Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-08-10

was persuaded to give mortgages on
their farms, to be used as collateral to
borrow money on, the railroad compa-
MES guaranteein' to pay the interest on
the mortgages, sos it would be all in
pocket with them, and never cost them
a cent. All went lovely till the mort
cages fell due. Then the companies
busted; the stock want worth cent,
an the farmers had to clear off their
mortgages themselves, or get kicked out
O house an home. 'Twa'n't more'n hu-
man natur' that they should rile at that,
an for awhile they pulled up tracks an
dumped trains into the ditch kinder pro-
miscuous, you bet!
Wal, as the fall passed the evenin's
got shorter, an | didn't git to Mary's
house till after dark Then she used to
stand in the open doorway, with the
light behind her, or, when it stormed, at
window.
"One night l pulled out dead ag in a
tearin' nor'wester. 1t was blacker'n the
inside of stone ink-bottle; an the rain
lashed ag in the cab window SOS |
couldn't see through the glass any
way
JCSC Dy MARY mouse tnCrc was quite
down grade, an at the end O that grade
a curve round the face of bluff, with a
thirty-foot fall on the outside of it-a
mighty nasty place to git ketched, ole
hoss, or I'm a liar! | thought about it
before | got there, but | says to myself,
says I:
"a man that's born to be hung'll new
er git drowned
$50 pushed ahead as usual.
Jest before coming to the Lockworth
farm | blowed my signal an stepped
back out O the cab, to see the light in
the winder. The trees was jest more n
lashin' and tossin', as | could see by the
flashes O lightnin' but thar want no
light.
" l was a-goin' to step back into the
cab, mighty disappointed, considerin it
was little thing, when crash come some
thing through the cab winder By
flash O. lightnin' | caught glimpse of
woman standin' beside the track, bare
headed an heard shrill voice scream
out:
'''Cap! Cap! Cap!
"A glance showed me the frame OF a
lantern rollin' on the cab floor. That
was enough. | knowcd it meant dan
ger.
I" To whistle for brakes like mad-to
reverse the lever-to throw the throttle
wide-to sand the track, didn't take no
time at all. An then | swung out on
the step an looked ahead, while my fire
man was strainin' the tender-brake to
the last notch.
1t seemed an age before she began to
slack up; an when she come to a STAN
still the nose of the pilot was within ten
feet of as devilish device as you ever
seen.
Half way round the curve, an in the
very worst place, a cross-piece was
spiked to the track, an on this was an
incline, pintin our way, for the pilot to
run up on.
reckon thar was some white faces
when the passengers piled out o the car
an seen that they had come within ten
feet o kingdom-come!.
Some one asked me how | found it
out in time to stop her. | didn't answer
him nary word, but jumpin' on the en-
CINE again, left the boys to remove the
obstruction while | backed the train to
the Lockworth farm.
| found her standin beside the track
jest where she was when we passed her,
the wind a-blowin' sos she could hardly
keep her feet, an the rain a-blindin Of
her almost
When I jumped down she nabbed
me by both arms, an screamed hysterlc-
alike:
oh, Cap! Oh, CapI
Then everything seemed to give way
an she was jest as limp as an empty
sack
She had overheard a farmer, what
had seen his family sot out o doors,
threaten to dump a train for the railroad
swindlers, an watchin because that
was my run, boys-had discovered the
plan to pile my train over the bank
Known that wouldn be likely to see
her signal, an remcmb'r rim some stories
Id told her, she stood close to the track
an threw the lantern through the cab
winder.
But now that it was all over, she
wiltcd completely, an | had her on my
hands.
| reckon, fellers. thar was a queer,
all-ovcrish feelin' about me, an mighty
big lump in my throat. All drippin' wet
as she was, took her up in my arms an
straddled it off toward the house. An
thinkin mighty solemn | kin tell ye--
as how she'd saved my life (not to men
ton the hull train) an what dainty lit
little thing she was to be out there all
alone in the rain an wind, waitin' for me
to come along, | fell to kissin of her
wet cheeks an lips an hair, all the way
up to the house; an she let me, clingin
to my neck an sobbin, an sayin', now
an then:
"'Oh, Cap! Oh, Cap!
An that, gents, is how yer humble
servant nopped the question"