Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1913 — “BOWIE SPECIAL” MOST NOT BE ABANDONED [ARTICLE]

“BOWIE SPECIAL” MOST NOT BE ABANDONED

Commission Decides That C. & E. I. Must Continue Trains With - Proper Schedule.

The “Bowie” special on the C. & E. I. is to remain. The trains were put on several months ago after the Wheatfleld Improvement Association headed by Editor John Bowie, had procured signatures to a petition asking for some sort of passenger service on the railroad between LaCrosse and Goodland. The state railway commission investigated the matters set out in the petition, ordered the trains put on and the people along the route called the train, which makes two round trips a day, ‘The Bowie Special.”

Recently the railroad officials tried to have the commission authorize them to take the trains off, on the grounds that they were not paying, but that the road was losing money right along on their passenger business. The commission set Tuesday as the time for a hearing and invited Mr. Bowie to present the side of the people. Aft ex, he had made his statement, the commission ruled that the trains not only must be maintained but that an accommodating schedule must be adopted that will permit passengers to make connections with the Monon railroad at Fair Oaks and with other roads crossed. This has never been done before, the claim being made all along the route that the officials of the road have done everything in their power to discourage travel, so that they would have an excuse for abandoning the trains. The victory Mr. Bowie has secured for the people will be a splendid bit of news for them.