The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-20
THE HOODOO OF LIGONIER
BRAKEMAN's STORY OF A FIGHT
WITH THE LAKE SHORE.
Struggle of Town and Railroad That
Lasted for Ten Years-It Started
with Grade Crossings.

The Twentieth Century Limited was slid
ing over the Indiana plains on its way east
ward from Chicago. In the observation car
the Siberian traveller was telling how diff
ferent it was-seventeen miles an hour over
the steppes and fifty miles an hour over
the prairie. Out on the platform the en-
thusiastic traevler who wanted the scenery
was getting 1t, along with plenty of dust
and cinders.
He. he!" chuckled the porter; dat gem
man on the platform. he'll be as black as
am pretty quick if he don't come in
And then the train sensibly quickened it's
pace, the reverberation showed that a sta
ton was being passed, and when cloud of
dust that completely hid the back platform
and its occupant, had cleared away the
passengers saw a good-sized town fading
away in the distance.
That's Ligonier," said the brakeman;
"Ligoner. Indiana"
Nobody seemed to care whether the town
was Ligonier or not, and the porter broke
in with:
Dat gemman beginnin TO turn already;
his nose is getting black now"
Time was" said the brakeman. when a
Lake Shore man didn't dare get off the
train in Ligonier. even to see his best girl
They don't feel quite so bad now he
added
What did they have against the Lake
Shore mem? inquired the man from Brook
Ign.
Fighting the company Kept it up for
almost ten years, too. 1t began about fif-
teen years ago, and some of EN- haven't
got over 1t yet
1T all began over a couple of grade
crossings" and the brakeman settled him
self in an easy chair TO tell the story.
Brakemen on the Limited have an easy
time. No stops means straight run and
plenty of time to talk.
THE town had four grade crossings and
wanted two more. so they laid out the
then asked the company to put them in.
| The company didn't want any more cross
lngs in the town and held off. Then the
town began to talk about going TO the
peared in 1igonier and built a humping
big water tank beside the track, right
where one of the streets was marked TO
run. Then the town got up on it's ear. and
one night the mayor and chief of police
headed another gang of men that chopped
the water tank down
Then the company did what the town
had threatened to do and went to law over
the matter of the crossings. They didn
say anything about the chopped down tank.
AT least, not just then. They mentioned ii
later, though. Well, the courts decided
that if the town wanted the grade cross
ings it would have to condemn the land
|
the railroad before the streets could be
! opened. Then the railroad did a little talk
| ing ABOUT the water tank. Told how the
! destruction of il had disarranged all their
! plans for the division and all that and said
! that so long as the courts had held that
they didn't have TO give up their land for
a crossing unless they wanted to they
| guessed they'd have to sue the town for
! damages and all that sort of thing Tha;
| made the town kind of sick and they sug-
! gested a compromise. When they got
r0rOr0 inc tLot IL,
! stead of getting any new crossing they d
! lost two of the four they already had and
two is all they've got to-day. It's a town
| of 5000 people, too. They didn't have TO
| pay for the tank, though
when Llgonier had had a chance to
| think that over while they decided to get
| even. While they were thinking about it
| the company got out new time table The
| first day it went into effect Ligonier man
went down to the station in the morning TO
take the express to Elkhart. Pretty soon
| the express came along, but the engineer
! didn't seem to see Ligonier. Anyway, he
| didn't stop there. Just went right along as
| If there wasn't any Ligonier A careful
| study of that time table disclosed the fact
! that on it Ligonier had just two trains a
! day each way, four in all. Then there was
a roar in Ligonier. This time Ligonier got
| TO the law first, though for that matter the
| company wasn't giving them any race
Ligonier got order directing the railroad
TO stop two certain express trains, one each
way al LigOner, and the mayor went along
On the day that order was to go into effect
there was another new time table. BY it
the two express trains ran between Toledo
and Elkhart over the old road and didn [
go through Ligonier at all
There wasn't anything the town could
do just then, but it wasn't because they
didn't want to. 1t was about this time tina
Ligonier began to get unhealthy for Lake
Shore men and the station agent there be-
gan to get gray hairs.
About a year after this the company
put on two fast trains that also carried
mail. These trains. like most of the others,
failed to notice Ligonier. and Ligonier saw
a chance to do the company. They peti-
toned the postmaster general and he
granted an order to the company directing
| it TO give mail service on the trains to
Ligonier. Sure, says the company well
to- All right says Ligonier, we guess
you'll stop those trains here now. all right
And then the company sent another
! gang of men to Ligonier. They put up a
mail crane and the mail trains slowed down
to about fifteen miles an hour. heaved OFF
the Ligonier mail bags and picked the out
| going bag off the crane. There WASH [
much chance for passengers, though.
All right says Ligonier IF slowing
down will satisfy you, slow down some
more and they passed an ordinance re-
| curing all trains to run at a speed not
! exceeding four miles an hour in the city
| limits. 'Thatll fix them said Ligonier.
Then the engineers began to develop
| funny notions about speed. Once in a while
! one of EN- would get up to fifty miles an
| hour in Ligoner, but the average was
about forty-five miles. Ligonier hired a
| detective and once in a while he'd get the
name of an engineer who had pushed
through the town faster than the law al
lowed. He'd go off down TO Toledo with a
warrant and ask for his man.
Where's John Thompson, engineer? p
| he'd say.
why. Thompson has been transferred
| to the Michigan division. You'll find him
| up in Lansing.
so the detective would carry his war
rant back to Ligonier.
Lately, though they've begun to get
| over their hard feelings, and last year the
| company gave them four trains a day each
way. But just the same one of the old
engineers will rip through Ligonier to-day
as fast as he did when the fight was on,
| and if he happens along in the night he
won't be liable 70 forget where his whistle
! cord is, either"
! And the brakeman stepped out on the
platform TO see of his markers" were all
right.
AN ABLE YOUNG RULER.