The new era., September 26, 1907, Image 3

About The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??

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SEROAL
STORY
The
Princess
Elopes
By HAROLD McGRATH
j\uthor qf
“The Ntn on the Bos/*
“Hearts end Masks,** Etc.
(Copyright, IM*. Itobbs-liarrlU Co.)
CHAPTER I.
It Is rather difficult in these days for
& man who takes such scant interest
in foreign affairs —trust a whilom
diplomat for that! —to follow the con
tinual geographical disturbances of
European surfaces. Thus, I can not
distinctly recall the exact location of
the Grand Duchy of Barscheit or of
the neighboring principality of Dop
pelklnn. It meets my needs and pur
poses, however, to say that Berlin and
Vienna were easily accessible, and
that a three hours’ journey would
bring you under the shadow of the
Carpathian range, where, in my diplo
matic days, I used often to hunt the
“bear that walks like a man.”
Barscheit was known among her sis
ter states as “the meddler,” the
“maker of trouble,” and the duke as
“Old Grumpy”—Brummbar, To use a
familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit
had a finger in every pie. Whenever
there was a political broth making,
whether in Italy, Germany or Austria,
Barsceit would snatch up a ladle and
start in. She took care of her own
affairs so easily that she had plenty of
time to concern herself with the af
fairs of her neighbors. This is not
to advance the opinion that Barscheit
was wholly modern; far from it. The
fault of Barscheit may be traced back
to a certain historical pillar of salt,
easily recalled by all those who at
tended Sunday school. “Rubbering”
Is a vulgar phrase, and I disdain to
use it.
When a woman looks around it Is
invariably a portent of trouble; the
man forgets his important engage*-
in£t, and runs amuck, knocking over
people, principles and principalities.
If Aspasia had not observed Pericles
that memorable day; if there had not
been an oblique slant to Calypso’s
eyes as Ulysses passed her way: if
the eager Delilah had not offered fa
vorable comment on Samson’s ring
lets; in fact, if all the women in his
tory and romance had gone about their
affairs as they should have done, what
uninteresting reading history would
be to-day!
Now, this is a story of a woman who
looked around, and of a man who did
not keep his appointment on time;
out of a grain of sand, a mountain. Of
course there might have been other
causes, but with these I'm not famil
iar.
This Duchy of Barscheit Is worth
looking into. Imagine a country with
telegraph and telephone and medieval
customs, a country with electric lights,
railways, surface cars, hotel elevators
and ancient laws! Something of the
customs of the duchy must be told in
the passing, though, for my part, I am
vigorously against explanatory pas
sages in stories of action. Barscheit
bristled with militarism; the little
mar. always imitates the big one, but
lacks the big man’s excuses. Mili
tarism entered into and overshadowed
the civic laws.
There were three things you might
do without offense: you might bathe,
sleep, only you must not sleep
ouWoud. The citizen of Barscheit was
hemmed in by a set of laws which
had their birth in the dark dungeons
of the Inquisition. They congealed the
blood of a man born and bred in a
commercial country. If you broke a
law, you were relentlessly punished;
there was no mercy. In America wo
make laws and then hide them in dull
looking volumes which the public have
neither the time nor the inclination to
Tcad. In this duchy of mine it was
different; you ran into a law on every
corner, In every park, in every public
building: little oblong signs, enameled,
which told you that you could not do
something or other —“Forbidden! ” The
beauty of German laws is that when
you learn all the things that you can
not do, you begin to find out that the
things you can do are not worth a
hang in the doing.
As soon as a person learned to reqyd
he or she began life by reading these
laws. If you could not read, so much
the worse for you; you had to pay a
guide who charged you almost as
much as the full cost of the fine.
The opposition political party in the
United States is always howling mili
tarism, without the slightest idea of
what militarism really is. One side,
please, in Barscheit, when, an officer
comes along, or take the consequences.
If you carelessly bumped into him,
you were knocked down. If you ob
jected, you were arrested. If you
Btruck back, ten to one you received a
beating with the flat of a saber. And
never, never mistake the soldiery for
that is to say, never ask
an officer to direct you to any place.
This to regarded in the light of an in
suit. The cud lieutenants do more to
keep a passable sidewalk —for the pas
sage of said cub lieutenants —than all
the magistrates put together. How
they used to swagger up and down
the Konlgsstrasse, around the Platz,
in and out of the restaurants! I re
member doing some side-stepping my
self, and I was a diplomat, supposed
to be immune from the rank discourte
sies of the military. But that was
early in my career.
In a year not so remote as not to be
readily recalled, the United States
packed mo off to Barscheit because I
had an uncle who was a senator.
Some papers were given me, the per
mission to hang out a shingle reading
“American Consul,’’ and the promise
of my board and keep. My amuse
ments were to be paid out of my own
pocket. Straightway I purchased three
horses, found a capable Japanese
valet, and selected a cozy house near
the barracks, which stood west of the
Volksgarten, on a pretty lake. A beau
tiful road ran around this body of wa
ter, and it wasn’t long ere the officers
began to pass comments on the riding
of “that wild American." As I detest
what Is known as park riding, you may
very well believe that I circled the
lake at a clip which must have opened
the eyes of the easy-going officers. I
grew quite chummy with a few of
them, and I may speak of occasions
when I did not step off the sidewalk
as they came along. A man does more
tow f ard gaining the affection of for
eigners by giving a good dinner now
and then than by international law. I
gained considerable fame by my little
dinners at Muller’s rathskeller, under
the Continental hotel.
Six months passed, during which I
rode, read, drove and dined, the actual
labors of the consulate being cared for
by a German clerk wba knew more
about the business than I did.
By this you will observe that diplo-
The Princess Hltdegarde.
macy has degenerated into the gentle
art of exciting jaded palates and of
scribbling one’s name across pass
ports; I know of no better definition.
I forget what the largess of my office
was.
Presently there were terrible do
ings. The old reigning grand duke de
sired peace of mind; and moving de
terminedly toward this end, lie de
clared in public that his niece, the
young and tender Princess Hiidegarde,
should wed the Prince of Doppelkinn,
whose vineyards gave him a fine in
come. This was finality: the avuncu
lar guardian had waited long enough
for his willful ward to make up her
mind as to the selection of a auitable
husband; now he determined to take
a hand in the matter. And you shall
see how well he managed it.
It Is scarcely necessary for me to
state that her highness had her own
ideas of what a husband should be
like, gathered, no doubt, from execra
ble translations from “Ouida” and the
gentle Miss Braddon. A girl of 20
usually has a formidable regard for
romance, and the princess was fully
up to the manner of her kind. If she
could not marry romantically, she re
fused to marry at all.
I can readily appreciate her uncle’s
perturbation. I do not know how many
princelings she thrust into utter dark
ness. She would never marry a man
who wore glasses; this one was too
tall, that one too short; and when one
happened along who was without vis
ible earmarks or signs of being shop
worn her refusal was based upon just
—“Because!" —a weapon as invincible
as the fabled spear of Parsifal. She
had spurned the addresses of Prince
Mischler, laughed at those of the
Count of (the short dash
indicates the presence of a hyphen)
and General Muerrisch, of the en.
peror’s body-guard, who was, I’m sure,
good enough—in his own opinion—for
any woman. Every train brought to
the capital some suitor with a con
sonated, hyphenated name and a pedi
gree as long as a bore’s idea of a
funny story. But the princess did not
care for pedigrees that were squint
eyed or bow-legged. One and all of
them she cast aside as unworthy her
consideration. Then, like the ancient
worm, the duke turned. She should
marry Doppelkinn, who, having no
wife to do the honors in his castle,
was wholly agreeable.
The Prince of Doppelkinn reigned
over the neighboring principality. If
you stood in the middle of it and were
a baseball player, you could throw a
stone across the frontier in any direc
tion. But the vineyards were among
the finest in Europe. The prince was
a widower, and among his own people
was affectionately styled “der Rot
nasig,” which, I believe, designates an
illuminated proboscis. When he wasn’t
fishing for rainbow trout he was sleep
ing in his cellars. He was often miss
ing at the monthly reviews, but no
body ever worried: they knew whore
to find him. And besides, he mignt
just as well sleep in his cellars as in
his carriage, for he never rode a horse
if he could get out of doing so. He
was really good-natured and easy-go
ing, so long as no one crossed him »e
--verely; and you could tell him a joke
once and depend upon his understand
ing it immediately, which is more than
I can say for the duke.
Years and years ago the prince had
had a son; but at the tender age of
three the boy had run away from tho
castle confines, and no one ever heard
of him again. The enemies of tho
prince whispered among themselves
that, the boy had run away to escape
compulsory military service, but the
boy’s age precluded this accusation.
The prince advertised, after the fash
ion of those times, sent out detectives
and notified his various brothers; but
his trouble went for nothing. Not the
slightest trace of the boy could be
found. So he was mourned for a sea
son, regretted and then forgotten; the
prince adopted the grape arbor.
I saw the prince once. I do not
blame the Princess Hildegarde for her
rebellion. The prince was not only
old; he was fat and ugly, with little,
elephant-like eyes that were always
vein-shot, restless and full of mischief.
He might have made a good father,
but 1 have nothing to prove this.
Those bottles of sparkling Moselle
which he failed to dispose of to the
American trade he gave to his brother
in Iiarscheit or drank himself. Ho
was 68 years old.
A nephew, three times removed, was
waiting for the day wnen he should
wabble around in the prince's shoes.
He was a lieutenant in the duke's
body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady
chap. Well, he never wabbled around
in his uncle's shoes, for he never got
the chance.
1 hadn't been in Barscheit a week
before I heard a great deal about the
princess. She was a famous horse
woman. This made me extremely anx
ious to meet her. Yet for nearly six
months 1 never even got so much as a
glimpse of her. Half of the six months
she was traveling through Austria, and
the other half she kept out of my way,
—not intentionally; she knew nothing
of my existence; simply, fate moved us
about blindly. At court she was in
variably indisposed, and at the first
court ball she retired before I arrived.
I got up at all times, galloped over all
roads, but never did I see her. Shu
rode alone, too, part of the time.
/TO BE CONTINUED.}
RAILROAD ADDS
TO DEATH LIST
TWENTY-FIVE PASSENGERS ARE
KILLED AND TWENTY-SIX
ARE INJURED.
FACESOFDEiDtHASTLY
FATAL MISTAKE OF TRAIN OPER
ATOR SENDS UNSUSPECTING
MORTALS INTO ETERNITY.
White River Junction, Vt. —A fearful
head-on collision between the south
bound Qubec express and a north
bound freight train on the Concord di
vision of the Boston & Maine railroad,
occurred four miles north of Canaan
Btation early Sunday morning, Septem
ber 15th, due to a mistake in train dis
patchers’ orders, and from a demol
ished passenger coach there were
taken out twenty-five dead and dying,
and twenty-seven other passengers,
most of them seriously wounded. Near
ly all those who were in the death car
were returning from a fair at Sher
brooke, Quebec, sixty miles north. The
conductor of the freight train was
given to understand that ho had plenty
of time to roach a siding by the night
operator at Canaan station, receiving,
according to the superintendent of the
division, a copy of a telegraph order
from the train dispatcher at Concord,
which confused the train numbers 30
and thirty-four. The wreck occurred
just after the express had rounded into
a straight stretch of track, but owing
to the early morning mist, neither en
gineer saw the other’s headlight until
it was too late.
Operator Makes Mistake.
The south-bound train was made up
at Sherbrooke, where it picked up two
sleepers from Quebec and two more on
the way down. It consisted of the
baggage coach, passenger coach and
smoking car in that order, with the
sleepers in the rear. The train left
White River Junction at 3:50, forty
minutes late, and was followed twenty
minutes later by the Montreal express
over the Central Vermont railroad.
The Quebec train is known as No. 30
and the Montreal train as No. 39.
In the meantime, a north-bound train,
known as No. 2G7, had arrived at Ca
naan, eighteen miles down the road,
at a. m., on time. According to
the division superintendent, W. It. Ray,
J. R. Crowley, the night train dis
patcher at Concord, sent a dispatch to
John Greely, the night operator at Ca
naan, that No. 34 was ono hour and
ten minutes late. The order which
Conductor Lawrence of the freight
train showed after the accident dis
tinctly states that No. 30, Instead of
No. 34, was an hour and ten minutes
late. Conductor Lawrence, believing
that he had sufficient time in the hour
and ten minutes to reach tho sidetrack
at West Canaan, four miles beyond, be
fore No. 30 reached it, ordered his train
ahead. The superintendent declared
that the accident was due to the mis
take in placing a cipher after the three
in the number of the train, instead of
a four.
The morning was dull and misty In
the western New Hampshire moun
tains and the long freight train, with
a score of heavily loaded cars, lum
bered up the grade to West Canaan at
the usual speed. On the other side of
the cut the Quebec express was sliding
down the single track with her load
of passengers and the four sleepers in
the rear. The freight train was on a
Klondike Fever Breaks Out.
Washington.—The gold fever of
the Klondike has broken out anew at
Sitka, Alaska, according to Brigadier
General George F. Elliott, command
ant of the United States marine corps,
who has just returned from a trip of
inspection in the Northwest.
General Elliott states that a rich
vein of quartz has recently been un
covered on an island forty-five miles
from Sitka, which yields a heavy per
centage of leaf gold, and active prepa
rations are being made for its develop
ment. As a result of this discovery
the forty-five marines whom General
Elliott had intended to order to some
other point will remain to preserve or
der in what is rapidly becoming one of
the "boom” towns of Alaska.
The story of the discovery as told to
General Elliott is that two Indians,
while fishing, noticed particles of gold.
They told the news to a Presbyterian
clergyman at Sitka. A company opened
the vein of quartz and succeeded in
mining and transporting to Sitka in
canoes ninety tons of ore. This one
shipment yielded, after payment of
freight, more than $16,000. The
knowledge of the find at the Island
soon became known in Sitka, and the
island now is practically all staked out
by goldseekers.
Hold up a Cashier.
Goldfield, Nev.—Herbert E. Riggs,
bookkeeper and cashier for E. H. New
land, a broker, was found unconscious
on the floor of the office. The door
of the safe was open und cash amount
ing to $1,300 had been taken. Two big
lumps on Riggs’ forehead showed that
lie had been struck with some blunt
Instrument.
Riggs says he was working over his
books when a stranger appeared at the
cashier's window and asked for money.
There was a stack of gold on the desk
in front of the bookeeper at the time.
Riggs says he knew' nothing more un
til he recovered consciousness. When
he was found by Harry Greve. a
nephew' of Newland, a heavy hammer
was picked up from the floor near
where he lay. It is thought that the
robber used the hammer on his victim.
The case has some peculiar features,
and the sheriff Is making an investiga
tion.
straight piece of track, about a mile in
length, and the Quebec express had
rounded tho curve Into this stretch
when tho two engineers saw the head
lights of the opposite train burst out
of tho fog. Both engineers set their
brakes and then jumped.
Iu another instant there was a clash
and both engines were lying together,
a mass of wreckage, in the ditch beside
the track. Tho baggage car next to
the passenger locomotive had been
driven back into the passenger coach,
telescoping it and crushing the lives
out of half a carload of people. At the
same time nearly every one else in
that car was injured. A few escaped,
but those who were in the sleeping car
in the rear were saved from death by
the more sturdy qualities of their car.
Wreckage Buries Dead and Dying.
The accident occurred at 4:24 a. m.,
just as the dawn was showing in the
east. The moment it happened
train hands who had escaped injury
und passengers in the sleeping cars
were looking upon one of the worst
wrecks .ever seen in New Hampshire.
The locomotives lav in a tangled
pile. The baggage car, partly derailed,
was held nearly upright by the wreck
age of the demolished day coach, one
side of which had been completely
ripped ofT, while the remainder was
was ground to splinters by the force
of the shock. A smoker behind the
day coach stood on the rails with ends
demolished and windows broken. The
sleeper was practically undamaged.
Iu tho debris of the passenger coach
lay more dead and injured than could
be estimated at tho moment. At once
those who had escaped harm saw their
task. The cries and moans of tho in
jured prompted speedy action. Out
from under broken beams and splin
tered joists bleeding forms were
dragged and laid on broken seats or
blankets from the sleeping car.
Wounds were hastily bound up with
sheets torn from the berths, and such
other help as could be hastily provided
was given. An hour elapsed before
physicians conld be brought from Han
over, White River Junction and Ca
naan. The dead were placed beside
tho track to await more satisfactory
disposition.
As the sun rose the full horror of the
disaster became apparent. Along the
side of the track lay the dead, yet un
covered. A little further off were the
living, some stretched on the ground,
with relatives, friends or strangers
binding the wounds and encouraging
them There were comparatively few
in that crowd of rescuers who did not
show some wound from the disaster.
One of the passengers who was in
the smoking car to the rear of the pas
senger train described the accident as
follows:
“I had one cf the seats In the middle
of the car when the train left White
River Junction, and, like everyone
else, was dozing, when someone woke
up and began to sing. This aroused
nearly everyone in the car, and some
of the men decided to go back to the
next car for a smoke. I joined the pro
cession. My companion in tho seat
stayed and was killed.
Thrown from Seats.
i “We bad scarcely taken our seats
; in the smoker when the brakes were
1 suddenly set, and we were thrown out
of our seats. The next minute there
was a crash, and I found myself on the
i floor, covered with broken glass from
the windows, but unhurt. We crawled
out from under the seats and stumbled
out the rear door. The front one was
' completely obliterated by the end of
the passenger coach.
“Everyone seemed dazed for what
• seemed five minutes. Then were heard
groans, moans and finally shrieks from
the front of the train, and, running
forward, we saw the wreck of the pas
senger car. It was just light enough
to see a little, but it made one sick
to see even that much. Everyone then
began to work hard, and it seemed
hours before help came.”
Shot Conductor; Was Killed.
Sacramento, Cal.—Because Conduc
tor Jeff Gage of Southern Pacific train
No. 32, easthound local to Sacramento,
put him off the train on his refusal to
pay his fare, an unknown man seri
ously wounded the conductor and was
himself killed in a pistol duel just after
the train left Tracy City.
Conductor Gage said:
“I rad stopped the train just outside
of Tracy to put the fellow off for re
fusing to pay his fare, and had stepped
down from the platform to give the en
gineer the signal to go ahead when
somo of the passengers who were
watching the man running alongside of
the fence, cried out: ’Look out! he’s
going to shoot.’ But before 1 could
jump back I was shot here (indicating
his right groin).
“I stumbled from the effects of the
shot, and finally succeeded in getting
out my pistol and took a shot at the
man, who had run ahead about fifty
yards by this time. I don’t know
whether I lilt him or not.
“Some of the passengers had rush: d
outt by his time, and taken several
shots at-him. He fell, and I ran to
where be lay, covering him with my
gun all the time, as I feared he might
be playing ’possum. With the assist
ance of the passengers I took his gun,
but he died a few minutes later, one >f
tlie shots having pierced his left lung.”
The bullet fired at Gage lodged just
beneath the vest. The fact that tho
bullet had to penetrate three thick
nesses of clothing is probably all that
saved Gage from being killed.
The passengers who witnessed tho
shooting all say that Gage was per
fectly justified.
Demented Man Killed.
Evanslo’n. Wyo.—William Fern, a
young business man of Almy, who has
been wandering about the country for
the past week in a demented condition,
was killed by a fast freight on the
Union Pacific near here.
On September 3d Fern, with a com
panion, was on his way to Almy in a
buggy, which was upset in a runaway,
throwing the young man out upon his
head. Since that time he has wan
dered about the country, being occa
sionally seen by ranch people, al
though the authorities tried in vain to
find him. Tho remains were brought
to Evanston and will bs buried in
Almy, where his wife and child reside.
DENVER GETS
ANOTHER ROAD
ENTIRE BTATE WILL BE GREATLY
BENEFITED BY CON
STRUCTION.
DENVER TO SEATTLE
BRINGS NEW TERRITORY IN
TOUCH WITH MARKETS OF
DENVER.
Denver. —A great new railway sys
tem which eventually will directly con
nect Denver and Seattle, cutting a vast
region as yet almosj,.entirely undevel
oped and not traversed by railroads, is
said to be an assured fact.
The new road is tho Denver, Lara
mie & Northwestern. Its headquarters
is in Denver. Tho actual work of con
struction will begin within sixty days.
All possible speed will he employed in
building the road to Laramie, Wyo
ming. The major portion of the right
of way has been secured. A Denver
terminal has been arranged for, and
the company owns in fee simple a
right of way over the continental di
vide through Fish Creek canon, where
tho grade is less than two per cent,
and where no difficult engineering feats
are presented. The company has also
purchased 160 acres of land within the
city limits of Denver, where will be.
located its terminals, shops and yards.
Tire closing of the deal for this land,
lying just east of the old Argo smelter,
and known as the Higby addition, if
tho first intimation that Denver peo
ple have had of the new project. The
men engaged in the work have beer
proceeding quietly and systematically.
They have interested eastern capital in
the road and also Denver men. In the
last two or three days $50,000 worth of
stock In tho new road has been sub
scribed In Denver alone.
The men behind the new' project
w'ere not anxious that news of their
Denver purchase should leak out at
this time. Several weeks ago Col. W.
E. Skinner of the Denver Union Stock
Yards Company was approached b>
men who are financing and promoting
the new road, and the scheme for the
entrance of the Denver, Laramie &
Northwestern was broached to him.
Colonel Skinner investigated the mat
ter carefully. He was impressed with
the advantages that would accrue to
Denver through the building of such a
road, found the proposition all that,
was claimed for it, and set about find
ing a tract of land that would be suit
able for a terminal.
The deed by which the new road be
coinc3 the owner of the Iligby trac
has been closed. It is bounded on the
?ast by West Forty-eighth avenue, on
tlie south by tho Colorado & Southern
and Moffat roads, and on the north by
the extension of Broadway. The land
j lies one-half mile nearer the city than
Utah Junction, where the shops of tlie
I Moffat road are located. The consider
ation was SIOO,OOO.
“Is Worth Millions.’’
“The building of the new Denver.
Larimie & Northwestern will be a big
stride ahead for Denver and for C’olcv
rado.” said Colonel Skinner. “This
road and the Moffat road, which is rap
| Idly nearing completion, will make
[ Denver a live stock center second to
! none. Just think of the great expanse
of territory that these roads will open
up. There are millions of acres in
Routt county which the Moffat road
will tap; there are millions of acres in
northern Colorado and southern Wyo
ming which the new Laramie road will
lap. These acres are tlie finest grazing
lands in the country. Tho stock is
coming to Denver over the rails of the
now companies. It. will eventually bring
millions of dollars annually into tho
state.
“And not alone in the livestock in
dustry, but in mining development that
will follow the completion of the Mof
fat road and tlie Laramie project, will
Denver and Colorado benefit. I ant
firmly of tlie belief that a new era in
Colorado’s progress lias been readied
and that these roads will supply some
of the few —very few—things lacking
to make Colorado tho greatest state In
the whole Union.”
The survey of tho new line agreed
upon runs in almost a straight Hurt
from Denver to Fort Collins midway
between the present lines of tlie Union
Pacific and Colorado & Southern.
South of Lander.
From Fort Collins the line will run
northwest, crossing the continental di
vide through Fish Creek canon where
the grade is easy ami tlie cross
ing one which presents no diffi
cult engineering feats. Tho canon is
twelve miles long. Alter leaving the
canon tlie road as planned will tap the
territory as yet untraversed by rail
roads as far north as Laramie. Tho
surveys from this point on to Laramio
have been made but tlie exact route
has not been definitely determined
upon. The final surveys may throw
the line south of Hander with a spur
into the city.
Yellowstone Park will lie brought
within a night's ride of Denver by the
new road. Being a north and south
road, tlie Laramie line when completed
will intercept all of the transcontinen
tal lines north of Denver, tho Union
Pacific. Northwestern, St. Paul and
Hill lines. This will give Denver nil
outlet mid inlet to tho great Northwest
and connections with great railway
systems such as it could not get iu any
other way.
Col. K. H. Dwyer, formerly connected
with the Illinois Central and Gould
lines, and known from coast to const,
as an able railroad man. is the general
manager of the new road. C. S. John
son. who has been connected with a
number of large commercial and indus
trial enterprises, is the president.