The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-05-05
Incident in the Life of a Locomotive
Engineer.

the middle of August, 1858, the cars
were very crowded, and my companion
in the same seat with me, / found out
to be Locomotive Engineer, and in
the course of our conversation he made
the remark, he hoped he had run his
last trip upon Locomotive.
Upon making bold to ask him his
reasons, he gave me the following story.
and since then l have found out to be
strictly true:
"Five years since / was running
upon the n. Y. c. r. r. Ny run was
from B-to R. 1t was the Light.
ming Express Train, and it was what its
name denotes, for it was fast-a very
fast run, and if l do say it, the old Tor
nado could go. / have seen her throw
her six foot drivers so as to be almost
invisible to the eye. And let me here
remark, it is supposed by many that
railroad engineers are hard-hearted
set of men; their lives are hard it's trne.
but do claim to have as fine feeling,
and a heart that can sympathize with
the unfortunate as any man that
DuJ 10 INV SJOrV,
About half q mile from the village of
B there is nice little cottage, but
a few feet from the track. At that time
a young married couple lived there.
They had one child, little boy about
four years old, a bright black-eyed.
urly-headed little chap as you ever
saw. / had taken great deal of inter-
est in the little fellow, and had thrown
candy and oranges to him from the
train, and was sure to see him peeping
through the fence when my train passed.
One fine sunny afternoon we were
behind time and running fast, nor did
not stop at B, and was to make
up one hour before reaching R.
We came up at a tremendous speed,
and when sweeping around the curve,
my eye following the track, not over
two hundred feet ahead sat the little
fellow playing with kitten which he
held in his lap. At the sound of our
approach he looked up and laughed,
clapping his little hands in high glee at
the affrighted kitten as it ran from the
track. Quicker than the lightning that
blasts the tall pine upon the mountain
top, L whistled down brakes and re-
versed my engine, but knew it was i'm
possible to stop. Nobly did that old
engine try to save him. The awful
straining and writhing of its iron dri-
vers told but too plainly of the terrific
velocity we had attained. / was out of
the cab window and down on the cow
catcher in flash. The little fellow
stood still; l motioned him off and
shouted; his little blue eyes,opened wide
with astonishment, and merry laugh
was upon his lips. held my breath as
we rushed upon him, made desperate
attempt to catch him, but missed and
as his little body passed heard the
feeble cry of sMlother!" and the for
ward trucks crushed his body to atoms.
| Oh, God, that moment! I may live,
sir, to be an old man, but the agony of
that moment can never be erased from
my memory. The cars stopped some
rods from the spot, and | ran back as
soon as possible. His mother saw the
train stop and a fearful foreboding
flashed upon her at once. She came
rushing frantically to the spot where we
stood. Never shall 1 forget the look
she gave me as she beheld her. first
born shapless mass. l would have
given my whole existence to have
avoided that moment! 1 have seen
death in all its forms upon railroads :;
L have seen men, women and children
mangled and killed. have seen all
this, but that little innocent boy! as
he looked up in my face, and was killed
almost in my arms-it unnerved me,
and from that day made a solemn
vow. never to run locomotive more.
That young mother is now in the
!: Utica Lunatic Asylum. From the hour
her boy was killed reason had left its
throne"
| He stopped and wiped the tears from
his eyes, and said, You may think it
weak in me to shed tears, but I cannot
| help it." "No," l replied, sbut think
it noble; and sir, would to God every
man had heart as large as yours"
i l have often thought, since how few
those who give one passing thought of
the man of strong nerve and stout arm
who guides them through darkness and
storms, with the speed of the wind
safely to their journeys end. Thay do
not for moment turn their attention
to the iron monster that is dragging
them forward with fearful velocity to
meet friends or relations, or home and
all its loved ones. They do not otrealize
that the man who guides the fiery
monster holds all the precious lives at
his command, and that the least negli-
gence upon his part could cause sorrow
and mourning in thousand homes that
are now waiting the return of absent
loved ones.- Cleveland Reyieso.
WHAT WE DRINK.-Dr. Hiram Cox,
of Cincinnati, has been analyzing various
kinds of wine, particularly certain spec
linens of fine old port. sherry andm
deria. He.says that theynone of them
contained one drop of the juice of the
grape. The best of the port wine was
diluted with sulphuric acid, colored
with cedar, berry juice, alum, sugar
and natural spirits. The best of the
sherry wine was a sort. of pale malt
sulphuric acid, from the bitter almond
oil, With a. per ocentage of alcoholic
spirits from brandy.seT The basis of the