The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-16
POLITICAL GOSSIP.
Topeka Man Found Worse Road
Than Central Branch.
He Rode on the u. P. Cut-Off to
Onaga.
SEVEN MILES AN HOUR
Old Congressman Establish Pub.
licity Bureau.
Said That Nations Nomination
Would Unite Party.


made trip to Onaga. why it runs de
luxe trains at lightning speed COM
pared to the Union Pacific
This man talked like victim of mis-
placed confidence. TT was my first
trip from Topeka to Onaga by the
u. P. cutoff route and it will be my
last" he said. II shall walk hereafter
or hire a livery rig. 1t is 40 miles from
depot that the train leaving here at
noon would reach Onaga at 2 o'clock
and that 1 could leave Onaga at 8
o'clock in the evening and reach To-
peka at 10 that night. This just suit
ed me as I had business to transact in
the PottaWatomie town that would take
me six hours
Il gor away from Topeka at noon.
all right, but it was after o'clock
when We reached Onaga. We left
Onaga at o'clock as per train sche-
dule, but it was after in the morn
ing when we got to Topeka and we
had to walk from North Topeka over
to this side in a blizzard. Our train got
lost. The U. P. forgot that it ever
had such a train. The wheels came off
one of the coaches and the brakeman
put fence rail in their places, Just
as a farmer does with a broken down
wagon, at least the passengers got that
impression. The fuel in the coalbox
save out after awhile and we nearly
froze to. death. We stopped every 40
miles TO rest and once We rested for
two hours at one place.
THE passengers in the car, many of
whom had made the trip often before.
were cheerful They said that the train
was making average time. They said
1 ought to be on board when they
run behind time One of the passen-
gers carried a safety razor with him
and he shaved en- route, He said this
was his custom. He always shaved juSI
before he left home and then again en-
route in order to keep his whiskers in
bounds.
"There was another passenger who
was worrying over a most perplexing
problem. His wife had sent him to To-
peka on a shopping trip. He was to
get, among other things. pair of
passengers ana the high heavens to
witness his dilemma He did not know
what size to get. He was going to
catch the first train back to Onaga, he
said, but his boy would have grown
so much larger by the time he got back
wife would be too small. What size
should he get? Tens? Elevens? or
twelves? The passengers were sore
and they advised him to get twelves.
II see from the papers that Governor
Stubs has been raising a rough house
with the Missouri Pacific over the Cen
trail Branch and has secured con-
tract with the officials of that road t.
spend four millions in improvements.
He is quoted as urging the NJ. P. to
put it's road in the class with the I'm
ion Pacific, Santa Fe and Rock Island.
Now if the NJ. P. let's its Central Branch
run down to a level with the u. p
cutoff to Onaga the people along that
line will realize what fine service they
have now. The Central Branch local
freight trains run faster than the best
passenger trains on the U. P. cutoff.
Eight miles an hour is the sloweSt ser
vice on the Central Branch, while
seven miles an hour is the record for
speed on the U. P. to Onaga.
"They tell US that the Central
Branch roadbed and track are SO bad
that wrecks are frequent on that road.
We run off the track every few miles
wreck. Never knew we were off the
rails at all. We climbed back on after
awhile. If an Onaga man should ride
on the Central Branch he would
imagine he was riding on the famous
Twentieth Century Limited of the New
York Central via the famous four track
route from Buffalo to Albany.
THE governor can win great fame in
Pottawatomie county if he will go after
the u. P. and get that company to in
crease the speed of its Onaga passen-
ger trains to twelve miles an hour. and
for my part I will paste his picture in
the family Bible Then after winning
the first fight, if he will get through a
| regulation forbidding a stop of longer
| than half an hour at one place he will
have climbed from the philanthropist
class to that of a public benefactor.
| have spoken"
Then the man who made the round
| trip from Topeka to Onaga went to bed
t. rest and to make up for lot of SLEEP
| he had lost.