The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-05-29
4 CARS ESCAPADE.
IT STARTED A NEW BREED OF CAT
TILE IN THE DELAWARE VALLEY.

The Explanation OCered For the Cars
Strange Freak.
1T ism likely that there is any Of
the Coe Little breed of cattle left in the
upper Delaware valley said. a veteran
railroad man, because, by this time,
their identity must have been destroyed
though mixture with other breeds. 1t
doesn't matter, for there was nothing
of particular note about that breed OF
cattle, except the way they happened to
be introduced into that locality.
I'm those days live stock t%ransporta-
ton was one of the Erie's big items of
traffic. Trains half q mile long, loaded
with horned cattle, horses, sheep and
hogs, used to pass over the road two or
three times a day. Such a thing is al
most a curiosity nowadays. Coe Little
was conductor of one Of these stock
trains between Susquehanna and Port
Jervis. He left Susquehanna Il night,
in those good old days Of railroading,
with a long train of cattle cars. Those
trains were next to passenger trains in
class, and were rux over the road a-hum-
ming. Conductor Little delivered his
train at Port Jervis OH 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
Little's train on this voucher, One car
was missing. The car was entered on ths
$500. LII 20, l,,,r- 1nft SrSrrabarpa oil
right, but it wasn't in the train. Its
place, according to the bill, was about
in the middle Of the train.
"Well, here was a situation. Co
Little declared that every car was in
the train when he left Susquehanna, for
he had checked the number of each n
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 III and sto-
len it, especially as the train had been
on the move pretty much all the time
between Susquehanna and Port jews.
A telegram was sent to the agent at Sus-
uuehanna, asking for information about
the missing car. The reply was that
nothing wal known there that could
throw any light on the subject; quite
the contrary, for the agent corroborated
Little 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 car, some one dis
covered that the car that should have
beef Just behind the missing one was
coupled 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
d~eepened 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 tC
see if he could find the car, when a tele'
gram came from Shohola, a station II
miles west of Port Jervis. The agent al
that station said in effect that some
body's cattle car was astray in a field
along the Delaware river just beyond
Shohola station, and that somebody hat
better come and look after it. Thu
wrecking gang was sent up from Por
Jervis, and, sure enough, in the middl
of a field, 100 feet or more from tn
railroad, stood the missing cattle car
right as a trivet, except that its door
we're open and its cattle gone. To &c
where it was the car had u down
ten foot embankment, across q wago
road and through a stout rail fence.
There was only n way to explai
the freak Of the car in quitting it's trai
80 unceremoniously. Going east alon
that part of the Erie the track Is III
heavy down grade. Just before reachin
Shohola the coupling pin that held tn
car to the one ahead Of it must hay
broken. This divided the train in tw
parts. The head car Of the rear pal
Jumped the track, and breaking thelin
that held it to the car behind 1t, wei
on down the bank, getting out of II
way Of the cars following on the track
when the leading section Of the d
vided train got to the foot of the grad
it's speed slackened1 The hind sectic
caught up with it, and ran into tt
rear car, but not with force sufficient
do any damage or attract attentio
The broken link, then a hook, happen'
to fall into the pinhole Of the coupl
ahead Of it. The train was thus reco
pied and went on to Port Jervis witho
the loss of a car right out Of its We
center having been discovered by al
one. There is no parallel to this one
the record Of mishaps to railroad trair
and it has never ceased to be a wond
to all old time railroad men.
We'll, whether the doors Of the FIJI
tive car were broken by the jar and j
Of its trip down the bank, through I
fence, and across the lot, or whether I
cattle inside kicked them open. ! Cal
say. They were open, and the cat
jumped out. 1t was winter, and
Delaware river, only a few feet avn
was filled with running ice. The Cat
must have been in a panic, or must h,
known that they were in Pike coun
Pa, Or something of that sort, for Il
-1al t-t, SEak s-., Qa~l n-l 49,,