Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-12-29
MAN WHO CARRIES LIFE PASS
Has Ridden on IL Every Day for
Fifteen Nears-Price Paid
for RiRht-of-Way.

We were travelling through Texas and !
stopped at little settlement in the woods. +.
The only passenger that boarded the train I
at the stopping place was an old man, and
when we say old We mean very DID. He
seemed a relic of autediluvian times. as q
much out of place on a railway as a
mastodon would be in a modern menagerte. ,
He did not seem TO be travelling for pleas
ure. The passing landscape had no interest
for him.
When the conductor came through -
seemed inclined 20 ignore the old man and
pass him without collecting the fare. The
old man, however. declined TO b. ignored.
From an inside pocket he produced a worn
and greasy account book and from that eN-
tracted pass that was nearly worn to
rags. The conductor with an air OF inn
patience looked at it carelessly and passed
on. The old man, apparently satisfied that
he had forced the conductor to note the
fact that he had pass, sank back into his
seuile reverie and rumination. At sta
ton about thirty miles up the road he got
off. moving slowly and with difficulty.
The possession Of pass by one so little
likely to have it excited our curiosity aud
We dug the history OF it out OF one Of the
brakemen. When the road was building
through that country the old man owned
piece of land Through which it was de-
sired to obtain right OF way. Tie old
man fought the company vigorously and
! refused to give or sell them right of way
! through his land except on condition THAI
he have a pass. Not an annual pass, but
/ life pass.
The company tried to blutf him. hut the
| old man didn't bluff worth a cent and when
/ the company started to build across his
/ IL ,rtft he al a
| rifle he had carried at San JacinJo and
! cheerfuny informed the foreman that he
would shoot the first man that tresrassed
| on mis- land. The old man then 90 and.
! as his tenure OF a life pass promised to he
! short, the company finally agreed TO his
terms The road was completed and the
! Did man by virtue OF his pass rode on the
| first train through, which was, by the way,
the first railroad train he had ever seen.
| That was fifteen years ago, and every
day, rain or shine. since then the old man
has ridden on that road. sometimes in one
| direction. sometimes in the other, nut never
further than would enable him to gsthome
! the lame day on the next train coming
back. His life pass has been worn almost to
shreds Every conductor on the road
knows him and would fain dispense with
the trouble Of taking his number hut the
old man is bound that the company shall
treat him just as ii would any other pas
senger and always insists on presenting his
pass and having it entered in the CON
ductors book.
The brakeman said that the old man had
received from 50 to s. worth OF transporta-
ton every day for fifteen years. and. while
The looked feeble. he would probably live to
get the worth OF that pass. The citation
where he gets on is a flag station. which
makes II all the more aggravating, as nine
times out OF ten he is the only passenger
the train has to stop for, and every time a
! train stops it means a loss OF collars in
stopping and starting -Kinsley Mercury.