The Washington critic., 1886-09-07
THE COUPON TICKET.

Well, yes, said the conductor of the
train as he took the cigar l offered
him, have. OF course man that
travels much has to. Cant help 1t.
But the worst case had to deal with
was about two years ago. OF course
you've heard of the case Of Jelrries
against the road No? Well, 1t grew
out of that Meedvillc accident. Never
heard of the Meedville disaster? We'll,
l declare. thought everybody had
heard of that. There were columns
and columns about 1t in the papers for
days. Jimminy, how the newspaper
fellows tried to interview mel Course
knew better than to say anything,
but 1t was pretty hard to get rid of the
reporters. Well, it was like this. !
was on No. 8 and we were behind time.
Johnnie was a-whooping her through
for all she was worth. Just this side
Of Meedville the air-brake tubln
snapped, and on went the brakes
quicker'n lightning. You see, that )
one advantage of the air. If any.
thing goes wrong it don't wa
till you need EN-, but it just clamps
your train where she stands. You my
risk cracked wheel, but you can +
monkey with the air. You've got 10
fix that right there or you can't g
ahead. Still, 1t was an unlucky affair
for us. Well, there's curve at Meel.
vile, and we sent back q man with a
red lantern, but before he got round
the bend down comes wild speci Il
right on us. 1t was down grade, the
engineer lost his head and jumped, fire.
man did the same, and before you could
say Jack Robinson that special had
climbed half way through the sleeper.
1t was an awful wreck Half-past one
in the morning and as black as cats.
Whewl j don't care to talk about that
General thing it's the emigrants in
front that suffer in an accident, but
this time it was the rich folks in the
sleepers. Jeffries was one of the killed.
He was q railroad man who used to be
in Chicago till he got position on the
Central in New York. His family
lived in Chicago, and so he came
through now and then. Mrs. Jcifres
sued the company for so, ,000-I think
it was $4,000, although they generally
90 in for larger amounts. Anyhow,
the company claimed he travelled
free and held they were not liable.
The company lost the suit be-
fore the jury, but they carried it
up and the higher courts reversed
the decision, and as Mrs. Jcfflies
did seem to have money enough to
carry it any further it rested there
against her. Oh, yes, l suppose she
could have got lawyers enough who
would fight the case on spec when she
had one verdict. | don't know the par
ticulars or why she dropped it; I'm
only telling you just what | heard
that the case was dropped. Well,
mebbe it's as you say. Perhaps the
company is liable for passes as well as
for regular tickets; anyhow I'm giving
you my version on 1t. You see the
conductor that took up the tickets that
trip was killed. was braking then
and whether they got the tickets and
passes or not-well, ! don't know any.
thing about that. They didn't have
to pay for Jcfrries, anyhow.
The night after that suit was de-
cided | came through the sleeper col.
lecting tickets. In seat No. 4 sat man
that | thought was asleep. lie had q
slouch hat drawn over his eyes.
~ touched him on the shoulder,
"Tickets, please" | said, lie didn't
move, and somehow the moment
touched him ! felt as If he wasn't q
living man.
Il want your ticket" | said, louder.
He didn't seem to breathe or stir, and
/ was going to shake him when h(
slowly raised his head. / shall never
forget the look of that face. The
cheeks were sunken and the pallid lip,
were drawn back from the teeth tina
glittered in the light Of the lamp had
on my arm. His complexion was like
paste, only dark and mottled. Ther,
seemed to be bruise or cash on hi,
forehead but he had pulled the sloucl
hat over it so as to partially hide it,
He handed out soiled coupon
ticket that had evidently been bough
at scalper's. looked at 1t sus
piciousy. 1t was dated more than {
year before, but 1t was an unlimited
ticket and was good enough, tor,
OIL the coupon TO Chicago aud CAV,
him check
When gathered all my tickets | sa
down in the smoking car to arrang
them and make an entry of the cash
Oh, that's all right, we do make NJ
tHllD W ll' II u llNl luhtS uNS Ol
he takes n big risk with it, | can tul
you. thought | would take another
look Mt that coupon. Well, sir,
couldn't find III No, sir; hunted ever
pocket | had, Couldn't fud trace o
1t. went back and met the conduclo
of the sleeper and told him that ha.
lost ticket or else hadn't torn 1t OIL
Said never knew myself to do such
thing, but | might have done 50 thi
time, as the look of that man had sor
2 OF ratified me.
con, him." said the sleeper man
"we've had deuce Of u time wit
him.
"What was The mnlter?"
"Well, guess 1t was the fault of tn
uptown olliCe-sold lower four twice
Finally the other fellow agreed TO tax
lower twelve, Lucky It was empty
Guess he didn't want to wranglc wit
that fellow. Did you notice how h
seems to be looking past you instead o
at you with those halfcrossed eyes o
hisY'
Didn't see his eyes. He was hal
asleep. Was his sleeper ticket nj
rlghtY He gave me a coupon II yea
old"
80, it was all right. Here are tn
two. III report that uptown Office
1t puts me In a-hello BY lingo,
haven rot Old Ghasily's ticl<ni -