The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-09-03


voter. His skin did not fit his face
II wrlnkled and resembled piece Of
rawhide that had been left out in the
| rain and sun.
Henry's father was a freighter on
| the Santa Fe trail when lndepend-
ence was the back door of civilization.
opening on a Wilderness Little Hen
ny used to ride on the high seat with
ms father, close up to the tail of a
Missouri mule, the seventh of series
OF eight which his father drove in
front OF the big wagon and the trail,
err. 1t was the wind of the west that
tanned the hide on Henry's face and
made him look old before his time
At night they used to range the wag-
ons in ring, in which the freighters
slept.
One night Henry was Weakened by
the yells of Indians and saw men fight
ing. Presently he was swung to the
back of cayuse behind painted
warrior, and as they rode away the
boy, looking back. saw the wagons
burning-and guessed the rest
Later the lad escaped and made his
way to Chicago, where he began his
career on the rail and where this story
really begins.
1t was extremely difficult, in the
early days, to find sober, reliable
young men to man the few locomo-
tives in America and to run the trains.
A large part of the population seemed
to be floating, drifting west, west al
ways west. So when this stout
shouldered, strong-faced youth asked
for work the round-house foreman
took him on gladly.
Henrys boyhood had been so full
of peril that he was absolutely indif,
ferent to danger and a stranger to
fear. He was not even afraid of work,
and at the end of eighteen months
he was marked up for u run. He had
passed from the wiping gang to the
deck of passenger engine, and was
now ready for the road.
Henry was proud of his rapid pro-
motion, especially this last lift that
would enable him to race along the
steel trail, though he recalled that it
had cost him his first little white lie.
One of the rules of the road said
that man must be 81 years old be-
fore he could handle locomotive.
Henry knew his book we'll, but ne
also knew that the railroad needed
his service and that he needed the
job; so when the clerk had taken his
personal record"-which was only a
mild way of asking where he would
have his body sent in case he met
the fate, so common at that time on
a new line in new country-he gave
his age as 20, hoping the master nc.
chanic would allow him year for
good behavior.
Years passed, as did the Indian and
the buffalo. The railway reached out
across the Great American Desert
The border became blurred and was
rubbed out. The desert was dotted
with homes. Towns began to grow IN
about the water-tanks and to bud and
blow on the threeless plain.
Henry Kaufman became known az
the coolest and most daring driver
on the road. He was good engineer
and good citizen He owned his
home, and while his pay was not what
an engineer draws to-day for the same
run made in half the time, it was suf
ficient unto the day, his requirements
and his wife's taste.
Only one thing troubled him. He
had bought big farm not far from
Chicago, for which he was paying
out of his savings. If he kept well
as he had geen all his life, three years
more on the limited would let him out
Then he could retire year ahead O;
time. and settle down in comfort on
the farm and watch the trains go by.
1t would be his salvation, this farm
by the roadside, for the very thought
of surrendering the La Sale to an.
other was wormwood and gall to
Henry. But there was the law in the
book of rules-the Bible of the c., NJ
& Wand no man might go beyond
the limit set for the retirement of
engine drivers. And Henry Haupt.
ban, the favorite of the "Old Man
would take his medicine.
Time winged on, and as often as
Christmas came it reminded the old
engineer that he was one year nearer
r. last trip, for his mother, now sleep
3 in the far west, had taught him to
believe that he had come to her on
Christmas eve.
One day when Henry was register.
ing in the roundhouse he saw a letter
in the rack for him, and carried il
home to read after supper.
When he read it he jumped out of
his chair. Why, Henry" said his
wife, putting down her knitting, what
ever's the matter, open switch O;
red light?"
Worse, Mary, it's the end of the
track"
The old engineer tossed the letter
over to his wife, sat down, stretched
his legs out. locked his fingers, anc
] began rolling his thumbs, one over
the other, staring at the stove.
When Mrs. Kaufman had finished
the letter she stamped her foot and
declared it an outrage She sug
gested that somebody wanted the La
Sale. We'll" she said, resigning her
self to her fate, 81 bet 1 have that
coach seat out of the cab; it'll make
nice tete-a-tete for the front room
Superannuated!" she went on, with
growing disgust. 81 bet you can put
any man on the division down three
times in five!"
It's me that's down, Mary-down
and out"