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RECKLESS RUBE'S UNDOINGh hAW BBAKEMAN WITH BILL : FEVER COMMITS fiARI-KARI.rathoIleT.lo of rjT»llt«de of Adelina • -fa ill I» o Train Crow-A 0„lt;n A,,*,.. ’• Jaia a If bo {Jolt nal(to,dlos ,.d Knibirked in Frolt-Orowlag.' Ivoted for Governor Cummins at a ■vuntun.1,- iald.' Conductor W. S. Ser-vosa of iliu Groat .Western one (lav lost wee-it, ..‘and now that he has1 declared jinn self on those railroad ehoat stories •that appear Jh 'fiic tender v.-cekly, 1 frankly declare.Hiyself and:give jt ouj I havo no regrnts ihat I nicked him for a winner. Speaking In strict cou-Fden.ce and not for publication, wider -3l.md. hut admorllahiiis as : friend'deeply solicitous for the welfare or an ejTinir shtutry allow me to suggest that I believe the governor's remarks were Justified by the facte. I don’t ho!leva it Is right to handle*the truth so gingerly as is the custom iri narrating .those romances of the- rail In Tin? Sun-day-Uadsr.. 1 read them, it is trite, but for the same, reason that a man with a desire to bo' temperate drinks whisky; Ihe spirit Is strong hilt the flesh IS weak, - liasl Kclid ay a plausl-hie talc? was cooked up fn : which a brake man is sliamcic-triy aceuia of ■“llacttiig a dollar from a box-car tourist. Now. any-railroad mad wlio can distinguish between a Box car and a. section' house will toll you ho never knew a passenger of this kind to lie burdened with more than leu cents At asiy one time, and-if hfs own store was to bo orv cl tod. ho ui ways .wanted It to buy postage stariips for aletter to bis sick wife or bis aged mother. Strict regard for the dfvine goddess of truth is oca-of tho esse ntial a (li restating jncl-aeuta of-the mil. •n*y eipsvliin'ce has been that tbo_stamyiy1 division of fhd '£’ is.widely Known'for the nunfli«r. »i«l genius', of Its. sifted' prevarlciiur5; i£ iirs' jiro-■fldfoil more.men of this character than ptiy otUcij section of railroad of equal length between Cape Cod anil the Golden Gate. Back in thb SOs,-after the great strike'oh the Burlington, several engineers from tlie middle Iowa iivi-r.on drifted across the-ptatiis and scaleiiht nuriimHs of the Hookies and Sierras In uuest of employwent--on. the mountain division of the Central Pai eule. Among' there tvere. 'Bill' Dor laud, Too I’ileon, Thc.'ilo -j and-‘4J’i Brown. And every mother’s eon of the gangheld n charter membership jn the Unl-vt,r“l Ida'™’ dub, the chief lodge of Whlrb. 1-believe, is at Creston. ’Smoky' Hall wa Spresl den t n nd John S ufhcrJ land vlsu president ami secretary,- I ijc. Ucve, at the time, of which I apeak. Borland;and ■ Jlurt Siftiln’v been on .the Central Pacific more’n a week before they fried.(o organize a lodge of lisra. but the trainmen on-the. division were all mTimbers of (he church and declined to have anything to do with tte sang from lows, ll »a« the first time the trainmen 011 the mountain division had .ever come in contact r.llh gin and the rude outside wtirhl, It’s a foot tliey j.ei'0 *0 pious that they, insisted upon the company posting placards ivilh the ten comnvtndmeuis printed upon them In conspicuous places In Hie cabooses. The eighth 'commandment, which, its I rixvill It, says somelbl'ng shout thou Shalt not knock down fares,.or some-Jlilng about (dealing, anyhow, was 'printed in' bold-face typo,'like the figures indlrallng.'ptfciing points’ on the time card.. Time, you will observe, niy early education was not neglected, ntiii the trend of my youth being ever In the direction of slicking to .facts. I have. In later years,- never' liecn tempted to depart front.the truth nr to fleal anything ton heavy to carry away.Hence Use narrative that, folio us can ho cosily vouched for by any old time railroader fin the const, in the days of long ago oh the division between Sacramento and Truclee'lhc ranks of the brake men were recruited from the you lbs at email stations along the road. The young Iri lows who wanted Jobs braking were always nbout the yards at the stations to assist train crews to. do the switching and to help woo,.)-up (He engines, the time of which 1 speak being before the Introduction of coal burning engines on Lhe Pacific coast roads, it was necessary for them lo do this as they could secure posit inns only Ih rough recommendation by the cor doctors. Therefore, they always did their best to win their good will. Al it am all Iowa named Dutch 1 ' wal4 a ** panted Itubjbxlnuer, who w.m looked upon With fikvor by .Gnnditrior Jerry tlreedoit, and 111 rough id in u-as given, a pcsitle.p.a-v brake man with tbo creiv or which I ?*3 .a- distinguished member. I was winding sip’ ihe tompnnys business on the rear end of the train. Hubs was rent out with no as a middle or awing brake mail. - He had been on about a month and had acquired for himself a pair of spying-bottom jeans jwut5, a Mg. twitch chain and a so ft hat. turned up fore nnd alt, this being considered as branding him as an. eld1 lino sraffcr, we were 5cs.t fluton ,v 1 rip westward rrom Uocklln. With, in Ihe brief time'mentioned Itube flat-tered himself that he had acquired a | fund of information that entitled him to a di|'Viiivt and a front scat In the rar.iueiie. lie was la the first eleges of (he ’Ml fever.* tt e started out of r.oeklir. about Sp, in. on Xo. 23 with eighteen r-ars of dead freight, pulled by ib.o mogutlocomolives. The grade from Rocklin to Summit, the lit tier situated nn the backbone of . tlic mountains, ranged from 2 tp :i psr cent, and It was n Str-’dy drug all the way. I bad been toying with a game of ball, and Jerry, who was frankv in his Admlrtt-Ijfin of Ho creed of Francis Murphy, iho great tt nipt ran ee advocate hid ovcrwro iaii:. hiinselrttying to pm a ?a_ loonkerpcr cut ol hiifincsp with (be os ha I remit 1. i.i'avii.s liiKklln, .Terry Wf.s nil ivninc by thai Ml red feeling.’ai .1 r.c knight rcqosc in the solace ofa few winks, I had jiiorc tonnageth«n I could conveniently handle when it cairn? (o remaining au-ake, mi a ns there were no cariJed trilnH to inect i directed Rube; to keep bU 'Umps’ pulled for danger slguats, and elevating my feet against (he side of the cupola, 1 lilted back lit my chair nr.d u-HS soon In lo clear.. .One of lhe.cars vo had was a short load for a loivn Jill mud . Auburn. I hi formed Tlube about this far anil lotd him to awaken me upon our arrival at Auburn. Instead of doing as directed, he thought lie .would be - conductor Unrt lilt whole thins, He.took ihe way bill and going over ahead, cut - the car.off ami giving Hi- engineer a signal slarud down ihotrack-.expecting to set It out on the local house trick.. The; company; had recently equipped its freight curs wilh auto malic air, and figuring the train would slntid-on the'slight grade until lie could kick the car In on (he siding, cltmbe on the side ladder and, giving the engineer it signal, they started oif Itowaril I lie west'switch: But In tbo so days ihe engineer!) were always afraid' o( bui;nli!3 up their.pumps, and suing111 {■fulfill I Kilir L-Iifilnm akiixIai) a I _v.-r -uyroia uii .innni»5r aim smnjup ^radii they iselilom carried An -Mr pressure of moire- than forty pnu'nds lilnsincer'lyellty told me. hi strict confidence, lifterwnril, that-while be might be nilstAkcit he dill not believe he had any air pi assure-at all.At any rate Jlubb set the car out, and when ! woke op wo wore racing through Bloomfield si» Jai?t that the at-rnospheric -friction flaked the paint olf the {-Ides of ihe froight.care. For an lnsciinl I could not tell whether it was all a dream or the 'real tiling.’ I had nu doubts when wo'struck a reverse curve with-aviuTencc'thiil nearly'threw mo out of the chair,• Git out of here,’ I yelled to Jerry,-Jumping off the Cupola platform to the floor iind.-Uiunipiiig ilic ■coridcctor a' whack on.the ride of the bead. Wake up, or wo'rc gone sosline/Jerry scrambled to Ilia feet, but the swaying'of the car was sucls that ho could scarcely ntand. He gave Jils .’lamps'. tw*o brushes nnd a promltM of a third;- Then he bolter! for lhe front door and star led for Ihe top of the train. J- hud ScaiK-d lo the platform In Iho cupola and attempted So crawl nut one of,(lie side windows, hut the wind was blowing so-hard I ciudd not get either window open. Juol then 1 hrard wb« Iho icportcra call a dull,sickt-n-Ing thud, and peering forward toward the dear I saw Jerry lying on the fiir-w-ntd platform, The forte of the wind frn,T' the.deck and tossed hire br-.cfc bc-tivcer, the caboose and the rear cnr. Fhrtunataly he fall on tjle pi at fa rm , and escaped Deln? ground lo ir.irce meat under the wheels. 31 was Impossible to . get „n top, „raeh less to stay there, because by ibis time ibe 6C«d of the train had eclips,id seventy imlts an hour, with Indications tlml .r? L? (1 not bl-'CI1 reached. About mss trine, past training onee.-ted fteeM, and gravely apprehensive that I had only a rtv Ml?miles to tarry ip ibisi . m}\lt;typ Ci1 1 ‘ lh * P'»«ft ponied In tbo cupola.with the ten coin-niajilmcntfi printed thereon by • lhe raaiwscmenc for just such emergencies. 1 read them over. Bat. Jerry, whose nerves had teen toned up that day hr copious liquid lnepiration, set his hcml to work lo begin to do business. The' eatwose wpB equipped with an air gauge ^,wr.d'i:torisvmve; Jerry tore me piping loore from the R.tiige flndIH ^.‘L4103,* ,ft ,he 'a Ihit-“or ^l!»« Jrir rush tn from the out-u TJ10. ®P«d of the train woe -- i tie atmbjphcric pressure soon charged Ihb train line. The pree. sure through 11,e key holo.nas 4mc-IIl 11 bas al1 wc coulato ao.d the pipe against (he key hole, but Jerry i\r.f\ I fcnevr our lives anti Llic SS!fr‘’C*5* (ra,rl ,feF3nlt;1cfl upon this novhl and desperate nielhnd of chars-»cg the train lino, and we hung on like pups to a root. The Valve u,,„ y0onInJ/5di«Vri 5 a ,ic*vy pr“!re' and jprrj directed me to open the valve I obeyed, and in a minute or two therevaa a, perceptible dlntlnullo,! bt th« ■peed. .Terry gave the tral,-. ur.e on other application nnd I let it outnu«1? v \alve; A‘ ,ha fourth application the tram ram.- (0 a halt lalt;fl=l of Hdckiln. Aaciiiu Pr*lt», I hr re7?owrt?ii tlr.Rur ,nc 1,1 :,t IgUbil A F.ixeial train, ««-| only for lie-.. yaimod ny n hot hox ,h(? twV| lr?)r; wouJd have met half way between Au.burn and Jtoeklln. -1 had riiert (line n,c,ft 0,1,1 npi' ,lhb WfiiO, hut51.1 'J* lile,flind “ni1 Pinching the 11 irthP e“8fo««f hrongin . the njiMlal 10 a stop n-11 hout hitting «s.. ri..irrry , d .!l1? hand• working ' all ^ '.V ??e{ ,flc emergency- by j|5.(ouncetlnp four or five brake chalus 011 our irain while j ws.« harkllsnLug. When wo were suninioned into (ho ofllce.v. •hah* (rtlvlulon BUpfrlntcUib.aftenvard to explain ra0,1’, Jl‘rry P“l UP * front, . .W , J i,1 h.»r rPw l]'C ta le. o r. ] 10 w bo ami 1 had been 011 lop all .the way ,0lip Bradri lr‘lng- id biing me train under control, but. that he-Ciiuso Ol me broken brake’ chains we l:;d ■bwn rendered lilmosL liflplesu. whmi Patti heard the story of oiiMHip heroism as related to her lhe next d;w by the superintendent, teora filed ne senile eyes, and she presented'Jerry and I v.-lih a gold watch and riialrt'sji'd .a. suit o( clothes each'. Tor tlis heroic act. What -became- of-Bubo? Oh,'-tlie •old man’ said he emu no.good ond lt;1Lb-eliargeil him. Atlenvftrd he w ent favm-ing. The last time f caw him ha wan sitting in an orsngo orchard near ic-ninienlo, engageil in cutting on orahgo In two. BTien'i asked him what, he was doing, ho replied, wllb the innocent naive tie of an Infant, that he had read tn the papers thnt seedless oral.gen were worth S3 a box more la Ihe east •Ilian llit? .olher kind, nnd ' that-1 lie (Is ought he could seed I wo boxtn a day and make better wages ihnn pnundlng mound over, the railroad at }iBO. I inld him; in strrclest eonflrtenee.. tbatvery few people w-eva. onto hln racket, 11111I Ihol jf he could dn as wrll siedlng orungss as at railroading lie r-asseraed abilities Gist -would make l.Jni a dun.-Scriiqs coroiietitor with the fruit irust oi'. thccoasl;iVWliai hecnnie-oC me?-. Oh. Iy uirlct' at lent inn to biisl ness as « pus-cnger conductor I was 011 the point of throwing. Iho: company' Into the hands of « receiver, when the general manager demurred, and I amputated niyeelf from the system.:..The road survived, the incident- of (iiy iejlsnnllor,-but It hiss never -Infill ytruiig Ilka It nils before.- ' ivtit Publfili In n.jS FoTm. iincoilrased by frequent' -sugges Hons of’ friends, many, uf wliom nr. I'erBonnliy unknowa to me, in die pus Iv. olvc months,'r have decided to coin pile Uie'best of the aeries of rallroar storiea'pubilshcd In' The Ruuday 3-eftd-ar for nearly .three years,, and. Issu, them In book form. These scarles JmVi b .« written'solely, (ar the cvngcjiU diversion their writing afforded'inysEl! uhil'the pleasure and npnarent enter-talumeal they seem to hnye given lln readers of The Bender. Nora man than I realize, the crudilLcs tlir.l marl innny. of'them, hut when It |n consider ed the 5rent majority of more Uinii li) o( these narrallviis .of life-trod Incl dont on the ■ rail v-erc nit011 writ: ten within , an - hour of th( ■lime they were placed In lypr and within-six houra of Ihe.r publication, I-imagine criticism will b( softened and the foultbsess . af ' construction overlooked in part. Ko' ef foxt3 bavo been made Lo Idealize or to draw the linlo of ronianee nhoul llieni. They huvc becu an unadorned portray, al of lire at It exists among the vnsi army of brave and Ini: men who risk their all cveiy- hour In the day and every doy In the year on the slcdl paths of commerce nvcr.which nuigo thd traffic of an empire. Writing from the standpoint of extended personal ex. porience on (Sq'old middle division oi the Burlington, between Olliimwa'anil Cresto::, for years, I am -nsblcrf to Speak by the card, and hence. I. write with an assurance born of confidence. The book I purpose publishing .will contain 225 .to KO pages, primed on paper of good 'quality and set In clear faced type. The manuscript is being prepared, and by duly 1 I hnpe li will be ready for delivery. The book will he hand samel y illustrated with appropriate pictures typifying pliatc3 of life In lhe train service.- K will b» sold for 50 ceiils per copy, and tills'announcement Is mede with-the view of .determining ,1n a measure the numbar oi copies that will be required to meet the demand. Subscript ions should be forwarded to Al Moore, care Leader, lied Moines,Kabiai T-ovcs Ih* Clrcon,WrrkJy: feme predjudlced pir-rono Will douniras Indulge In unkind and unfeeling remark* ovtr the fael. disclosed by federal revewjc jl al is tic?, that Kansas pays a larger amount of circus license fcea every yrar than any other stale In the union. The circus' tax from Kansas foil year amauntrrl to (!,?». or more than or.c-looth of the amount dtriced from this rourca In the o h ole country, bow York paid only «70 in drew tees, and In some slates Ihe sum was as low as fio. 60m 0 vrili coldly Rgisro .out tba crcrmoua lt;v.iste Involved lo t'nU showing .rom ivAtisa; and wiil demonstrate how the money might bellrr Mv« fc?e'o eg-l-ended.for cook stoves, pijxxets. blcydcs end olner ueces:Sties ot life like three.n°t inrlinei 10 view the mat-15LJI1 * J1 v IlSb*. Kvery'one knows, or ^C‘rtw' ‘I131 urit circus,-a eilst Wk.irtfi moral_slt;l5(lattlon ot cleryy-iwly can-mcn and nhCdrcn. nrd Kansgot l.-c blamed for I'e.-.ialr.i: a generous S'.nonage two eucli a herrficlenI 1r.»il-loUon. r.Mjir.* m-cr this. «-* have Ihefact staring us in the foes also that Kansas is not supposed lt;0 have «nr saloons sU-.ce Carrie Nation tins shed ’em. and people miiil, get a 1|UU tun out of Il.e somehow, Now (f we had lo live la the esrec slato with Mrs. Kail on *6 won.d try at Ka-t to tnvak tnto coo overy day in the year, Ipcludiny the tv on lag performances.Kgtnrlloa |* (y«rna Coaly.tV.'lsh Broa.. one of the new nr.d JtfPtivlne rtat cslato firms ol I Ms e located at suite 414-td Good block . rersonsl.y roitduct a Undscekerx’ me s:on next Tuesday rrori thii city JVayne ionnty, where they c.r.irol fcr.rlvo farm lands which will ha m kcl«.t at from i» to pa per acre. A ; of Si for the round'trio has been sera I •• Onrydon. ihe county seat or Wa-nrv. Fam will be re loaded »o a'i p chasers. •
Newspaper Details
Des Moines Leader
Des Moines, Iowa, US
Sun, May 04, 1902
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 03 Jul 2024
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