The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-25

came leisureiy along. for the boys were
on the alert and discovered the scci-
dent Instantly The trains were once
more coupled up and made the remaind-
er Of the journey ta Laramie without
accident. $500, ~ -, ;,
THE CAR MISSED. -;
When the number snatcher" at La,
ramie made his rounds to check up
the train he counted but fifteen cars,
He examined his way bills, and found
they called for the usual number-six-
teen. He took another look over the
train, with the same result. Then he
examined the car numbers on the way
bills and compared them with those
on the cars. Meantime engines ana
crews had been changed. and every
thing was In readiness to pull out for
the "Sherman 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 said the number
snatcher was a blanked idiot. Then they
went over the train again. and lost
more time. without solving the mystery.
There was no doubt of II. There was
a car missing. and 1t was No. 907. Mat
ters were fixed W with the train dis
patcher. and the silk special went over
the Sherman Hills one car short. II
was supposed that car had been set
out at some way station on account Of
hot box, a flat wheel or a broken
axle. and that the conductor had for
gotten to make d minute of II, so the
subject was dropped until the next day.
When the conductor appeared the
next day at .he trainmasters office he
was called ION the carpet" and re-
Quested to explain. He couldn't ex-
plain. He swore he brought the train
in just as he received ii from the other
district Green River was called up,
and reported that S07 left there all
right. Every station from there to
Laramie was Cueried. but no one had
seen or heard of the lost car. Omaha
was notified, and for the next twenty
for hours the wires were kept red hot
with messages relating to the old Bur-
lington car and its precious cargo. In u
month its whereabouts was as much OF
"a mystery as ever Fine weather came
| on. and the track walkers had re-
ported no wveckage along the line.
and, to make a long story short. the
company simply went down in Its pock-
| cts and advanced a portion of the loss
es; they couldn't do otherwise. In six
tradition 20 be referred to now and
| then in spinning yarns when lying on
sidetrack. ... q.
A COWBOYS DISCOVERY.
In June of the year following the dis
appearance of the 907 a cowboy. who
had been out on a roundup, was rid
| ing across the Red desert In search OF a
missing steer. 1t was intensely hot.
and ne was disgus!ed with the world
in general and stray steers in -particu-
lar. He was just ready to turn around
and rejoin the '.outtit" from the '3-bar
ranch" when he concluded he would
take look In the gulch just across
the railroad track. Driving his spurs
into his cow nony. he was soon over
the line and making his way to the bot
tom of the gulch, which was deep and
It's sides prec!pitous. Where the rail-
| road track crossed II nature had aided
| in strengthening the embaknmeht by
leaving at its foot one Of those enor-
nous bOwlderS often seen In the noun
tains, and often so or 100 feet In diam
eter. Thinking the steer would be like
| ly 20 seek the shade of the embank-
ment, he spurred around the big rock
to examine every possible hiding place.
| What was his astonishnent to find
himself suddenly confronted with a
freight car standing upright and un-
harmed, as If just sidetracked. In that
lonely spot. an hour before. He rubbed
| his eyes and looked again. thinking
perhaps the heat waves in the atmos-
phere might have blinded him, and that
he was the victim of an optical delu-
| sion. No. there it was, and on the
gray sides of the old car he read the
name burlington" and the number
! 907. He even looked at the seals, and
| they were unbroken. Greatly puzzled.
and thinking the heat must have af-
fected his brain. he left the trail Of the
| missing steer and drove to the little
red frame building at Red Desert. dig
nfied by the name telegraph Office"
The operator did not credit his story
of finding the car with the seals on in
such an outlandish place for self-re-
specting car to be. but when the cow
puncher mentioned the number, 1901" "
he pretty nearly fell off his chair. Then
he rushed to his key and in an instant
was calling Laramie. The dispatcher
at Laramie was "paralyzed," but as
soon as he became convinced that the
operator at Red Desert knew what he
was talking about he wired Omaha the
joyful tidings, and In an hour the
wrecking car was out on the way to
Red Desert, accompanied by the su-
perlntendent, c. E. Wurtele. Why, 1t
was a bigger thing than finding a gold
nine for, leaving out entirely the value
of the car, the cargo. If uninjured, was
worth a fortune in itself. The car was
found as had been described, was
raised and put on the track again and
| was taken into Laramie, where an in
vestigatiOn revealed the fact that the
contents had not suffered q dollars
worth Of damage.
THE EXPLANATION.
The next question was how that car
escaped from the train and got itself In
such a peculiar position. The crew
that brought the special east the night
907 was lost was questioned, but could
throw no light on the matter, until al
last it was remembered that the train
had parted on the hill between Upton
and Red Desert. and that dash had
been made down the hill to escape 9
rear-end collision. Then, like flash
the whole thing became clear to the
conductor.
The separation of the train had beer
made at the rear end Of the No. 907
iffeft f the Ia the fse44
section of the train. In going around
the sharp curve just as the track runs
out on the embankment crossing the
| gulch, the tremendous speed ana the
sudden turn had derailed the 907 and
thrown her down into the gulch, just as
child is thrown in playing "crack the
whip" when 1t is at one end of the line
The link connecting 1t with the next cal
had broken, and so avoided dragging
it down and perhaps wrecking the en-.
tire train. It had broken off so clear
that 1t had the appearance of being the
point at which the original break oc.
cured, and so, when the detached sec.
ton came up and the train was coupled
together, no one ever thought Of the
old gray car; in fact, It was so DARK
they could not have seen 1t II they haG
thought Of it and 1t had been right be.
fore their eyes. The draw-heads fitted
q new link renaired the damage, ani