Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-07-10

Never mind your printed orders
| order you 10 go ahead
I'VE ell, | wouldu't anal he was aw.
'ttiiy mad, and -Wore that shouldn't
run week longer Oh that road
Probably. after he had cooled down
he ~ouid have never said word
about the matter, for he WAS clearly
III the wrong. Three minutes is too
close shave on time when six OF
seven hundred peoples lives are in.
tef@steu, and regular printed orders
are "a he obeyed till other regular
printed orders are issued. But |
Thought, at first, he'd complain IL
The President, and / was bound 10
have the first talk, if possible.
The President heard my story
ana sent Tor the uperintcndent He
denied that lie had ofotG5cd me at all
or made ANY threats, but said that
lie had told me L had ten minutes to
spare. - ii WAS Il question of We
| iaciiy, ami | began TO think | wouiu
be sent back To rum nay train, and
That running train on that road
wouldn't Ia my business very long.
All AT once "A gentleman who had
heeli sitting with a newspaper held
ia ffont or his face at the lack of
the office, came forward,
MIR. President said ne Il han
pencd to be standing by these two
men when they had that talk. The
conductor is right, and the other
man lies. III the train had gone on |
had made up my mind To walk back
To. The last station tie chance of an
accident seemed so great
| "Ihen the President 7g0e mad.
| Why, good heayensp said he,
my Wife and family were on thai
| train Mr.. Superintendent, 90 and
| draw your wages 10 the iir.t of next
month, and leave the road st0a0 -
! Eut sometimes conductor is nut
III such q position that the rules
won't guide him. Then the reapnn-
sibillty II very great. L remember
once being SO placed, and / thought
nj the time that nly hair ought To
! have turned white that night with
/ anxiety.
1T WAS when the Hudson River
Railroad was just built. There was
no telegraph along the line then. ana
every thing was quite primitive COM
pareo To what ii IL now. The fiaemen
had got on sort of a strike about
those days, too, so that you trusted
| IL luck for safe running. | was run
ming sort of way-train between
/ New York and Ioughkeepsio then.
/ Running An express is much pleas
anter than running a way YOU NAV
/ easily Imagine. An express some
/ times don't stop Tor an hour at "a
| time, and, AFTER you've worked your
| coaches once, you have nothing to
/ do but To sit down and earn Your
money that easy way. Then, when
you reach the next station, ii your
/ brakemen mind their business, they
cam .ell you how many passengers
| have got into each coach, ana then
| you are always able to pick them
/ out, because they haven't got the
! setticd air of the Old passengers.
! But a Way-train conductor has much
/ harder work.
"Well, | ran the train out OF New
| ork one afternoon, and l had for
! the driver of the engine Il man Wh0
/ was famous for tho accurate way in
| which he would come up to his sta
/ tIonS. lie would stop any named
/ coach almost 10 Il foot where he said
| he would; but on this occasion he
/ appeared to have very poor luck.
/ He ran past hia stations and had to
/ back down, and then again hc would
/ stop 80 short that the engine would
/ he in front Of the station and the rear
I coach an eighth of a mile back, and
I il raining hard, too. Then he'd start
/ getting out. SO we kept running
/ behind time all the while. There
/ was a sort Of lightning express cnme
/ o't OF New York about an hour after
us, ami We we've gradually working
! back into tfs tima.
| eve got near FishkiII, and, hay
/ Ing made an awful bad shot at a
/ depot, said To the baggage-ma-te ter !:
/ Mack has bad luck at making his
stations 10 day. Wonder " hats the
matter 20
/ ''The baggage master turned round
on lne quickly and said:
"'lf YOU want To know what
{ think, I think Mack il drunk =
'''it can't be, says 1, 4 never saw
/ him ton, Ii IA drop of liquor or smell
nf II in any way
That's so,' said the man, 'hut
/ think he's drunk to-day. He WAS in
/ the ear here little while ago, and
/ picked up all the brakemen's lam
/ terms and slnng them in bunch ut
me. | tOdged, and they " ent out of
/ the ear door and smashed. Then
I he cUck led and went back To the en-
! gine.'
Il didn't like the idea of a drunken
engineer, but had to laugh at the
/ fate OF the lanterns. If | had known
+ how 4 was going tO ssrnan over their
I fate soon, | wouldn't have laughed
I then.
/ "When | got above Fishkill, i
! thought III let those who got Ola at
one of the little stations ride free To
4 the next statIsn, while L rode on the
engine and investigated.
$50 | got on the Corning and
+ Mack looked black enough Instead
of us civil "a usual. / loked him
about his bad luck in making his
/ stations and he prowled out 4 curse.
+ / asked him il lac knew how nearly
/ ne had got back into the lightning
/ express time, and he said he knew
/ his own business. The man was ev-
I identity drunk and surly. | happen
ell to put my hand down Hnder the
/ cushion of the seat and felt a bottle.
( Pulling the cork out / smelled whis-
( ky, and quietly threw ii overheard.
T Hut Mack SAW me and cursed he for
destroying his property. W hat did
yoa throw that hottie away for; ii
i wasn't your rum p lac said, at the
+ end OF an awful swear.
I'm tell you Why said l I'm
conductor of this train, and you are
+ too drunk to do your business right,
and you'd get worse aud worse II you
/ had a bottle
Then he grinnel a savage sort al "A
+ grin, and quieted down into silent
state, but he looked dangerous about
the eyes
You're conductor of this train,
arc yaa , ifIl show Won how much