The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-09-03
BAGGAGE
SMASHING DAYS

M ether days, said Mr. MaCBlinh
: the story Of what the baggage smash
Q ar did 20 the trunk was hardy ;
oaHial. ever Incoming aud uniaihns
IN appaaling. but where Is that stor!
aaw2
In these DAYS when the baggag,
Iaater wanted To get a trunk down
from the top Of high pile of trunks
hc never lifted II down. but just pun
40 Y far enough forward TO let grayi
: ty gat Il and then, with Just The right
slew on il that it would land on It's
corner, let it fall
snd then baggage masters used
simply TO push trunks ont of ear doors
land lei them fall any way they would.
and they'd tear The straps OF trunks
Illf,lng ON them. and yank on their
handles. all these variations OF the
baggage story being supposed 70 be
3uAny and often repeated.
People seemed never to tire OF if
in what was perhaps its most favored
form, which told how the brawny bag
gage beaver lifted the trunk By one
handle and swung il twice around
hts head and then launched ii on It's
fllght from the station platform to
the baggage car to land violently
mere and split wide open and scatter
Us contents everywhega In those
days indeed. the baggage master was
me baggage smasher, and, always pro
sided hat IL Mas not ones own truGk
that vas thus demolished, every body
enjoyed reading the stories told about
this blawny mans feats Of strength
and destruction, which formed indeed
2 conspicuous ii not the leading fea-
tafe u the comic literature Of the
day But where are those stories
nov?
They were eked out for a time by
baggage stories OF another sort, those
dealing not with what the baggage
smasher did to the trunk, bur with
what the trunk did 10 the baggage |
smasher; There, for instance. was
the story widely reprinted al the time, |,
af the circus man wba having his
trunks smashed up till he was tired |
q IT, finally filled a frail trunk with /
boa constructors and got that checked. /
lnd when the baggage smasher had
mashed the trunk the boa construct
1rs thus released from ii wrapped
themselves around and crushed him.
And there was the story Of the
lisgruntled mining man who finally
lied and checked a trunk fun Of dy-
lanite-the baggage master who han
LED that trunk never handled trunks
my more And the story OF the hum
'roas traveller who had his trunk it
ed with corner pieces Of peculiar
y elastic rubber, so that when the
iaggage master dropped this trunk
nut of the ear door 10 fan on a corner,
S he was sure TO do the trunk would
v up and hit him under the chin.
But evidently the trunk smashing
tory in whatever form was petering
Ut when ii came to this, and soon
hereafter it passed out of fashion and
isappeared entirely to be heard no
acre from that to the present time.
Perhaps the people had tired of it,
s they do of all things; perhaps
here was less reason for writing it.
runks came TO be better made. for
ne thing, less easy to smash. And
e are generally less boisterous now
ian we We're then; things that we
-oOd for and laughed over then we
ould not stand for now.
We do many things better now.
nd one Of our many improvements
found in our manner of handling
INKS The railroads now discourage
unk smashing and seek to deliver
aggage in the shape ia which il is
.ceived. Not but that things do hap
IN even now to trunks, but they
mt happen as they used to.
In fact what with the requirements {
the railroad company and his own
nse of the later and higher art OF d
lggage handling it is not considered }
'od form now for a baggage man to
nash a trunk. He still does pull
unks down from the tops OF tall piles d
I'd drags trunks from car doors and i
On the tails OF wagons, but no long h
as a rule, 10 let them fall on their /
ners. q
Now when he pulls down or drops G.
trunk he 50 manipulates II in falling C
to make it drop not on a corner . ri
{ squarely on ifs end This stirs the II
ntents Of the trunk up pretty well, y
d IT may strain the trunk more or p
IS. but dropping II squarely on the u
d distributes the strain: IL doesn't i
lash the trunk as trunks we're
iashed in the old days when they
ire dropped on their corners. In the
esent day development of the art OF u
INK handling 20 smash any but a :,
~ weak and fragile trunk would be a
nsidered bungling -
so times have changed. and the
story no longer goes. The old
mes were brought back 10 me yester-
y by seeing a trunk fall of a bag b.,
&c wagon into the street. a sight, :
Mess. that was joyous 10 see. !.
. But I suppose II Is better as IL is"
Many Miles Of lceberqs. y