The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-11-05

1t was my run down Thanksgiving
eve. was goin' to stop off in the morn
in, and Bill Walker was to take my
train goin' back. We started from AL
toona late in the evening and a good
deal behind. 1t had been bad day.
The weather had been warm for some
time back, and it began TO rain in the
mornin' and had rained all day. By
night the wind chopped around to the
north N began to turn cold, so that wen
we started it was rainin' and sleetin'
with an outlook for heavy storm. A
darker night l never saw, n wen the
conductor pulled the bell l SEE to my
fireman, 6 Crazy, this is goin' to be an
ugly run" My fireman was a crazy,
harum-scarum sort of q boy, and so they
had nick-named him " Crazy Jake. !"
But they soon dropped the Jake N left
him Crazy. and that's the name he al
lers went by. So he SEE to me. "Boss!
| guess you're right there" Crazy was
one O. them boys thet's often in des-
perate tight places, but l never known
i'm was afeard O. nothin'. I've never
seen i'm to show the white feather. /
don't believe man or devil could scare
i'm, but this night he seemed to be I'M
easy like.
Sometimes there's something makes
you think beforehand that something is
goin' to happen-a kind of-of-pre-
sentiment? Yes! that's it. Presenti-
ment. You can't tell exactly how it is,
but if there is speerits in accidents or
disasters, seems like they was tryin'
some way to let folks know in time, and
couldn't quite do it. Everything seemed
to 60 wrong with us that night. The
passengers was all a-growlin' COS we
hurried 'em up at supper; and when
pulled out my machine he'd the very
old boy in her. No. %, as l was tellin'
We, was one of the surest engines on
the road, but when she did git into her
didos she was more obstreperous n a
government mule. lngines is like these
SEWN machines or planners, and them
things. They git out o. killer without
no reason, and yer can't tell watts the
matter with 'em, only they jest won
and that's all there is about it. She
wouldn't steam, she fretted and snorted
and foamed, and wouldn't do her work
no ways at all. Me and Crazy fused
with her, and worked with her, and
coaxed and cussed her, but it wasn't no
use. We kept runnin' behind all the
time instead of maxim up. n the con-
ductor swore like pirate. He was a
engineer hisself, and he came out into
the cab and for five or ten mile he
fused and worked and coaxed and
cussed. l believe that ingine knew
just as well that Satan was out loose
that night as if she d been a real human.
Ingines is like women-they can't tell
you why thing is so, and can't give
no reason for it, but they jest know it
is so.
Mebbe we'd made thirty mile or SIGH
matter. The rain and sleet and hail
and snow was comm down fearful.
The water was pourin' down the mount
ain and film the bitches and runnin'
much as you saw it last night. The
wind was BLOWN tornado, and came
tearin' through the passes-gulches
they call 'em in this country-in gusts
that would strike the locomotive like a
big wave striking ship, and almost
throw her over. 1t was so dark, too,
that | couldn't hev seen Crazy on the
other side of the cab but for the lantern,
and wen he opened the furnace door.
But | had to get along all could. 1t
wouldn't do to slow up, as l was runnin'
for meetin' point.
just before you get to the curve at
Devils Run there's short stretch of
straight track Soon as struck that
began to look for the light in Charley's
window, which was the other side of the
run. Strainin' my eyes through the dark
just at the point of the curve Isaw light
swinging backward and forward slowly
across the track. You know l was
a-tellin' you as everything went crook
ed that night. Soon as l saw that light
l knew what it all was in mint. 1t
came on me with rush, like My hair
stood on end. | blew brakes. screams
to the fireman, Crazy! DEVILS Run
culvert is gone, by the Twin Godr' He
jumped n set the tender brakes, and
slid the wheels in flash. The brake
man behind didn't answer. They was
dozin' in the cars, l reckon. l blew
brakes agin with blast to wake the
dead, and threw her over. The drivers
ground and groaned under me, but the
rails were sleety and slippery, and
was forging ahead to a gulf 500 feet
square down and $50 lives behind me.
/ was tellin we as No. 20 that night
was dead square agin goin' ahead; but
w en- threw her back seems like she
knew her biz and how much laid on her
dom of it well. Women. agin, is en-
gines. Grabbed, crooked, cantanker-
Gus cusses wen they don't want to, but
where it's works of goodness or mercy,
call on 'em and they're right there.
No. 80 took hold on that reverse with a
grit l never seen in no engine afore.
She put all there was in her into every
turn, and the whole affair took less
time than l'm a-tellin' of it till the dan
ger was by.
When we stopped within twenty feet
of the light, which was swingin' still,
backward and forward, slowly across
the track, / seq to Crazy, "Who's got
that lanternp' Knew it couldn't be
the trackman, for we'd just met him
twenty miles below, and 'cept him there
was nobody nearer'n ten miles at that
time of night. So gifts down from the
machine and runs up the road. As l
comes up l sees little figure in white.
1t was still a-swingin' of the light back
wards and forwards slowly across the
track. He was in his nightgown, just
as he got out of bed, hadn't no hat and
was barefoot. The sleet had froze in