Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-07-08

it is my duty TO go, not yours. And
1 the brakeman regretfully turned
away. Only moment did BaIlou
gaze after his lantern, as 1t went
pickering down the wet PLATFORM
| and then, as the short train started,
he stepped into the caboose, and |
/ leaned from my seat to watch TON
swing up on the little iron lader
and mount to the top,
Just exactly how it all happened,
/ today | do not know, but at the
bottom of the second grade the earth
had been washed way from beneath
/ the rails and they hung almost un.
supported just below the surface OF
| the water. laundering down the
/ grade in the rain and night, every
| brakeman at his post on the top, the
great freight engine plunged into
/ the water and went crushing down
Car after car was piled up there and
hurled to one side down into the
ravine. Clinging to brake Just
| back OF the engine, and peerlng
! ahead through the storm, his hands
wrenched clear by the shock, Tom
| was hurled outward into the air.
| The crash stunned him, but the cold
water into which he fell revived him
again, and be crawled out from the
debris on to the bank and worked
his way back towards what should
be the rear end Of the train.
When the first terrible crash came
the caboose had been pitched vlo-
! lently forward and then flung down,
and now hung tremblingly suspend
ed upon a single timber of the cu-
vert, which trembled and threatened
each moment TO part and let the
battered car fall or the jagged rocks
! below.
lis there any one hurt, Cal ?"
Tom asked anxiously, as he finally
found the conductor standing alone
in the rain beside the track.
No; all out safe, think-close
call, though, Tom; awful wreck! |
never saw a worse in thirty years -
"Help me ! helpl"
The cry rang out shrill and agon-
iZing from the suspended caboose
below them.
Help! I'm wedged in Quick !"
1T was Ballou's voice beyond
doubt.
Give me the ak !" aud Selling the
implement, Tom sprang into the
tottering car and dropped down
through "A shattered window He
knew the slender, trembling timber
could not sustain that weight long
| He knew he was going toalmoSt GER
tain death. He knew a moments
delay might rid him of one who had
| won from him the woman be loved
1t was moment for vengeance, but
he forgot it all. He knew moment
delay and all of George Ballou would
be a dead, mangled body. But he
never hesitated, never doubted what
to do. He was only brakeman, but
he was willing to sacrifice his own
life, wreck his own happiness, TO
save the man Kate Carr loved, A
martyr, YOU say-a hero. No; how
could he be?-you forget thathe was
but a freight-brakeman.
Here, quick ~ he cried, as with
"A few rapid blows he cut aside the
broken seat which pinned his rival
TO the floor of the car.
Quick ~ for he felt the car set
Ting and heard the grooming OF the
timber giving way. Gal, catch
him !" and, graSped by strong hands
Balou was drawn up through the
broken window to the ground above,
and then. with lurch and crash of
breaking tmbers, the heavy car
plunged downward on to the rocks.
spintered on their sharp points and
dashed to pieces.
Just As the morning came, they
found Tom lying there, crushed out
of all shape, between TWO great tim
| beTS.
"She loves him-she loves him !"
was al! he said; and rs the sun came
up over The high bank, he breathed
his last sObbing breath IN Cal Bonds
arms
They brought him up TO the depot
and laid him reverently in the great
ladies' waiting room, and as the
railroad men bore him by my win
dow, some one in the crowd said.
Glow lucky that only a brakeman
was killed.
Some way it seems to me that
great hearted Tom Marshall has
gone home To a Father who never
looks to the grimy clothes and the
weather beaten faces of His child
rem, but rewards them according TO
their deeds. If so, his must be an
exceedingly great reward.
The NUngOOse as "a Rat Kil-