Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1881-02-03
The Condnctor.s Slorr.

Yes, said tho OoDuuctOr, biting oil
the tip of cigar and slowly scratching
match on his leg, sslye seen good
deal Of railroad life that's interesting
and exciting in the YHenty years that
I've been twisting brakes and slamming
doors for living.
I've seen all kindsot sorrow and
all kinds OF joy--seen the happy bridal
couple starting out On the wedding
tour with the bright and hopeful future
before them, aud aae black-r0bed
mourner ON her way - new-made
grave Wherein she ne-A bury tho Idol of
her lonely old heaft
wealth and pinohing poverty ride
on the same train. and the merry laugh
Of the JOYOUS, healthy child is mingled
with the despairing sigh of the aged.
The great antipOdes of life are familiar
to the conductor, for every day the ex-
tremcs ofthe world are meeting beneath
his eye.
1--WE mutlated the ticket of many a
black leg aud handled the passes of all
our most eminent dead-hoads. ] don't
know what walk OF life Is more
crowded with thrilling incidents than
mine.n
IlNtI litNt iatl
''Smash-IpsP Oh, yes, several of
them. None, however, that couldn't
have been a good deal worse.
There is one incident of my rail-
/ road life,n continued the conductor,
running his tongue carefully over u
broken place in the wrapper of his
\ cigar, that | never spoke of before to
any one. II has caused me more mis-
/ erv and wretchedness than any one
thing that ever happened to me in my
I Official career
/ Sometimes even now, after the
lapse OF many years, awake in the
night with the cold drops of agony
standing on my face and the horrible
/ nightmare upon me with its terrible
surroundings, as plain rs on the MEM
orable night it occurred.
Il was running extra on the Union
Pacific for conductor who was an old
friend OF mine, and who had gone South
on vacation for his health.
:" At about 1880, as near as / can re-
member, we were sailing along all COM
Portable one evening with straight
stretch OF track ahead for ten or fifteen
miles, running ON time and everybody
feeling tip-top, as overland travellers dc
who get acquainted with each other
andfecl congenial. All at once the train
suddenly slowed down, ran on an old
siding and stopped.
"Of course, got out and ran ahead
20 the engine to see what the matter
was. Old Antifat. the engineer, had
got down and was on the main track
looking ahead to where, twinkling
along about six or seven miles down
the road, apparently, was the headlight
of an approaching train. It was evi.
IDENTIFY wild, for nothing was due that
we knew of at that hour.
However, we had been almost
miraculously saved from a frightful
wreck by the engineers watchfulness,
aud everybody went forward and SHOOK
old Antifat By the hand and cried and
thanked him till it was the most affect
ing scene for while that | ever wit
messed. Il was rs though we hac
stopped upon the very verge of bot
tomless ehasm, and everybody wa'
laughing and crying at once. till il was
a kind OF a cross between revival ano
picnic.
after we had waited about hall al
honr. should say, for the blasted train
to come up and pass US, and apparent
ly she was no nearer, cold, clamml
suspicion began to bore itself into th'
adamantine shell Of my intellect. Th'
more thought OF it. the more unhappy
felt. almost wished that | wa
dead, Cold streakS ran up my back fol
lowed by hot ones. ! wanted to g
home, WANTED TO be where the hun
CRY, wing eyes Of the great, throbbin,
work. .orld could not see me.
81 q. i Antifat one side and sai'
somethb z TO him. lie swore softly Z
himself and kicked the ground, ant
looked al the headlight still glimmer
ing In the distance. Then he got ol
, his engine and yelled 'Aliaboard.' i
"A few moments we we're moving again
and the general impression was that th
train aheel was side-tracked and wait
ing for us although there wasn'ta side
track within twenty miles, except th
one we hisd just left
at was never exactly clear 20 tn
, passengers where we passed that will
train, but | didn't explain 1t 10 them
| was too much eDgrossed with m
, surging thoughts.
~ never felt my own inferiOrity 5
, much as l did that night. ! never $
fully realized what a mere speck ma
is upon the bosom OF the universe.
: "When ] surveyed the starry vault {
3 Heaven and considered its illimitabl
I space, where, beyond and stretchin
I on and on forever, countless suns az
placed AS centers, around which sola
/ systems are revolving in their regula
I orbits, each little world peopled perhaE
with its teeming millions of strugglin
humanity, and then other and mightiC
: systems Of worlds revolving about thes
) systems till the mind Is dazed and gidd