The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-08-03
raE ENGINE-DRIvER,s STORY.
BY WILL CARLETON.

Since you're all Dedf1A 0oHA4 CA A4N5 - -
me up without it.
my plan; ,, - ol,ooso -
Nor / ehant fy the track, athoush you ol1Oo'o -
Goubt it, ~
BAIT push ahead to my station as fast as ever
can.
ecompanv please excuse me for all my feeltn' an
Likewise from whistlin' at crossins. or hatin' to
never vas On the expainlt sets mans drivers to
wbe snepa fellow loses as much as he everu
gain.
johnnie MCGEE was my fireman; fine young
planted eJ his hoof on a footboard or swore at sui
Always sat at his place; an pleasant an kind an
without any gauge on his pocket, or steam-brake
onto his soul.
To,,nnie he had a wife; she somehow must've be-
For She was old an ugly-how old 1 do not know ;
The boys was always a-Wonder1n' as how she ever
had switched him:
orders to show.
Twenty times he had slipped her. an left the old gal
Twenty times she had followed, an stuck to him
Like bur;
Wherever he might run she was al'ays sure to find
him,
For, poor ola girl, she loved MN, allhough Ne
All the legal remedies that surfeited folks is tryin'
Johnnie held in horror an sent her half his pay !;
An though the lawyers offered square divorce for
the buyin',
He made no strike for freedom, except to keep
out of her way.
But when Johnnie fred with he was feelln' some
what better,
An somehow had an idea he'd nothing more to
fear;
For he'd had nothing from her-not even the ghost
As he in confidence told me-for something more
than year;
Till just a-startin', one night, from one
she climbed up onto the footboard, a-lookin'
wrinkled an wan,
An went for John, an Rugged him an kissed him
Like all creation,
An the more he tried to shake her the more the
old gal hung on.
Break-Neck bridge is a high one-a hundred foot
from the bottom;
Nothin' when you've lighted, except the rock an
sand
AM just we struck the center, if the Old Boy
had got 'em,
They both went off together before I could raise
hand.
OF in the pitch-black darkness they both on EN-
went a-fyin'
OF in the pitch-black darkness they both pulled
out for death;
AM when we found 'em, the woman was down on
the rocks a-dyin',
am John had catched on timber, ali bruised an
out of breath.
Now 1 said, when opened my valves, perhaps you
wouldn't believe me,
Though why you shouldn't I'm certain is more
than can think,
For eyes is eyes, an mine don't often go to deceive
me, Eat
an I've never doused my headlight in any kind o.
drink.
But Johnnie laid Off month, an much us fellows
missed him;
But when at last he was able to make his run once
more,
The ghost of a wrinkled woman climbed up in the
cab an kissed him,
AM when we came to g the Break-Neck," went off
as she did before.
An this singular woman ran down on us all
summer;
Every once in a short time she'd dash upon us
quick,
Till John remarked to me: There's no 'scapin'
from her;
I'll have to jump the engine; I'm gettin' tired an
sick"
An John he wrote to me: "If I can believe my
senses,
For ghosts regular deadheads, an clear of all
Pm gon to blow my brains out, an try an get a
show"
From which I've learned this lesson: BE sure an
never try fort
To run from desperate woman you have treated
wrong
She'll follow you up and catch you, although she
has to die fort,
An though you run to the Devil, she'll manage to
go along.
-RGltCGy Age