The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-04-17
How the Car was Lost.

shore
Into the harbor of Rest, at last"
Alice Davis Moody.
How the Car was Lost.
\ peculiar accident happened on the
Burlington & Missouri River road yes
terday. 4 freight train en- route east
had Il most valuable cargo, consisting of
silk, wine and honey. The train was
making special time and had sixty
mile order.
For some distance down the river the
railroad follows it's mcanderings, and at
one point there is succession of sharp
curves. In passing around one of these
on a down grade the train broke in two
The engineer d:l not at once discover
the danger, but as soon as he became
aware of the fact that the detached Sec
the main portion he put on steam and
pulled out, thinking to get around the
bend and slack up and catch the rear
end as it came along.
Their was in the middle of this train
! an old-fashioned boxcar of the Wabash,
which contained the valuable freight
above mentioned, and it appears that the
| coupling pin having broken in two, the
top flew out and the lower end of the
pin fell down on the track. In making
the curve the car was thrown off like
the tassel of carriage whip, and the
one next behind it came up, and the
bumpers fitted so nicely that no one
could have told car was missing.
When the train reached the st. Joseph
yard and was checked up this particular
car was gone. and there was no ac-
counting for it. A message was at once
sent to the division headquarters next
west of here, and a reply received that
the car had left there all right. The
question then was, what had become of
it?
a ranchman who had been skirting the
river bank came upon a large rock, and
in looking about for the steer he was
after, found the car behind the rock
The seals were still on the doors in good
shape, and he did not feel like breaking
them, but noticing wine running out
through the cracks in the floor Of the
car. and realizing that much good prop
erty was being wasted, he put his pony
to gallop and, reaching the nearest tele-
graph station, notified the agent. who
sent message to st. Joseph, informing
!: 7. Dyer, the train dispatcher, of the
discovery.
A wrecking outfit was sent to the
scene, and soon had the car on her
trucks, and the most valuable part of
the cargo was found to be uniniured.
The silk was, in fact, on the top of the
load, and was not even dampened by
the wine, while the honey was in as
good shape as when it left the Pacific
coast. The car was in such good shape
that it did not even have to go to the
shop for repairs, but was sent along
on it's journey eastward last night.-St.
Joseph (AIo.) Herald.
Kites Fly in Tandems.
On the long peninsula that separates
New York bay from Newark bay dwells
MIR. Eddy, who is famous among modern
kitemakers. He sends up tandems of six
to a dozen kites and is not content with
merely taking notes Of the temperature
of higher attitudes but has hung a CAM
era from his flying toys and taken many
bird's-eye views of hill, dale and town
that changes in the atmosphere make
themselves known several hours earlier
in the air strata above the earth than
on the surface, so that he is very sue
cessful at predicting weather changes.
Sudden and continuous veering over a
considera BILE territory rarely fail to show
the approach of storm, which would
not otherwise make it's coming known
for several hours.
The first kite photograph taken on the
American continent was made by Mr..
Eddy May 80, 1895. and it greatly sur
passed any previous efforts of the kind
in Europe, as it was free from the blurs
of former attempts. This particular
brancl> of kite-ology will be especially
ers, surveyors and explorers, while geog
raphy may rejoice in entirely new maps.
For Il year past Mr.. Eddy has been
working for the Smithsonian institute,
endeavoring to send kites two miles
above the earth's surface. The great
difficulty in the way of making his
kites reach great attitudes is the phil on
kites rise higher. 1t is proba BILE that a
tandem of fifteen or twenty big kites,
reaching 70 a mile above the earth's sur
face, would exert pull of 100 pounds;
while at a height of two miles they
might. Mr.. Eddy thinks, exert pull of
$50 pounds: and at height of three
miles, a pull of 700 pounds.
Not only will the elevated photography
assist in war, by telling tales of the
enemy's position and numbers, but theo-
rles have already been advanced by
which loads of dynamite may be sent up
over a particularly coveted camp. where
the carefully calculated fuse will have
burned down just at the right moment
and thus a rain of fire and shot can be
dropped on the unfortunate army be-
meath. n tandem of kites is not only
cheaper than the war balloon but it
would be more difficult to disable one
IAdA liz ldiScl DdHooA, LUZ tAeIMOIe. IL
one or two kites be demolished, it's COM
panions would probably keep the even
| tenor of their way. Finally, kites carry
| no men, so there can be no loss of life.
Among other things which the san.
guine students of kite science advocate
is the use of waterproof fliers to test the
height of clouds, while it is hoped that
not only may food and messages be car
ried to storm-tossed boats but that cords
| drawing ropes and then cables may be
| sent out from the shore to shipwrecked
| land.
Biting the Finger Nails.
| 1t is simply waste of time to apply
| ill-smelling and nasty tasting substances
| to the fingernails of children for the pur-
pose of breaking them of the habit of
biting the nails By some means or