The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-11-17


the days before l had wandered away from
the old roof tree. Now, had always fancied
that few people had met resembled me.
There was that train jumper. Yes, he was
one of the few. Where was he bound;
Was there brother to meet him at the
end of his journey? Doubtless not. Why
would men go wandering up and down the
face of the earth in the aimless fashion of
these railroad tramps? 1t might be that
there was pleasure to be derived from the
reckless, happy go lucky life after all.
But in the case of my friend on the brake
beam--what joy was he experiencing then:
Very little, you may be sure. The cold air
was piercing his thinly clad form, stretched
out there on the hard beam. His benumbed
hands were grasping the cold iron rod.
while the dust, caught up by the whirling
train, was choking his throat and filing
his eyes and nostrils. His teeth were play
ing rat-tat-tat with each other. and his
limbs were chilled to loglike stiffness.
Without witnessing any of his torture,
knew what he was suffering almost as well
as though l were in his place, and, hard
dened brake twister though 1 was, my
heart went out to the poor devil. Posi-
bly, he might have felt just stray bit of
comfort, after all, had he known of my
sympathy, but 1 do not suppose he had
the slightest notion in the world that there
was anybody on the train who cared cop
per whether his bed were hard or soft, or
that his flesh were warm or cold.
AS if he had gone suddenly daft, that
engineer of ours brought the train up with
a Jerk by throwing on the automatic" 4"
- h. raorly fhrorrviyacr "a
off the car into the ditch. / grasped the
brake handle to save myself fall, and in
that instant an awful yell rang out above
the rumbliug of the train-such yell one
instinctively knows to mean death. That
bloodthirsty engineer-if what l say Of
him sounds too severe, remember that
brakemen are always waiting for an ex-
cuse to condemn engineers-had become
frightened at a shadow across the track
and had slackened speed with jerk and
killed the brake beam rider. The slayer
did not hear the shrek, and as, of course,
the shadow on the track was only a
shadow, he was letting his iron beast out
again when l made desperate signal and
he hauled up short.
When the train had stopped did not
give the brute in the cab the satisfaction
of knowing that he had killed man, but
ran back and held my lantern up, so that
/ could find what would have given much
not to have found. Of course did find it.,
and then l ran back TO the caboose.
Dead, is he?" the conductor said. "Well,
he can't get away then, and he'll be there
when Flanagan and his men go out on
their hand car in the morning. But, hold
on; l guess you'd better throw him over to
one side of the track and pile some boards
and rocks over him to keep of the coy
otes."
Bill-the other brakeman-and myself
carried out the unchristian commands.
1t was all done in a few minutes, and our
train nearly made up the lost time before
it reached Cow Greek, where we asked the
station agent to tell Flanagan, the fore
man of that section, where he would find
the body the next day.
Ny brother Joe did not reach Humboldt
by the night express, though was waiting
for him when it came in. laid off the
next two days and nights waiting for him
at Humboldt, but, strange enough, he did
not come. He was now three days over
due, and I grew anxious. My conductor
growled so about my staying off my run
that had thought had best not lose an
other day, and so went to work, though
with little cheer. At Cow Creek, on my
next run out, saw Flanagan.
"Oi plantid your thramp in foine stoyle,"
said he; ''rist his sowl. The carriner tux
our wurrud fur it, an didn't hould no in
kist at all l was chafe moorner an the
coolies was the pallbearers."
"Where did you bury himg" was my not
very interested query, for had something
heavier on my mind now than train jump
ers, dead or alive.
IVY, right beside the thrack, where
yez foinded i'm. An made i'm a cross
out o. two PAGES o. fnce boord, an he slapes
as sound there as anybody cud who niver
had no mass sid for his sowl God rist
Jim. An nobody cud foind out Us name at
all from annythin that waz on him; but
he's got the howly cross above i'm amy
how, an that's blissin an all that Jim
Flanagan cud do fur i'm"
When our train had run down the line
few miles beyond Cow Greek exchanged
places with Bill, and sat atop box car
with my feet hanging over the side, while
/ thought of Brother Joe and what mis-
chance had prevented his coming. That I
should worry about him was natural, for
he was only 8 boy in my estimation, and
was, as believed, unused to the ways of
the big world. Then, too, he was being
sent to me in trust by our mother-the
tenderest mother who ever lived-and |
was expected to look out" for him as
best 1 could while he should be in the
rough west, and to send him home again
as soon as might be.
knew the boy had sketched a future
of purple and gold as the result of his
journey across the plains, and, in my
elder brotherly wisdom, had smiled at
the dreams of the sanguine fortune seeker.
Just now, however, / could not smile.
Where was brother Joef Brother Joe!
Why bless his heartl was not he the little
rascal whom managed to get out of that
stealing scrape, when Farmer
Lundy would have thrashed the life out of
him? And looking further back into the
old farm life. 1 asked myself who but dear,
little tow headed Joe did I use to carry on
my back across the creek, down by the
old barn. What a smile he had when a
How his big blue eyes useo
to stick out when l told him those won
derful stories about giants and dragons;
and how he used to love to watch me milk
the cows Sitting up on the big freight
car, its top grimy with cinders from the
engine, milked the cows again. And the
hills beyond the desert grew out of per-
spective and finally melted away, and in
their place saw the hazy stretch of wood
land so often seen on my farm life hori-
ron; and right here, on the white desert,
over which the heat was qaivering, ap-
peared, for q fiesting moment, the waving
wheat field and green leveled orchard Of
my old Vermont home
Just there bv the gate WAS where Ioe