Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-11-28
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
By Ladies of W ashington Temper
ance UniOn.i
story Of the Engineer.

/ FELetme put nv name down first-I can
stay long!'
1t was red ribbon meeting, and the
man was locomotive engineer, bronzeG
and strong and having eyes full of deer
determination. He signed his name in q
| bold, plain hand, tied red ribbon in his
button hole, and as he left the hall he said
''As the Lord looks down upon me I'll
never touch liquor again.
"Have you been hard drinker -
| queried man who walked beside the en-
gineer.
''NO. Fact is, L was never drunk in my
life. I've swallowed considerable whisky
but L never went far enough to get drunk,
1 shouldn't miss it, or be the worse off fo1
an hour, if all the Intoxicating drink in
the world was drained into the ocean,
| "But you seemed eager to sign the
PLEDGE
$50 I was, and I'H keep it through
thick and thin, and talk temperance to
every man on the road
"You must have strong reasons ?''
''Wen, if you'n walk down to the depot
| I'll tell you a story on the way. 1t hasn't
| been in the papers, and only a few of us
know the facts. You know I run the
night express on the b road. We al
ways have at least two sleepers and q
coach, and sometimes we have as many as
two hundred passengers. It's good road
level as a floor, and pretty straight,
| though there is 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 pull
ed out of Detroit with two sleepers, two
coaches, and the baggage and mail cars.
| Nearly all the berths in both sleepers
were full, and most of the seats in the
coaches were occupied. 1t was dark
| night, threatening all the time to rain,
and a lonesome 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
'feverything ran along all right up tc
midnight. The main track was kept clear
| for us; 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 the station had failed tC
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 to keep the main
track, while the other train would run ir
on the side track. Night after night oul
time had been so close that we did no
keep them waiting over two minutes, ant
were generally in sight when they switch.
ed in.
| "When we left D. we went ahead at 9
rattling speed, fully believing that the
other train would be on time. Nine
miles from D. is the little village OF
PartO. There was 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 1 sighted
this station I saw a red lantern swinging
| between the rails. Greatly astonished, ]
pulled up-the heavy train and got bit OF
boots. 1t was Gods mercy, as plain
| as this big depot. 1t was the operator
who was swinging the lantern. He had
been aroused from sleep by the whistles
! of locomotive when there wasn't one
| within ten miles of him. He heard the
| toot! toot! toot! while he was dressing
and all the way he ran, to the station
/ thinking he had been signalled. Lo there
was no train there. Everything was az
quiet as the grave. The man heard his
instrument clicking away, and leaning
his ear against the window he caugh
| these words as they went through tt
D.:
'FFor Gods sake, switch the Eastern
express off quick! Engineer on the West
ern express crazy drunk, and running a
mile a minute!''
''The operator signalled us at once. w
had left D. nine miles away, and the
message couldn't have caught us any.
where except at Parto. Six miles furthe
down was the long switch. It was time
we were there, lacking one minute. w
lost two minutes in understanding the sit
't'N'ACAA '~i'NA Alttl JuSG RUl
ready TO switch in where we were whel
the headlight of the OF her train cam,
into view. Great heavens! but h ow tha
| train was flying. The bell was ringing
sparks flying and the whistle screaming
and not man ofus could raise hand
| We stood there on the main track, spell
bound as it were. There wouldn't have
been time, anyhow, eituer to have switch
ed in or get the passengers out. It wasn'
over sixty seconds before that train wa
upon us. 1 prayed to God for a breat1
or two, and then shut my eyes and waite,
for death, for hadn't the strength to ge
out of the cab.
''Well, sir, Gods mercy was reveale
again. Forty rods above us that locomo
tive jumped the track and was piled int
the ditch in an awful mass. Some of tn
coaches were considerably smashed, an
some of the people badly bruised, but n
one was killed, and of course our train es
capped entirely. Satan must have care
for Big Tom, the other engineer. II
didn't get a bruise, but was up and acros
the fields like a deer, screaming an
shrieking like mad tiger. Tt took fiv
men to bind him after he was run dowr
and to-day he is the worst lunatic in tn
7 State.
''Tom was good fellow continue
the engineer, after pause, ''and he us,
to take his glass pretty regularly. new
= saw him drunk, but liquor kept workir
away on his nerves till at last the trema1
pauUht him when he had q hup6ra6 or
fifty lives behind his engine. He brol
out all of sudden. The fireman WI
thrown off the engine, all steam turnt
I on, and then Tom danced and screame
- and carried on like 1iend. He'd ha