 1 ran
into drove Of peccaries," said an Erie
locomotive engineer. recalling some of
his experiences.
IA drove of peccaries" said the re-
porter, and his tone must have grated
on the engineer, forsshe replied, testify:
Eyes, drove of peccaries! You'll
admit, Is'pose, that there are peccariesP
Didn't you ever hear that they ran in
drovesP"
"Oh, certainlyr' said the reporter.
"But they're down in South America,
Mexico, or Central America, some
where"
''Are theyp Thank you'll" said the
engineer. Ibid you s'pose 1 thought
they were roofing round in this rail
road yard? Had you an idea that l
meant they were chasing the beechput
and the acorn up along the Erie liner
l know where peccaries are, and think
/ ought to. And it wasn't in South
America, Mexico, nor Central America
that met 'em, neither. 1t was in
Texas, and, as / said before, I'll never
forget the first time ran into drove
of EN-"
81 had gone down to take job on a
Texas railroad, like good many other
sap-headed railroaders from the North.
/ didn't know any more about Texas
than-well, than you do, but / went
down there to run train, and thought
/ could do it. got passenger train,
and had fireman who was from the
North. HAD got the hang of the road
fairly, and was bling along one day
through piece of woods when all of
sudden my fireman hullers:
''Jewhillikins! yonder's drove of
hogs on the trackm
''Sure enough, about three train
lengths ahead was a big drove of the
ugliest looking hogs ever saw. They
were taking their time in walking
across the track. At first thought
I'd sock ON the brakes and try to stop,
bat on second thought made up my
mind that it would be safer to cut
through the drove with full head on.
l pulled her wide open and let the
whistle sing. Of course, thought the
sound of the whistle would scare the
hogs and likely cause them to scatter
and make an opening for me. But the
minute they heard the sound they all
stopped dead, and the ones that had
got off of the track came crowding
back to get on again. Every hog bris-
tied up and showed fight, and when
struck 'em they were standing there
like a wall to receive me. OF course
the engine knocked 'em right and left,
and cut a swath through the drove like
a red-hot iron through piece of but
ter, but the ones that were left flew
fiercely at the wheels of the cars as
they passed, and were crushed to
death by the dozen. When we got
through them looked back, and there
stood the remnant of the drove, as de-
FAINT as ever.
well, says I to my fireman, SIS
that gritp'
lis itp' says he. is No. sandpaper
gritp"
:' Funny looking hogs, amt theyP'
says ].
s''No Berkshire in 'em, you bet,
says he.
$50 when we got to the next station
l says to the agent:
~ ran into drove o. somebody
hogs back yonder, and killed a couple
o. dozen of 'em. s'pose we'll find out
whose they are when the suit for dam
ages comes in to the company says 1
as l pulled out The agent just laiG
down and howled, and l wondered
what allied him. When we got to tn,
end of the run / was telling a native
railroader about the drove of ugly hog
and he says:
"'Oh! that's nawthin'. Them
pec'ries. Lucky We didn' stop yer train
"'Whyp' says L
"'Whyr says he. WAL, eff We hat
stawped them prec'ries d bounced
inter yer cab quicker'n t'rantuly XIII
kill mouse, an thud chawed We VI
thrum yer cow-lick down to yer las
bunion. Then thud syreunded then
cars, an the fust galoot that opened
door thud chawed him up. After
day'or so the comply d missed tn
: ain an d sent another ingine GU