The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-10-12
Chat " itM the Conductor.

1t is not often man loses anything by
kindness. ] know little matter of this
sort saved my life, and perhaps the lives of
many others ut the same time.
How was that ?" asked we of our mod
el conductor.
- Why, we had an Irishman on this road
watching the tunnel 1t was warm wealth
cr, so he used to 20 into the tunnel to keep
cool. / rather think he used to take lit
tie liquor when he was lonesome; any way,
he had down on the track one day to listen
for the cars. He fell asleep, and very in-
prudently got his head cut off by the ex-
press train Well, there was the last Of
the Irishman. There was the devils own
row in that shanty when we took the poor
fellow up, and got away as fast as we de-
GENTLY could, for you know it is not agreea-
Bile to he surrounded with distressed fam
lily when you are neither doctor, nurse Or
preacher. Somehow was always sorry
when passed that place; of course l felt
as if-nOt exactly the same thing-but just
as bad, might happen to me some day, and
then thcrc'd be another row in the family.
/ told nv wife about it, she sent the family
some little things.
The widow of the dead Irishman was q
Catholic, and as was on very fast train,
would sometimes take up the old woman
ON Sunday, and carry her to church at NJ.
/ somehow thought it was satisfaction to
her to 90 to church, for she had but little
chance anyhow. did not expect to get
anything for it in this world, and expect
ed they had so much scored against me in
the other that it wouldn't amount to any
thing there.
This 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 turn
ing curve, the engineer saw waving
light on the track, and we soon heard some
one ahead shouting. was then out Oh the
platform. The engineer stopped the engine
and Stacked up. We got out and went
ahead in the dark to see what was the
matter. There it was A large land slide
had fallen across the track near the shanty
of that old Irish woman. She had built
UP 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
chunks of fire like a revolving lighthouse,
and there was the little Irish carrying brush
like so many little beavers. She had
watched all night in the cold. But for her
in another moment we should have run in
to a pile of dirt and stones as big as Bar
NUNS hotel. l should have got a pit
ticket certain, for l was On the platform
What would have become Of the passen-
gers and train you can guess as well as
can"
We expressed hope that the poor wo-
man had been properly rewarded.
"The passengers made up about eighty
dollars, the company afterwards gave her
the shanty rent free, the brcakmen and ell
gineers bought her a COW, and she made
out very well But when l handed the
money to her that night, she said: "Gin-
tlemen and ladies, I'm thankful and may
We niver know the want of what We give
me. But what did was mostly on ac-
count of him there. He was kind and
thoughtful to the poor and afflicted, and
III watched till l froze before harm
should have come to him, If could have
helped it,"