The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1893-04-06
ACONDUCTOR'SSTOR
MONEY COULDN'T STOP THE TRAIN.
BUT IT WAS STOPPED.


BUT II WAS STOPPED.
There's . Grave Somewhere at the Foot OF
the Long Range of White Capped Noun
tains Over which the Trains of the Great
Northern Crawl.
never read or hear of the mountains
that do not recall a story told bya con-
ductor of train on the Great Northern
road. We were going to Butte. The
train had just crossed the river at Great
Falls. From that point the road begins
its eastern ascent of the range whose
tops are whitened with the snow all the
year round A wide plain spreads out
between the line of the road and the
range. AS the train was getting "a fresh
hold on the rails, as one of the party
expressed it. the conductor stood on the
rear platform of the coach and looked
steadfastly at one spot until it was lost.
Got claim anywhere around thereY
asked a traveller who had noticed the
conductors longing look.
"a kinder Of claim, he replied, but
not the kind you're thinkin Of
How he came to tell us makes no diff
ference now Here is what he told:
Bout year ago. think il was, q
young man was put on my train by the
conductor who had brought him to.
where takeit He had been east. His
folks lived down there. believe. He
had been west a good many years, was
cowboy, then a deputy marshal, then a
boss of a ranch and then be got to spec
ulatin in Anaconda. He had lived the
sort of life ont here that man waz ex,
pected to live in them days. He was
hard citizen and then good one. Blest
if know just where he quit off, but he
lid. He finally got to lovin girl, and
Just when he was havin it the wust way
she ups and marries good for nothin
dude that came out here and got to
clerkin in a raghouse. Then the young
man that am talkin about he goes east
to wear out his feelin's, reckon. And
he was gone all summer. They said he
was at the seaside | thought when ]
heard that as how he would not last long.
When man quits this climate to go to
the seaside, there must be something
mighty bad about MS case. If a man
can't get cured here. he needn't go any
where else.
We'll. when he was put in my care
there was four or five of the boys with
him. They had heerd he was comm
back. and they met him away down this
side of st. Paul. And they nursed him
all the way and fed him jest as if he had
been sick girl He was lookin out of
the winder of the car all the time, day
and night, but wasn't sayin nothin.
When we got to Great Falls. he looked
out of the car winder and smiled. 1t
was the first time that the boys had see
him do that since they met him, and they
thought he was gettin well. He asked
EN- to set him up in his berth SO he could
see
And no looked at the mountain tops
out there covered with the whiteness of
God. and the foot of the mountains that
is washed by the purest water this side
of the divide. The train was just get
ting a good holt on the rails when the
poor fellow sank back, and the next
thing see the boys was takin the piller
out from under his head Then l
knowed it was all over. Then one of the
boys come to me and asked me if would
take $1,000 to stop the train. / told 'em
couldn't do anything of tibet sort. They
said money was no object. Then l asked
EN- what was up, and one Of 'em told
me that he, meanin the dead man, had
made last request that he be taken
from the train and buried in sight of the
mountain that had the snow on it, the
one that caught his eyes first after we
had promised him they would. l asked
EN- where they would get a.box, and
they said a man as good as he was didn't
need no box: that the angels would take
care of him as soon as he was laid away.
Il asked iem what they would do if
the train wasn't stopped. They held a
short parley and said in a most respect
fuI way. which I understood, that they
had to carry cut the wishes of the de-
ceased at all hazards; that they could
stop the train if didn't. / understood
EN-. pulled the cord and went for'ard,
and while the engineer was mendin the
locomotive, which got out of sorts jest
then. the funeral procession moved out,
and the dead was buried out there in
full sight. 1t SO happened that we got
the locomotive fixed just as the funeral
was over. and we took the pallbearers
into Butte that night
And | never pass that spot that ]
don't look out there where they laid him.
amt never seen any of the pallbearers
since, and don't know the name of the
young man that they buried. Do you
know gents. that his grave is green all
the year round? once thought of put
tin up a gravestone at the head, but,
thinks |. it's none of my business, and,
besides, the boys said the angels was goin
TO to take care of his body. SO thought
4 wouldn't be intrudin on any, angels
business. it was the only time, though,
that my locomotive ever got anything
the matter with it'-Chicago Tribune