The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-18
Railroad Gales
6Uw 4 WItbtta man
Bcuobt 4 Cfeket.

thanking MIN Tor LaVOTB peIlOAAlSu W
Colonel Bleckley 'over ten years ago. The
mans name is withheld. He had played
the Wichita boom. He had won. But 1t
fascinated him and he knew he must get
away with his money or he would not get
away at al. So, under inspiration, he
rushed into Colonel Bleckleys office one
morning and said sharply:
''Give me a ticket to Portland"
Colonel Bleckley looked at him coolly
and asked:
MAINE or Oregon"
ct don't give darn which"
Colonel BIeckIey reflected. His cammis-
sion on a ticket to Portland, Oregon was
two and half dollars more than his cCm-
mission on a ticket to Portland. Maine.
He said to the man:
1T get more for a ticket to Portland,
Oregon, and II send you 10 Oregon"
Go ahead" said the man.
So the man got away from the boom,
and went 10 Portland, Oregon. Out there
he went into business and now owns one
of the big establishments Of that city. He
ascribes his lucky strike TO Colonel Bleck-
ley, and his recent letter was one of graft
tude that he had not sent him to Portland,
Maine.
Charley Strohm, Of the Santa Fe. who
used to be In Wichita frequently, being
then located at Arkansas City, is the bus
TEST man in Chicago today. He is freight
agent for the city and superintendent of
terminals. He has charge of all the Santa
Fe tracks that enter Chicago, and as there
are thousands OF intersections and cross
ings It keeps him on the jump to keep
them in hand. The train enters Chicago
and leaves it by a system Of semaphores.
The semaphore is a cross-arm, high in the
air. When II is horizontal the track Is
blocked TO all trains. when one end of 1t
drops the way track is open. On every
pole within the limits of Chicago there
are two semaphores. the lower one con-
trolling the connecting switches running TO
tracks which cross the main track. For
instance a train seeing a lower semaphore
down understands that it may cross over;
on seeing an upper samaphore down that
it can go straight ahead. So great is the
confusion TO an engineer who has not
studied the system that he is taken into
the city several times before he is allowed |
TO go in alone with an engine.
There are many ex-Kansans in Chicago |
connected with the Santa Fe. One of the |
men who frequently calls and sees Char !
ley Strohm is Mr.. Tedford, now assistant |
general freight agent Of the system, once |
nation agent over in El Dorado.
Wichita in the railroad business as in |
so many other things seems TO be an |
academy for railroad men, where gradu-
ates in experience are turned out. Hal
Ray Of the Rock Island who was trans
ferred from here to better place at Pitts
burg. Pennsylvania. Is still Climbing. His |
successor Is out on the Pacific coast for
his road. making Roadway. Duncan the
irrepressible rustler. who used TO force
people to buy tickets over the Rock Island
here. Is making a reputation in a higher
position, with a salary that bears down
on the ice pretty hard.
Not one person In a hundred who travels
has any idea of the speed OF a train and
even a large PERCENTAGE of the regular
trainmen can not tell with any degree OF
accuracy. Engineers use their driving
wheel as a guage. They know its circum-
ference and by counting it's revolutions
within certain time can tell very accur-
ately the speed at which they are run
ming. A favorite method OF timing among
passengers Is TO count the telegraph poles
AS a rule these are planted thirty TO the
mile but In prairie countries. where only
n single wire Is used. the number dimln-
ishes TO twenty-five so that rule will not
always work The most accurate method
and the most In use by experienced rail-
road men. is to count the number of rail
Joints the train passes over In twenty
seconds. The rails on nearly all roads are
thirty feet In length. and the number
passed over In twenty seconds Is the
speed per hour the train f. running. For
instance. IL a passenger can count thirty
clicks on a rail joint in twenty seconds.
the train is running at a speed Of thirty
miles an hour. Actually. this method falls
little short. as In the example given
one than thirty miles. but Il is near
enough for all practical purposes.
They tell II on. a young man OF Wichita
that he was desperately in love with I
young women. who after coquetting with {
him for a long time at last Tilted him
with frank cruelty.
The anguish Of the young man was '
something terrible to behold. lie would {
suffer no attempt at consolation. and wept l
a1d tore his hair and gnashed hi, teeth {
II happened that all the wealth h. fSi
in this word was se7lO One day he met {
the fair creature Of his .lralms on the ]
street and the sight Of her maddened him. {
He rushed into a ticket office AMI sad !
'Give me ticket" 81
"Where to-" {
Anywhere q
elm what state?'' /
"Just as far as $40 will take me-" he
moaned. =
The ticket agent examined his rate-sheet |
and found that the amount named would /,
take the young man to a small town in / r
Indiana The jilted lover took the next r
train for that place II is said he is still ,
located there and Is doing we'll ,
George Dickson and Mayor Ross were =
recently in st. Louis and saw Russell
They say he looks as natural as >
ever and is the same good friend to wich-
its he always was Mr.. Harding is anxious :
that the Missouri Pacific build railroad I,
from Wichita southwest
A Wichita wholesale merchant was re- :
Gently in st. Louis. and called upon Presi- /.
dent Robinson Of the Frisco. who is by /,
the way one Of the best men that ever
trod green sod. The Wichita man was sur
prised at the warm welcome he received. :
and Mr.. Robinson insisted on him sitting
down and talking. Il don't get to see
very many Wichita men" said Mr.. Rob-
Inson. And when I do find one want