The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-09-11
sETsEY cHEEsEMAN.

! Der Death Was Tragic, and Her Life
! History Something Extraordinary.
Jerry Buckley, engineer of the ''pusher"
that helps freight trains up the hill on the
| Erie railway from Susquehanna TO Gulf
/ Summit, ran over and killed Betsey
/ Cheeseman, and the boys haven't got
through talking about it yet
Betsey Cheeseman was one of what are
| known among railroad men as George
! Cheeseman's pets. She was rattlesnake,
| and Jerry Buckley is positive that she had
/ lived in Cheeseman's family for ten years.
George Cheeseman is one of the Oldest set
tiers in the Gulf Summit neighborhood,
three or four miles east of Susquehanna,
and be has the reputation of. having for
years kept open house for rattlesnalIes,
which abound in the mountains thae-
about.
he has way of feeding and caring for
| these reptiles that attract them to bis farm.
and at any time during the season rattlers
may be encountered on their way to
Cheeseman's from all directions. For this
reason every rattlesnake seen in the vicin-
ity of Gulf Summit is known as one Of
Cheeseman's pets, and it is permitted to
go on its way undisturbed- Frequently
one gets run over by the cars while cross
ing the track on its way to Cheeseman's
Four have met their fate in that way be
side unfortunate Betsey Cheeseman.
Betsey, so railroad men claim, was known
to them from all other rattlesnalkes as dis
tinctly as though her name had been in
scribed on her in big block letters. She
was permanent guest at Cheeseman's,
and was famous the neighboFhood round,
fc- ha- RAJ onf QG
a ratter and mouser. No ferret ever hunt
ed rodent vermin off of any ones premises
so persistently and thoroughly as Betsey
Cheeseman did when she went to work at
it. She was also great collector of birds
eggs, which she invariably lugged home to
Cheeseman's.
Zone spring." says Aleck Forbes, who
runs trains IL and so, cold Cheeseman set a
hen on the eggs Betsey brought in, and she
Matched out one of the most remarkable
broods, s'pose, that any hen ever brought
forth. There was crow, an owl, a wood
duck, loon, a chicken hawk, a kingfsher,
a mud hen and a swapping turtle in the
family, and when the hen looked it over
she disappeared and never came back.
Betsey took charge Of the queer family,
though, and in due course of time had
swallowed IL Ill except Iue yOuHB SudPplHS
turtle. She drew the line at that"
Charley Mygatt will be sorry to hear Of
Betsey's death, I'll bet" said Jerry Buck
ley, "for he declares that she saved him
from killing man once just this side of
the Summit. He was coming down the
hill ADJOINING, when he saw a red flag
futtering from switch post at one side Of
the track hundred yards or so ahead Of
him. He clapped on the air brakes and
brought the train up in short order.
"Then he discovered Betsey on the switch
with big red handkerchief in her mouth
Two or three hundred feet ahead a quarry
man lay asleep right across the track The
red handkerchief belonged to him. The
supposition was that Betsey had been
strolhng along that way and, discovering
the man on the track, had pulled his ban
dana out of his pocket, hurried to the
switch, climbed it and swung out the dan
ger signal That's what Charley Myatt
ys"-Cor. New York Sun.