The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1920-09-04
SPEED JACKRABBIT'S
MIDDLE NAME, SAYS
A COMMUNICATION

A Kansan, indignant over . recent
story In the New York Tribune which
insinuated that a Kansas jackrabbit
could run only 40 miles an hour. clip
ped paragraph Of the story and
fired It back to the Tribune along with
certain remarks Of his own. The para
graph of the Tribune story follows:
"Out in Kansas a crazy jackrabbit
started up beside a passenger train
making 40 miles an hour. The pas
sengers crowded the platforms and
the windows and whooped 1t up for
the jack. The jack went completely
insane and raced the train for miles,
never losing an inch or q jump. As
the train and the jack flashed past
the last milepost neck and neck the
jack curled up in the air in the middle
of jump and lightly squatted on his
launches and rubbed one Of his fore
feet over his nose. The jackrabbit Is
speedy. all right, but he's plumb
crazy!"
This Is what the Kansan arose to
say about the story:
"Shucks! That guy never did see
that rabbit really run. He was Just
taking his morning or evening-wh1ch-
ever time of day the incident hap
pened-constitution He was just
out for a leisurely stroll, so to speak.
A Kansas jackrabbit never really be-
gins to run until he lays back his ears
and stretches himself out to about
four times his usual length. Then
how he does go, looking like a grey
streak!
Time Out For Luncheon
THAT rabbit was just sorta Looping
along to keep ahead of a train going
40 miles an hour. He could have stop
ped at a neighboring alfalfa field,
eaten a leisurely breakfast or dinner,
and even lolled around a, bit while he
picked his teeth, and still caught up
with and beaten that train.
kansas folk are not inclined to
dispute the chap who wrote the piece
about the jackrabbit being plumb
crazy, but they do object to comparing
the speed of Mr.. Rabbit with any old
passenger train going 40 miles an hour.
That's poky-for jackrabbit.
Last year when Senator Capper
was out campaigning over the state
his big 12-cylinder car was hitting 1t
up across the prairie at SO miles an
hour when a jack jumped up ahead
of the car and took off down the road.
join, the senator's driver. stepped on
'er', but he never got within hailing
distance of the rabbit, because when
the car got to going above 70 miles an
hour the senator leaned over and re-
marked:
ct. wouldn't go any faster. John
We're making too much dust for the
other cars following us and we might
hit calf or something
The Rabbit Skids
There are a lot Of fellows with
high-speed motor cars who have under
taken the little job of running down
iackrabbit. They have been success
full only when they got to crowding the
rabbit too close and he dodged back
and got caught under the wheels: Or-
dinarily the rabbit can make the dodge
back and be a mile away and just lop-
ing along by the time the car Is turned
around. The rabbit is quite dodger
when it comes to getting away he
seems to skid his wheels ana tnen put
on sort Of sideslip. Motor car oriV-
ers have often actually run down coy
otes and sometimes they are aple 10
run down an antelope. but they seldom
run down a jackrabbit. Motorcycle
r;ders often try the same sport. 1t is
quite exhilarating, but seldom pro-
duccs results.
"Anyone travelling on the Kansas
railroads will notice that there always
is a nice smooth path right along the
edge of the ties on the track. Any
railroad man will tell you that the
reason for that nice little smooth
track is a speedway for the 1ackrao'
bits. Many engineers regularly race
with the rabbits every morning or eve
ming. The rabbits come up on the
track and sit in the middle until the
train is about 20 feet away. Then the
rabbit gives one jump and lands, go
ing fast, right in the path and the
train and rabbit are off at an even
start for a race. The rabbit may run
out of wind and quit to take rest,
but he never let's that train, get up
even with him. Anyone with real
sporting blood should ride the cow
catchers of the fast trains early In
the morning or evening and see those
races Only the engineer and fireman
and an occasional bum ever get to
see the real sport.
The Cariess Farmland.
"a harvest hand was walking along
the track one morning and stepped out
to the side of the track to let train