The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-08-09
STORY OF aTHE .ENGINEER.
.'"Eet me put my maine down arst-

STORY OF. THE .ENGINEER.
9;''Eet me put my name down first
I can't stay ,longI',,d Of se-, lss k,d
IT was red ribbon meeting, and
the man was atiloeornOtive engineer,
bronzed and strong, and having eyes
full Of deep determination. He signed
his name ina bold, plain hand, tied q
red ribbon in his button. hole, and as
lie left the hall lie said 80 = -
AS the Lord looks down upon me,
I'll never touch liquor again ?p ,.f.
Have you been q hard drinker:"
queried q man who walked beside the
engineer:
mo. Fact Is, was never drunk in
my life. I've swallowed considerable
whisky, but never went far enough
TO get'drunk. Ishouldn't miss itOr be
the worse off for an hour If all the in
toxicating drink in the world was
drained into the ocean, . ne vsr8m
,,,. But you you seemed e"ger to sign the
/, so was. and I'll keep 1t through
thick and thin, and talk temperance
to every man OH the road" ~
"You must have strong reasons?'
"Well. II you'll walk down to the
depot II tell you . story on the way.
1t hasn't been I'm the papers, and only
few of US know the facts. You know
run the night express on the B.
Road. We always have two sleepers
and coach, and sometimes we have
a. many rs two hundred passengers.
It's u good road, level as "a floor and
pretty straight. though there Is d bad
spot. or two. The night express has
In etsrtNt <Ntx al nh Mt
time. It's no rare thing for us to skim
for thirty or forty miles, and we rarely
go below thirty One night Ipuiled
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 were occupied. 1t was dark
night, threatening all the time to rain,
and q 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.
"Well," he continued after mo-
ment, y" everything ran along all right
up to midnight. The main track was
kept clear for us, the engine was In
good spirits, and we ran into D. as
smooth as you please. The express
coming east should meet us fifteen
miles west of D., but the operator at
the station had failed to receive his
usual report from below. That was
strange, and yet 1t was not, and after a
little consultation the conductor sent
me ahead. We were to keep the main
track while the other train would run
in on the side track. Night after night
our time had been SO close that we did
not keep them waiting over two min
utes, and were generally I'm sight when
they switched in. c = ,t.r
"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 village
of Patio. There il telegraph station
there, but the operator has no night
work. He closed his Office and went
home about 8 O'Clock, and any mes
sages on the wires for him were held
above or below .untll next morning.
When ], sighted this, station Isaw a
red lantern swinging between the rails.
Greatly astonished,i pulled, ap the
heavy train and got o bit of news that
almost lifted me out Of my boots. 1t
was Gods mercy, as plain rs this big
depot. 1t was the operator who was
swinging the lantern. He had been
reused from sleep by the whistles of o
locomotive, when there wasn't one
withinI ten miles Of him. He heard
the toOt! toot loot while he, was
dressing, and all the way as he ran to
the station, thinking that he had been
signalled Lol, there9 was moo train
grave. The man heard lis instru-
man o1inlrinO aud 1oontp hsu IN ~
against the window he caught these
words as they went through to D.:
"For Gods sake, switch the Eastern
express of quick! Engineer on the
Western express crazy drunk, nd a
running mile minute ~
1.-THE operator signalled us at once.
We had. left D. nine, miles away,
and the message couldn't have caught
us anywhere except at Parto. Six
miles farther down was the long
switch. 1t was time we were there,
lacking uone minute. We lost two or
three, minutes in understanding the
situation and in consulting, and had
Just got ready to switch in where we
were when the headlight of the other
train came into view. Great Heavens!
but how that train was flying. The
bell was ringing, sparks flying and
the whistle screaming, and not q man
of US could raise hand We stood
there on the main track, spell-bOund
IA it were. There woufl't have been
time, anyhow, either to have switched
In or got the passengers out. It wash t
over sixty seconds before that train
was upon us. prayed to God. for q
breath or two and then shut my eyes
and waited for DEATH for L hadn' e the
strength to get out of the cab. s.,e
"Well, sir, Gods mercy was revealed
again. Forty rods above us that loco
motive Jumped the track and was
piled into o ditch In an awful mass
Some Of the coaches were considerably
smashed, 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 a
bruise, but, was up and across the fields
like q deer, screaming and shrieking
like q mad tiger. IL took five men to
bind him after be was run down, and
to-day lie is the worst lunatic'in the
State. Ytg liz vshf f1ffw rei1
"Tom was q good fellow,r continued
the engineer, after a pause, "and he
used to take his glass pretty regularly.
never saw him drunk. but liquor
kept working away on his nerves till
- lat fso l.ss~.