New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-07-08
The local writer for the Washington Rupublic

tells the following story
Guar WITH THE CONDUCTOR. -" It's not often
man loses anything by kindness. l know a
little matter of tha' sort saved my life, and
perhaps the lives of any others ut the same
time
GLOW was that :" asked we of our friend
| Rawlings, the model conductor,
"Why, we had an lrishman on this road
watching y tunnel 1t was warm weather, so
| he used to 20 into the tunnel to keep cool.
| rather think he used to take little liquor when
| he was lonesome any way, he lald down on the
| track one day to listen for the cars He fell
asleep, and very mprudently got his head cut
| off by the express train. Well, there was the
last Of that Irishman. There was the DEVILS
own row in his shanty when we took the poor
fellow up, and We got away rs soon rs we de-
Gently could, for YOU know it's not agreeable to
| be surrounded with "A distracted family when
you're neither a doctor nor n nurse, noe u
| preacher Somehow | was always sorry when
| | passed that place; OF course | felt MS if-not
exactly the same thing--but just us bad might
happen to me some day, and then thered be
another row in a family. | told my wife about
| it, and she sent the family some little things
The widow OF the dead Irishman was Catholic,
and, as was then on very fast train, would
sometimes take up the old woman on Sunday
and carry her to church at Martinsburg |
| somehow thought it was satisfaction to her to
70 10 church, for she had but little chance in
the world, any how. | certainly did not expect
to get anything for it in this world and | ex-
! pected they had SO much scored against me in
the other, that it wouldn't amount to anything
| there.
.That was during the summer One night
the next winter it was very cold, and the
mountains were covered with snow; we were
| running to make time, when, on turning n
curve, the engineer saw a waving light on the
track. and we soon heard some one ahead
| shouting | was then out on the platform The
! engineer Stacked up and stopped the engine
and we got out and went ahead in the dark 10
| see what was the matter There it was. A
| large land slide had fallen across the track,
near the shanty of that old Irishwoman. She
| had built up a large fire and watched for the
| train, for the curves were SO sharp that we
might have been upon the slide before We could
see it. So, when we run up, there was the
old lady, with her calico cap, swinging the
chunk Of fire like a revolving light and
there were the little Irish, carrying brush like
| so many beavers She had watched all that
night in tile cold But for her, in another
minute We should have run into pile of dirt
ma stone as bic as Barnum's Hotel should
have got pit ticket certain, for was on
! the platform. " hat would have become Of the
passengers anil train you can guess as well as
| can"
We expressed hope that the old widow had
| been properly rewarded.
! :. The passengers made up about eighty dol
lars the company afterwards gave her shauty
rent free, the hrahemen and engineers bought
her cow and she made out very well But
when | handed the money to her that night, she
said Gintemen and ladies, I'm thankful,
and may We niyer know the want of what We
give me But what did was mostly on ac-
count of him, there He was kind and thought