BYPATHS OF KANSAS HISTORY 405
RAILROADS vs. THE PEOPLE
From The Weekly Free Press, Atchison, November 9, 1867.
GREASY.-When the passenger train on the C. B. U. P.
R. R., yesterday morning reached the vicinity of Monrovia the wheels of the
engine began to slide so that further progress up the grade was difficult. After
using all the usual appliances in such cases, and spending some hours in attempts
to climb the grade, the train ran back about three miles, put on all steam, and
succeeded in making the ascent. The rails had been thoroughly greased by
somebody. A notice in another place offers a reward for the detection of the
offenders.
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD
Five hundred dollars reward will be paid for the detection, arrest and conviction
of the party or parties implicated in obstructing the train at Monrovia, on
Friday, November 1st, 1867. CENTRAL BRANCH U. P. R. R. ATCHISON, Kan., Nov. 2d,
1867.
From The Western Observer, Washington, May 26, 1870.
A few days ago, as we were going south by rail, we
saw a little incident on the cars which demonstrates the craftiness of the
gentler sex, and particularly the business capacity of the one under whose
management the conductor was so nicely beaten out of a hundred miles ride. A
family, consisting of a mother, a boy 14 years, and a girl under 12 years, took
the M. R. Ft. S. & G. cars at Kansas City, for Fort Scott. The family were
Irish, and evidently of the poorest class. On the entrance of the conductor to
collect fares, the boy slid off his seat and hid himself under the skirts of his
mother and sister, and when the conductor had passed through the car, he again
emerged to view. This concealment was repeated after stopping at every station,
and was so deftly performed that the boy stole his ride to Fort Scott, and left
the cars with his mother and sister without once attracting the notice of the
conductor. This little bit of bye-play afforded much amusement to the passengers,
and led to the discussion of the question whether it is any part of the duty of a
conductor to hunt among the drapery of his lady passengers, in search for
possible stowaways.-Atchison Patriot.
BAD SPELLING ON THE MARAIS DES CYGNES
John Speer in The Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence, January 13,
1870.
To a person unacquainted with French the name of
the noted Marais des Cygnes is a jawbreaker to pronounce or spell. As we first
came into Kansas on the old California road, we met a farmer with his team about
half way between here and Kansas City, and made various inquiries about
different
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