Jack, The Tramp Dog

At the Nicollet house Sunday, says the St Paul Pioneer Fren, a nnmber of railroad mea switohed away irom the i ubjeot of pools, rate euttlng, and the operation of trains and devoted sorue time to the consideration of inUlligenoe of the animal kingdom. Intances of remarkable instinct, if not of actual reasoning power were related, after whlch one of the party mentioned a "character" quite generally knovrn In Minneapolis a few years go. and still affectionately rumembered by scores of citizens. The story is told as nearly as possible in the speaker'a own langu age, and ran something after this [liion: Well, boys, you can all talk. but the most knowing animal I ever ran aoross was "Jack, the tramp dog." Tou all remember hiiu, don't yon? His headquarters was at the Milwaukee & St Paul ticket office, when George Scott dealt in the pastebonrds. H was a rather iquattj white animal, with black patches on his face and a pair of eyes whioh refleoted joy.dlspleasure or gratitude aa plainly as any humam eyo eould do. You would notlce those eyes the fint thing ii you meet thent on the street But, I am sorry to say, there was a good deal of the old Adam or original sin ia Jack, probably owing to his early education. No one ever knw positirely where he carne from, but other dogs fooling around Scott' s office soon discovered that he was there. No military hero of ancitnt or modern times Ter passed through as many battlet, and Jack did not seem to care a continental whether they wei e vietories or defeats - it was all the same to him. Another of his pecullarities was his penchant for rilling on railway trains and ezpress wagons. Nearly every day, when in town, he could be seen riding up or down Washington aveuue on some wheeled veliicle and gazing complacently at people on the sidewalk, but never saying a word. The Milwaukee & St Paul was his favorito rail route, and he would go off quite regularly on excursions to St Paul, and in some instances his tripa extended to Winona or La Crosse, but he always carne home without assistance. He seemed to kaow the differenoe between a friend and an enemy at a glanoe, but he naver had rauch trouble on the trains, as the boys were all friends of bis and he nerer suffered for transportation or fresh beef. Ou the day of the Villard celebration, a young man who was in the habit of pettlng him a good deal, took him over to the Pioneer Prest office, when it was across the way, and tried to dress him up in bunting. Before the job was half completad Jack filed a remonstrance in the shape of two rows of teeth. and then left the office in deep humiliation. He was never known to enter the office afterward or recognize his former friend. His pecularities would fill a volume, but I must cut off. The bane of his lito carne in the shape of newsboys. At first he responded to their agerravating famillarities by teariug out the seats of their pants. but as time adranced and the boys became more venturesome and lrritating, Jack learned to take a firmer hold touchiogthe juvenile anatomy in scores of cases. The situation at last beoame too serious. and Mr. Scott had to ship Jack to a farmer friend in Wisconsln in order to put an end to the lacerations and mayhem. I teil you be was a smart one, aud if he ia living I want this story to serve as a tribute to his gre&tness, and if dead, let it go as an epitaph on his unknown grave. Not one of toe four praldoU of the FreDcli republio iiao 1U origln la 1870 wm boni In raris, -