The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-11-16

Dispatcher. a
Human nature will insist on losing
and mislaying things, but When the
articles get to be as big as a boiler
Or a bridge, human ingenuity fails to
understand how it happened. A short
time ago the Cincinnati, Hamilton &
Dayton railroad had to issue a pa
thetic advertisement in the local pa
pers. They had fixed a twenty-eight-
Ton steel bridge on three. fat cars
chained together and dispatched 1t to
Dayton, Ohio, with their blessing. Al
an intermediate station the bridge was
observed to be bearing the journey ex-
tremely well, and was seemingly in the
best of spirits; nevertheless, when the
train arrived at it's destination not a
sign of the bridge could be discovered,
and, owing to the inability OF the COM
pany to discover any trace OF their
lost property, the advertisement was
issued, begging the public, should 1t
meet with a wandering bridge, to re-
turn it to it's owners with all dispatch,
when a substantial reward would be
given in exchange. On the Belgian rail-
way line between Antwerp and Ter
monde a catastrophe was thought to
have occurred early in the spring of
1897. The passengers at the inter-
mediate stations between these places,
after waiting for some time for the
train due to leave the former place at
eight minutes past seven in the even
ing, were not a little alarmed when no
train was forthcoming. Many people
thought an accident had happened,
others shook their heads and thought
Of all the kidnapping stories they had
ever read, while the light-hearted sug-
gested that the Grant train had lost its
way. AS a matter Of fact, there was no
accident and no train-napping, nor did
the engine lose it's way; indeed, the
only individuals who lost anything
were the officials who lost their heads,
and, by an unaccountable oversight,
forgot to dispatch the train.
Railway wagon No. 60,474 is the
property of the London and North
Western railway, and fifteen months
ago it was missing, with it's contents,
consisting Of one ton of copper. To-
ward the end of August the wagon
:urned up on a siding at Leicester, but
how it got there passed the under
standing of all railway men. A year
lgo an advertisement appeared in an
English country paper stating that q
:eward of fifty pounds was offered by
great engineering firm to anyone who
produced a full grown torpedo thai
lad been lost about a mile and a hall
east of the Trow Rocks. 1t was com
.orting to learn that there were no ex
p~losives in the torpedo. Strangely
enough, a month later, a similar fish
put in an appearance at Aldeburgh, il
Suffolk. This torpedo was marked
with a crown and numbered 2414 x
and though originally charged with
working pressure of 1850 pounds, whel
it was recovered it was exhausted
early in 1897 a peculiar case was triet
at Woolwich regarding an extraordi
nary piece of lost property. 1t appeare,
that a man bought for ELS a boile
WLOSS size Call UG ESIlLudI6Q from Tn
tact that it took six horses and twent
men to move it. While this operation
4 was being carried out the boiler. b
some remarkable freak, managed t
lose itself, and where it went to n
man knew, nor could they find out
though the police were put on it's trac
and it was reqested to return to it
sorrowing friends. Some years elapse
and then, when a surveyor in the offic
of works was estimating the value {
a fine crop of scrap iron that a piec
of ground known as "No Mans Land
had yielded, he spied the boiler; br
being ignorant of it's history, ordere
it to be sold by auction, at which sal
it realized G2 los. Then the origins
owner recognized his long lost pro-
eerty, and sued the surveyor for the s.
it cost him. Eventually the jude
awarded him ten guineas, while tt
surveyor received five shillings for IL
trespass. 1t was learned that IL
three-years-lost boiler had hid itse
on a piece of land quite near it's owl
er's residence.