The Press., 1899-08-24
THE TRUNK JUGGLER
BILLY SkAGGLY'S BAGGAGE SMASH
ING AT PRAIRIE JUNCTION..

ING Al PRAIRIE JUNG IION.
How a Broken Handle ON One Big
Trunk Caused an Accident That
Ended His ''BOun Them Over''
Transfer System at That Station.
'1t has always seemed to me that
about the slickest thing in the way of
trunk juggling that I ever saw" said
an old railroad man, "was something
that baggage man named Billy Skag-
gly used to do at place called Prairie
Junction on the M. N. and T. road.
Billy was running then On the old g.,
K. and c., which was at that time an
independent line, but practically a
branch of the M. N. and T. coming in
at Prairie Junction, running along back
of the station at an angle and striking
the M. N. track 100 feet or more to the
west. This inclosed a sort of V shaped
open space, like lying down fiat, be-
tween their track on cne side and the
station and the M 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 G x. and
Q. man used to roll a 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.
"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 a
waste of time, labor and trouble, and
he soon put into operation here a trans
fer system of his own by which he easi-
ly put the trunks over alone.
"The trains on the G.. x. 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 maybe SO feet. Billy could
throw a trunk as far as any other man
I ever knew-I don't know but what
farther. But he couldn't throw loaded
Saratoga that distance, and what he
used to do was to bound 'em over. He
made fast in the middle of the platform
thick rubber cushion about as big as
a doormat.
"Where he learned how to do this OF
how he got the skill he had l don't
know. He may have had run some
where before where there was a plat
form like that to cover. or it may be
that he invented the system to meet
this situation and then practiced ul
somewhere with a blank till he coulG
hit the mark, but certain it is that ht
could stand in the door of his baggage
car and throw a trunk in such a man
ner that it would land with onS corner
| on the bouncing pad and bound up an(
on plumb through the back door of tn,
| station every time.
81 was running then on the M. N. OF
train that stopped at Prairie June
tion, and we used to meet Billy's trail
on the branch, and often I've looked
out down back of the station, wher
| the branch came in, to see Billy bounc
ing the trunks After he'd got EN-
started he'd keep two in the air all th'
time, starting one on it's arched cours,
| through the air from the car door t.
the pad before the trunk ahead had dis
| appeared through the door of the bag
gage room. And this went along just a
nice and comfortable as could be till
as usual, something happened.
"Billy pulled down from the stack il
| the car one day and rolled along on it
end to the car door a big, massiv
trunk, marked Snakes; Handle Witt
Care. Billy had seen the words 'Handl
| With Care before, and he had also hear
of trunks being marked Snakes, by
Mantle and that sort of thing, and g.
| the marks on this massive trunk di'
not impress him strongly. He hustle'
it along to the doorway, seized it b.
the handle, lifted it and launched i
through the air.
every likely this was the first trunl
that Billy ever missed the mark with
and I don't suppose he'd have misse'
with this one if the handle hadn' broker
just as he let go of it, but it missed tn
pad by about an inch and half an
came down on the hard platform wit
| bang that busted that corner wild
open. Even as it was, the trunk bound
ed well up into the air. 1t had rubbe
knobs on it's corners to protect it an
the plank it struck on was springy, bu
it didn't bound toward the station door
1t was DETECTED at another angle, an
as it rose snakes began dropping out @
it's busted lower corner.
"a man, who could easily have GO
out of the way but for the fact tina
he was sort of fascinated by the sight G
the falling snakes, was knocked dow
by the flying trunk and had his le
broken. This accident broke up Billy
transfer system at Prairie junction
The super said they were proud of Bill
as baggage tosser, but that that on
mishap had cost 'em in one way an
another more than the hire Of a man
carry the baggage across would cos
them for five years, and the first thin
I knew the bouncing pad had bee
taken up and the man was back wit
the baggage truck, rolled up in front {
the baggage car door in the old familis
ay,"-Chicago Inter Ocean.