The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-10-31
SEvEKTY-FlVE MILES AN HOUR.

I
in the saddle, right in a sleeping car,
half day doing business, half day in
bed, and was, after supper, enjoying ci-
gar and newspaper, in the reading room
of the R. House in F., Indiana. The
newspaper was uninteresting, or else [
was rather sleepy-and [ guess it was a
little of both, so that [ soon neglected it,
to watch the fantastic curling of the smoke
from my fine favored Principe. | didn' t
| feel much like talking, and felt still less
like reading; but [ did feel as if | would
like exceedingly well to hear a good
story.
l had barely come to this conclusion
and commenced wishing for some one of
my acquaintances to amuse me until the
time was up for the train, which was to
take me to c., when l recognized in the
person who sat next to me, fellow trav-
eller in the sleeping car Of the night
before.
He was very agreeable looking little
man, with clear, gray eye, light hair,
sandy whiskcrs and smiling mouth. In
deed he had SO much the appearance of
the man that [ would ike to hear tell a
story, that 1 thought Dame Fortune had
smiled upon me, when he recognized me
with genial
"How dye do, Stranger ?"
l returned his salutation, and asked
him some common place question about
how he had enjoyed the ride we took to-
gether.
He said something in reply about the
running being too fast for the poor track ;
and from this the conversation ran upon
fast travelling in genera! for some time
At last l remarked that sixty miles an
hour was the most speedy travelling that
[ had ever done. Whereupon my friend
informed me, with pleasant but knowing
smile, that he had travelled considerable
faster than that, and, in fact, faster than
he had ever heard of, beside.
OF course | was anxious to know where
when and how he had done it; and after
the modest assurance that he feared his
tale would not be interesting, my friend
relieved my anxiety by relating the fol-
lowing story:
"I am railroad engineer. In fifty-sev-
en-, during the great panic, [ was running
on the f. &. G. r. r. The railroad COM
panies were growing tender in all direc-
tions Every day we heard of new fail
ures and quite often in quarter where
we least expected it, Our road was looked
upon as one of the most substantial In the
nation nobody seemed to have any great
fear that it would fail to survive the gen
eral smash up. But yet | did not fully
share in the general confidence. Wages
were cut down arrearages collected; and
great many other little matters seemed
to indicate to me that the road had got
into rather deeper water than was agree
able, all around. Among other things,
the master mechanic had told me IN the
Spring, that the company had ordered
four first quality Taunton engines for the
Fall passenger business. The road was
put in the very best condition, and other
preparations were made, to cut down the
time, and put the trains through quicker
than was ever known before, when the
new engines should come. Well, there
was but one of the new engines came.
"I said there was but one engine came,
and she was, in my opinion, altogether the
best ever turned out at the Taunton
Works. And this is as much as could be
said in praise of any engine. She was
put in my charge Immediately, with the
understanding that she was mine.
1t was Saturday when she came out OF
the shop, and I was to take special train
up to Y. The train was to carry up
the president, and several of the other
officers of the road, to meet some officers
of another road which crossed ours there,
and arrange some important business with
them. | had no trouble at all, making
forty miles an hour going out. The en-
CINE handled herself most BEAUTIFULLY