The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-08-02
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-Rneinesr.
Get re. PIT my haa4e dawn first-1.
can't stay long, = ,.s,;,:sss 81 - =. fs y
It was red ribbon meeting, and the
man was q locomotive engineer, bronzed3
and strong, and having eyes full of deep
determination. He signed his name in
bold, plain hand, tied a red ribbon lin
his botton-hoIe, and as he left the hall he
said: go i J.. -. g~[sI,-. . ]..,s
j, GAS. the Lord looks down upon me, I'll
never touch liquor again. !. 1t =,
"Have you been,;ta, hard. ,drinkcr?"
queried a man who VIII : q9l beside the
mo Fact ISL Is, IL was "a, never drunk in
my life. I've swallowed ..consid erable
whisky, obuti1 never went far enough to
get drunk. I shouldn't miss it or be the
worse off for ain hour if all the intoxicat-
ing drink in the world was drained into
the ocean" >. IT, ~, .,:,
"But you seemed a: :. eager g to sign the
pledge" =: :. -"
$50 was, and I'll keep it through,
thick and thin, and talk temperance to
every man on the road"
You must have strong rcasons?'' +"
"Well, If you'll walk down to the de-
pot I'll tell you a story on the way. It
hasn't been in the papers yet, and only a
few Of, us know the facts. You know l
run the night express on the B---road:
We always have at least two sleepcrs and
a, coach, and sometimes VIC, have as many
US two hundred passengers. It's good
road, level as floor, and straight, though
there is a bad spot or two. The light
express has the right, o. way, and we
make fast time. It's no rare thing for US
toskim along at the rate of fifty miles an
hour for thirty or forty miles, and we
rarely go below thirty. One night l
pulled out of Detroit with two sleepers,
two coaches, and the baggage and. mail
cars. :: -:
Nearly all the bertl,s in both slccpers
were full, and most of the seats in the
coaches were occupied. 1t was a dark
night, threatening all the time to rain,
and lonesome wind whistled around the
cab as we left the city behind. We were
seventeen minutes late, and that meant
fast time all the way through.
SWELL" he continued after a moment,
"everything ran along oil right up to
midnight: The main track was kept
clear fer us; the engine was in good spir-
its, and We ran iuto D. as smooth as
you please. The express coming east
should meet us fifteen miles west of D.,
but the operator at that station had failed
to receive his usual report from below.
That 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 on the side track. Night after night
our time had been so close that we did
not keep them waiting over two minutes,
and were generally in sight when they
switched in.
"When we left D. we went ahead
at rafting speed, fully believing that
the other train would be on time. Nine
miles from D. is the little village of
Parto. There is 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 for him were held above or below
until next morning. When l sighted
<Alo SAAl"u L saw q lCN litiltCiu SNluHIIlg
between the rails. Greatly astonished,
pulled up the heavy train and got bit Of
news that almost lifted me out Of my
boots. It was Gods mercy; as plain as
this big depot. 1t was the operator who
was swinging the lantern. He had been
reused from sleep by the whistles of a
locomotive. when there wasn't one within
ten miles of him. lie heard the foot
toot! foot! while he was dressing, and all
the way as he ran to the station, thinking
he had been signalcd. Lo! there was no
train there. Everything was as
quiet as the grave. The man heard his
instrument clicking: away, and leaning
his ear against the window he caught
these words as they went through to
D.:
"For Gods sake, switch the Eastern
express off quick! Engineer on the
Western express crazy drunk, and run
ming a mile a minutc!''
''The operator signallcd us at once,
We had left D. nine miles away, and
the message couldn't have caught US
anywhere except at Parto. Six miles
further down was the long switch. It
was time we were there, lacking. one min
ute. We lost two or three minutes in
understanding the situation and in con-
ssulting, and just 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 a hand. We stood there
on the main track, spell-bound as it were.
There wouldn't have been time, anyhow,
either to have switched in or get the pas
:sengers out. 1t wasn't over sixty Sec
onas before that train was upon us. I
prayed to God for breath or two and
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
again. Forty rods above us that loco
motive jumped the track and was piled
into the ditch in an awful mass. Some of
and some of the people badly bruised,
but no one was killed, and of course our
train escaped entirely. Satan must have
cared for Big Tom, the other engineer.
He didn't get bruise, but was up and.
across the fields like a deer, screaming
and shrieking like a mad tiger. 1t took
five men to bind him after he was run
down, and to-day he is the worst lunatic
in the State.
''Ton was good fellow" continued
the engineer, after pause, land he used
to take his glass pretty regularly. never
saw him drunk, but liquor kept working
away on his nerves till at last the tren,ens
canght him when he had hundred and