Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-07

miles an hour7 You insist that zephyr
whipped out the pins and uncoupled a
loaded coal car at both ends and then
waited the car away into the etherT'
But just the same. the conductor was
Obliged to report: zone coal car missing"
Then began a search for the missing car
by all the section foremen and their gangs
between Rawlins and the Great Divide. Two
days went by, and three, and four, and still
no tldings Of the lost car
on the fifth day Engneman Sullivan was
again pulling freight. over the Great Divide
He came to place where the tracks skim
med the edge OF a deep gully. on the brink
81 the chasm he spied some Jumps Of coal
and he stopped his train. Far down into
the gully he peered.
"Wen, I'm darnedv q
The conductor hurried forward and Joined
Sullivan in peerlng down into the gully
We'll, I'm dRrnedl But what sticks me- Is
how 1t uncoupled itself at both ends and
dropped out OF the ranks like tired sol
der. Say, sullivan this is sure enough the
great divide"
Tale of Two strRys.
Here's the story OF two cars that strayed
from the fold in the dead OF night. Con-
ductor Tom Wilkinson was furious because
his train had stopped Just beyond curve
midway between Kenesaw and Hastings,
Neb., his being Burlington freight train
and his knowledge of the schedule telling
him that the express was not thousand
miles behind him. So wilkinson left his
way car and hurried TO the engineer
wrathfuly inquirng. Whats upP'
Cars off the track" replied the engine
man.
"Boshl Move on"
Il tell you there are cars on the ties
As we came around that curve saw cars
ieanin' way over and sparks comm from
the wheels"
Conductor Wilkinson looked disguised.
All right Wilkinson" said the engine
man. IN move on-but they was leanin
tar over and they was emittin sparks
The freight moved, but not the whole
train. The train had broken in two. They
picked up" the rear part, then proceeded
TO Lincoln. There, at daylight, Conductor
Wilkinson came to the englneman. saying:
DID you say sparks? Well then there's
TWO cars must have burned up, wheels
trucks, and all; because we lost two cara
somewhere, somehow. And the old man Is
red-headed. Says you go to pull the wreck
ing train back and find those two cars"
That night the engineman pulled the
wrecking train into Lincoln on his return
from the hunt-and at once sought Conduc-
tor Wilkinson, saying:
Well we found Il ur two cars"
Burned to crisp?" asked Wilkinson.
NOT Then, what about those sparks?"
They fell down the embankment at that
curve between Kenesaw and Hastings.
J where we broke in two"
! Yes yes! But about those sparks? Whore
does the conflagration come IMP"
1 There amt none. The ties on that curve
= were all splintered. That shows the cars
! first off derailed themselves and the vio-
I lent contact of steel on hard wood"
: 'Whatll you have on me?'' INTERRUPTED
, Wilkinson.
The last story of all is of the "Jumpins
Car" car that could jump four feet into
e the air, like bullfrog or kangaroo The
4 tale OF this extraordinary car was related
{ TO me by Mr.. Cushman, of Grand Island
Neb'' formerly brakeman on the Alpha
bet road the Chicago St Paul, Min.
neapolis and Omaha railway.
Cushman's train, u freight, all stock cars
and all loaded, was doing its eighteen miles
an hour over the Alphabet road, bound to-
ward Omaha, when 1t broke in two. After
hitching the two parts together again. the
train moved on. At Omaha when thew
counted up car was missing. Lost
But where or how was a deep, dark mys.
terry.
Next day the Alphabet" company sent
Cushman back over the line to find the
missing car He got off at a station about
twenty miles out OF Omaha-near where
the train had broken in two the night be-
fore. AS he walked up the track ne met a
, farmer whose property bordered on the
: right-of-way.
Got four new hogs today" said the
farmer.
''You don't say what'd you pay fol-
emp"
"Nothingl Donated!
! "By whom?"
: Don't know Donor anonymous"
4 Lets see en-"
I'll Cushman looked at the gift hogs All
four had chunks OF flesh gouged out OF
!. their bulk, and were mors or -ess bleed.
: Ing. He tramped on thoughtfully to the
= next farmhouse where the farmer re-
: marked:
= Looks like folks don't want their own
! hogs no more. Some one made me a present
l, of six this morning"
Cushman now tarrled not nor paused IN
making a bee-lne back to the railroad
| track. On the way he passed no less thar
q dozen hogs, all straying around in an
q aimless, homeless, uncertain manner
Finally he came to place where tn,
railroad track ran through a cut At tn,
!, top of the embankment, at the edge OF
;, the cut, lay car In it were lot of hogs
) all dead. And the railroad tracks, where
they ran through the cut were fully foui
feet below the level on which the hog cal
a stood.
q Cushman hurried back to Omaha, anC
said to his conductor: Say, boss, I'm goinl
/ 10 quit railroading It's too full of tn,
miraculous for me, Think Of a hog car
cutting itself loose from a freight trail
and jumping-jumping say-four feet
a four whole feet up out OF a cut like
g toad trained in circus!
$ I've seen a loaded hog car that did thai
stunt. Seems believin! And hereafter
e air't pooh poohin miraclesg'-R Railroad
d Mans Magazine