Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-01-31
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was conductor Of one OF c-.oso STOCK
trains between Susquehanna and Port
Jervis. He left Susquehanna one night,
in those good old days Of railroading,
with long train of cattle cars. Those
trains were next to passenger trains IN
class, and wererun over the road a-hum-
ming. Conductor Little delivered his
train at Port Jeryis ON time, and hand
ed over his way bills, which he had re-
ceived at Susquehanna, and on which
the number, character and contents OF
every car in his train were recorded.
When the agent at Port Jervis compared
Iittle's train on this voucher, one car
was missing. The car was entered on the
way bill as having left Susquehanna all
right, but it wasn't in the train. It's
place, according to the bill, was about
in the middle Of the train.
"Well, here was a situation. Coo
Little declared that every car was in
the train when he left Susquehanna, for
he had checked the number Of each one
ON the way bill himself He certainly
hadn't delivered the missing car to any
one ON the way, and he couldn t see how
any one could have sneaked in and sto-
len It, especially as the train had been
on the move pretty much all the time
between Susquehanna and Port Jervis.
A telegram was sent to the agent at Sus-
ouehanna, asking for information about
the missing car. The reply was that
nothing was known there that could
throw any light on the subjects quite
the contrary, for the agent corroborated
Little's report. The Car was in the train
when it left Susquehanna.
During the efforts Of the puzzled
railroad men at Port Jervis to solve the
mystery Of the lost CIR, some one dis
covered that the car that should have
been Just behind the missing one was
ooupled to the one that should have
been Just ahead Of it without the aid Of
a coupling pin, the link being broken IN
such. a way that it had become a hook,
which was fast in the pinhole in the
coupler of the other car. This didn't
help matters a little bit and rather
deepened the mystery.
"They were still deep in efforts to
solve the mystery and a car tracer was
about to be sent back over the road TO
see if he could find the car, when a tele-
gram came from Shohola, station Is
miles west of Port Jervis The agent at
that station said in effect that some
body's cattle car was astray in field
along the Delaware river just beyond
Shohola station, and that somebody had
better come and look after it. The
wreoking gang was sent up from Port
Jervis, and, sure enough, in the middle
of a field, 100 feet or more from the
railroad, stood the missing cattle car,
right as a trivet, except that its doors
were open and its cattle gone. To get
where it was the car had run down a
ten foot embankment, across a wagon
road and through a stout rail fence.
There was only one way to explain
the freak Of the car in quitting its train
so unceremoniously. Going east along
part Of the Erie the track is on
heavy down grade. just before reaching
Shohola the coupling pin that held the
car to the one ahead Of it must have
broken. This divided the train in two
parts. The head car Of the rear part
Jumped the track, and breaking the link |
that held it to the car behind it, went |
on down the bank, getting out of the |
way Of the cars following on the track.
when the leading section Of the di
Vided train got to the foot Of the grade,
its speed slaokened. The hind section
caught up with it, and ran into the |
rear car, but not with force sufficient to
nfN
The broken link, then hook, happened
to fall into the pinhole Of the coupler
ahead Of it. The train was thus recou-
pied and went on to Port Jervis without
The loss of a car right out Of its very
center having been discovered by any
one. There is no parallel to this one in
The record Of mishaps to railroad trains,
and it has never ceased to be a wonder
20 all old time railroad men.
"Well, whether the doors Of the fugi
i've car were broken by the jar and jolt
# its trip down the bank, through the
lence, and across the lot, or whether the
,attle inside kicked them open, I can't
jay. They were open, and the cattle
Jumped out. It was winter, and the
lUAAM1lE IAN1As NAA4I a AIM AANN awe Il
vas filled with running ice. The cattle
must have been in panic, or must have
mown that they were in Pike county,
Pa, or something Of that sort, for they
plunged into that icy food and made
heir way across the river into Sullivan
county, N. Y. Searchers, accompanied
y the drover who owned them, found
md recovered them all. One COW,
leep red animal with a white star in
Ter forehead, took the fancy Of farmer
N whose premises some Of the cattle
we're found, and he bought her. She
lad twin calves in the spring, each
marked exactly like the mother. One
vas a bull calf, one a heifer, Because
f the way in which the stock happened
o be there it was called the Coe Little
reed, and for some years was favor
to breed among the farmers of that part
f the valley New York Sun.
Uncertainty and Certainty.
Two men met unexpectedly in the cor
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