The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-27

STEINBUCHEL KNEW OFFENBACH.
Ofenbach. the great composer of the
'pera- The Grand Duchess" which was
played here the past week, lived at Col
-ogne, Germany. and Mr.. P Steinbuchel,
the venerble father of Herman and Louis
Steinbuchel, knew him we'll Mr.. Stein
ouchel, senior, rs now residing on his
farm residence south of Andale and at
the age Of eighty-ive is a sprightly and
mentally bright as many a man of forty.
Mr. Steinbuchels memory is wonderfully
strong. He is a great lover Of music ana
can not only sing the airs Of all the well
known operas Of his day but can repeat
the dialogue of the principal passages as
we'll Mr.. SteinbucheI related to an Eagle
man not long since that while at col
lege at Cologne the students would gath
er periodically at the college inn and
there he often heard sweet music by the
composer Ofenbach and Ofenbach's
father. The elder played the violin and
the younger the cello and many q night
the college boys would dance to this mu-
sic. This was before fame came to the
composer who in later years startled and
charmed Europe with his operas. Mr.
Steinbuchel says that Europe went wild
over the Grand Duchess" OF Die Her
zozin Won GeraIdstefn'' as it is known in
Germany and to this day the street or
-ans and newsboys play selections from it.
GRANT GAVE HIM A WATCH.
a. personal note appeared in the col
urlns of the Eagle on Thursday morning
last of the presence in our city Of w. W.
Pagan, who was general superintendent
Of the Atchison when it first reached
Wichita. For years and up till within
a few months a go when he resigned on ac-
count Of failing health, Mr.. Pagan was
superintendent of the K. c. and Memphis
road under Nettleton, the latter having
been manager of the Santa Fe during
Fagan's last years with that road.
Thomas Peter, the first manager Of the
road and with whom Pagan came to Kan
sas. died last November in Alabama. Mr..
Pagan remarked the other day, while
here. that there was not a single general
officer, president. vice president or gen.
eral manager with whom he had served
in the past now living. Mr.. Pagan is
practical railroad man from the ground
up. He commenced to fire an engine for
his father on the Cincinnati and Indianap-
oils road when he was twelve or fourteen
years old. He knows every bolt and rod
Of an engine and all about all kind of
cars. as he knew every curve, switch,
station. tank and cuvert on the Santa
Fee The editor Of Eagle was once caught
at Newton late in the evening and de-
string TO get down home Pagan picked up
a yard engine and ran him down over the
line in forty minutes. During the war.
or near the end, it became necessary for
General Grant, who was in Cincinnati to
reach Indianapolis in the shortest possible
time. Pagan, then an engineer, although a
young man, was selected as the safest
man to pull the general Through. The
track was cleared and he was ordered to
pull the special car through from one
city to the other on the shortest possible
time. It was before the days of air
brakes and he was flying along between
fifty and sixty miles an hour when on
approaching a deep fll-up in Indiana he
noticed ahead of him and standing near
the end of bridge an old blind horse
which he had often seen feeding along the
right of way in his daily runs. It was
TOO late to whistle for breaks and there
was only left the chance of pulling the
LlToltie Nlut open L ne tAlEiAAt AtSkOlLtl-
cd with an impetuous jump. The old horse
was knocked twenty feet into the air
landing beyond the creek and clear Of the
bridge and track but General Grant felt
the jar. On reaching the suburbs of In
dianapolis and Just as he was getting
ready to slow down he ran on TO an open
switch at the end of which was a huge
pile Of sand into which he ran full tilt.
The stop was very sudden. but without
hardly jar. The hero of AppomattoX
was so all around pleased with the per-
Torrance that he then and there presented
young Pagan with a gold watch. Mr..
Pagan is probably out of the railroad
business for good but he remarked the
other day that there was much for Wich-
tia in the contemplated connection with
Gulf lines on the lower Arkansas valley.
WANTS a CORRESPONDENT