The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-02-06
PICKED UP BOX CAR
RgmaRKAaLE HAPPENING DE-
scRisEp BY RAilRoADER.
Blown by Wind Across Line, Engineer
Was Forced 70 Smash Through
it r. Solving 4 Number
Mystery.


what is the queerest thing that
ever knew Of happening to a box carr"
repeated the old railroad man who bad
come up in the service from the loco
motive cab. Il think that myself
gave one Of them the Queerest hap
pening that can come to the box car
IN its checkered career.
1T was on the Lehigh valley road
a number Of years ago. had a 100.
ton engine by the throttle and we
were making AS miles an hour in The
rain and wind, with about seven
heavy coaches behind. The wind
was blowing a gale into our teeth. fair
" powdering the rain as It fell in
sheets We were nearing the top Of
a long grade when suddenly a lone
box car on a country siding, driven
by the wind, trundled OF the side
track and bumped over the rails and
ties until It was diagonally across the
main line, dead ahead Of US.
Il put on the air, but it was too
late to accomplish much / hit that
26,000 pound car almost in the mid
die, tearing through the flooring with
a tremendous shock, and lifting It into
the air. When ! recovered from the
shock that car was astride the boiler
and jammed up against the top Of the
cab, riding there as snugly in balance
as cowboy in the saddle. And we
had to leave It there while at IL or
is miles an hour we crawled into the
next station, six or eight miles up the
line"
Cargo Right but Number Wrong.
This queer happening. which re.
suited in the wrecking Of the car and
sending 1t to the scrap heap, hardly
was as queer as the mistake which
painter in the repair shops Of a south
ern Illinois road caused to coal car
several years ago.
Il was In the fuel supply depart
ment of that road" said an official
OF Chicago system, and my bust.
ness was to keep a check record on
the coal which was delivered to us
at one Of the supply stations. One
day that record showed car mum
bered so and 50 had been shipped in
a train loaded with SO many tons Of
coal, and that car wasn't In the train
at all. But in checking up the train
we discovered car OF another mum
Der loaded with the amount Of coal
billed for the car that wasn't there.
Solving the Deep Mystery.
1--WE wrote letters about it, but the
company owning the cars couldn't ex-
plain. We worried about It for weeks.
One day one of the profane men fnl the
office announced that he was going to
run down the mystery. He had dis
covered that the missing car always
was Of a certain number and that the
unexpected car was Of certain other
number. The next time the train
with the missing and the unexpected
car pulled IN this man weht out to
inspect the car that hadn't been billed.
The thing had looked for weeks Ike
joke.
There was the unexpected car Of
the unexpected number, honestly load
ed. It was a car newly overhauled
and in good condition, showing its
white numbering clearly. These num-
bers. however, always had been read
from the one side Of the track. It oc-
Cured to the investigator that he
might look at the other side Of the
car and he crawled under It.
There the mystery was explained.
The careless painter had put one mum
Der on one side Of the car and another
number on the other side. The coal
company had taken the car number
from the one side Of the car while we
had read it always from the other
side"