Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1900 — NO "DEAD MAN" IN HER YARD. [ARTICLE]

NO "DEAD MAN" IN HER YARD.

Boston Woman Didn’t Understand the Slant; of Kailway Builders. "In order to support the guy-rope for a derrick,” said Arthur Wilder, of Boston,, "when no convenient tree or other thing to which it can be attached exists, it is the habit among railroad men to bury a sleeper In the ground, to which the rope is attached. The sleeper Is buried at any depth sufficient to withstand the necessary strain, and has been called from time immemorial in railroad slang in New England, and 1 fancy elsewhere as well, n ‘dead man.' "At one time on one of the little northern roads, since consolidated with others to make up a system, for some reason or other a ‘dead man' had to be buried. The most convenient place was In the garden of a well-to-do middleaged woman, whose house was near the railroad track. The boss of the gang of workmen knew her well—in fact, had been a playmate of hers In childhood—nud so he went and knocked on the good woman's kitchen door nnd bespoke the required runsent. “ ‘To bury what, John?’ she questioned, as the color forse»k her ruddy face. “ ‘To bury a dead man, Martha,’ returned he, oblivious to the terror in her face. ‘We only want to bury It for an hour or two, and it won’t hurt your garden a bit.’ “ ‘Oh, John! John!’ she screamed, ‘to think with your bringing up you should want to do such n thing, and,’ with a rising and indignant ‘in my garden, tod!’ The truth dawned on the foreman, and lie hastened to explain, but it took n long time to satisfy the woman, who insisted on being present during the burial and resurrection, and was manifestly fearful during ibe entire affair that a real corpse might at nny moment l>e rung in on her.”