Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-07-26
Story of the Engineer
LII anu

! INV PNN ny AeeAiN w W
first-I can't stay long!" ,rv
1t was red ribbon meeting,
and the man was a locomotive
engineer, bronzed and strong
and having eyes full Of .deef
determination. He signed his
name in a bold, plain hand, tied
a red ribbon in his button-hole,
and as he left the hall he said:
GAS the Lord looks down, up
on me, I'll never touch liquor
again!"
"Havc you been a hard drink
er?'' queried a man who walked
beside the engineer. wa
"No. Fact is,eI was never
drunk in my life. I've swal-
lowed considerable whisky, but
l never went for enough to get
drunk. / shouldn't miss it or
be the worse off for an houlSif
all the intoxicating drink in the
world was drained into | the
ocean,"
"But you seemed eager TO
sign the pledge" tut
$50 l was, and I'll keep it
through thick and thin, and talk
temperance to every man on the
road" TTliT
"You must have strong rea-
sons?" g -rrw
"Well, if you'll walk down
to the depot I'll tell you a story
on the way. 1t hasn't been in
the papers yet, and only a few
Of us know the facts. You
know / run the night express on
the B road. We always
have at least two sleepers and-a
coach, and sometimes we have
as many as two hundred pas
sengers. It's a good road, level
as a floor, and pretty straight,
though there is a bad spot or
two. The night express has
the right o way, and we make
fast time. It's no rare thing for
us to skim along at the rate Of
fifty miles an hour for thirty, or
forty miles, and we rarely go
below thirty. One night | pulled
ont of Detroit with two sleep
ers, two coaches, and the bag
gage and mail cars. Nearly all
the berths in both sleepers were
full, and most of the seats in
the coaches were occupied. 1t
was a dark night, threatening
all the time TO rain, and a lone
some 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 a
moment, everything ran along
all right up to midnight. The
main track was kept clear for
ms; 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 that station
had failed to receive his usual
report from below. That was
strange, and yet it was not, and
after a little consultation the
conductor sent me ahead. We
were 10 keep the main track,
while the other train would un
on the side track. Night after
night our time had been so close
that we did not keep them wait
ing over two minutes, and were
generally in sight when they
switched in.
"When We left D. We
went ahead at a rafting speed,
fully believing that tho ooller
train would be on time. Nine
miles from D-is is the little
village of Parto. There is a
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 | sighted
this station / saw a red lantern
swinging between the rails.
Greatly astonished, | pulled up
tho heavy train and got a bit OF
news that almost lifted me out
Of my boots. Ii was Gods
mercy, as plain as this big de-
pot. 1t was the operator swing
ing the lantern. lie had been
reused from sleep by the whis-
ties Of a locomotive, when there
wasn't one in ten miles OF him.
lie heard the tooi! tootl tooi!
while he was dressing, and an
she way as he ran 10 the sta
,ion, thinking he had been sig
nailed. Lol there was no train
there. Everything was as quiz