The Meeker herald., 1919-07-05
aPoor,> Crazy
Hobo"
o0

By EDWIN BALxER

One crime remained for NO. j.
mixed freight, west bound. Short
handed md overloaded Give In the
crew and eighty-threc cars). she Ind
broken" twice. stopped for hot box
four times. and hnd been forced to
double over every hill from Crews to
Stockton.
Therefore, at Benton she had "laid
out" No. II, cast-bound passenger; at
Jefferson she had held up No. 50. the
fast freight of refrigerated perlshnbles
rushing to Chicago; at Evans she had
delayed passenger No. 10 for half an
hour; at Brunswick she had held back
passenger No. "a; and last. Mt Tavern
she had laid out, for almost an hour,
the crack Trnnscontinental Express No.
9, east bound.
In ten minutes No. 80 would COM
plete the calendar by laying out No. 10
also. the twin TranscOntlnentnl rush
Ing up from behind. The siding mt
Stockton (Which the freight had been
allowed fifty minutes to reach from
Tavern, ton miles back) was still eight
miles ahead, and forty OF the fifty min
utes were gone.
The crew, out thIrty-eIght hours.
were exhausted, exaspernted. humili-
ated. They had frelghted too long
to mind the mere thlrty-eight hourS'
exhaustion and evaporation, but this
time the humiliation was overdone.
Their superiors had Inundated theu
personally and pointedly Mt the larger
towns and by wire at the stops between.
Their equals on the other trains had
humbled them as they skunk Into the
sIdings; but what was entirely intol-
cradle. their interiors and worse. the
very hob0s stealing rides on the train,
had Knocked them and rubbed 1t In.
Thirty hobos had boarded the train
mt the hill beyond Tavern. overbOrne
the weak crew, broken into car OF
foodstuffs. and, after eating what they
wanted, had scattered the rest along
the right of why till 1t had ceased to
amusc them.
The crew had found II best to sulk
very silently In the caboose at the end
Of the train till the volley Of stones
smashing through the windows told that
the tramps had departed. Then, as
one man, the crew of No. 81 sprang for
ward for revenge.
The object was still asleep IN the
"empty" at the middle of the train.
The crew had come upop him some
hours before; but that was before they
had learned the personal advantages
of enforcing the rule to elect trnmps.
and before they lind laid out the Inst
two messenger trains md the Trans
continental. and received the teie-
graphic comments thereon.
Hnrrlpg kicked the object to con-
sciousness while Kalyert and Bender.
one on each side, picked him IN. One
Of the others opened wider the bip door
of the box car.
some" IIarring remarked with nm.
other kick. ms Knlyert md Render
swung the hobo between them.
.Two." Uarrinr Kicked npaIn. M.
~. in a last spurt to reach the siding
before No. 10 could overtoke II mt IN
speed and ,umped ahead but tho mon
in tho chr did NOT hood II
..Tbreew The boho nj tho touch NJ
uarrInp,s foot swung free from the
hands on either side md DIV. ont
through the door in low noroholn A
how'll and for n, ins,on, a ur,,, ,,r
appeared In the f,yinr hedge beside the
track.
"He's hit the road" muttered Hnr.
ring. "Wbat do Won want tr burt a
mnn for?" He blamed II upon The
others. "Why couldn't you let HIN go
Into the bush?"
Knlvert spat upon the floor, but
turned his face away from the lantern.
''We're hitting 1t up" he observed
cnrelessly. 1.-The damned hobo"
Bender grunted grufliy.
The hobo drew himself up on his
hands. He felt stunned and deadened
all over, and was conscious more of a
battered dullness than of pain. He had
n numbed Understanding that ho ,,ust