Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-11-16


stay long"
1t was II red ribbon meeting. and the mai
, was locomotive engineer, bronZed un'
! strong, having eyes full of deep determine
tion. He signed his name in n bold, plan
hnnd, tied red ribbon in his button hole
and ms he left the hall he said
''As the Lord looks down on me I'll nevel
touch liquor again"
Have You ever been .hard drinker 2
queried a man who walked beside the en-
Gincer.
mo. Fact is, | was never drunk in my
life. I've swallowed considerable whiskey
but | never went far enough to get drunk
shouldn't miss it, or he the worse of fol
an hour. if all the intoxicating drinks i'll the
world were drained into the ocean,"
'But You seemed very eager to sign the
pledge"
so WAS and I'll keep it through thick
and thin, and talk temperance to every man
on the road"
"You must have strong reasons ?"
"Well, If you'll walk down to the depot
I'll tell you story on the way. Ii hasn I
been inithe papers, and only few of US
knows the facts. lou know | run the night
express on the b road. We always
have Mt least two sleepers and coach, and
some times We havo as many as two hundred
|
and pretty straight thoa. h there is bad
spot or two. The night express has the
right a. way and We make inst time. Its no
rare thing Tor us to skim along Mt the rutc of
fifty miles nm hour for thirty or forty miles,
and We rarely 60 below thirty One night
| pulled out of Detroit with two sleepers
two coaches. and the baggage and mail cars
| Nearly all the berths in both sleepers were
full, and most of the seats in the coaches
We're occupied. 1t was dark night threat
ening all the time to rain, and a lonesome
wind whistled around the cabs as We left
| the city behind We were seventeen min
utes late, and that meant fast time all
through.
''Well, he continued, after n moment,
everything ran along all right until after
midnight. The main track was kept clenr
for us the engine was in good spirits, and
We ran into D rs smooth as you please.
The express coming east should meet us
fifteen miles west of D, but the operator
Mt the station had failed to receive his usual
report from below. This was strange, and
Yet it was not, and after little consultation
the conductor sent me ahead. We were to
keep the main track, while the other train
would run i'll on the side-,rack. Night after
night our time had been SO close that We
did not keep them waiting over two min
utes, and were generally in sight when they
switched in.
when we left D We went ahead at n
rattlinG speed, fully believing that the
other train would be on time. Nine miles
from d is the little village of Parto.
There was telegraph station there, but the
operator has no night work. He closed his
Office and went home about nine O'Clock,
and any messages on the wires Tor him
were held above or below Until next morn
I L. 81. \
red lantern swinging between the rails.
Greatly astonished, | pulled up the heavy
train and got a bit of news that almost
lifted me out of my boots 1t was Gods
mercy. as plain as this big depot. 1t was
the operator who was swinging the lantern.
He had been aroused from sleep by the
whistle of II locomotive2 when there wasn't
one within ten miles OF him. lie heard the
toot toot toot while he WAS dressing,
and all the way MS he ran to the station,
thinking he had been sgnalled. Lo there
was no train there. Everything was as
quiet as the gra We. The man heard his |
instrument clicking away, and leaning his
head against the window he caught these |
words as they went through to ID
For Gods sake. switch the Eastern ex-
press off quick Engineer ON the Western
express crazy drunk, and running mile a
minute :"
The operator sisnalled US nj once. We
had left d nine miles away, and the
message couldn't have reached us any
where except at Parto. 1t was time we
were there, lacking nne minute. We lost
two or three minutes in understanding the
situation and consulting. and had jus; got
ready to switch in where We were when
the headlight of the other train came in
view. Great heavens ! but how that train
was flying. The bell was ringing, sparks
flying and the whistle screaming, and not
man OF us could raise n hand. We stood
there on the Innin track, spell-bound us it
Were. There wouldn't have been time, any
how either to have switched i'll or rot the
passengers ont. Ii wasn't over sixty
seconds before that train was upon us
prayed to God for IL breath or two ami then
shut my eyes and waited for death, for |
hadn't the strength to get out of the cab
"Well. sir, Gods mercy was revealed agin.
Forty rods above us that locomotive Jumped
he track and was piled into the ditch in an
lwful mass. Some of the coaches were con-
'iderably smashed, and some of the people
BADLY bruised, but no one WAS killed, and of
curse our train escaped entirely. Satan
must have cared for Big Tom, the other
'ngineer. He didn't get bruise but was
up and across the field like deer, screaming
md shTieking like Il mad tiger. II took five |
men to bind him after he WAS run down. and |
o-day he is the worst lunatic in the State.
Tom was n good fellow" continued the
ngineer, after IL pause, land he used to take
MS glass pretty regularly. | never saw him,
Trunk but liquor kept working away on his
leryes till at last the tremens caught HIM,
rhen he had n hundred and fifty lives behind
lis engine. He broke out all of n sudden
he fireman WAS thrown OF the engine, all
team turned on, and then Tom danced and {
croamed. and carried, on like fend. He'd
ave made awful work, sir, but for Gods
mercy. I'm trembling Yet over the way he &
anne down for us, and I'll never think of it
ithout my heart jumping for my throat
'obody asked me TO sign the pledge, but | 1
'anted my name there. One such night on {
he road has turned me against Intoxicating {
rinks, and now that l have got this red nib G
on on, | can talk to the boys with better
ice. Tom is raving as | told you, and the
octors say he'll never get his reason again. !
'ood night, SIR my train goes III ten min I
tes." a