The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-01-02
DEAD MEMS SECTION,
BY ]. PERCY BARNITZ.
Copyright. 1901, by Daily Story Pub. Coz

Section Four was the longest section
on the Third Division of the G. and j.
Railroad. 1t was so long and so many
fatalities had occurred on that stretch
OF road, that the management decided
to call it the Middle Division, think
ing thereby to escape the odious name
OF Dead Mems Section" which it was
called by railroad men the country
over. But call it what they would, the
management could not free that par
ticular portion of their line from the
gruesome appellation
The sections on the G. and ]. are
not eight Or ten-mile stretches of
track, as is the case on Eastern lines,
but instead hundred and ffty-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
superintendent at Folger, the terminus
of Section Three, and the headquar-'
ters for the new Middle Division. And
he said always, that it was anything
but good fortune when he was pro-
NOTED 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
exceptions the ones whom Death
seemed to single out as his victims.
And the majority of those who were
killed met their deaths by falling be-
meath the cars while the trains were
running eastward between Gregson's
and Warm Springs.
Because of the "hoodoo," which rail-
road men said was on Dead Mems
Section it was almost impossible to
secure reputable employees for the
freight service of the operating de-
partment Of the Middle Division. AS
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, superintendent, was not
happy one. The difficulties he expert
enced in handling the polygenous
freight crews were legion; but they
were as nothing compared to the de-
pressing fact that in spite Of all pre-
cautions Death held the Middle Divi-
sion in firmer grasp than ever.
Although the Middle Division passed
through land of weary desolation,
which, with it's flint-like soil; its
boundless, unbroken 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
mitted suicide.
There were but few men In his en-
ploy that did not use liquor. But
liquor could hardly be held account
able for the strange fatalities on Dead
Mems Section" Other trainmen en-
ployed on the division besides freight
brakemen drank just as hard, and yet
there were no more accidents among
them than usually occur on the ordi-
nary railroad.
One night in early January the
Mexican Flyer" was wrecked between
Warm Springs and Gregson's. The
superintendent accompanied the
wrecking train to the scene of the dis
aster. 1t was wretched night. A
heavy storm of sleet and rain beat
down with chilling force on that bar
rem waste of land, and Henry Fortune
/ made it his first duty to see that the
passengers were taken to Gregson's,
and there made as comfortable
as possible in the miserable adobe
building bearing the name of "The
Rangers Rest"
The proprietor of this squalid hos
telry of the Texas plains was a singu-
lar individual. He was a tall, lank,
sinister-looking half-breed, whose
beady eyes seemed to glow with a
malignant passion. A semi-mute, he
was unable to articulate intelligibly,
but could understand perfectly all that
was said to him. There was something
about the man that fascinated Henry
Fortune, as he watched his shfty, cat
like movements, while dispensing the
vile, yellow-looking whisky over his
bar to the motley crowd of cowboys
gathered in the foul-smelling, earth