Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-12-05
Collecting a Fare.

" 1 had an odd experience once in
the Far West" said Chicago mer-
chant. was at that time travel
Ing for the house in which | am now
partner, and my business took me
to the Rocky mountains. There
were two or three stores up in the
mountains at the terminus of a
branch road they were building up
to some mines, and l had to take
them in. There was tremendous
grade-I presume as much as 200
feet to the mile for 25 miles-and
the two trains day that passed over
the road with passengers were not
the finest on the continent. How
ever, they were good enough and
beat mule train all to pieces.
There were not more than a dozen
passengers in the single coach, a very
primitive affair indeed, when we
started, and by the time we had gone
dozen miles there were only two
of us, and one of them had come on
at the last station. He was equal to
all the other dozen, though, for he
was just drunk enough to be ugly and
terror besides. He had two big
guns in his belt and knife to keep
them company, and when the con-
ductOr asked him for his fare he
simply gave him a cursing.
When the conductor insisted on
his paying, he told him if he didn't
get out he would fill him full of lead
and tap him with his knife, and the
conductor retired but in no good hui
NOR. AS he sat down in the corner
by the stove where was, l asked
him who the passenger was, and he
told me he was the worst man in the
mountains and had killed a man for
every finger he had on his hands,
He had at one time shot a hole
through the conductors hat, but the
difficulty had been patched up tenn
porarily.
l could see the conductor was feel
ing sore, and when l stopped asking
questions he shut up like a clam and
devoted himself to profound thought,
every now and then looking over
his shoulder toward the unamiable
passenger. Some time later when
we might have been five miles from
our destination the conductor asked
me if wouldn't please take my bag
and step into the caboose that served
as baggage car. did so, and took
my seat on one of my sample cases,
the conductor shutting the door of
the car behind me and leaving me
there. A moment or too later felt |
the train start forward as if part of
It's load were gone, and in a minute |
or so the conductor came in. asked |
him what the matter was, and he |
pointed to the door. l got up and |
opened it, and instead of finding the |
passenger car where / had left it, it |
was flying back down the track at a |
breakneck speed, In another mo-
ment it had whirled around curve |
and was out of sight.
.h" How did that happen ?" asked |
the conductor in horror.
"Got loose some way" he said.
Where's the passenger we left |
there ?"
" He's there yet, guess"
well, aren't you going back to
do what you can? The whole thing
will be smashed"
Wouldn't be surprised.
Then he stepped to the forward
door of the caboose and told the en-
gineer to reverse the engine and go
back. Five miles down the track
we found the ramshackle old pas
senger coach in a million pieces at
the bottom of gorge 100 feet below
the track. We couldn't get to it
then, SO we went to our destination,
where the accident was reported
and the coroner notified. He went
down the next day, but couldn't
find enough of the terror to hold
an inquest on and returned verdict
in accordance with the facts and gave
the revolvers to the conductor for
future reference"
did the conductor cut the car
loose ?n
That's whaU the coroner asked
me, replied the narrator, but how
did | know? The conductor hadn't
a word to say to anybody, and he
couldn't be compelled to testify un-
der the circumstances.