Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-16

occurred on that StretCh OF road that the
management decided to call il the Middle
Division. thinking thereby to escape the
odious name of Dead Mems Section 4"
which IL was called by railroad men the
/ country over. But call it what they would
! the management could not free that partie-
ular portion Of their line from the gruesome
| appellauon.
The sections on the c. and 7. are not
eight OF ten-mile stretches Of track, az is
the case on Eastern lines, but instead
hundred and 6fty mile stretch Is the usual
section on this important link in the Great
Trans Continental Route" and which ira.
verses the Lone Star State from the Red
River TO the Rio Grande
Henry Fortune was made division super
iutendent at Folger, the terminus Of Section
/ Three, and the headquarters for the new
/ Middle Division And he said always that
it was anything but good fortune when ne
was promoted to that position, for until his
appointment at Folger he had never known
that the cup Of life could be so full of
| trouble.
/ Freight brakemen only-with few ex-
/ cepuOns-were the ones whom death
seemed to single out as his victims Aud
the majority Of those who were killed met
their death by falling beneath the cars while
the trains were running eastward between
| Gregsons and Warm Springs.
Because Of the "hOOdoo, which rail- oad
men said was on Dead Mems Section. +" it
/ was almost impossible to secure reputable
employees for the freight service Of the
operating department of the Middle Di-
vision. As a consequence the personnel of
the freight trainmen on that division was
/ composed literally of the scum of the earth.
And, therefore, it is not to be wondered at
that the life of Henry Fortune, superin-
tendent, was not a happy one The diff
culties he experienced in handling the poly
genous freight crews were legion; but they
we're as nothing compared to the depress-
ing fact that in spite of all precautions
Death held the Middle Division in a frmer
grasp than ever.
Although the Middle Division passed
through land of weary desolation, which,
with its Aint-like soil; its bouudless, un.
broken monotony of plains, was enough in
itself to depress the spirits of almost any
man, yet the superintendent never for a
moment supposed that any of his men com
mtted suicide
There were but few men In his employ
that did not use liquor But liquor could
hardly be held accountable for the strange
fatalities on Dead Mems Section" Other
trainmen employed on the division besides
freight brakenen drank just as hard, and
yet there were no more accidents among
them than usually occur on the ordinary
railroad
One night in early January the Mexican
Flyer" was wrecked between Warm Springs
and Gregson's. The superintendent ac-
companied the wreckiug train to the scene
OF the disaster. 1t was a wretched night
heavy storm of sleet and rain beat down
with chilling force on that barren waste of
land, and Henry Fortune made it his 6rst
duty to see that the passengers we're taken
to Gregson' s and there made as comfortable
as possible in the miserable adobe building
bearing the name of The Rangers Rest. y
The proprietor of this squalid hostelry of
the Texas plains was a singular individual.
He was tall. lank, sinister.lookinq half.
breed, whose beady eyes seemed to glow
with a malignant passion A semi-mute.
he was unable to articulate intelliRiblv. but
could understand perfectly all that was said
to him. There was something about the
man that fascinated Henry Fortune, as he
watched his shiftY, cat-like movements,
while dispensing the vile, yellow.looking
whisky over his bar to the motley crowd of
cowboys gathered in the foul-smellinQ,
earth-Aoored barroom. Why it was the
superintendent could never tell, but in
tuitively the conviction was suddenly
forced upon him, that in some way this
evidently treacherous man was connected
with the mystery of Dead Mems Section"
This opinion, once formed, grew stronger
IN the mind of the superintendent as time
passed, and when some weeks after the
wreck of the Mexican Flyer" a brake
man tuu rhIa1 hafutaa, fF,a -ors e L..
few miles east of Gregson's and by good
luck was but slightly hurt, he set about to
investigate the accident on the assumption
that Dummy Carlos" the proprietor Of
The Rangers Rest" was at the bottom
Of it.
The injured man was taken to the hospital
at Tampleton. where he was interviewed by
Henry Fortune.
YES Mr. Fortune" " said the brakeman
Il did have drink at Carlos place Just
before we pulled out o. Gregson's-the
whole crew had a drink for that matter
But don't think Il was the whisky that
affected me-leastways il never did other
times. II was just like this, near as / can
remember. was walking along the top o
lot o. box cars towards the front o. the
train, when all at once everything seemed
to shine like gold. Thea it changed TO
white, and felt that l must run--run as
fast as 1 could Felt frightened like. And
then couldn't help myself anymore, and
ran till fell from the train"
But Henry Fortune was obdurate in his
belief that the sinister-looking mute was to
blame for the mortality among his brake.
men, despite the fact that he had not one
scintilla Of proof to that effect, and he en-
ployed private detective agency in Chicago
to work on the case.
The detective sent by the agency to the
Middle Division assumed the role Of a
freight brakeman. For two weeks he re.
ported mo progress" and then he, too, fell
victim to the Dead Mems Section" much
to the disgust, modification and disappoint-
ment of Henry Fortune
When the detective agency was informed
Of the death Of their operative, and learned
that he had met the peculiar and mysterious
fate OF so many brakemen, they became