Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-01-22
PECULIAR DELAY
In FUNERAL TRAIN
Knights TempIar Special to Port Byron
Held 40 Minutes Through
Strange Neglect.

The special train on the Milwaukee .
road chartered by Rock Island COM
mandery, No. is, Knights Templar, to
convey the commandery and others
who might wish to avail themselves
of the opportunity to Port Byron yes
terday to attend the funeral of the
late John Schafer, was delayed in
starting by a peculiar misunderstood :
ing of orders, somewhere. Or more
( likely through a failure to make the ,
orders for the special as thorough as
they should have been
The train was to have left the Mil
waukee station at the foot of Seven
teen street, promptly at 1916, and the
Sir Knights in goodly number. to-
Sether with several Others citizens,
were ready to make the trip. The
train, however, was not on hand. and
after some time had passed, Eminent
Commander S. ]. Ferguson of the COM
mandery, stepped to the telephone and
made inquiry of the company's division
office in Davenport, as to the where
abouts of the train. With some ex-
preston of surprise from the Daven-
port end, the assurance was given that
the train had been made up in Daven-
port and had left that city 10 minutes
. before the time scheduled to depart
/ from Rock Island. Nearly half hour
I having then elapsed since the time an
nounced for the departure, there was
naturally some speculation as to what
had become of the train. Remem-
brances came back of the story of the
] train out west that disappeared from
the face of the earth somewhere be-
tween Butte and the Pacific ocean and
has not to this day been heard of, but
it seemed difficult of conjecture as to
how a train could vanish anywhere
between Davenport and Rock Island.
But Mr.. Ferguson was bound to in
vestigate. Accompanied by a number
of Sir Knights he went out on the
+, point commanding the best view of the
river, and after scanning the sweep
between the two cities, he finally dis
covered the train of two coaches and
one of those little old fashioned en-
gines so small in the distance that the
OuIul COuiu SCdICtlN Dt uGiSClSu ny
the naked eye. standing composedly
on one of-the center spans of the Ores
cent bridge. In front of the locomO-
tive were what appeared in miniature
number of human beings working
on the bridge for a space extending
across the span toward the Rock Is
md shore. Time was flying, and as
era WAS no means cf communicative q
" tn the train, the question arose as to
whether 1t would move on to Rock
Island in time to carry the Rock Is
landers to their destination for the full
fillment of their sad errand.
Finally. however, Yardmaster Pen
der of the D.. r. l. & n W. realizing
the situation, made a hurried trip to
the scene. He found that the track
gang unmindful Of the arrangements
for the special had taken advantage
of the opportunity between regular
trains to tear up Il number of sections
of the track on the bridge with a view
to replacing it with new rails. And
this was the condition when the train
came along. Matters were hurried as
rapidly as possible when the predca
ment was discovered, but the force
was small, and 40 minutes beyond The
regular time for starting had passed
when the train rolled into the station
and made its start.
Meanwhile Commander Ferguson
had telephoned to Port Byron that thu
train had been delayed and asking i
the funeral services could be delayed
until the train arrived. Much of TIT
lost time was made up in the trip 49,
special reaching Port Byron at 2:2C
and it required about 10 minutes il
the journey to the Schafer home. S
that altogether the delay was notSove
so minutes.
The Sir Knights in their handsom
regalia made profound impression
as they marched through the street
of the town. and the old friends of tn
popular citizen and banker felt tina
no finer tribute could have been pal
to their long time fellow townsmaI
than the coming of the order he love
on a special train to pay him homage