East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-06-23

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and 1t is likely that the list Of casual
ties would have been an awful one bu
? for the fact that another portion o.
the burst wheel struck some part Of
the air brake mechanism, setting the
brakes, and bringing the train to q
full stop. At another time, some.
where in Nebraska, an engine. is said
to have jumped the track and landed
in bed Of quicksand. 1t disappeared
from view entirely within three days
and was never recovered.
Both collars and neckties have been
known to save human lives. The col.
lar story Is railroad story and prop
erly comes in at this juncture. The
necktie story has nothing to do with
railroads, but presumably belongs
here because collars and neckties go
together.
The man who was saved by the
collar is Edward p. Connerty. He was
run down by a Lehigh Valley locomo-
tive and fell directly in front Of the
engine. In some way, not explained
by the news stories, a projecting bolt
on the cowcatcher caught in his col
! lar and dragged him 300 feet. This
is pretty good ad for the durability
| for the particular brand OF collar,
because If the linen had given way
his death would have been certain.
The man who owes his life to
necktie-a red necktie at that's a
Kentuckian. He Is tall and stately,
with flowing gray locks and a benev-
olent expression. What is more to the
point, he is the exact counterpart Of
the sole surviving member of a family
of feudists. 1t seems that one day he
was going down the street, all un-
conscious Of trouble, while a hired as
sassin lurking in the upper window Of
a saloon and lying in wait for his
prototype had him carefully covered
with a mountaineer's long rifle and
was only waiting to make his aim
more certain before pulling the trlg-
ger His finger had already begun
to press upon it, when one Of the con-
sprators whispered:
For Gods sake don't shoot: our
man never wears a red necktle."
or course the Kentuckian was later
told Of his miraculous escape and in
talking It over afterward he said
"The most peculiar part of 1t all is
that l had never worn a red necktie
in my life before. | seldom wear any
at all around the house, but this day
had arisen early to catch the morn
ing train for town and dressed in the |
dark. In my hurry and the gloom |
never noticed that / had on one of |
my sons neckties until after all the |
excitement was over. and so / feel |
that owe my life to an accident"
II is related that a Pennsylvania |
sheriff once fell down the gallows |
steps while hanging a murderer and |
broke two ribs, and a Cincinnati pa
per recently printed a story about an
automobilist who, while fixing his
electric auto. made a short circuit
with his gold ring and had finger
nearly burned off. In this connection
/; might perhaps he well to call at
tention to the fact that Harry Ham
lin, the son Of the. most famous
that America has ever
produced, was killed in an automobile
accident.
The wheel came off a grain wagon
On the streets of Chicago one day and
several hundred bushels were hurled
on top of the driver, who was COM
oletely buried. He was almost dead !,
when rescued. That is almost as bad
rs the story of the sprinkling car
1river who fell into his own water ,
wagon and was nearly drowned.
1t was a Philadelphia man who
hought that 1t was rabbits instead of
obsters which could be cooked alive. ,
Ie tried It. Bunny in his struggles
Upset the pail of boiling water and
,o was laid up with scald burns on
his hands and feet for weeks. This
tory is almost as hard to believe as ,
hat of the man who tried to have his
wife press his pants without taking d,
hem off. It is claimed that wifey laid =,
" the damp cloth and applied the
ron. Hubby was in the hospital for
ome time.
The other day a brick fell from
chimney on a quiet street in an east
rn city. The street was nearly a mile i
ong, and by actual observation there 7
vas only one person on its entire
ength-a lad Of about 10 years. And G
et that brick, falling straight as a I
lie, landed squarely on the top of his
ead and killed him. 1t was fate +
Down in the hard coal district of
from whence come
hrilling stories at regular intervals,
miner the other day fell down a .
haft. He shot through the air for I
bout 80 feet and would have been
ashed to a horrible death but for
he fact that his trousers caught on I
all and held. They were old pants,
30, and how they stood the strain is
mystery. And talking about miners.
remembers Bill Hicks. Bill =,
'as entombed under 60 tons of debris n
or Is days, and during that time he II
as kept alive by milk and soup and 8,
ther liquids which were lowered to n
i'm through a water pipe. s
It is the little things of life that Ia
ause us the most rouble. A man In Il
ttsburg recently fell asleep without 81
his false teeth. The plate n
tipped part way down his throat and Il
hoked him to death. Another man, o.
wing somewhere in York state, crawl A
d under the bed to get a collar but Il
IN. bumped his head in getting out O.