Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1877-02-14
Faster and faster we went until

raster ana raster we went Until
we had attained q speed Of about
thirty miles an hour. At this
juncture the conductor evidently
began to be afraid for it was still
so foggy that we could not see
over half a mile ahead, and he sig
nailed "a little slower"
"Ah, ha! you are scared, are yer
grimly remarked Joe, and with a
slight exertion of his brawney arm,
from over which his greasy shirt
sleeve had been hastily rolled, he
added another five miles per hour
to our already frightful speed. At
this, Eben felt called upon to re-
monstrate.
"Joe," said he, "you are getting
too wild, too wild. Do you know
that you are driving now nigh on
to forty miles an hourf"
"Well, l shan't go any faster" re-
piled Joe, soothingly. 81 think If
l keep at this gait, III soon make
up for lost time, won't n"
ayes, but you may run us of
the track, and break our necks."
"That's the way with you. Cap
ron, you are always afraid Of
your neck"
"Well, I've got reason to be, for
I really believe you are drunk,
now"
"What makes you think sof" In
quired imperturbable Joe.
because you are tearing along
this misty morning at double your
ordinary speed" 'oi adF
swell, now Capron, Pve known
you to drive third faster than we
are going now"
eyes, but l wasn't running q
freight train through, and it wssn',
a foggy morning either"
"Humph, I'd like to know II 9
freight car cant run rs fast as"
He was interrupted by the con-
ductor again signaling:
GA little CLOVER" a.
"There," said Eben, "do you Sc,
that! You'll have the conductor
here pretty soon." ~.
swell, the fact is" and Joe slow
ly winked one eye, "there's YES
sci at P waiting to pass and
want to get over the bridge before
it Is opened" .ra od-
You see the river there was nav
igable, and was crossed by q swim.
bridge, and very often we had h
stop and wait on one side to let
vessel pass. When it was opel
there was q red ball hoisted in tn
day time, and a red light at night.
"Then you are nearing It," con
} tinued Eben, "for there's the las
post before you reach the river
and--supposing the draw Is open
Joe, you had better slack up"
"What fort" The signal is no
J raised" .
"But you couldn't see it on &C
count Of the fog"
"Oh, pshaw ! there isn't any 70
now. L" f
! eyes, there is fog now. Fo
, Gods sake, Joe, don't murder nj
, Here, let me take your place unit
3 we get across the bridge"
But Joe wouldn't do it.
{ 81 can manage the engine we
enough" said he, an risk"
g The sentence was never finished
I He was standing up looking OF
! ahead when all at once, as il b
e had been struck by cannon sho
he dropped into his seat, and b
face turned as white as a bleache
e sheet, while the black streaks
: SCOT and grease stood out in col
a trast. He had seen the red signal
Z Eben and / both saw it at the san
o moment, and while / whistled dow
d the brakes, he grasped the leve
and reversed the engine. 1t WI
!, plainly evident that it would |
d impossible for rs to come to fu
d stop before we reached the bridg,
but when men have death starir
e them in the face, rs we had the
their very instinct prompts the
s to do whatever they can TO ave
e the threatening destruction, 81
our only rcsourse lay in stoppir
the train, which, IL it did not sa'
d us would at least prolong our Kv
'e for few seconds. sf
d And the conductor thought Il
same thing, for he crazily signal.
it "etop," after he had heard Il