The Saint Paul globe., 1904-12-28
RAILROAD NEW
SANTA ON A LIMITED.
Passengers Rescue Family
From Bad Predicament

Mrs. Mary Marsden, of Superior, Wis,
and her four small children almost had
reason to consider the past Christmas
day as the worst day of their lives. Mrs
Marsden started Saturday to OelWeir
Iowa, where her husband recently esfab-
lished large general store. She reached
st. Paul Saturday night and stayed with
relative until Sunday morning, when
she and the children took the Great West
ern limited for Oelwein. expecting to
reach that town in the afternoon
The family took seats in the big observa-
tion car and the journey started happily
enough. The patrons of an observation
car are not scrutinized as severely by the
train crew as those In the ordinary day
coaches, and 1t was nearly an hour be-
fore Conductor Alex F. Sullivan entered
the car and asked for the tickets.
Mrs. Marsden reached into her handbag
to get the long strips of pasteboard, and,
to her horror, found the bag empty.
Money. tickets and all were gone.
She almost tainted when the truth
burst upon her and in spite of the kindly
efforts of Sullivan she burst into tears
and sobbed that the children must see
their father Christmas day.
II had the tickets in the waiting room,
know" said the frantic woman I
looked them over carefully just before
train time and put them with my money
right in the bottom of this bag. And now
they are gone and l don't know what to
do"
Sullivan was in a quandary- He believed
the story of the woman, but if he allowed
her to ride he would lose his job as GER
tainly as Stohr Is con1mander-in- chief
of his department. He was stewing in
ternally and trying to screw himself up to
the point where he could put the sobbing
family from the train when tall, thin
man with a broad-brimmed gray hat and
low-cut blue flannel shirt touched him on
the shoulder and whispered something in
his ear.
by Hen blurted Sullivan, that's
good idea
Sullivan removed his hat from his head
and addressed the car full of passengers.
The spirit of the day was in every mind
and his words made a marked impression
upon his hearers. He said:
Ladies and Gentlemen: This lady,
Mrs Marsden, has had the misfortune to
lose three full fare tickets to Oelwein.
representing the passage of herself and
her four children. am powerless to pass
them through or. even to trust them until
they reach the husband and father. be-
lieye that she. tells the truth and so to
prevent her election from this train l will
start a collection to pay the passage OF
the family with S..
i He dropped a shining gold piece into bis
hat and waited.
All over the car there was a general
movement among the passengers toward
trouser pockets and handbags. The thin
man with the big hat put in two $40 gold
pieces and his companion did the same.
An old gentleman from Mason City, Iowa,
dropped in SO more and every person in
the car contributed something to the pot
before Sullivan was able to check the
shower
The fare Is only about Sc and the first
two contributions were enough to have
betrayed the expense of all three tickets,
but Sullivan failed to say how much was
wanted and had no idea that the crowd
would give so literally. He was In an
other fix.
'I did not mean to start subscrip-
tion to buy railroad or anything of
that Sort he remarked. Nov what
shall do with this money. Anybody who
viii draw down his contribution can have
his money back. There seems to be
plenty"
Not soul would take back a cent and
Sullivan turned to Mrs. Marsden and said:
Madame, / have taken out the price of
your tickets and the difference, amount
ing to $1S7 35, turn over to you.'
To make the celebration of the deed Of
gracious klIuHeSS even IIOIc ilet1hSO, OAc
benevolent old man from Faribault
banking house took the whole family into
the dining car and gave them a holiday
dinner such as few passengers on the
train enjoyed.
Mrs Marsden explained that under ordi-
nary conditions she was not in poor cir
cumstances, but that the Christmas gift
of the passengers was by no means SUI
perfiuous. as her husband was starting a
large business on a small capital.