St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-23
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( The BHGGHGE SMhSHER &
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

The accommodation train from
had just drawn up at the
station, and solitary passenger had
alighted. / was standing beside the
station master on the platform, near
ly opposite the baggage car. Sud
denly from the door of the latter
there shot a large, ,hair-coVered trunk,
which came toward me revolving on
one of it's ends at surprising rate
of speed. The station master selzed
me by the arm and dragged me out
of the way of the trunk, thus saving
me from serious injury, for the trunk,
continuing it's career across the plat
form, struck against wooden col
umn, and, bursting open, covered
the platform in it's vicinity with the
miscellaneous property of it's owner.
I was about to express my indig-
nation when my companion eX-
claimed, with genuine enthusiasm:
"Well, I never saw trunk handled
better. b'goSh! not even by old Joe
Stryker, and he was reckoned the
champion baggage smasher OF the
Northwest"
You don't mean to say said l,
"that you approve of destroying peo-
pies property, and endangering peo-
ple's lives, as that baggage master
has just done?"
81 mean to say" replied my friend,
"that l like to see man thofougn
about his business, whatever II is.
If his business is baggage smashing,
I like to see him smash it Thoroughly.
That's what 1 did myself when L
was baggage master, and no man
who knows this road will contradict
me. Why, Stryker and me, we had
match for the championship one sum-
mer. The man was to win who
smashed the largest percentage OF
trunks, not including, of course,
yalises or such small truck. Well, L
smashed 23 per cent of all the trunks
I handled during that time, and Stry-
ker he only smashed 27 per cent. SO
YOU see he wasn't so very much
! ahead of me, after all.
sIt must take a good deal of ex-
nerience to handle heavy trunk
in the way that fellow handled that
trunk said I, looking at the wreck
| of the unknown travellers personal
property.
Its all in the way you start a trunk
a-going," was the reply; GU can n
take a trunk that Is so heavy that II
| strains you to lift up one end OF II,
but if you balance 1t on one corner anu
give it a quick turn with your NV WflSt, ST,
| It will roll along till 1t fetcnes up
against something, as if it was shot
out of a rified cannon. Naturally, Whe.1
a. man has to handle fifty or a hundred
or more heavy trunks in day, ne gets
to take a pride in the way ne ooes IT,
| WHY. remember a. few years ago.
when the women got into the way OF
| CARRYING trunks six feet by four, ana
weighing six or eight hundred pounds,
| that a baggagemaSter VINO old not
smash fifteen per cent OF theIn WASH
| considered to be up to his work, and
he'd soon find that the company hadn
| any further use for him.
The train went on its way, The own
| er of the unfortunate trunk gathered
up his possessions, crammed d mem e1inheS }tneS
| into the hotel omnibus without a WoIo
of complaint. ..lf.+ ,af;.s,
81 like that chap. said the station
master. Hes an old traveller, he IS
/ w. -
I roads, he'd have been cursingf the conf
pany and talking about bringin G. an ac-
tion against them. But he knows II
amt no use. There has never been a
way found yet of getting ahead OF g
smart baggage master, though lots OF
men have tried to CD it.. If you just sl'
down and make yourself comfortable
I'll tell you about man who did gel
! the. best of me for a little while Wher
I was baggage master OF the gay OK,
| fI,ic
about the smartest traveller ever me-
professionally. ~
Truefit-and he was a commercial traV
with him, and carried them in a, mid
ding big and heavy trunk. wen, M
got tired of having his trunk bustee
open and his samples scattered on tn
platform two or three times week
and he swore he would get a trunl
that no baggage master could smash
The boys along the road smiled con
siderable when they heard of 1t, TO
they knew me pretty we'll and calcu
lated that I would attend to any truni
that Cy could invent.
'"The first thing he tried was nat
urally an iron trunk. man always
believes that an iron trunk IS stronge
than wooden trunk until ne trles II
When he does try it he finds that tn tn
the more eternally and everlastingl.
it will go to smash. Cy had trunl
built of sheet iron, with heavy lrol
ribs, and it weighed Sa pretty Pyodf near sa fec d
He calculated that I or any otheI bag
gage master would find it too heav.
to handle, and that if some one dl'
manage to. send it kiting across tn
platform it wouldn't come to any harm
The first trip he made with that trunl
it came into my hands. Cy was t
stop at Carthage Center, about fift.
miles down the road, and, when ne go
on the platform, the first thing ne say
was that trunk a-f1ying down the Who'll
length of it at about twice the spec,
of an ordinary trunk. 1t jumped OF
the end of the platform and fetched VI
against a big block of marble that wa
lying in the grass. The ar was lus 5
full of samples, and shirts, and bot
ties, hair brushes and such: The train
men allowed that they had never seel
such a complete smash since they ha'
been railroading, and consider IL my
self one cot of the evee best dd pegs The way Of
was this-I hove that trunk out of tn
baggage car the minute the ca
reached the end of the platform: IN
train was a. long one and moving nllu
ding fast at the time anu an mo ~ snificen .
start down the platform
"Cy Truefit came along to Where TN
splinters of the trunk were lying an am
was so overcome with the sight tina
he lust sat down on the marble blocl
and remarked to himself IN a klnd e, Q
low and thoughtful voice, Wen, l., ~
he d-dr / sang out to MIN as III
train started on again, That ther
iron don't seem to work so very vel
after all!' But Cy didn't say anything
He was thinking, and 1 don't MIND say iy y
ing that he thought out trst-clas
scheme-that is, it would have peel
if it had only worked. e.
II didn't see anything, of Cy for
month. until one day, when my traIl
stopped at West Tangiers, where Z.
lived, as I afterwards heard, L foun'
a, handsome coffin waiting to be pu
aboard the train. Nowadays when j;
coffin is sent by freight or express. !
is always nailed up in big pacRlni
box. but in those days handsome CONN
were a sort of a novelty in the North
west. and folks that could AFFORD Z
own one never thought OF concealh'
it in packing box. ~. m,
"I was preparing to slide the com, IN,
into nv car when a man with a bl'
c piece Of Grape on his hat comes up t
me, and says to me: "Ihats the re
mains of my poor mother-in,laW.
know You'll handle her careful Tor oi'
acquaintance sake Who shoulo ~ o.
hut Cy Truefit! hadn't ever heard
| Ia. o,,or lo had a wife. but neVe,