The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-10
OCTOBER 10, 1908.


men testifed-but however or whatever it
Was-Whether the Moulton special frac-
tured the tongue or whether the pony Of
the lead engine flew the guard, or whether
the switch had been opened or whether, in
closing, the slip rail had somehow failed
TO follow the rod-the double-headed
stocker went into that Butte SWITCH
into that Butte siding, into the peace
able old 264 and into the Twenty -nine
local, like a lyddite shell, crashing, rear
ing, ripping, scattering two whole trains
into blood and scrap. Destruction, mad
ness throes, death, silence; then a pyre
of dirty smoke, a wall of sickening beats
and scream of kissing steam over a
| thousand sheep caught in the sudden
shambles.
There was frightened crawling out
| of the shattered cabooses, a hurrying up
of the stunned crews and a bewildering
count Of heads. Both engine crews of the
stock train had jumped as their train
| split the switch. The train crews were
| badly shaken; the head brakeman of the
sheep train lay torn in the barbed-wire
fencing the right of way; but only one
man was missing-the fireman Of Twenty
| nine-Delaroo s6ss IS
Second SO jumped west switch pass
| ing, track and went into train 20, en-
CINE 264. Bad spill. Delaroo, fireman the
264, missing" wired Sugar Bultes to
| Medicine Bend a few minutes later st.
| Neighbor got there by 10 o'clock with
| both roadmasters and the wrecking outfit
It was dark as a canon on the desert that
night. Benedict Morgan's men tore
| splintered car timber from the debris, and
on the knobs back of the siding lighted
heaping bonfres that threw light all
night on the; dread pile smoking on the
desert. They dug by the flame of the
fires at the CHASTITY. heap till midnight
then the moon rose, an extra crew arrived
from the Bend, and then they got the der
rick at work. Yet with all the toll Wher
day broke the confusion looked worse con-
founded. The main line was so hopelessly
! blocked that at daylight a special with
ties and steel was run in to lay temper
airy track around the wreck ySa -
What do think of it?' muttere6
Neighbor, when the local operator asked
him for a report for Callahan. II thinl
/ there's two engines for the scrap in sight
and the 264, if we can ever find anything
of her-and about a million sheep to pa,
for Neighbor paused to give an orde1
and survey the frightful scene.
= fAnd Delaroo," repeated the operator
HE wants to know about Delaroo-''
missing" - .@t ----1 3D. :. -..
! At dawn hot coffee was passed amonf
l the wreckers, and shortly after sunrise tn,
McCloud gang arrived with the secont
derrick. Then the men Of the night tool
hold with a new grip to get into the hear
SAAS PAA>
Iaroo. -- s- 80 s~a-
| None of the McCloud gang knew tn
man they were hunting for. but the mel
from the Bend were soon telling then
: about MAZE SIMPSONS Indian. Not
: mute nod he ever gave; not a piece O
tobacco he ever passed; not a brief wore
i he ever spoke to one of the battered oil
hulks who rode and cut and slashed an,
stormed and drank and cursed with Bene
dict Morgan was forgotten then. Ever.
slowed, twisted, weather-beaten, crippled
up, gin-shivered old wreck of wrecker-
! say about Delaroo And with their hal
matted and their faces streaked and thei
shirts daubed and their elbows in blood
they said it-whatever 1t was, much or lit
tle-of Delaroo. III y, ~. D.
The picks swung, the derricks creake
and all day with the heaving and the call
ing they toiled; but the sun was sinkin
before they got into the middle of 1t. The
Benedict Morgan, crawling under the driv
Z ers of the hind moguls partly uncovered
: edged out with a set face: he swore h
heard breathing. It was alcohol to tn
), veins of the double gang. Neighbor him
self went in and heard-and stayed t
fasten a grapple to pull the engine true
off the roof of a box car that was jamme
over and against the mogul stack.
| The big derrick groaned as the slac
drew and the truck crashed thru a tie
of stays and swung whirling into tn
clear. A giant wrecker lodged the sus
, pended wheels and, raising his ak, bit
hole into the damned roof. Thru tina
they passed a second grapple, and pres
emily it gave sullenly, toppled back wit
a crash, and the foremost axman, peeriu
into the opening, saw the heart Of til
wreck. Bending forward, he picked u
something struggling in his arms. The
thought it was a man; but it was a sheer
oil tow 1@,.
, that was the breathing they heard. Bene
dict Morgan threw the man and his bur
den aside and stepped himself into the ga
= and thru. One started to follow, but tn
= chief Of the wreckers waved him baci
& Close by where the sheep had been free
stood Delaroo. He stood as if with ca
alert, so closely did the counterfeit seer
, the real. So sure was the impression
life that not until Morgan, speaking to tn
. fireman, put his hand on his shoulder di
. he realize that the Indian stood quite dea
: just where the shock had caught him /
: his cab.
: Stumbling over the wreckage, the
passed him in the silence of the sunse
Z from hand to hand into, the open. A b]
Z fellow, pallid and scared, tottered afts
them, and when they laid the dead ma
: down, half fell at his side--it was MAJ
Sampson.
y It surprised everybody the way Ma:
: Sampson went to pieces after De1aroo we
!. killed. The Indian was carried back
;. the Bend and up to SIMPSONS and laid OF
: in the God-forsaken parlor; but Ma.
l wasn't any good fixing things up thu
time. He usually shone on like occasion
n He was the comforter of the afflicted
Y an extraordinary degree; he gave tt
usual mOurner no chance to let up. 81
i now his day was as one that is darkene
When Neighbor went up next night to Sc
e about some minor matters connected wit
the funeral and the precedence Of the We
rious dozen orders that were to march, /
e found Maze Sampson and Martie alone
the darkness of the parlor with the silel
/ Delaroo.
Q Maize turned to the master mechan
l. from where Delaroo lay. t'Neighbor, W
might as well know it now as any tim
y Don't you say so, Martie? Martie, VIII
u do you say?" Martie burst into tear
:. but thru them Neighbor caught the Ell
= Egineer's broken confession "Nefghbor
= I'm color blind" The master mechan
sat stunned.
x True as Gods word. You might
= well know it now. There's the ms
q that stood between me and the loss
le my job. It's been coming on me t
II two year. He knew 1t, that's why
4, stayed in my cab. He stayed because
% was color blind He knoWed I'd
T. ketched the minute a new fireman cor
ot] in, Neighbor. He watched the sigma
le= Delaroo. I'm color blind. God help me
Martie hushed her crying: the three S
u in the darkness.
tit wouldn't worry me so much If
ixryo fo,, YoSo