The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-06-14
THE TRUNK JUGGLER
BILLY skAeeLYs BAGGAGE SMASH
ING AT PRAIRIE JUNCTION.

ING AT PRAIRIE JUNCTION..
How q Broken Handle on One Big
Trunk Caused an Accident That
Ended His "Bouncing Them Over"
Transfer System at That Station.
SIT has always seemed tc me that
about the slickest thing in the way OF
trunk juggling that I ever saw" said
an old railroad man, twas something
that baggage man named Billy Skag-
ely used to do as place called Prairie
junction on the n. N. and T. road.
Billy was running then on the old g.,
z. and O., which was at chat time an
independent line. but practically a
rranch of. the NJ. N and T. coming in
atPrairie junction, running along back
( Of the station ut an angle and striking
the Nj. N. track 100 feet or more to the
west. This inclosed sort of a Y shaped
open space, like lying down fiat, be-
tween their track on one side and the
station and the NJ. N. track on the 9TH
er, the widest part being back of the
station. This part was planked over
from the station to the G. x. track,
making a broad platform there, and
when trains came in on the c., <. and
@. man used to. roll baggage truck
across this platform to the baggage car,
and they'd get the baggage out on it,
and then he'd roll it back across the
broad platform to the station.
s.That's the way they were doing
there before Billy came-the way they
do it under like circumstances every
where. But Billy said that was all
waste of time, labor and trouble. and
he soon put iuto operation here trans
fer system Of his own by which ne easl-
4 " put the trunks over alone.
ssThe trains on the G. 4. used to
halt with the baggage car right back
of the rear door of the station. From
the door Of the station to the door Of
the car was may be so feet. Billy could
Z throw trunk as far as any other man
II ever knew-I don't know but what
farther. But he couldn t throw a loaded
Saratoga that distance, and what he
used to do was to bound 'em over. lie
made fast in the middle of the platform
thick rubber cushion about as big as
a doormat.
ssWhere he learned how to do this or
how he got the skill he had I don't
know. BE may have had run some
where before where there was a plat
form like that to cover. OF it may be
that he invented the system to meet
this situation and then practiced up
somewhere with blank till he could
hit the mark, but certain 1T is that he
could stand in, the door Of his baggage
car and throw trunk in such man
!. ner that it would land with one corner
on the bouncing pad and bound up and
on plumb through the back door Of the
station every time.
ST was running then on the NJ. n. on
train that stopped at Prairie juno
tion, and we used to meet Billy's train
on the branch, and often I've looked
out down back Of the station, where
the branch came in. to see Billy bounc-
ing the Trucks After he'd got 'em
started bed keep two in the air all the
time, starting one on its arched course
through the air from the car door to
the pad before the trunk ahead had dis
appeared through the door of the bag
gage room. And this went along just as
nice and comfortable as could be till,
as Usual, something happened
"Billy pulled down from the stack in
the car one day and rolled along on its
end to the car door a big, massive
trunk, marked Snakes; Handle With
Care. Billy had seen the words Handle
With Care before, and he had also heard
of trunks being marked Snakes, 'Dy-
Mantle and that sort of thing, and so
the marks ON. this massive trunk did
not impress him strongly. He hustled
it along to the doorway, seized it by
the handle, lifted it and launched it
through the air.
Every likely this was the first trunk
that Billy ever missed the mark with.
and don't suppose he'd have missed
with this one if the handle hadn t broken
Just as he let go Of it, but it missed the
pad BY about an inch and half and
came down on the hard platform with
bang that busted that corner wide
open. Even as it was, the trunk bound
ed well up into the air. It had rubber
knobs on its corners to protect 1t and
the plank it struck on, was springy, but
it didn't bound toward the station door.
It was detected at another angle, and
as it rose snakes began dropping out Of
its busted lower corner.
..A man, who could easily have got
ont Of the vay but for the fact that
he.was sort Of fascinated by the eight Of
The falling snakes, was knocked down
By the. flying trunk and had@his leg
broken. This accident broke up Billy's
transfer syatem at Prairie Junction.
The supez said tksywere proud of Billy
as baggage tosser, but that. that one
mishap had cost 'em in one way and
another more than the hire Of man to
carry the baggage across would cost
them for five years, and the FIRST thing
knew the bouncing pad had been
taken up and the man was back with
the baggage truck, rolled up in front Of
the baggage car door in the old familiar
Way Chicago Inter Ocean.
A Faithful Dog.
The Paris Figaro relates touching