The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-26
A CARS ESCAPADE.
IT STARTED A NEW BREED OF CAT.
TIE ~ THE DELAWARE VALLEY.

The Explanation offered For the Cars
Strange Freak.
ut isn't likely that there is any OF .
the Coe Little breed of cattle left in the /
upper Delaware valley" said 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 tho way they happened to
be introduced into that locality.
Gin those days live stock transporta-
sailic. Trains half mile long. loaded
with horned cattle, horses, sheep and
hogs, used to pass over the road two or
three times day. Such q 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 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 were run over the road a-hum-
ming Conductor Little delivered his
train at Port Jervis 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
Little's train on this voucher, one car
was missing. Tho car was entered on the
way bill as having left Susquehanna all
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 situation. Coe
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-
quehanna, asking for information about
: the missing car. The reply was that
! nothing WIS known there that could
: throw any light on the subject; 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 car, some one dis
covered that the car that should have
been 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 IL
q such q way that it had become hook
!, which was fast in the pinhole in thu
coupler of the other car. This dldn
. help matters little bit, and rathe
! deepened the mystery.
Q "They were still deep in efforts t.
u solve the mystery, and car tracer wa
!, about to be sent back over the road t
l see if he could find the car, when tele
gram came from Shohola, a station
= miles west of Port Jervis. The agent a
It that station said in effect that some
10 body's cattle car was astray III fel
J. along the Delaware river just beyon
II Shohola station, and that somebody Ia
'e better come and look after It, In
d wrecking gang was sent up from POI
ID Jervis, and, sure enough, in the middl
l. of O field, 100 feet or more from tn
he railroad, stood the missing cattle Cal
st right as trivet, except that its dool
l were open and its cattle gone. To q
IN where it was the car had run down
r ten foot embankment, across wage
10 road and through stout rail fence.
10 "There was only one way to explal
the freak of the car in quitting its trai
t. so unceremoniously. Going east alor
in that part of the Erie the track is on
or heavy down grade. Just before reachii
l Shohola the coupling pin that held Il
IN car to the one ahead of it must ha'
III broken. This divided the train in tv
a parts. The head car of the rear pa
in Jumped the track, and breaking the LII
in that held it to the car behind it, we
ON down the bank, getting out OF Z
way of the cars following on the track
"When the leading section of the
IT. vided train got to the foot of the grad
it's speed slackened. The hind secti'
ur caught up with it, and ran into t
u. rear car, but not with force sufficient
do any damage or attract attentio
ne The broken link, then hook, happen
IL to fall into the pinhole OF the coupl
d. ahead of it. The train was thus reco
pied and went ON to Port Jervis witho
p the loss of car right out OF its We
center having been discovered by a
one. There is no parallel to this one
10 the record of mishaps to railroad traii
'se and it has never ceased to be wond
ler to all old time railroad men.
ci- "Well, whether the doors of the FIJI
OH tive car were broken by the jar and j
of its trip down the bank, through
fence, and across tho lot, or whether
cattle inside kicked them open, cal
say. They were open. and the cat
VI jumped out. 1t was winter. and
Delaware river, only few feet aw;
was filled with running ice. The cat
=. must have been in a panic. or must hf
10 40 known that they were in Pike coun
10 Pa. or something of that sort, for u