The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-04-20

Iswusg backwards n forwards,
bring q train up, all s'andin'. All
no bIsselR He knew the sound Of
rVery whistle and bell on the road.
n could tell what ingin they belong
ed to, and I believe be knew the
tread OF No. % whenever she went
by, night or day. No. %, that was
my ingine, I run her about three
years, aud there wasn't nothiD' in
Gods world couldn't get cut of
her when she was n q good humor.
We sort OF understood one another,
and she hardly ever went back on
me. Once in while she did, and
then she was perfect cuss--
/ YesI he was seven that winter
/ lust seven years old 8 few days be-
fore Christmas. After Charley got
a year or two old, allers made
much OF Christmas. Mostly / con-
trived to lay off that day SO as to
be home with my little pard. Some
of the boys was alters ready and
| willin' to take my run that day
them as didn't hey no wives or
children. They'd come and say,
Now, Latham, there's your little
pard, he'll be wantin' of you to-
morrow, which is Christmas. So
I'll Jest take your run down. An
| this ere basket, why, the bOys, you
know, they ses, we amt got no
chick or child, aud we'll send this
along to Latham's little Charley.
The first time they did that was
took back that way stood and gap
ed, lookin' arOuAd like q natural,
and couldn't say word. An the
things they used to send Charley
was astonishin'; toys and so on.
Why, one Christmas they sent i'm
q silver ring. OIL stranger, them
davs was such times as I've never
he'd since. There wasn't no other
children round to play with, but
men his mother was all he seemed
to care for, n we'd carry on togeth-
err all day jest as if none of US was
morn seven years old.
Charley he'd a little room by his
self, where he slept, which had q
window that looked down the track.
i I gave him q railroad antern, which
he trimmed and called his ewn, ef-
ter showed him how, n wen 1t
was my night down he'd light his
lantern m put it in the window at
the head of his bed. / could see it
q long way before l got to the
house, n you don't know, stranger,
what comfort it was wen was a
comm down, to see that light and
know that my little boy was lynn
there fast asleep aud dreamin' that
the roar of the train was the foot
steps of his old pard flying at forty
| miles An hour.
It was my run down Thanksgiv-
ing eve. l was ROin' to stop off in
the mornin', and Bill Walker was to
take my train goin' back. We STAR
ted from Altoona late in the even
ing and good deal behind. 1t had
been 8 warm day. The weather
had been warm for some time back,
aud it began to rain in the mornin',
and he'd rained all day. By night
the wind chopped round to the
north, n it began to turn cold, so
that wen we started it was rainin'
and sleetin' with an outlook for a
heavy storm. A darker night l
pulled the bell ses to my fireman,
Cray, this is goin' to be an ugly
rum My fireman was wild har-
um-scsrum sort of boy, and so
they had nicknamed i'm Crazy
jake But they soon dropped
Jake N left him Crazy, ~ that's the
Rame he alters went by. So he ses
to me, Boss, 1 guess you're right
there.' Crazy was one of them boys
that never was afeard of nothiu'.
I've seen i'm in desperate tight pla-
ces, but never know'd I'm to show
the white feather. l don't believe
man or devil could scare i'm, but
this night he seemed to be sorter
uneasy like.
Sometimes there's something
makes you think beforehand that
something is goin' to happen-a
kind of-Of-presentiment? Yes!
that's it. Presentiment. You can't
tell exactly how it lie, but if there
is spirrits in accidents or disasters,
seem like they was tryin' some way
to let folks know in time, and
couldn't quite do it. Everything
seemed to go wrong with us thai
night. The passengers was all
growlin' cos we hurried them up al
supper; aud when pulled out, my
machine had the very old boy in
her. No. %, ssI was tellin' We, was
one of the shurest engines ON the
road, but when she did git into heT
didos she was more obstroperous
than q Government mule. Iniines
is like these sewing machines or pi.
anners, and them things. They Git
out of kilter without no reason, and
yer can't tell watts the matter with
'em, only they jest won't. and that's
all there is about it. She wouldn
steam, she frettet, and snorted, and
foamed, and wouldn't do her work
, no ways at all. Me and Crazy fuss
ed with her, and worked with her
and c0axed and cUssed her, but il
was no use. We kept ruanin' be-
hind all the time instead of making
mp, n the conductor swore like Q
pirate. He was a engineer hisself
and he came out into the cab and
for five or ten miles he fused and
worked and cosxed and cussed. ]
believe that ingine knew just as well
that satan was out loose that night
as If she'd been q real human. In
gines is like women-they can't tell
you why thing is so, and can't
kive no reason for it, but they jest
know 1t is SO.
J Mebbe we'd make thirty miles, OIL
J SIGH matter. The rain aud sleet and
hail and snow was comm down
fearful. The water was pourin
: down the mountain and film the
. bitches and runnin' much as you
saw it last night. The wind was a
J BLOWN tornado, and come tearin
through the pssses-gulehes they
call EN- in this country-in gusts
that would strike thu locomotive
like big wave striking a ship, and
almost throw her over. 1t was &C
dark, too, that I couldn't hev seer
Crazy on the other side of the cat
. but for the lantern and when ht
opened the furnace door. But ]
} had to get along ali l could. i
wouldn't do to go slow up, as was
|, runnin' for meetin' point.
just before You get to the curve
at DEVILS Run there's q short stretch
II straight track. Soon as STRUCK
that began to look for the light in
|. Nhar .lessr fe. \ II A.