, 1896-04-10
big rock to examine every posslbls

ment to find himself suddenly con-
fronted with a freight car standing D
right and unframed as II Just side
tracked, in that lonely spot, an hour
before. He rubbed his eyes and looked
again. thinking perhaps the heat waves
l n the atmosphere might have blinded
him. and thst he was the victim of an
optical deluston. No. there it was, and
on the gray nides OF the old car he read
the naAe burlington" and the mum,
Der 9O7. He looked the car over and
discovered that 1t was sound. He even
looked at the seals and they were .un,
broken. Greatly puzzled. and thinking
the heat must have affected his brain.
he left the trail of the missing steer
and drove to the little red frame build,
ing at Red Desert. digni1ed 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 a self-re-
speeding car to be, but when the cow
puncher mentioned the number, 1907"
he pretty near fell of his chair. Then
he rushed to his key and in an instant
was calling Laramie. The dispatcher
at Laramie was "~paralyzed." nut as
soon as he became convinced hat 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 super
intendent, C. E. Wurtele. Why, it was
a bigger thing than finding a gold
mine, for. leaving out entirely the
value Of the car, the cargo. If u~ninjur-
ed, 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
investigation revealed the fact that the
contents had not suffered a 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 at
last 1t was remembered that the train
had parted on the hill between Upton
and Red Desert, and that a dash had
been made down the hill to escape a
rear-end collision. Then, like a flash.
the whole thing became clear to the
conductor. The separation of the train
had been made at the rear end of the
No. 907, which was left the last car on
the front 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 and the sudden turn had derail-
ed the 907 and thrown her down into
the gulch, Just as a child is thrown In
playing crack the whip" when 1t Is at
one end of the line. The link connect
ing 1t with the next car had broken,
end so avoided dragging 1t down and
perhaps wrecking the entire train. 1t
had broken of SO clean that 1t had the
appearance Of being the point at which
the original break occurred, and 80,
when the detached section came up end
the train was coupled together, no one
ever thought Of the old gray car in
fact, 1t was SO dark they could not have
seen 1t If they had thought of it and it
had been right before their eyes. The
draw-heads fitted; a new link repaired
the damage, and that was the end Of It
so far as they were concerned.
1t is unfortunate, but true, hat the
excuse did not seem good to the super
intendent, and the conductor end his
brakemen were told to come to the Of
flee and get their time.
AS for the cowboy, he was the re-
cipient Of as handsome and valuable
gold watch and chain as could be found
in the City of Omaha, and don't you
think cowboys don't gold watches
and chains, and 8 them. too.-Globe-
Democrat.