Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-04-01
oUTWlTTlNG THEM.

" OH, uSA
The Extra depot.
OUTWlTTING THEM.
How . Sharp Railroad Man Got the Bst.
tor of . Lot of Competitors.
He was a large and rotund rail.
road man, whom the fellows called
Sam and whom they seemed to like
to listen to as he sat back smoking
a cigar and telling stories after the
work far into the night was done.
Zone of the victories of my life,' .
he said, after narrating several Incl
dents which were not so altogether
victorious, took place when l was
with the L. and N, with my head
quarters at Cincinnati. 1t so fell out
once upon a time that 1875 people
wanted to make an excursion into
the west via Cincinnati and st.
Louis from Berea, in Madison coun-
ty, Ky. AS l remember, it meant
about $25 a head to the railroad get
ting the party, and the competition
among the boys was lively enough,
I tell you. Negotiations had been
going on vigorously for some time,
and on a certain day the excursion.
lists were to be at the Berea station,
and all the railroad men were to
meet them there.
1--WE came down from Cincinnati
on a special train, and 1 was study
ing up every possible plan how /
was going to get that business for
my road, but no way appeared until
we were within a dozen miles of
Berea. There it came to me, and l
slipped around and had a little talk
with the engineer, who was quite
willing to help me out by letting
his engine drop a cog or do some
other peculiar and unexpected thing,
as locomotives have way of doing.
This she did about six miles out and
near a siding, where the engineer
pulled in and proceeded to repair
the damage, the men. who were in
a hurry to get to Berea, putting In
their time cussing the engine, the
road and me.
AS for myself, when I had fixed
it with the engineer, 1 dropped off
the train as it was leaving the sta
ton, and the men on board didn't
morethan discover that I had disap-
peared until the accident happened
that delayed them two hours or
more on that siding. In the mean
time I wired my agent att Berea-.
YOU see, this all took place on my
own line Of road, SO it was a good
deal easier-to make a rate to the
excursionists 81. so lower than any
figure yet given them, and let them
have half an hour to decide in, or
the whole rate would go up to the
regular price. OF course the excur-
sionists didn't know that 1 had the
agents corraled on a siding. They
didn't know anything except that it
was the lowest offer they had re-
ceived, and after chewing awhile on
It my man wired me that my offer
was accepted.
What would be the result when
they found out about the other
agents and what kind of crazy offers
those fellows might make to beat
me out of the business unless I had
some kind of a clincher, I didn't
know, so I sent word to my agent to
collect SO on each ticket, or the rate
would go up to regular. This was
easy enough, for they knew they
had a good thing, and the money
came In with a rush. Then my man
telegraphed that he had collected
over 81, 200 and had it locked up in
the-safe, and he would like to know
what to do next. 1 wired back the
short word Escape" and half an
hour later my engineer, having re-
paired the break to his machinery,
pulled into the station at Berea with
his profane load Of railroad men.
"What happened then utterly
passes description, and 1 fancy if I
had been there l would have been
lynched, but they got over it after a
time, and they went back to Cincin-
natl with no other feeling against
me except an unalterable determine
ton to get even at the first oppor-
tunity. OF purse l had to pay for a
supper for the crowd and a few lit
tie things like that, but those didn't
count. "-Washington Star.
Forests cover about 10 per cent of
the earth's landed area and 25 per