Gilpin observer., 1909-07-08
CHAPTER TX.
Sweeping Orders.

sweeping Oroers.
The burning of Smoky Creek bridge
was hardly off the minds of the noun
tain men when a disaster of a differ
ent sort befell the division. In the
Rat valley east of Sleepy Cat the main
line springs between two ranges of
hills with dip and long supported
grade in each direction. At the point
of the dip there is a switch from
which a spur runs to a granite quarry
The track for two miles is straight
and the switch-target and lights are
seen easily from either direction save
at one particular moment of the day
"a moment which is in the valley
neither quite day nor quite night.
Down this grade, few weeks after
the Smoky Creek fire, came a double
headed stock train from the Short
Line with 40 cars of steers. The
switch stood open; this much was
afterward abundantly proved. The
train came down the grade very fast
to gain speed for the hill ahead of it.
The head engineman, too late, saw the
open target. He applied the emergency
air, threw his engine over, and whis-
OF dozen engines would have been
powerless to check the heavy train.
On the quarry track stood three fiat
cars loaded with granite blocks for the
abutment of the new Smoky Creek
bridge. On a sanded track, rolling at
80 miles an hour and screaming in the
clutches of the burning brakes, the
heavy engines struck the switch like
an avalanche, reared upon the granite
laden flats. and with 40 loads of cattle
plunged into the canyon below; not n
car remained on the rails. The head
brakeman. riding in the second cab,
was instantly killed, and the engine
crews, who jumped. were badly hurt.
The whole operating department of
the road was stirred. What made the
affair more dreadful was that it had
occurred on the time of Number Six,
the east-bound passenger train. held
that morning at Sleepy Cat by an en-
gine failure. Glover came to look into
the matter. The testimony of all
tended to one conclusion-that the
quarry switch had been thrown at
some time between 4 30 and o'clock
that morning. differences were many:
Tramps during the early summer had
been unusually troublesome and many
OF them had been vigorously handled
by trainmen; robbery might have been
a motive, as the express cars on train
Number Six carried heavy specie ship.
ments from the coast.
A third and more exciting event soon
put the quarry wreck into the back
ground. Ten days afterward an east
bound passenger train was tagged in
the night at Sugar Buttes, IL miles
west of Sleepy Cat When the heavy
train slowed up, two men boarded the
engine and with pistols compelled the
engineman to cut Off the express cars
and pull them to the water-tank a
mile east of the station. Three men
there in waiting forced the express
car. blew open the safe. and the gang
rode away half an hour later loaded
with gold coin and currency.
Had stick Of dynamite been ex-
ploded under the Wickiup there could
not have been more excitement at
Medicine Bend. Within three hours
after the news reached the town a
posse under Sheriff Van Horn. with a
car load OF horsefesh and IA guns,
was started for Sugar Buttes. The
trail led north and the pursuers rode
until nearly nightfall. They crossed
Dutch fiat and rode single file into
wooded canyon, where they came
upon traces of campfire. Van Horn,
leading. jumped from his horse and
thrust his hand into the ashes; they
were still warm. and he shouted to his
men to ride up. AS he called out,
rifecracked from the box-elder trees
ahead of him. The sheriff fell, shot
through the head. and a deputy spring.
ing from his saddle to pick him up was
shot in precisely the same way; the
posse. thrown into panic. did not
fire single shot, and for an hour
dared not ride back for the bodies.
After dark they got the two dead men
and at midnight rode with them into
Sleepy Cat
When the news reached McCloud he
was talking with Bucks over the wires.
Bucks had got into headquarters at