The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-20

 late passengers on the L road, as 1t Is called, have contracted the pernicious habit of dropping of the elevated cars on top of the surface cars passing below, greatly to the annoyance of the pedes- trians who are on the surface cars at the time.
 A sad case of this kind occurred yester- day. A laboring man was carrying q pair of old pants, into which tailor had just inserted new and expensive 6rma- ment. He was carrying the pants in a bundle under his arm.
 He was on station on the elevated road. He was little late. The trains only stay at station while you can count six fast. Just as he was going to get on the car, the gateman slammed the gate in his face. and grinned maliciously at the man who was left. That's the way those gatemen all do.
 But Smith, that was the name of the laboring man, did not intend to be left He was impelled to get on the train by two reasons. In the 6rst place, he had sworn of on the first of the year, and was of course pretty drunk. He, moreover, he'd wife at home, whose hair was as black as 8 coal, that is as a rcd hot coal, and who had temper to match. He was behind time for dinner so he concluded he might as we'll take the risk of being made into hash by the cars as to be late getting in his hash at home, so he chose the lesser evil and clung to the rear car anyhow.
 The first thing he dropped was hi. bundle. That fell through the ties and lodged between the ears of one of the street car horses. The horse get fright ened and stopped. This was very consid- crate in the horses. They seemed to know what was coming next. The next thing Smith dropped was himself. He fell fair and square on the top of the car, and remained there. It was a fall of twenty feet The people in the street car oozed out of it suddenly. They were afraid that the next thing that would drop from the elevated might be the locemo- tive.
 Smith was not badly hurt. A police. man got a step ladder and took him down.
 "That's strange" remarked one of the passengers. "As a general thing the policeman takes drunxen man up, but in this instance the policeman is taking him down."
 The conductor of the car made the un. fortunate pay his fare. He said that he had to ring the bell-bunch whenever any body got on the car, an that Smith was on the car. The street car company would take the fare out of the conduc- tors wages if it wasn't paid. It didn't make any difference how a man got on the car. If he got on the car at all he had to pay.
 "Why don't you make him pay for his lodging9 He certainly lodged on the car when he fell of the Elevated" said the passenger.
 There must have been an alderman in the neighborhood, for in the confusion somebody ran of with the bundle con- taining the pants with the newly inserted Armament.
 An ambulance was called, and the man was taken to hospital. At his home his wife waited and waited with kettle full of hot water, but he came not. How can such woe be assuaged2
 So, you see. no matter where you are in New York you are never safe. Sup pose that man had hit the car head first. He would have come through the roof like crowbar, and might have been impaled. As it was he made an impress sion on me.
 There is nothing else new in New York, except the word New, which is always there.
 A wholesale blackmailing scheme by the police has been unearthed, but there is nothing new about that. That's the same old story. However, will give you some of the details in my next.