Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-07-05


drunk and running mile minute y
''The operator signaled us at once.
We 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 two or three min
utes 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 ring
ing, sparks flying and the whistle
screaming, and not a man of us could
raise hand.
We stood their on the main track,
spell-bound as it were. There wouldn't t
| have been time, anyhow, either to
have switched in or got the passengers
out. 1t wasn't over sixty seconds be-
fore that train was upon us. l
PRAYED to God for 4 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 re-
vealcd again. Forty rods above us
that locomotive jumped the track aud
was piled into the ditch in an awful
mass, Some of the coaches We're con-
siderahly 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. lie
didn't get bruise, but was up and
across the fields like deer, scream
ing and shricking like 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"
- Tom was. good fellow" con-
| tinued the engineer, after Il pause.
land he used to take his glass pretty
regularly. | never saw him drunk,
but liquor kept working away on his
nerves till Mt last the TREMESs caught
| him when he had one hundred lives
| behind his engine. lie broke out all
Of n sudden. The fireman was thrown
off the engine, ali steam turned on,
and then Tom danced, screamed and
carried on like fiend. Hed made
awful work. sir, but for Coils mercy.
I'm trembling yet over the way he
came down for us, and Illncver think
of it without my heart jumping for my
throat. Nobody asked me ia sign the
pledge, hut | wanted my name there.
One such night on the road has turned
me against intoxicating drinks, and
now I've got this red ribbon on | can
talk To the boys with better face.
Tom is ravin@, rs | told you,. and the
doctor says he'll never get his reason
again. Good night. sir-my train
goes in ten minutes.
She was IL lady named Ma"rlIdcr.
| and ~OmcW hat strict in reference to
family morals. indeed, while MIR.
| Ma9rudrr was II good man. and en-
dcavorcd 10 discharge his Il lty as a
parent with propriety, yet his views
as to what really was proper ran
counter to the views entertained on
the same subject by his wife, and she
had spunk. These differences on a
certain occasion are related thus by a
common friend:
Il called at Magrudcr,s the other
morning on my way down town, and
a. knew them well. entered the
| side door without Knocking. | was
!
| trate on the floor, while Mrs. Ma~ru-
der sat on his chest and ruHplcd his
hair as she bumped his head on the
| boards and scolded him vigorously.
| They rose when ! came in, and Ma
grudcr. as he wiped the blood from
his nose, tried TO pretend il was only
a Joke. But Mrs. Magrudcr inter
rupted him:
"Joke, joke, I should think not.
I was giving him dressing down.
He wanted to have prayers ncforc
break fast, and | was determined to
have them aftcrward; and as he
threw the Bible at me, and hit Mary
Jane with the hymn book, jumped
him If | can't rule this house I'll
know why. Pick up them scriptures
and have prayers! You hear me,
Magruder? It's more trouble regu-
latin the piety Of this family than
runnin' a saw mill. Mary Jane, give
your pa that hymn book
II left before the exercises began
AN IRIsHMAN'S WlLL.-ln the
name of God, amen! |, Timothy
Doolan, of Barrydownderry, in the
| county of Care, farmer, being sick,
wake on my legs, but of sound head
and warm heart-Glory be to God !.
do make this my first and last will
and ould and new testament. First,
/ give my sowl to God, when it place
him to take it-shnre no thanks to
me, for / can't help it then-and my
body to be buried in the ground at
Barrydownderry Chapel, with all my
kith and kin that have gone before
me and those who live after, pace to
their ashes, and may the sod rest
lightly over their bones. Bury me
near godfather and my mother, who
lie separated all together at the other
end of the chapel yard. [ lave the
bit of ground containing eight acres
rare old Irish acres-to my eldest
son Tim, after the death of his moth