Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-09-14

him. 00iU0
"No. Fact is, Inever was DRINK
in my life. Pve swallowed consid-
erable whisky, but never went far
enough to get drunk. I should not
miss it OF be the worse off for an
hour if all the intoxicating drinks
in the word were drained into the
ocean"
"But you seemed eager tosign the
pledge"
$50 was, and Pll keep it through
thick and thin, and talk temperance
70 every man on the road"
You must have strong reasons.'
"Well, if you'll walk down to the
depot I'll tell you a story on the
way. It hasn't been in the naners
yet, and only few of us know the
facts. You know l run the night
express on the B road; we al
ways have at least two sleepers and
a coach, and sometimes we have as
many as two hundred passengers.
1t is good road, level as a floor.
and pretty straight, though there is
a bad spot or two. The night ex-
press has the right of way, and we
make fast time It's no rare thing
tor us to skim along at the rate of
nifty miles an hour for thirty or
forty miles, and we rarely 90 below
thirty. One night l pulled ont of
Detroit with two sleepers. two
coaches and a mail car. 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
a lonesome wind whistled aronnd
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 a mo-
ment, Everything ran along all
right until after midnight. The
main track was kept clear for us, the
engine was in good spirits, and we
ran into D as smooth as Won
please. The express coming east
should meet US fifteen miles west of
D., but the operator at the sta
ton had failed to receive his usual
report from below. That was
strange, and yet it was not, and aft
er little consultation the conduct
or 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 had not
kept them waiting over two minutes
and were generally in sight when
they switched in.
"When we left D. we went
ahead at a rafting speed, fully be-
lieving that the other train would be
on time. Nine miles from D. is
the little town of Parto. There is a
telegraph station there, but the ope-
rator has no night work. He closed
his Office and went home about 9
O'Clock, and messages for him were
held above or below until next
morning. When l sighted this sta
tiOn saw a red lantern swinging
between the rails. Greatly astOnish
ed / pulled up the heavy train and
got bit of news that almost lifted
me out of my boots. II was the op-
orator who W, swinging the lantern.
He had been aroused from his sleep
by the whistle Of a locomotive,
when there wasn't one in ten miles
of him. He heard the toot! toot!
toot! while he was dressing, and all
the way as he ran to the station,
thinking he had been signalled. LOI
there was no train there. Every
thing 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 eastern
express off quickl Engineer on
western crazy drunk, and running a
mile minute" ;"
''The operator signalled us at
once. We had left D. nine
miles away and the message couldn't
have caught us any where except at
Parto. Six miles further down was
the long switch. 1t was time we
were there, lacking one minute. We
lost tR or three minutes in under
standing our situation and in con-
sultation 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
the train was flying. The bell was
ringing, sparks flying, and the
whistles screaming, and not a man
of us could raise a hand. We stood
on the track, spell bound as it were.
There wouldn't have been time, any
how either to have switched in OF
cot the passengers out. 1t wasn't
over SIXTY seconds before that train
WIS upon us. prayed to God for
a breath or two and then shut my
eyes and waited for death, for l
hadn't the strength to get out Of
the cab.
ssWeH, sir, Gods mercy was re-
vealed again. Forty rods above us
| the loco motive jumped the track
| and was piled into the ditch in an
owfuI mass. Some OF the coaches
wore considerably smashed, and
Son,e ~ of the people badly bruised, but
No one was killed, and of course our
rain escaped entirely. Satan must
1--we cared for Big Tom, the other
engineer. He didn't get a bruise.
and wss up and across the fields
Ike a deer, screaming and shrieking
like a mad tiger. 1t took i've men
10 bi'u6 him after he was run down,
and t, ~day he is the YoSt lunatie IN
the Stare.
"Tom was s good fellow" con-
tinued the engineer, after pause,
and he used TO take h,S glass pretty
regularly. TDever saw him drunk,
but liquor kept working away on
hs nerves till st last the tremens
caught him when he had a hundred
and fiftv live: behind his engine.
He broke out all of a sudden. The
fireman was thrown off the engine.
all the steam turned on, aud then
HHW