Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-24
FOUND DEAD ON THE PILOT.
The Lonely and Fatal Rido OF an
Indian in n Blizzard.
FROZEN AT A BOILER HEAD.
How a Union Pacific Engineers
Kindness led 10 the Disposal
of n Savagc-Othcr In.
tcrCsting Topics.
-RozeN AT A BOILER HEAD.


n Frozen lnuian.
"About eighteen years ago said Engineer
Stark, of the Union Pacific, "a little episode
happened which | will never forget. | was
pulling a freight from Omaha, aud when
about forty miles out, at a station, an In
dian approached and from his motions | con-
Guided that he wanted me to let him ride to
another point on the line. 1t was in the latter
part of January and a bitter cold breeze pre-.
vailed. In those days we were compelled to
favor the Indians for our own personal
safety. Should YOU refuse there was no tell.
ing at what time YOU would be brought down
by an arrow. Wen, the fellow, n finely pro-
porttoued, robust specimen OF the modern
red man, wanted to ride, and | s~ignpllcd him
to get ON to the pilot IN front OF the boiler
ana, after hcsitatinE a moment, he did so.
Our next stop was about twenty-five miles
away, and after supplying ourselves with
fuel we pulled out. The wind struck us ut
right angles and It was all | could do to keep
from freezing in the cab. We kept nv n good
pressure and after about an hours ride we
reached the station-I think it was
liondo that the town was called
in those days. / had forgotten all
about the indian and undoubtedly
would have gone ON to the end of my trim
without paying any attention to him had 1t
not been necessary for me To oil NJ. In doing
SO recalled the fact of the Indian taking un
ms stand on tie pIlut ana | concIHued 10 de-
tcrminc now he was making II and have II
good laugh ut his expense. ] repaired to the
front of the engine and there sat the native
passenger with a long pipe in his mouth and
apparently enjoying the kccnpcsS OF the at
mUsphcrc. ! spoke TO him but he failed to
respond. Not making Il response ON tho
second occasion | shook him with my hand,
but to my surprise he failed to speak or give
any sign OF my presence beng felt by him.
| pulled the blanket from about his head and
there sat Mir. Indian rs dead rs Il skinned
pike. He had been frozen to death. 1t made
my life curdlc i'll my veins at first, but an In
dams life was not considered much in those
days, ana | removed his frozen corpse from
the engine, set il at the base of a telegraph
pole and pulled out for the next station as
though nothing unusual had happened. The
corpse was left there for several days, and
until several members of his tribe discovered
it and bore it away. An Indian can stand
cold weather, but on the front of that engine
on that occasion the breath OF old l5oreas
recruit was sent to the happy hunting
ground.n
-
There is one element OF humanity that
certainly taxes n stand with the railroads
and against the interests of the ~scalper, as
regards the use of the coupon round trip
tickets now in use in the western roads. 1t
is the criminal fleeing from justice. For
instance, YOU are an Omaha passenger, de-
sirous of purchasing a ticket to Denver and
return. The willy ticket agent goes to his
desk and extracts thercfrom a long piece of
colored paper. You are then placed on ex-
animation, the ticket agent Inspecting you
while he punches out the description of
you from the following technical delineation,
which is printed on the border of the ticket:
MALE, female, slim, medium, stout, young,
middlc-agcd, elderly, eyes light, dark, hair
light, dark, beard, moustache, chin, side,
name After your personal description has
been punched, the ticket Is spread before
1900. AlL,.A tll Il,,1-
space where YOU indite your name, is a con
tract which, if it were adhered to by courts
of justice, would cntitle the railroad com
pany to a uuit-claim deed to your body
should YOU die enroutc, put, fortunately, il is
only a curtain behind which the willy scalper
poses in security. But by Outllvlng the