Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1882-01-11
THE LAST OF NINE.


passed in his checks?"
'.Yes; heard it by telephone an honr
ago."
The speaker was John McWilliams,
and we were sitting on the piazza OF his
home in Bradford.
..Do you know the particulars,
John?"
Particulars? Well, / don't know as
there are any. Same old story, you
know. Didn't pack the nitry-glycerine
in the wagon carefully, and when the
wagon went over log the load explo-
ded. and-and-that WAS all
There was TO need of further expla-
nation, for | could -eason it all out
clearly enough, and could almost fancy
1 saw the ghastly remains of the i'll
starred Tom Bailey, who went out one
morning to superintend the shooting OF
a well. and never came back. Bailey
was an employe of the Roberts Torpedo
Company, and John McWilliams, the
man with whom was in conversation,
was mis- Division Superintendent on the
same run" or district
Family, John?"
sNo-that is. he hadE' wife, but he
had a widowed mother and young
sister.
"What will they do?"
so. the company won't see them
starve. and, besides, L guess poor Old
Tom didn't die beggar. Poor old
boy,'' and the bearded man at my
side sobbed like a heart-broken child.
"Inever told you about Tom and the
rest of the boys, did T." continued the
sorrowing man.
1.-The rest"
eyes. there were nine OF us, you
kncw-but You don't know, for L nave
ueye. told living soul. This sudden
death of Toms quite unmans Inc, Tor
am now the only one left-the las tot
nine"
Iwaited a long while for John to gain
control of his feelings. for / knew he
had a story to tell of more than usual
interest. 1t was beautiful night, full
of soft moonlight, and drowsy with the
hum of humanity in the city beneath
our feet. A delicate, almost lmpercep-
tible mist hung about the city, and
from our hillside piazza we could see
far down the valley, where the Tuning
want str, am family glimmered III the
moonlight. and where the huge iron
tanks of oil Ioomed up gloomy and
black againt the mellow brightness oi
the night. Over at Prospect Park, Oh
Nount Raub, the light was flashing and
haring, while faulty to our ears came
the strains of n Strauss waitz. Away on
ou another hill the sound of a laborins
engine and the sound of walking beam
told that the ponderous drill at a well
was being lowered into the earth as fast
40 men working night and day could
sink the hole. Down below, the city
flashed up at us its countless lights and
shadows. and family hoated up the
hmm of business and pleasure. 1t was
A strangely beautiful night for story OF
oil John spoke at last, slowly, and
with evident hesitation.
s.Yes." he said, ''there were nine ol
nc ond TIM the last one alive. It's g
queer thing, and it makes me feel very
strangely; perhaps more so now tha'
poor Tom isis -
He couldn't bring himself to say the
word: he couldn't say that his friend
was dead. With a great effort he con
tinued:
lyon doubtless know that L was Ii
the army during the late war. saw
some pretty tough fighting, too, an'
after Shiloh | was made captain, ant
at the same time Tom Bailey, who wa
in the same company, WAS promoted Z
n Ieutenarcy for bravery. He de
served it. too, for there never was
better or drawer boy; trIhe reckless
YOU might say, but brave and generou
To n fault. At the close of the war W
went home together, and with us wen
what was left of the company. Their
wasn't much, to be sure, for we ha
done some terrible fighting, and man
of the boys had gone down through tn
valley of the shadow. Lake the rest Q
the returned soldiers, We went INTO TN
oil country, which was just then turn
ing the heads of the people, and afte
knocking around awhile and losing wh'
money We had, We concluded to go INT
business of shooting wells. Tom and
went into the business ourselves, an
soon hired four of the men who ha
been in our company, and friend
mine who had been wealthy, but wa
sbroke.' to work for Us. Two tisherme
came along that we had known befor'
and we engaged them. That made nil
of us. and we used to live in one room
and do all our own cooking, for wome
were scarce In the oil country at th'
time. Everything went along finel.
and we made money hand over fist. %
Colonel Roberts hadn't got the monop
Iy of the nitro -glycerine business thel
and any man could engage in it wi
cared to rnn the risk.
"Our crowd was extremely fortuna