The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1870-04-01
BIDDEFoRD, ME-, FRIDAY
courting girl on the line of the road l
afterwards found out, and had IN engage
mcnt to 60 to ball with her that night,

| cO hC osssS WY i"s' J
and when l locked surprised, he says
"rm tho superintendent of this road, and
I tell you, you've time to get oyer this
bit of single track and have three minutes
to spare before the down train reaches 1t.
have calculated and kloto." .
"I've got my printed orders, Mr.. Super
intendcnt," said /, but he broke right in
"Nevcr mind your printed orders, Tor
der you to go ahead" -. ,.s
Well, wouldn't and he was awfully
mad. and swore that / shouldn't. run a
week longer ON that road. Probably, af-
ter he had cooled down. he would have
never said word about the matter, for
he was clearly in the wrong. Three min
utes Is too close q shave on time when six
or seven hundred peoples lives are inter
csted. and regular printed orders are to be
obcyed till other regular printed orders
are issued. But thought, Mt first, he'd
complain to the President, and I was
bound to have the Lrst talk, If possible.
The President heard my story, and sent
for the superintendent. He denied that
he had ordered mo Mt all, or made any
threats, but said that he had told mo had
ten minutes to spare. So 1t was a ques-
ton of veracity, and I began to think 1
should not be sent back to run my train, and
that running train on that road wouldn't
be my business very long.
All at once gentleman who had been
sitting with n newspaper held in front of
his face at the back Of the Office, came
forward.
"Mr. President" said he, IL happened
to bc standing by these two men when
they had their talk. The conductor Is
right and the other man lies. Ifthe train
had gone on, had made up my mind to
walk back to the last station; the chance
of an accident seemed so great"
Then the President Uas mad.
"Why. good heaven!" said he, my wife
and family were on that train. Mr.. SUI
pertinent, goand draw your wages to tho
first of next month, and leave tho road
noto +" .-.
"But sometimes conductor Is put in
such position that the rules won't guide
him. Then the responsibility is very
great. remember once being SO placed.
and l thought at tho time that my hair
ought to have turned white that night
with anxiety, .tre. = -.tf-.
"It was when the Hudson River Rail
road was just built. There was no tele-
graph along the line then, and everything
was qdifc primitive compared to what It
is now. The tlng-men had got on STt
of strike about those days, too, so that
you trusted to luck for safe running. /
was running sort of way-train between
New Yorkand Poughkeepsie then. Run
ming an express is much pleasanter than
running way you may easily imagine.
"Wcll, ran the train out ofNew York
one afternoon, and ! had for tho driver OF
the engine man who was famous for the
accurate way in which he would como up
to his stations. He would stop any named
coach almost to n foot where hesaid he
would but on this occasion he appeared
to have very poor luck. He ran past his
stations and had to back down, and then
again he would stop so short that the en-
gine would be in front of the station and
the rear coach an eighth Of a mile back,
and 1t raining hard, too. Then he'd start
up again, just as the passengers were get
ting out. So we were kept running be-
hind time all the while. There was sort
of lightning express came out of New
York about an hour after us, and wc were
gradually working back into It's timo. r
I'VE gotncar Fishkill, and having made
an awful bad shot ut depot, l said to the
baggage master Mack has bad luck max
ing his stations to-day Wonder what's
the matter"
"The baggage-master turned round on
me quickly and said
"If you want TO know what think, i
think Mack is drunk ~.
1T can't be-" says I, i never saw him
touch drop Of liquor or smell of 1t In
any way
That's So" said the man but 1 think
he's drunk to-day. He was in the car
here little while ago, and picked up all
the brakemen's lanterns and slunS them
in u bunch at me. i lodged, and they
went ont of the car door and smashed.
Then he chucklcd and went back to the
engine 90
IL didn't like the idea Of n drunken en-
gineer, but had 10 laugh ut the fate Of the
lanterns. If l had known how / was
going to .groan over thoir fate soon, /
wouldn't have laughed then. fHs,
"when I gotabove Fishkill, ! thought
I'd let those who got on at one Of tho lit
tie stations ride free to the next station,
while rode ON the engine and investiga-
ted. rls
$50 got on tho "Cornia," and Mack
looked black enough instead ofas civil as
usual. Looked him about his bad luck In
making his stations, and hc growlcd out n
curse. asked him II he knew how near
ly he had got in to the lightning express
time. The man was evidently drunk and
surly. i happened to put my hand down
under the cushion of tho seat and felt
a bottle. Pulling the cork out, l smcllcd
whiskey, and quietly threw 1t overheard.
But Mack saw mo and cursed mo for de-
stroying his property.
"what did you throw that bottle away
a.