Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1894 — Rilling on the Cowcatcher. [ARTICLE]

Rilling on the Cowcatcher.

“I have ridden on every conceivable part of a train that it is possible to ride on,” said Arthur L. James, a railroad man, to a St. Louis Globe-Democrat man, “but I don’t think I will try to ride on the cowcatcher of the locomotive again. I tried it once last summer, and that was enough for me. I thought I would ride there for a few miles just for the fun of the thing. Everything went all right for the first few miles, and we were going at a pretty lively clip, when, turning a curve, I beheld several cows standing in the middle of the track just ahead of us. There was no way for me, to escape from my position, sol just shut my eyes and held on. I’ll Bet a thousand thoughts flashed through my head in the few seconds it took for us to reach the spot where the cows were. I just got one glimpse of a huddled up figure before we struck them. Then there was a thud, and in an instant the front of the engine looked like a slaughter house. I was drenched with blood. How I escaped without being knocked off is a miracle. The engineer, at once stopped the train, and I was mighty glad to leave my perilous perch,. I changed my clothes fora pair of greasy overalls and a jumper that belonged to the fireman, and made the rest of my trip in the baggage car.”

The largest shark ever seen on the Pacific cbast was recently caught at Monterey, Cal. It is forty feet in length, and weighs about 50,000 pounds. Don’t drown sorrow in drink. Hang sorrow!