Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1910 — PIGEON FLIES WITH TRAIN [ARTICLE]

PIGEON FLIES WITH TRAIN

Bird Has Been Making Regular Trips With Crews of Iren Mountain Road. The pigeon that for the last month or more has been running with the Iron Mountain crews between Malvern and Arkadelphia has extended its runs and now makes the trip from Walco to Gurdon, a distance of thirtyfour miles. A brakeman ! who made the trip over the division this week reported at the Union Station that the pigeon made the down trip with his train, joining the crew at Walco and leaving them at Gurdon, which was the furthest point south it had been known to go ■previously. For the last four or five weeks this pigeon has been flying along with the Iron Mountain trains. Some of the trainmen are said to regard it as -a hoodoo and fear that fts presence portends some disaster to them, but as yet no accident has happened to a crew while the bird was along. Others look upon the pigeon as a pet and are always glad to have it join them on a trip. The trainmen say that the bird almost always flies just ahead of the engine about on a level with the headlight. On thq last trip Engineer Golleher, who was in the cab, tried to overtake it, but it was no use—the pigeon always stayed just ahead. On this trip when the train stopped at Arkadelphia for water, the bird flew out to one side and rested in a tree until the fireman rang his bell for the start, when it resumed its place just In front of the headlight, flying at a suitable speed to remain about the same distance ahead, whether the train was going slow or fast.—Arkansas Gazette.