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Show DEAD MEJVS SECTION. J. PERCY BARNITZ. BY (Copyright, 1901, by Daily 8tory Pub. Co.) Section Four was the longest section on the Third Division of the C. and J. Railroad. It was so long and so many fatalities had occurred on that stretch of road, that the management decided to call It the Middle Division, thinking thereby tg escape the odious name of Dead Mens Section, which it was called by. railroad men the country over. But call It what they would, the management could not free that particular portion of their 11 nd from the gruesome appellation. The sections on the C and J. are .stretches ...of not eight or track, as is the case on Eastern lines, but Instead a hundred and fifty-mistretch is the usjuali section on this Important link U the Great 'Trgnqj Continental Route, and which U8" verses the Lone Star State from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Henry Fortune was made division superintendent at Folger, the terminuss Section Three, and the headquar-rEf for the new Middle Division. And he said always, that it was anything but good fortune when he was promoted to that position, for until biB appointment at Folger he had never known that the cup of life could be so (full of trouble. Freight brakemen only with few exceptions were .the ones whom Death seemed to single out as his victims. And the majority of those who were killed met their deaths by falling beneath the cars while the trains were .running eastward between Gregsons and Warm Springs. Because of the hoodoo, which railroad men said was on Dead Mens Section, it was almost impossible to secure reputable employes for the freight service of the operating' deAs partment of the Middle Division.. fe consequence the personnel ' of the freight trainmen on that division was composed literally of the scum of the feartb. And, therefore, it is not to be - wondered, at that, the life at .Henry. ' Fortune, superintendent, whs not a happy onsj. The difficulties he expert-- ' enced in handling the polygenous freight crews were legion;- but they Were as nothing compared to the depressing fact that in spite of all pre cautions Death held the Middle Division in a firmer grasp than ever. Although the Middle Division passed through a land of weary desolation, with its flint-lik- e which .soil; its of unbioken monotony tioundless, plains, was enough in itself to depress the spirits of almost any man, yet the never for a moment superintendent supposed that any of his men committed suicide. There were but few men in Mb emBut ploy that did not UBe . liquor. liquor could hardly be held accountable for the strange fatalities on D?ad MenB Section." Other trainmen employed on the division besides freight brakemen drank just as hard, and yet there were no more accidents among them than usually occur on the ordinary railroad. One night in early. January the "Mexican Flyer was wrecked between The Warm Springs and Gregson's. the accompanied superintendent wrecking train to the scene of the disA aster. It' was a wretched night beat storm sleet and rain of. . heavy down with chilling force on that barren waste of land, and Henry Fortune ten-mi- tuitively the conviction was suddenly, forced upon him, that in some way this evidently treacherous man was connected with the mystery of Dead Mens Section.1 This opinion, once formed, grew stronger in the mind of the superintendent as time passed, and when, some weeks after the wreck of the "Mexican Flyer, m brakeman" tumbled" between the cars of his train a few miles east of Gregsons. and. by good luck was but slightly hurt, he set about to investigate the accident,' on the assumption that.Dummy Carlos, the proprietor of The Rangers Rest," was at the bottom of it The injured man was taken to the hospital at. Templeton, where he was interviewed by Henry Fortune. Yes, Mr. ' Fortune, 'aid the brake-ma1 did have a drink at Carlos' le le n, j&gjs . couldnt kelp myself, and ran. place just before we ..pulled put I r . o' Grejwong ftlife ."whole crew :"had a drink j for that matter. But I don't thinkrlt'was the whisky that affected me leastways it never did other times. It was just like this, near as can remember. 1 was walking along the top o a lot o htx cars towards the front o the train, when all at once everything seemed to shine like gold. Then it changed to white, and I felt that I must run run a 4 fast as J could. .Felt, frightened like. (And fcben I couldn't help myself anymore, fund rah lift J fell from' the train.' But Henry Fortune was obdurate in ills belief., that the sinister-lookin- g mute was to blame for the mortality among his brakemen, despite the fact that he had not one scintilla of proof to that effect, and employed a private detective agency in Chicago to work on the case. The detective sent by the agency to the Middle Division assumed the role of a freight brakentau. For two weeks he reported no progress. and then one night lie, too, fell a victim to the Dead Men's Section," much to the disgust, mortification and disappoint ment of Henry Fortune. When the detective agency was informed of the death of their operative, and learned ihat he had met the peculiar and mysterious fate1 of so many brakemen, they became more deter mined than ever to sift the occur, er.ee to the bottom anl sent; sivera! of their best men to the section of the country between Gregsons and Warm Springs. In the latter part of February man claiming to be r buyer of cattle for a Chicago packing house, put up at The Ranger's Rest, and. on the pretext of fewuitlng the arrival of important letters remained for several hotel. He saw that days at whenever a crew of freight traihmen patronized the liar, Carlos would invariably. place two bottles of liquor upon the counter, pushing a square bottle in from, of where one or more brakeiren stood. One day when the opportunity ofn fered. the .filled sevi eral Husks fiom bottles of liquor standing op the shelves beneath tin liaf. These were sent to Chicago for analysis; and a few necks later Duiii my Carlos" whs awaiting trial in tin j$il at Templeton on a charge of poisoning, and the mystery of "Dead Mens Fleet Uni had been solved. A curious story was brought out at Carlos. the .trial of the vindictive Dummy too long td here tell in detail, a story sen the to that made It lift first duly which was substantially as folbut to were Gregsons, taken., passengersniHde as comfortable lows:' aha there The analysis of tlie liquor in the miserable adobe the in an possible lkisks bin. wed tlia-f- t was all several of name The tlie bearing building same of the cheap hiiindj of'. whisky! Rangers Rest. rn is of one flask was tlie but mill hosof this squalid The proprietor tiiifcu-la- r found to havo beep hravll.t tteeped with was $ Texas M plaliis the telry individual. He was a lalj, lank; the woolly loco weed, inmtiionly called : whose crazy Weed, a plant native to the sinister-lookin- g to Pi'cmt'il glow wtyb a Great Plains region. an which causes beady eyes A he much damage to the stuck of ranchmalignant passion. was unable to articulate intelligibly, men. The net inn of this poison ou perfectly all that man In small doses Is to cause a short but could period of hallucination or mania, acwas sai l to him. There was fascinated man that Henry companied hy defective eyesight, durabout the cathis watched lie ing which the affected person is seizrh.fty, as Fortune, like movements, while dispensing the ed with an Irresistible desire to run. whisky over his It was the administration of this devile, hnr to the motley crowd of cowboys coction to the lirnkemen of the Middle Division that hnd caused them to gathered in the f barroom. 1 by It was the su- run along the cars of their train and, In- being unable to see where they were perintendent rould never tell, hut ! the-littl- pseudo-stockma- 1 1 1 half-bree- d - , half-bree- d, 1 - seinl-mut- e, un.li-iftiin- yellow-lookin- g onrth-floor- DAIRY AM) POULTRY. anti-clim- ax - - . cumstancea will permit I set by themselves the eggs from the selected pen. I set two hens at the same time, and INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR OUR If they do not hatch too many chicks 1 put them all with one hen and set RURAL READERS. the other one over again. If dusted all over with insert powder once a (low Surmaful Fitriuan 0irrat ThU week, she will set just as well the last Dfp.rtn.nl of Ilia Farm A Fow three weeks as the first three. Of the HluU a. to llm Cara of LWa Stork eggs from the selected pen I set all that are not too small or not too large. aa4 Poultry. 1 find that where the eggs are of nearly one size, the chicks are most apt to Whara Coadansad Milk Travala. be of about the same size. I do not That commonplace and Indispensable that are hatched Int'T any keep article, condensed milk, is also a great than May pullets 10 at latest. Earlier ones are traveler, and for 20 years the label on better winter layers. I mark all chicks the tin has been the message sent by from the selected pea as soon as they America to millions of uncouth people are old The best time to enough. who never heard of the great Republic, mark them is just before the hens and who, if the may.be al- wean them, us you are sure to get the lowed, never, set eyes on a milch cow. right ones then. The night I The explorer and the missionary are want to mark them I close the coops. the advunce agents of condensed milk. In the- Morning 1 take my punch and It goes wherever they venture, . and. mark tjivnj as I let them out. This when the missionary has children it is work requires luit a short time, and the one thing his household cannot do I find Lt pays. When 1 want to market without. There Is no wilderness where any ciiiqka I select those that urs not a discarded milk tin does not glitter marked.' If I hare ruined enough that in the sun. It hus blazed tlie way are marked or ail I want to winter, I across Africa; it has hceu very near self all of those that are not in irked. the pole, for Lieutenant leary relutes 1 pihrk the chicks in the oui.-iwch of that 18 years after the Greeley expedi- the fight foot he fust' year The next tion cached canned rations in the froz- year I jilo the smile wiy, hut uni carelul en north he found the condensed milk to notice if I havent a fw more feas sweet and wholesome as ever. In males ter put in this yard th.' 2d year. the fastnesses of northern Luzon, 1 mark In inside web of right font the where an American face had never second year. I am careful to notice been seen. General .Youngs soldiers which I have the most of to go into found tins of condensed milk with the this pen marked In inside web or outbrand of the eagle. It can be, found side .web. If I hre mo.-- t marked in all over Mongolia and Manchuria, and inside 'web, 1 know 1 have mni'.e some even In Thibet. The Chinese, who do Improvement, find so on from year to not take milk in their tea, use the year. By the time I have punched the condepsed kind .as a food, chiefly .for webs in both feet, the fowls punched their children. In India also it has a In the outside web of the right foot are large sale for that purpose, and ..it .is sold, and 1 start right over again. I sot too much to say that the product believe that anyone that will try this of the. American factory has been the r plan will agree with me that a flock of pabulum of millions of Asiatics. U. EJ fpwia, regardless of bmd, can, by careful selection of the best fowls, be Armstrong, ixl Ainslee's. improved 50 per cent for egg production. Ibm-- .fancy poultry along these Tha Stalie. .. lines, and have improved them Keep dairy cattle In a room or Imild samp, as my record for prizes won each year, to ing by themselves, lt is preferable will; show. Cull close and know just have no cellar, below and no storage what at, is my motto. David you pre loft above. 0. Bootz, Peoria County, Illinois. Stables should be well ventilated, Cro for Kerlalmril Manlifa. lighted and drained; should have tight From the Farmers Review: In refer, floors and walls and be plainly conence to the questions asked hy one of structed. Never use musty or dirty litter. your Wisconsin correspondents, 1 Allow no Btrong smelling material in would say: Considerable work has been the stable for any length of time. none in this ante on these black, Store the manure under cover outside marsh soils arid much remains to bs the cow. stable and remove it to a dis- done. It has been a rather general tance as often as practicable. experience of those who have drained lands that whils Whitewash the stably once or twice and broken tlu-sa year; use landpluster in the manure profitable crops were grown the first year, and in soaie cases for the first gutters daily. Use no dry, dusty feed just previous few years, the crops of succeeding to milking; if fodder is dusty, spriukle years were constantly poorer and poorer. Experiments both in Europe and lt before lt Is fed. , Keek Frnat Iroof Orange. Clean tfnd thoroughly air the stable In this state have shown that very but nut always these soils will For several years the United States before milking; in hot weather sprinkle has beeti' working to secure, by breedgive very good results when fertilized the floor. with potash, either in the form of coming. a race of oranges resistant to frost. Keep the stable and dairy room in mercial fertilizers or In the form of It was proposed by this mean;' to recondition and then insist that the wood ashes. store the orange groves of Florida, good Farmyard manure has factory or place where the milk also been found to be very helpful. In dairy, which formerly .produced several milgoes be kept equally well. some experiments conducted at Madilion dollars worth of oranges yearly, returns better shows trial Every, son the application of potassium sulall cold were nearly destroyed by but a few yea rs ago. -- Twelve of the new when wheat is mixed with some other phate has given more than four times when fed alone, although the yield of ear corn grown on unferevergreen hybrid oranges, secured as grain than if lt wheat may profit tilized land. Your correspondent will prices permit of the a result hardy Japanese crossing s form of a grain ration. find these ably described in deform with the Florida sweet orange, overcomes tail In the experiments with other Mixing grains be to annual report of this station the hardiest everhave proved the tendency to fora x pasty mass. for 1900. In regard to crops which are green oranges known in the world best grown on this soil, I must say Southern nurserymen have pronounced Tha Cattla QnMtlun, that no systematic work has as yet them to be of great value as hedge of a stockmen at convention At been done. When well fertilized with from their plants, entirely apart value. There is great promise, Buffalo Dr. Sanford of Washington, farm manure, rape, corn and timothy In draining however, that we will ultimately secure D. C., made a speech that should be have given fair crops. a fruit that is burdy'and of good qual- read by every farmer in the United these peaty marshes it is desirable in States. He made a statement to the many cases to put in open ditches ity. Some of the hybrid raisin grapes, effect that the United States has the which may bo left for a few years unproduced with a view of securing relargest aggregate number of cattle, til the peat has somewhat decomposed sistance to a disease known os or dropping of the fruit, have representing the largest investment and then the clay tile may be placed He If this is not done, the borne for the first time. These vines of any country In the world. settling of th of the Buwork mentioned then the so peat ou draining will give rise to two have proved hardy far and have reau of Animal Industry in connection difficulties; first, the tiles will be disproduced fruit of remarkably fine qualthe consular department in their torted and in some cases pulled down with of .the vines appear to ho ity. Some resistant to a serious and destructive efforts to increase this trade by send- so low that no drainage can take place, root disease which has appealed in ing cattle to Mexico. Central and South and. second, the settling down of the difmarsh will often leave the tiles so near California, and they may resist the American countries, and gave the worst of all Pacific const grape dis- ficulties that had been nut with in the surface that they interfere with their endeavors In this dirertlnn; prej- cultivation. After drainage, it is usueases the California vln udice. quarantine regulations, lack of ally best to si:;; ply harrow the ground disease. 1 proper transportation and other causes with a spring tooth harrow rather than J Kent of .Volaanomi. had presented innumerable stumbling to it owing to the loos. nature i f The Maoris of New Zealand cook bloeks. In addition to there troubles theplow itself. A. R. Whitson. Wisground heir potatoes and other vegetables In the scarcity of cattle in our own mar- consin College. Agricultural vulcanic heat. There are a few volof exkets has added to the canoes In New Zealand, and some of tending trade in these directions. A We believe that it will pay many the Maoris live up In the mountains point worthy of careful consideration of our readers to investigate what are near them. They make the volcanoes Is the fact that oar own cattle are de- called the nests." These nes:. trap do several useful things for them, hut creasing proportionately as the popuas most of our renders know, are nudo the queerest is the cooking. A few lation Increases. No statement in con- so that a hen about to lay goes in and of the volcanoes have a sort of jie io 11c nection with the cattle business could the entrance is automatically cloyed. action. They heat up tlii ground in possibljf contain more material for After laying she goes out of another the fall and then lie idle fie remaindstudy than this. door into another yard. The layers aid er of the year. Tho3 volcanoes arc of Incrrii-liii- c C thus kept soparatefrom those that do I'riNliloHon. a quiet disposition and never break From Farnn rs Review; R has been no laying. The idea is variously modloose hut Uicy heat the ground just ified. The man tliat wants to improve my experience that by .rareful selecenough to do the native cooking. The tion, the hivina quality of a Mock of the laying qualities of his fowis will plan of the Maoris Is to dig a pit about hens ran lie improved 50 per cent. I find some form of this nest of assistlive or six feet deep and bed It with have tried It and write from aetual exance. Then!, are some expensive patstraw. Then they put in their vegeented trap nests-anthen are others Several this: method is perience. My tables, filling lip the pit quite full, and timea n day during late fall and early used that are not putenud and of small then cover it over with more straw winter I pass by the nests where the cost Utlu.s can bo made at home. and then a layer of earth. And then hens lay. noting wlmt liens are there Two more trials recently at Bandy Mipn they go away and lie low. Then most. Those hens I murk with a the volcano begins to heat up and of the foot Hook with thu (iuthmun shell proved or puiirti in the gets in Its fine work and the potatoes with a poultry punch. If there are only it ii complete failure. Mr. Gath man and mangoes cook. The natives let three or four lions or even two, I take has failed to demonstrate his theory them stay there for a long time after these from the flock, yard them by that a large mass of gun cotton exthe heat departs from the earth, take themselves, pick from the (lock a nice ploded oil the outside uf a battleship them out whenever they want them, male aud mate him with them during would sink it. Money Is the sugar that sweetens th and eat them. So the earth is at onre the breeding season. I pet tlie chicks a stove and a storehouse. D itrolt Free hatched us early In the spring as clr- - misers life. Press. stepping, invariably fall to thslr deaths. Carlos admitted the fact that eight years back, when the C. and J. was flrst built through that region, he was beating Ms way on a freight train from Gregson's to Warm Springs, when he was discover td by two brake-me- n who threw him from the train. Until that time he had boon possessed of bis full powers of speech, but he was so severely injured about the head that the portion of the brain controlling the vocal cords became in time and he finally lost the power to articulate plainly. ' The Indian la Ms nature became aroused, and after he opened "The Rangere Rest near the railway station at Gregson's, he determined to become revenged on all freight brakemen running eastward from that point Ills devilish, savage cunning led him to use the loco weed as the best means to secure that revenge, as he waa familiar with its effect upon the cattle and horses which roamed the plains of Texas. He was declared insane by the jury which tried him, and he was sent to the state asylum for. Insane criminals for life. Hrltsln's- Flnsnrlul Strangle. A good deal of misplaced sympathy is being wasted upon England In the belief, or, perhaps, hope, that the Boer war has. brought the nation to financing ruin. Much 'more reasonable la the attitude of one of the leading German newspapers which congratulated Great " Britain the other day upon i,ba ease withwblch she is carrying on the South Afi.cau war, WUh an expenditure that . has already reached $500,000,000.. .It ahl this war would have ruined. Germany '.or .any other European: nation, and the German editor was right J The ,i British people : would have made! short work of a less intractable eneiq'y thgn the Boers, but what other European . country could have manned isnd paid such armies and whose, efforts "would have, been made ,on a 'Vising scale all the time In spite 6f discouragement? John Bull has always been a staying fighter, and that ,be will, continue fighting until, in Lord illilner's phrase,' the Boer country is burned out, there is hardly any doubt. M. Raffelovltch, the noted econol, mist, says the Louisville touched upon Great Britains finance in his anuu tl publication recently issued in Paris, and warned the world That It was not likely to go to the second place or stay there. Germany wax' a country ihat thought It could supplant England In the markets of the world a couple or so of years ago, bututhough., Germany, .ha no war she is .in far. worse Industrial and finnndal condition that the tight little isl&nd across the channel.,.. ed d I - . Courier-Journa- p ly, , . four-fifth- fruit-beairi- ng cou-lur- e, I diiTn-ult- leg-ba- wt-l- i nd |