Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-04-28

y back to the cabOOse to talk equities
4 with the conductor. Ii was no trick
for him 10 put away fifteen minutes
/ discussing the rights of man with him
self: and with an angel OF a fireman
TO watch the cab. why not? The pa
( standing on the siding was chewing her
cud as sweet as an old COW. with may
I be 40 pounds Of steam TO the right OF
the dial maybe 1901 say maybe. be-
( cause no one but Delaroo ever knew
when the sheep train whistled.
Sheep-nothing but sheep. Car after
car after car, rafting down from the
/ short line behind two spanking big
/ engines. They whistled, hoarse as pi-
rates. for the Butte siding, and. rising
the hin mile west OF it. bore down the
/ grade throwing Dannah coal from both
stacks ike hydraulic gravel.
No one knew or ever will know how
I 1t happened. They cat hauled men on
the carpet week about that switch
/ The crew Of the Moulton special testi-
fed. the crews OF the stock train testi-
/ fed Maize Sampson testified. bis con
! ductor and both orakemen testified.
the roadmaster and the section boss
| each testified. and their men testified
4 but however OF what Il was. whether
I the Moulton special fractured the
/ tongue. or whether the pony Of the lead
l engine flew the guard. or whether the
l switch had been opened or whether. in
1 closing the slip rail had somehow fail
/ ell TO follow the rod. the double headed
I stOcker went into that Butte switch.
/ into that Butte siding. into the peace
| able old 264 and the %. local. like a
| lyddite shell, crashing. rearing. ripping
| scattering two whole trains into blood
] and scrap Destruction. madness.
! throes. death. silence: then a pyre of
I dirty smoke. a wall OF sickening bleats
and scream OF kissing steam over
1000 sheep caught IN the sudden sham
bles.
| There was frightened crawling out OF
/ the shattered caboOses. n hurrying up
| or the stunned crews and n bewilder-
/ Ing count az heads Both engine crews
or the stock train had jumped rs their
| train split the switch. The train crews
were badly shaken. The head brake
man OF the sheep train Law torn I'm the
barbcd wire fencing the right OF way.
| but only one man was missing. the FIRE
man OF % Dclaroo.
second So jumped west switch pass
ing track and went into train %. en-
gine 2Gi Bad spill Dclaroo. fireman
/ the 2Gf. missing" wired Sugar Buttes
| 20 Medicine Bend a Few minutes later
Ncighbor got up there 10y 10 o'clock
! with both ro8dmastcrS and the wreck
Ing outfit 10 was dark as q canyon on
the desert that night Benedict Nor
cams mon tore sp'iutered car timber
from the debris and on the knobs back
OF the siding lighted heaping bonfres
that threw q light an night on the
dread pile smoking on the desert. They
dug 10y the flame OF the fires at the
CHASTITY heap t.ll midnight Then the
moon rose. am extra crew arrived from
the Bend. and they cot tine derrick at
work Yet with all the toll when day
broke the confusion looked worse con
| founded. The main line was SO hope.
lcssly blocked that az daylight special
with ties and steel was run in 70 lay
temporary track around the wreck.
"What do : think 90 itT' muttered
Ncighbor. when the local operator ask.
ell him for "a report for Callahan. IT
think there's two engines for the scrap
in sight-and the 2Gi. n we can ever
hnd anything OF hcr-and about a mil
lion sheep Co pay for Neichbor paus
e. 90 give an order and survey the
! frightful scene.
"And Delaroo." repeated the operator
"He wants 20 know about Delaroo"-
"MisSng"
At dawn hot coffee was passed
among the wreckers. and shortly after
sunrise the McCloud gang arrived with
the second derrick Then the men OF
the night took hold with a new grip 10
get into the heart OF the pile: 10 dnd-if
he was there-Delaroo.
None OF the McCloud gang knew the
| man they were hunting for. but the
men from TIE Bend were soon telling
them about MAZE SIMPSONS Indian.
Not a mute nod he ever gave. not a
piece Of tobacco ne ever passed, not a
| brief word he ever spoke to one o.
the battered old hulks who rode and
cut and Slashed and stormed and drank
and cursed with Benedict Morgan.
was forgotten then. Every Slowed,
l twisted. weather beaten, crippled up.
/ gin shivered old wreck Of a wrecker-
they were hard men-had something TO
II
hair matted and their faces streaked
and their shirts daubed and their ell
bows in blood, they said it-whatever
il was, much or little-Of Delaroo.
The picks swung, the derricls creak-
/ cd, and all day with the heaving and
the calling they toiled. but the sun
was sinking before they got to the
middle OF It. Then BENEDICT Morgan,
crawling under the drivers OF the hind
m0gul, partly uncovered. edged out
| with a set face; he swore he heard
4 breathing. Ii was alcohol to the veins
OF the double gang. Neighbor himself
went in and heard-and stayed TO
fasten grapple to pun the engine
truck of the roof OF a box car that
/ was jammed over and against the
| mogul stack.
1 The big derrick grcaned as the slack