Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-04-19

Il killed buzzard tlls morning."
remarked an old engineer OF the
Georgia road TO an Atlanta C0nstltu-
ton reporter the other afternoon.
Rather strange game To he hunting
with locomotive. How did it ham
pen?"
"A dog or something had been
killed TIE day before, aud the buzzard
was so Interested in the carcass that
he didn't take any notice of me I'M
til ! got right upon him, and he vas
knocked off into the ditch. hit him q
pretty hard lick, aud guess it killed
him."
isn't it an unusual occurrence TO
run over birds and the lke?'
20 no, not at all; we frequently Kill
partridges, doves. and sparrows with
out number, Sometimes a whole bcyy
of chickens are ground up ut one
time. Although all kinds of poultry
are run over from time to lime, I be-
lieye guneas are smartest in getting
out of the way. When a flock Of them
is encountered on track tuev usually
strike out on a run directly ahead OF
you, sticking to the track until you
get upon them, and then dart off to
one side If one gets off the rest fol-
low. | never knew it to fail. If You
get one of them, you get the whole
flock"
How is it with other animals? |
guess you have run over nearly every
kind in Your tjmcP'
Yes, | reckon Lave" said the en-
gineer, thoughtfIlly rs lie passed his
hand over his Kindly face rs he finished
the sentence. IL suppose have run
over everything from a man to a toad.
zone day was running at a high
speed, considerably behind time. just
as | turned IL curve colorcd man,
seated on load Of wood and drivinga
mule, was crossing the track ahead of
me. Although hc had ample time to
get over, / myoIuntar ly shut off the
steam and threw on the brakes. 1t was
too late, hoNeycr The Door feiloN
became frightened and struck his mule
a blow with switch, and the stub
born animal came to dead stop right
in his tracks. The man was paIalyzed
with tear and unable to more. The
next instant | struck tue wagon and
knocked it into thousand pieces, car
rying the unfortunate man more thar
thirty yards before ] could stop. The
mule ploddcd on the road rs uncou-
cernedly rs though he were still at
| tached to his load and nothing had
happened
But, speaking Of animals" con-
| tinued the engineer, "shccp seem to
have less sense than anything else. If
Il flock of them should happen to be
grazing near the track when train
comes along, and they don't manage
to get IN the way of it,, it won be Their
fault. have silled as many as a dozen
q time. We don't Kill many nova
days, though, because there are very
few in the country.
Goats are just the opposite. Ihave
never killed more than one or two.
| They are smart enough to Get ont of
the way from the time they are two
days old. Let one be in the way ofun
approaching engine, and when he
wants to get of the track that is lust
what he does, and without any foolish
ness, either. If he SHOULD happen to
be in a cut he starts right up the bank,
and gets there, too
''While running freight one night
ran into drove of about half n
dozen horses. | could see them only
when | would get close upon them
With their characteristic stupidity
under such circumstances the fright
ened animals made straight ahead of
me at the top of their speed ! sup
pose ! ran them in this way for several
miles, sometimes stopping entirely to
let them out OF the way, but when-
ever ! reached a descending grade
would be upon them again. At last
they We're caught and two of them
killed before the rest got off the track.
"A good many hogs and cattle were
also killed on the track. OF course.
these all have to be paid for, and tHere
is something remarkable in the fact
that only Jerseys, Berkshires, and the
Ike are SO unfortunate rs to get in our
WaN