Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-12-27
MISCELLANY.
RoMANcEoFABo BooT-HEEL
Thrilling Story Of an Old Rail-
readers Perils from Frogs"
in the Track.

This morning, while two men, em
ployes of the railroad shops, were
going to their work and were walk
ing on the B. & M. II. r. track, theil
attention was attracted by a boot-hee
sticking in the "frog" of o switch, Q
short distance from the shops. They
stopped to examine it, and found tha,
| it was wedged SO tightly that it re.
quircd a smart blow of crutch Zone
Of the men had lost Lego to dislodge
it. Long nails pro.ruded from it, and
all appearance went to show that II
had taken considerable force to tear
it from the boot. at appears to me,
said one of them, fsthat some poor
fellow has had o narrow cscarc from
being run down by train here, last
night; or else he got badly frighicn-
ed and wrenchcd his .boot-heel of
when there was no occasion for it."
It reminds me" said the other in
a low tone, sof q little adventure
had a few years ago with this road.
l was then a young man, but it isn't
likely that / will ever forget it, !" and
he cast q rucful look at the empty leg
of his pants. "'rhc story is soon told"
he went on, turning the boot-heel
over in his hand as if to find inscrib-
ed upon it story similar to his own.
81 was walking on the track near OF
tumwa. It was terrible dark night
in February, and heavy snow storm
was prevailing at the time. The
snow and wind beating in my face
was sufficient to have blinded me
even in midday. 1 was walking
briskly along not dreaming of any
harm--in fact was then returning
from visit to my sweetheart, who
had that evening promised to be my
wife-whcn suddenly found my
boot-hecl fastened in the tfrog"
where a side track joined the main
track, just as this heel was fastened
there between those rails. At that
moment heard the shrill whistle of
a locomotive, and looking up the
track saw through the binding snow
a light cleaning down upon me. 1t
was an unusual hour for train, and
the idea of meeting one had not oc-
Cured to me before, but now the
awful truth flashed upon me. 1 made
a desperate effort to wrench my foot
out from the vicc-like grip of the
rails, and the horror of my position
was increased a hundred fold when
found that my greatest strength was
pOwerless to release me. The light
was SO closely upon me that its re-
Election upon the newly fallen snow
blinded me. As man will in such
positions, / thought of thousand
things in an instant; of my aged
parents, of the events of my life. and
of my promised bride; and the
thought that l should be torn from
her or be MANNED for life, was inf
nitely more horrible than the threat
ened death. But I'll not trouble you
long with this painful narrative. The
headlight was blazing like the fires
of hell right in my face. It was this
leg that was fastened" he said, swing
ing the stump back and FORTH
"Yes, yes, interrupted his compan-
ion with pale cheeks, "You just threw
yourself to one side and the engine
just severed your leg from your
body"
"Not exactly" returned the story
teller, smiling blandly upon his vic
tim. ''The truth is, sir, that the light
did not proceed from locomotive,
but from the lantern of watchman,
who happened to be coming down
the track
"And the shrill whistle that you
heard?"
"That presume came from saw
mill not far away"
"But your leg-how came you to
lose that?"
GAS many another brave man has
lost his" came the answer, with a
heavy sigh, accompanied by far
away look, as if to recall the scenes
of a battlefield; 81 fell under now
ing machine and had it chopped off,"
"Well, all l have to say is" return
ed the disgustcd companion, ~ hope
the girl went back on you and mar
ried an axe-handle maker or some
one else who could make her happy"
"No, she stuck to me-" said the ro-
mancer, sorrowfully. "She stuck to
me through good and evil report
and married me one rapturous even
ing in the merry month of May, and
now'--his voice grew husky with
emotion-"and now would give the
top Of this bald and bectling pate, if
she hadn't"
He turned away to hide his emo
ton, while his companion was busily
engaged in fastening large pin in
the end Of a cane and dropped little
in the rear.-Burlington Gazette.