09 December 2013

An Assault of Pigeons - West of Omaha

Nor has the day gone by when the traveler could come home with wild and thrilling tales of outrageous adventure, stories of wonders witnessed and startling phenomena experienced. Not much. The loquacious traveller still turns up and blithely reels off his little romance. here is one from a passenger fresh from the glorious climate of California. He came in on a through train from San Francisco on the 5th inst. with the story that when the train was 20 miles west of Omaha, a flock of wild pigeons — myriad in numbers, apparently — made a dash into one of the Pullman cars, knocking over the men, tangling themselves in the store hair of the women and creating a matchless consternation, such even as Jesse James could not have excelled in his palmy days. We have illustrated this story after the sketch of the veracious traveller. The reader will of course be perfectly willing to believe that the markets in Omaha were overstocked with wild pigeons shortly after the arrival of that train, and all the brakemen were flush the next day.

A train assulted by pigeons.

A veracious traveller's sketch of the rush of a flock of wild pigeons into a palace car near Omaha, Neb.

October 28, 1882. An assault of pigeons. National Police Gazette 41(266): 13.