Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-01-13

~, Will lOu4 NJ VOICE very
anxious in Its weakness.
Not without mother calls me. Now,
go to Sleep"
| She settled the white coyerlet about
me very carefully.
Glow did yon get me here p asked,
presently.
ooh, one of the station men helped
me; and you were terribly heavy, if
you hadn't anything 10 eat"
lay back on my pillow, and watched
her sitting there in the stiffness of the
| room. 1t was picture sweet enough
| for any man-more than that to me,
for ! had scarcely spoken to woman
for a long year, excepting to receive
harsh answers.
The sun that came streaming into
the widow, piercing here and there
the network of vines. went slowly down,
casting long shadows across the floor,
and / fell asleep.
How those two women did watch
over and care Tor me during the days
that followed-days in which / got bet
ter very slowly-the old gray-headed,
matronly mother and the little ,girl.
What delightful, dainty little meals
they cooked me with their own hands
| And then one would fan and talk with
me in the long, hot summer afternoon.
One day, when the mother was out,
! told my little nurse my whole history,
concealing nothing, and watching the
changing emotions other face
You have told me everything but
your name, she said, when finished.
That is simple enough" / replied
| was sitting up now, in the great, old
fashioned rockingham 1T is George
Gray. And yours?'
"Fl.rence O'Neil. Ny father was
killed on the railroad several years ago,
and the company gave US this little
house, and we watch to flag the trains
if the bridge should not be safe; the
water in the river rises very high some
times"
She said it all very simply, % if such
a life was old and common enough to
her.
The daughter Of railroad laborer,
and | loved her-and i was only a
tramp?
'Not very elevated" you think.
Perhaps not in the social scale, but
our hearts might be as true, our love as
great
In The days which followed, and IN
der their tender care, / grew rapidly
better, until at last | could frame no
excuse for remaining longer But moth
ing could now tear me away from the
girl who had saved my life whom |
knew but too we'll | loved
never said one word of love to her,
for | was only a tramp, and my love
was too honest, too sincere, to give its
object needless pain.
Deep in my heart had resolved to
work up To something more worthy of
her, more worthy myself But mean
while, could not altogether leave her,
and, finally, through their influence
with men upon the road, men who had
worked with O'Neil before he was
killed, | received position. 1t was
only that of Il brakeman upon the
night express. Not much, you think.
Perhaps not to you, my scofling friend,
with your credit at the bank, but it
was everything to me. 1t was the first
chance the world had given me- 1t
was my first step upward, and | be-
lleye | was prouder III that brakeman's
cap than | ever was in my first gold
and black law sign in the old days Of
my prohigaey and my profession.
ran on that road-it was the F., ID.
and G.-for nearly two months, making
every night the trip between Platts-
mouth and Delaver, rain or shine.
Now and then Of a Sunday | would
90 down to the little cottage Of the
ONells, and thus spend many pleas
ant afternoon III talking over the events
81 my sickness with the mother, or
wandering down by the river with
Florence, my little love. began to
dream that she loved me, and it made
me better man.
One night, think it WAS of
Wednesday, We made mp our train, an
unusually large one, and left Platts-
mouth just before dark 1t had been
storming hard for two days, and it bid
fair 70 be dark, tempestuous night.
A special freight train left an hour
ahead of US, which we were to pass at
somerset.
The night, as it grew later proved to
be one Of the toughest | had ever ex-
perienced the wind blew perfect
hurricane from the north, the glare of
the lightning was incessant, and the
heavy peals of thunder rolled along the
whole sky.
Watch sharp for red light at
Bridge No. - | heard the train
master say to the engineer of the freight
~ his heavy train pulled out Of the
yard.
Bridge No - was the one close by
O'Nell's- the long one over the river was
Just this side and known as "No. p
their little cottage was nestled in the
thick woods between the two.
Just how i happened | suppose no
one exactly knows. but i seemed that
Bridge No. % had been swept away
by the fury Of the storm, and the red
lantern, safely placed by careful hands
To stop the advancing train, had gone
out III the terrihle gale. The heavy
freight, propelled down the steep grade
between the two bridges by its own
weight, rushed with scream by the
little cottage and took the terrible plunge
into the air, down fifty feet to the rocks
below.
When saw il, early the following
morning, the wreck was complete, with
the dead, mangled bodies Of the train
men wedged into the water and crushed
down by the heavy timbers.
And our train?" you ask.
Well, I'll tell you about that rs it was
told 10 me-
Florence and her mother were about
retiring to rest, believing the lantern
t. be safely burning, when they heard
the shrill whistle Of the freight, and 4
moment later the fearful crash. Real
iling i'll moment what had happened,
Florence grasped lantern, and, amid
the hurricane Of wind, the deluge Of
water, the incessaut glare of the hight
ming, and the peal upon peal of thun-
der, left the cottage and started for the
wreck
Her light very soon went out in the
wind, but she hravely felt her way
through the woods and falling timbers
to the very edge of the rushing waters
that covered the crushed and drowned
men
She could hear no sound to tell ler
that any one yet lived to relate the story
fthat horrible leap to death. She knew
that the long night-express, with its
load of passengers, WAS nearly due, and
none to warn them of their danger; u
lantern would not burn in the increased