The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-04-16
Ghe oirgilia State 5ouraal
WEDNESDAY EvEG. APRIL ls. 1873.
Johnny BARTHOLOMEW.
BY DIR. THOMAS ruNS sxsI1sH.


The ioarnals this morning are full of a tale
of a terrible ride through tunnel 6y ran
And people are Called on to note ana admire
How a hundred o. more, through the smoke
Vera horne from All peril to limbs and to lives |
Mothers saved 10 their children, and husbands
Rpt of him who performed such a noble deed,
o mite little the journalists give us to read.
In truth, of this hero SO piucSy and bold,
There is nothing except. in few syllables told,
His name, which is Johnny BARTHOLOMEW.
Away in Nevada-tl,ey don't tell us where.
Nor does IL much matter--a railway Is there,
Which winds in and out TIN ough the cloyen ra-
With gnmpses at times of the widest of scenes,
Now passing bridge seeming fine rs thread,
Now shooting past cliffs that impend Ger the
head,
Now plunging some black-throated tuhnel
within,
Whose darkness is reused at the catter and din;
And ran every day with its train o er the road,
An engine that steadily dragged on Its load.
And was driven by Johnny Bartholomew.
With throttle.valve down, he was slowing the
train
While the sparks fell around and behind him
like rain,
AS he came to spot where a curve to the right
Brought the black, yawning mouth of a tunnel
And peerine ahead with far-seeing ken,
Felt quick sense of danger come over him then.
Was train on the track 2 No! A peril as dire
The further extreme of the tunnel on fire
And the volume of smoke, as it gathered and
shook fearful dismay from each dun-colored
But daunted not Johnny Bartholomew.
Beat faster his heart, though its current stood
still,
And his nerveafsslt jar but no tremulous thrill;
And his eyes keenly cleaned through their part
ly closed lashes,
And his lips-not with fear-took the color o.
ashes,
.sIf we falter these people behind as are dead
SO close the doors, hreman-we'n send he
Crowd on the steam till she rattles aud swings !!
Open the throttle valve! give her wngsP
Shouted he from his post in the engineers room
driving onward perchance to a terrible doom,
This man they call Johnny Bartholomew.
Firm grasping the bell-rope and holding hi
breath,
On, on through the Vale OF the Shadow of Death
TN, on through that horrible cavern of hell,
Through flames that arose and through timber
that fell,
Through the eddying smoke and the serpents ,
That writhed and Missed in their anguish an
with rush and roar like the wild tempest
blast
To the free air beyond them in safety the
passed
While the clang of the bell and the steam pipe
shrill yell,
Told the joy at escape from that undergrour
hell,
Ofthe man they called Johnny Bartholomew
Did the passengers get up service of plate
Did some oily tongod orator at the man prate
Women kiss him? Young children cling fast
his knees2
Stout men in their rapture his brown fnge
squeeze
And where was he born Is he handsome
Has he
A wife for his bosom, child for his knee 7
Is he young Is he od2 Is he tanf Is
shortf
Well, ladies, the journals tell naught of the so
And all that they give us about him to-day,
After telling the tale in commonplace WA y,
ls-the mans name is Johnny Bartholome
Hearth and Home