Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-02

STORY OF ENGINE PETE.
He Held First Locomotive Tn

He Held First Locomotive Tha
Crossed the Plains.
II see there Is a new house going W
here. Some newcomer settled among
you?" I asked the liveryman who wal
driving me through from Munden t.
Prairie Centre. No new house hat
been built and no old one repainted II
the ten years I had made that terri
tory.
mo, that's old Pete Hanson's en-.
gine house. Haven't you heard thai
old Pete has sold his railroad at last? ?
Didn't know he had railroad
What do you mean?"
Gee! I thought everybody had
heard about Pete Hanson and ht
trackless railroad"
"Ah, an inventor, eh?" my interest
was aroused.
"I see I'll have to tell you. Bout
thirty years ago this country was on
boom. Nothin' sleepy about 1t then
It was the liveliest section In the
country. They were going to run q
spur right through here to connect
with the main line Of the Union Pa
cific: condemned a piece Of Pete Han
sons land. Pete was young then, and
had three little towheads. and lived ir
a shanty. With the money he got fol
his land he was going to build de-
cent house. Well, the road was never
built, scheme fell through, and they
never paid Pete for his land. Pete
was bound to have his money. He
went over to Prairie Centre and Go'
out a writ of attachment. Got the
sheriff and a lot Of chains and swore
he'd chain to the track and serve the
writ on the next freight train tha,
came along.
1.-The section agent wired down to
the division superintendent what was
up and they sent out the Oldest and
most useless engine you ever heard
Of. The sheriff pulled his gun and
made the engineer run the engine on
siding. Pete chained her down and
the writ was served. The company
telegraphed to Pete that they guessed
he had the right Of 1t and the only
way they could see 1t was that thai
engine was his huckleberry. So they
gave him twenty-four hours to get II
off their tracks. Well, that about go'
Pete. but he was game. He hired hall
the men and horses in the country and
lugged his engine home. 1t broke MIN
and he never seemed to be able to ge,
another start in life. People nearly
guyed him to death. Called him En-
CINE Pete and Railroad Hanson for
ever afterward.
so there that old engine set out ir
his backyard. The hens hatched theii
chickens In the boiler and the children
played summer house in the cab. AS
years went on the old engine rusted
and sunk deeper in the earth. The
children grew up and went away, bu'
still old man Hanson stoutly main
tained that he had done right, ano
that some day he'd get the money
from the railroad to build that ne"
house which his wife and he had
wanted when the children were ba'
bies.
well, the funny part Of 1t Is tha'
last year he got letter from the rail-
road company telling him that the!
had been tracing the whereabouts o'
the first engine that ever crossed the
plains on the Union Pacific, which was
the first road to span the continent
and connect the two oceans with ar
iron highway. They wanted their en-
gine for the transportation building
exhibit at the Worlds Fair. Old Pete
Hanson held out for $4,000, and go'
It: and now him and his women are
getting the new house he had beer
promising all his life."-Kansas City
Star.
THE SCRIPTURE COMPLIED WITH
It was in an experience meeting In al
African Methodist church over II
Virginia, writes a Washington corre'
spondent. A new convert had beer
giving in his confession. He told the
brethren and the sisters all the sins
of his life, and more too, with al
their aggravations. He had confessed
to every crime in the decalogue. Wher
he paused for breath, gasping at his