New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-27
purse I did find IL and then 1 ran back TO the

course 1 did find it. and then ran oach ~ ]"'
Dead. is he ?" the conductor said. " Wen, ne
can't ret away then, and he'll bc there when
Flanagan and his men go out on Ineir on'd 6etter
the morning. But hold on; guess you n I'll liz
throw him over TO one side OF the track "ne Ply
some boards and rocks over him 10 Keep vi ''''
coyotes lie oorriod
out the un-C Christian commands 10 was an uol'e s
in few minutes, and our tram hearIS liv 'lorp
the lost time before it reaehed 1Jw Flanagan the
foreman of that section, where he would lihu 'no
body the next day. ,,11d, h,. tta
My brother Joe did not reach for him When
n came in / laid of the next TWO Gays anu
nights, waiting for him at llump4ldt n nuv,
strangely enough he did not come. Ie was M" NV
three days overdue, and / grew ANXIOUS MY
conductor growled so about my staying oh ny
that had thought had best NOT lEse nheer
day. and went TO work, though VIII li.'io sa,y
At Cow Creek, on my next run OUT "a"
aOi plantid your thramp in foine stoye,' said
he: rist his s0wl. The carTincr TUX our Wnrrud
fur it, an didn't hould no inkist at az; mas
chafe moorner an the coolies was the pall-oeaIers.
Where did you bury him? p was my NOT very
interested query for / had something heavier vi
my mind now than train-jumpers dead or awe; 60,
WY. right beside the thrack, where yez
fonded i'm. An | made i'm a cross our o. .t u%o
PAGES fince boord, an he Shapes as souIu CnI Ii
as anybody cud who niver had no mass sid Tor ms
sowl God rist i'm. An nobody cud tolnd OUT
lis name at all, from annythin, that waz on MN
INT he's got the bowly cross above i'm annyhow,
An, that's a blissin' an all that jim Flanagan
cud do fur i'm" -, IL. r,
miles beyond Cow Creek / exchanged places with
Bill and sat atop box. car, with my feet hanging
over the side while thought OF BrotheP Joe &iu
what mschance had prevented MS coming ing lms as
| should Worry about him was natural, LOT ne was
ONLY boy i'm my estimation, and was, as DeneNeu'
unused TO the ways of the big world. lhen' 700
he was being sent to me IN trust by our .a @
tenderest mother who ever lived-and ! was eX-
pected 10 L" look out" for him as best could while
he should be in the rough West and to send hlm
home again as soon as might ne. Khew 'ile o NY
had sletched future o! purple ana Eoid o. W.
result of his Journey the plains, and, In my
elder-brotherly wisdom had smiled at the dreams
of the sanguine fortune-seeker just now, now,
ever | could not smile Where was brother Joe
Brother Joe Why bless his heart! was not he
the little rascal whom managed to get out OF that
watermelon stealing scrape, when Farmer Lundy
wonld have thrashed the life out of him? And
looking further back into the old farm life. asked
myself who but dear, little tOw-hcaded Joe on
by use tbe TO old E on What smile he had when
siX-year-Old How his big blue eyes used to suck
out when told him those wonderful stories aDouo
giants and dragons; and how he used to love 10
watch me milk the cows Sitting up on the Dlg
freight car, its top gTmy with clnderS from me
engine, | MIXED the COWS again And the mus
beyond the desert grew ont OF perspective ana
finally melted away. and in their place | saw the
hazy stretch of woodland so often seen on my
farm-hfe horizon; and right here, on the whlIe
desert, over which the heat was quivering, APP
pea red for ceting moment the waving wheat
field and green-levcled orchard Of my old Vermont
home. just there, by the gate. was where Joe
stood when ] babe them ali goOd-by, ana the Dig
tears were running down his red-apple face, ana
he was moaning forth paintive wall tnat
should taEe him with me to the West f9r o was n
Yes il was Just there, by the gate-Just there
and up ont Of the green, at that very spot, was
thrust small rude cross breaking nar tf G spe S
Of binding light Why, that was the cross that
Flanagan had stuck at the head OF the dead tramp,
whose face had borne such a striking resemblance
TO my own-as close resemblance, perhaps, as
my brother Joe bore TO me, now that he had grown
to manhood. Then, for an instant. my heart
ceased to beat and stared bankly az the cross
fell. Great God! Could it be? He had left
homo in as good trim as any young man might neeu
to set out. He had passage ticket 10 Iiumooiidt
and wel-hled purse. so the letter had said;
But, all he was young and he was innocent; and
there were harpies and fends by the way. Many
o young man who had started forth as well
equipped and as light of heart as he had never
reached the journeys end, and here had | In my
blindness. for no good reason whatsoever. DocKed
the way of one whose face was rejection OF my
own and had become an accomplish in his murder
for mi ght almost have known he would meet bis
death when saw him forced, as it were, TO the
brake-beam / fixed my eyes upon the cross, ana,
as it grew smaller to my sight. it grew larger TO
my thought. knew no peace One ray of light
pierced the gloom. If Brother Joe had been due
could he have been on the freight train that ar
rived there the same night? Against this was
weighed the torturing thought that the letter
was full of mistaken notions as TO times and places.
and now that / looked at it again, / saw clearly
that If he had left home as was stated, on the
twenty-ffth he should have been in Humboldt
on the eleventh, and he had not been there at ALL
Then I went through the whole chapter again, re-
vOlving each passage of it in my wearied brain,
and one part of it seemed to stand out more
strongly than all the rest-my strange bond Of
brothery sympathy felt for the man while | sat
upon the car In the dark and cold. and he was
down in that -death-tempting place under the
furniture car. knew little of psychology, and yet
I thought it must have been revealed to me in a
misty way at that hour that the mournful train
jumper was stranger. My brain was in whirl.
and the uglicst thoughts would crowd themselves
to the top, that, with it all, fairly beside
myself.
We were at Red Buttes before niehtfall, and
there we were TO pass the west-bound express.
The thought of that desert grave and the terrible
meaning IL had for me did nOt-no, nor ten times
the thought could nOt-prevent me from scanning,
with intense eagerness the faces of the passengers
who throngcd into the station for supper, for Red
Buttes was marked 81 on the time card. But,
of course, | was doomed to disappointment. The
passengers came and went, as light-hearted as you
please, while stood on the platform with heart
Of lead and cursed them for their gayety. Yes,
/ cursed. for ! was rough man in those days, and
they had no right, | argued, 10 be cheerful when
| was 50 downcaSt. ! went back 10 my train
stamping the platform with my heavy boots, as
went along and continuing my profanity.
1t wac with much Impotence that l sought ont
Flanagan our return 30 Cow Creek.
You say there was nothing the body of
the-the tramp you buried, By which he could be
identified" | asked eagerly.
"Niver anything at ALL
Are you sure there were no lettcrs-no papers
not q scrap Of
"Hould on-they was; but they was nothn'
betune the kivcrs NV il that showed annytbing
at all, said the honest foreman.
"Covers Of WHAT"
"Why, the note book. 70 he sure. OF told yez
about that beloor didn't Oi?'
No; let ne see it at once" And followed
him with impatient step, as he hurried TO his cot
tage, near the station.
." Here it To- he said taking down a red note
book from % shelf. en- If ycz kin foind anything
in il that tells who the thramp was vel do better
around here, for the matther o. that"
! glanced eagerly through the book There
were some rows OF figures memorandum as To
certain routes Of travel between New-York and
Council Bluffs number of blank pages and then
this written in pencil, and dated at Cheyenne "a
week back
Dear brother Tom: fool and his money! |
met some men on the train who induced me Ia bet