The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-26


From the Chicago Record.
St Joseph. Mo. April 5.-The Burlington
officials at this point have just closed up
voluminous railway correspondence ana
effected a settlement of all claims in one
OF the most remarkable incidents in the
history Of railroading. This was the re-
suit Of an accident on the mountain divis-
ion of the Un:on Pacific in 1857. when
car loaded with merchandise valued a,
more than $4,000 was lost between Green
River and Laramie. wyo.
The lost car" at is came to be called,
was one Of the old-style box cars of about
ten ton's capacity. belonging to the Bur
hngton road. L was painted dull-slate
color and numbered 9O7 1t had found its
way to the Pacific coast and on its return
trip was carrying a load of silks and Cali
fornis wine 1t was customary on the ar
rival OF one of the Pacific Coast Steam
snip Company's big vessels from China TO
make up train from the silks included
IN her cargo. with wine for ballast, and
send them through from San Fransico 10
Ouaha as silk specials" These trains
were scheduled on passenger time, and
not infrequently they made better speed
than the express trains. A ''sixty-rnile
order was often given the engineer ana
conductor of silk special on leaving
ogden or Green River, where. time had
a snow blockade. And the engineers made
IL, too, taking pride in having to kill
ti.s1e besides IN this mile-a-minute clip.
NOW the steamship which brought the
cargo OF which car No. 9O7 received a nor
ton was hve days overdue when II made
port and the SIX special lost forty-eight
hours uD among the SHOWS of the Sierra
NeNaddS. The cons.gneeS We're in a par
ucular hurry for their freight and orders
We're sent from Omaha to Ogden and in
termediate division termini to send the
a mi 10 1aaI-
ule. A train order conforming to these
instructions was issued at Ogden and the
special made hurried time in safety to
evanston and thence to Green river Here
every train that passes through is thor
ouShly inspected, the car numbers enter
eu IN book Kept for that purpose, the
seals examined and every precaution TAX
en- 70 insure safety to both train and cargo
on its long run through the Bitter Creek
country across the Red desert and through
the desolate mountain country encounter
ed before the Laramie plains are reached
Inc next checking up and inspection is
done at Laramie and as each of these
trains was made I'D of but sixteen cars it
IS not much of job to give them the clos
est attention as to every detail.
from Green River to Bitter Creek sta
tlOn-a mere sidetrack and water tank
about 100 miles east of the former place
the main line of the Union Pacific follows
the serpentine course of that famous
stream known as Bitter creek. Sometimes
the track skirts the bank so closely that
a passenger looking down from car win
dow gains a fair idea of the worst fluid
on earth bearing the name of water on
either side of the track, rising precipfate-
~ TO hight OF several hundred feet are
rocky spurs whose sides have been blasted
OF Just sufficiently to permit of the pass
age of trains. In places there are curves
so sharp that old engineers never pass
the SPOT without feeling of profound
thankfulness when they have left il be-
hind them, 1t is much the same, with oc-
casional variations. all the way to Rawins
about midway between which point and
fing An NNa.1
is the third stopping place east of Bitter
creek station and Red Desert is the fourth
there being nothing more than telegraph
office, station gangs quarters and a wa
ter tank at either place.
The special, which included car 907 pass
ed Bitter Creek all right, passed Upton
and was In fair way to have time kill
ed, when in going over hill the train
broke" In such cases the engineer pulls
out for all his engine is worth-or, rather
the engineers do, for all trains of this
sort are run as double headeSs" This is
to prevent the detached section, which
is left without safeguard of airbrakes,
from running into the section in front
and smashing the drawbacks.
Well, this is what the engineers did on
this occasion, for il was about / o'clock
at night, dark as pitch, and inclined to
be stormy The portion of the crew of
the detached section always know what
to do on such occasions; they set the
hand-brakes and jog along until the train
comes to a standstill at the foot of the
grade where they well know that the
rest of the crew will be waiting for them.
The engineers ran like lightning that
night for they We're on the down grade
when the train broke in two, running
at the rate Of sixty miles an hour. and
they didn't know whether the boys would
discover the accident and set the brakes
at once or not. Around sharp curves
across ugly gulches and skimming along
the banks of dry creek beds, they rushed
with sneed of the wind until the safe
hating place was reached. The detached
section came eisurely along, for the boys
were on the alert and discovered the ac-
cident instantly. The trains were once
more coupled up and made the remain
der of the journey TO Laramie without
When the number snatcher' at Lara
ME made his rounds to check up the train
he counted only fifteen cars. He examined
his way bills, and found they called for
the usual number sixteen. He took an
other look over the train, with the same
result Then he examined the car num-
bers on the way bills and compared them
with those on the cars. Meantime engi-
neers had been changed, and everything
was in readiness to pull out for the Sher-
man hills" They were losing time every
minute and the engineers and conductor
were furious over the delay. The latter
wanted to know what in perdition was
the matter, and when he was informed
he said bluntly that the number snatcher
was blanked idiot. Then they went over
the train again and lost more time without
solving the mystery.
There was no doubt of it, there was a
car missing, and 1t was No. 907. Matters
were fixed up with the train dispatcher
and the silk special went over the Sher-
man hills one car short. 1t was supposed
that the car had been set out at some
way station on account of a hot-box, a
fiat" wheel or a broken axle and that
the conductor had forgotten to make a
minute of it; so the subject was dropped
until the next day.
When the conductor appeared the next
day at the trainmasters office he was
called ION the carpet" and requested to
explain. He couldn't explain. He swore
that he brought the train on just as he
received it from the other district. Green
River was called up and reported that
car 907 left there all right. Every station
from there to Laramie was queried, but
no one had seen or heard of the lost car.
Omaha was notified and for the next
tWenty-four hours the wires were kept
hot with messages referring 10 the old
Burlington car and its precious cargo A
month later it's whereabouts was as much
a mystery as ever. Fine weather came on
and all the track walkers reported no
mystery along the line. To make a long
story short, the company simply went
down in its pocket and advanced a por-
ton of the losses; they couldn't do other
wise In six months the incident had be-
come tradition to be referred to now
and then by trainmen as they sat spin
ming yarns on a side-track.