The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-07-12
A Brave Woman and a PoItroon.
A thrilling incident occurred on d

A thrilling incident occurred on the
stage route between Ellenville, Ulster
County, and Summitville, on the New
York and Oswego Midland Railway, on
Friday afternoon last, when the courage
and extraordinary nerve of woman
saved the lives of herself and her two
children. Just this side of Ellenville
there is long and deep declivity in this
road, known as Budd's Hill. The Sum-
mitville stage had just begun the descent
of the hill when the pole of the stage
slipped through the neck-yoke and let
the vehicle, with considerable force,
against the horses. They began plung-
ing and running, and the driver, a strong
fellow named Lord, instead of putting
on the brakes and stopping the stage, as
he might have done, became frightened,
threw down the reins and jumped from
his seat to the ground, and was thrown
violently several feet down an embank
ment. Another man who sat on the seat
with him jumped also, and was thrown
down the bank. The other passengers
in the stage were Mrs. Hollingsworth
and her two small children. As soon
as the horses were free from the
restraint of driver they dashed furi
ously down the hill, threatening mo-
tar-x- 70 hn fnr1 of
coach. Mrs. Hollingsworth saw that
they must meet with certain destruction
at sharp curve there was in the hill
some distance ahead, unless the horses
could be checked in some way. Her
children were cinging to her and
screaming in terror, but she hastily tore
herself away from them and clambered
over the three seats that were between
her and the drivers. On reaching that
seat she saw with horror that the reins
were trailing in the road and out of her
reach. Her extraordinary presence of
mind and courage never forsook her,
however, for she climbed over the dash
board to the yhiffile-tree, and thence
walked along the pole of the stage be-
ween the plunging horses, until she
could reach the reins as they lay on
their backs. Securing them, she made
her way back to the drivers's seat, and
put forth all her strength in attempting
to get some control over the team. She
succeeded far enough to prevent the
capsizing of the coach at the curve. She
pulled the horses close to the upper side
of the road, and as Mr.. Tallman, an
eyewitness of the scene, says, the coach
went around the turn with two wheels
off the ground, and ran in that position
for some distance, but it righted
at last, and the great danger
was averted. A hundred yards or so be-
yond the curve the high bank at the
lawn side eased off in gentler slope.
Here Mrs Hollingsworth succeeded in
turning the horses and ran them into a
fence. They could not get another
start, and several men who had seen the
runaway were soon on the spot and Sc
cured them They found Mrs. Hollings-
worth with the reins still wrapped about
her hands, but she was as pale as death,
and unconscious. She had pulled SO
hard in the struggle that the reins had
cut great gashes in her hands, and were
almost buried in the flesh. The blood
flowed from these cuts in streams. The
children were clasped in each others
arms in one corner of the stage, and sc
terrified that they were unable to speak
for some time. They and their cour'
ageous mother were taken to a house
near by, where they all soon recovered
Mrs. Hollingsworth suffered no more Sc
rious consequences from her terrible adj
venture than the injury to her hand
She was able to proceed on her journey
in a short time. The driver and his
companion in cowardice were both badly
hurt. They were received with shouts
of derision and great Indignation wher
they were found, however, and received
sympathy in no quarter. Lord is an ex
perienced driver, and his cowardly &C
ton on this occasion is inexplicable.-
Cor. NeU York Times.