Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-24

i. No. delpnlk last week, cre-
~ NE1Y ated more than the Or
I4g binary amount Of gossip
~N among railroad en-
-A&fl <ClN ployes. The fireman on
-Ii.S the same engine had
@- gone out on the running
w board to oil some Of
the running gear. and after time noticed that
the engine did not slow up at the regular
places as usual. Returning to the cab he found
his engineer On the floor Of the cab covered
with blood and unconscious. Three hours later
he was dead. The circumstances surrounding
the death point TO two csuses-he was either
struck by passing freight train or some mis-
creant had thrown q stone at the passing train
with deadly effect. The wound in the
center OF the forehead. and Of such a nature
that to the latter cause can undoubtedly be
ascribed the engineers death.
There has been q continuous war between the
railroad employees and tramps foa the last FIVE
years While the better nature OF the railroad
ers occasionally asserts itself to the extent Of
permitting worthy men to ride free on their
trains, it 10 taking desperate chances to trust
any one and may cost the trainman his life
when bis back il turned. A regular everyday
tramp Will mount train az if the company
owed him a ride, and to approach one OF these
individuals with u command to aight will in
battle. After the tramp has been hustled from
his stand on the bumper and he finds that there
are too many rallroaders around SCr him to
show tight the chances are he will take his
gruGye out of the next trainnan that comes
along. II is almost a certainty that Engineer
Stricklands death was the aftermath of one OF
these little scenes between tramp and rail
rosder. When these encounters are trans
ferred from daylight to darkness it can be easily
seen wherein the great danger hes for the rail
roader that acoosts one Of these roaIners single
handed.
The aggregate amount of money expended
by the different railroad corporations for
salaries and expenses OF special officers who
keep these characters within bounds regards
their pernicious acts will foot up sum large
enough annually to meet the wants of the poor
of a city almost rs large as Washington. This
class Of men are poor, too, as far as this worlds
goods go. but as regards sef-preservation and
confidence can be classed lnillionaires of the
country. They won't work, their idle habits
make them vicious, and woe betide the rail-
road man that crosses sheir path and tries to
prevent them making their annual pilgrimage to
climates that suit their lazy dispositions.
THE NERVE OF A TRAMP.
A thoroughbred tramp possesses more than
the ordinary allotment of nerve to undertake
reckless chances. whereby he himself
the labor Of walking. His rides under freight
cars, upon sxles and in almost any conceivable
nook or corner Of a car, from which the slight
est loss Of presence OF mind would dash him into
eternity, substantiate this. 1t Is the idleness
that spoils him and makes the vicious habits Of
a fuu-bloeded Indian pale into ipsisniicanee
before the routine of his everyday life.
Not long since one of these 'tourists' was
put of of a through freight on one of the main
iinss and of course swere vengeance. He came
near accomplishing his purpose an hour later
Climbing on to a car loaded with coal, standing
N ,id trac he aale lad a Inn If of
COAL weighing perhaps twenty pounds, and,
tying a long string around its jagged edges
carried it in his arms to a bridge nearby. Wait
ing for the blowing OF the whistle OF an ap-
preaching train, he slowly lowered the lump Of
coal by the Irvine until it reached an altitude
of about twelve feet from the ground and in q
position to strike the engineer, looking out
of his cab, full in the face. The mis-
creant misjudged the distance by about
six inches, and instead Of smashing the
engineers face into shapeless mass, rs he
intended. merely swept the iatters cap from
his head The engineer, in speaking OF his ex-
perience after he had reached the end of his
run, said that he didn't believe he Was ever
moro frightened in his life. 1t WAS pitch
dark ahead and he vas running at a terrific
rate of speed irving to make up lost time when
on the slant black mass dashed by aud came
close enough to his scalp as to make him think
q cross beam of the bridge had fallen down on
his train. One Of the brakemen on a car some
distance back from the locomotive observed the
maneuvers Of the tramp by the glare from ths
freboX Of the locomotive the fireman
shoveled IN the coal, and informed the engineer
at the next stop how close call for his life he
had had. This incident Ia one Of many and il
Illustrates the cruel cunning OF this class of peo-
pie whom crossed in their purposes, and no
doubt that fiend has ere this sent some poor
railroader to his long account for fancied
wrong.
reporter OF THE EVENING STAR few DAYS
since ran across Bill Brady. the railroad detect
i've at one of the local dspots and as he is an
old acquaintance, inquiry was made as to any
new Developments in Engineer Stricklands
case. Brady is an original character, very
Hhrewd and close- mouthed, and there Is not a
drop of cowardly blood in his veins. He has
seen trying times in the west hunting train
robbers. and while the tramps of the east hold
him in holy horror. he has acknowledged to the
reporter at different times that they are NOR.
difficult to handle than their western brethren
Brady admitted that he working on the
Strickland case, and his ideas to the cause OF
the death Of tbs engineer were the same as the
reporters, viz: That some vengeful tramp had
tried and succeeded in evening up things with
the first railroader that crossed his path
Brady's geniality finally thawed out under the
influence of good cigar and what he had done
on this last case and tramps in general were
talked about. He said:
DETECTIVES STORY.
Thousands Of tramps, hoboes, buns, dead
beats and busted people Of all sorts beat their
way over the railroads of this great country.
have given you The names under which they
sail in different parts of the United States. but
have found it never varying result that 20
wash the dirt of of them the ordinary city
bum will always be found When I frst started
in the business Of hunting tramps and anything
txsnspired ont of the ordinary that especially
called for my attention l would 60 out on the
road after them. but experience has taught
me that the city Is their hiding place ninety
nine cases out of hundred. and that - soon
as they have committed a crime, worthy Of the
name in their estimation, they make a Decline
for their winter wallows in the disrsputable 500
tons.
lone Of the hardest obstacles had to over
come several years back was the friendliness Of
the trsinmen toward the trsn3bs and their en-
deavors to shield them. IN this way they
would permit the rosmers to get ON q car for .
seeming innocent ride and the result would BE-
that the boards would be broken in at one end
and at the next station it would be discovered
that the car had been looted. Even the robber-
les would not have turned the trainmen against
the trsmps, but the vicious natures Of the lat
ter began to assert itself as they increased in
numbers. and now it il considered great sport
for one Of these fellows to 40 q brakeman and
a retelling OF how il wss done can generally be
heard vt the first gathering Of . couple Of these
WORTHLESS around an obscure campfire. Now 1t
I