The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-26
THE SHE BEARS REVENGE.
An Engineers story of Early Rail.
reading Days In Pennsylvania.

An Engineers story of Early Rail-
reading Days in Pennsylvania.
New York Sun
The fat engineer had been trying to
make himself heard for some time, and,
finally succeeded in getting the atten-
ton of the members of the round house
stove committee
Eyes, yes" he said, Pennsylvania used
to be a wild state in the days when I
did my first throttle pulling on the Royal
/ Blue line, and many were the hair rails
! ing experiences we had. Bears? Why,
they were thicker than dead flies on
sticky fly paper They were a little
shy when the road first went through,
but after the novelty wore off they got
SO they enjoyed ride on a freight train
as much as any hobo living, and it was
no uncommon sight to see bear sitting
on the edge of a box car, letting his legs
bangle over the edge, just like real
! brakeman. Yes, yes. That's a fact
"In about the widest part of the coun-
try we ran through there was a passing
siding which was called Haskin's
Switch This was a regular hanging
out place for the bears One day an
old female bear was giving her cub
boost to get him up on a fiat car for
little outing when he slipped and fell un-
der the cruel wheels, his young life be-
ing crushed out instantly. The old
mother bear, she took 1t real hard and
did some ugly growing as she passed by
the engine
1.-The incident faded from my mind very
SOON A couple of days after that we
came along to Haskin's and had to take
the siding for passenger train. The
boys of the crew and my fireman thought
they would go up in the woods about
quarter of a mile and get some good
spring water, as we had few minutes
to wait before the frst-class train came
along. They left me all alone Win the
train.
1.-The running gear Of the engine on the
left hand side, forward under the boiler,
had been working badly, so I thought
I'd look things over. 1 took my long
necked oil can and lighting my TORCH
! got off the engine and went forward to
| look over the troublesome gear. found
that a link hanger needed attention, ne
| cessitating my getting down fiat on my
belly under the engine with my legs pro-
! jecting over the rails. l had been at
work in this position for some minutes
when 1 felt a strong tugg1ng at my lett
trouser leg.
! I thought to myself, and they're trying
to get gay with me. I'll just pay no at
tention to them whatever.
| al kept right on at my chore, but the
BOYS kept right on fooling with my legs
! Finally my temper got the better OF me
| and I shouted angrily: -
| Harry, by Jlnlnelty, IL THAT YOU II
come out there and kick you so hard
| that you wont be able to sit down for a
| week Harry was my firemans name
"The only answer [ got was a low
| growl. I will admit | got frightened, al
though such thing is unusual with me
Nevertheless. having finished my work
! began to back out from under the en-
CINE keeping my torch and oil can In my
hands.
with a feather, for when l got out SOS
could see, the first thing my eyes lit on
was that old she bear, sitting on her
launches waiting for me to come out
She was ugly, too, and growing The
! look on her face seemed to say: You are
! the cause of the death of my offspring
If you'd been more careful it wouldn. t
have happened. I'm here to settle with
YOU
movements toward me, but l kept her at
| a omfortable distance by waving my
torch in her face. She was getting holder
/ all the while, however, and L knew [
on the engine, as l didn't want to try an
! argument in close quarters with her, be-
cause bear in an ugly mood as she
i was is not a thing to be sneezed at.
$50 1 set my wits to work CHANGING
around I saw that [ was nearer to the
pilot of the engine than I was to the
i step on the side of the tank, and if 1
could reach the pilot before the bear did
! I could get to the cab via the running
board along the side of the boiler and
| laugh at Mrs. Bear
Il decided to try for it, and, making a.
! feint lunge at my animal friend with the
| torch to get her further from me. l
| busted for the pilot. l reached it before
! she did, but just as I was drawing my
| leg up the bear grabbed it with both her
fore paws. l tried to break away from
| her hold, but 1t was useless. Turning, L
saw her jaws wide open within easy