Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-07-27

An engine was ready at hand, and they
soon had the short train of ten cars
made up in the yard. just as the en-
CINE backed down from the tank and
was being coupled on, George Ballou.
muffled to his chin, and holding a
small leather valise i'm his hand, came
hurriedly around the edge of the depot
building. Bond, he said to the con-
ductor, who stood there with his lam
tern raised to give the signal for start
ing, Il want to 20 down with you. l
must be home tonight
| Bond looked around rather surprised
at the request We're more than like
ly to be wrecked before ever we get
there, Mr.. Ballou, he said, quickly.
But, if you must 20, take your own
risk and get on. 1 don't care
'Ballou, don't 60 Pit was Toms
voice speaking very low. Take my
advice, for there's not one chance in ten
of our going through tonight without
trouble
But / must CO. came the answer.
MY mother has been taken ill-a tele-
gram just received
wait for No. e. then-that will be
nearer daylight
yer and it might be too late. No
1 must 60 tonight, danger or not. Sure
ly may risk it if you CAM
self The words were almost lost in
the wind You have Kate, and it is
my duty to go, not yours" And the
brakeman regretfully turned away
Only moment did Ballou gaze after
his lantern, as it went Pickering down
the wet platform and then as the short
train started he stepped into the Ca
boose, and l leaned from my seat to
watch Tom swing up on the little iron
ladder and mount to the top.
Just exactly how it all happened to-
day L do not know, but at the bottom
of the second grade the earth had been
washed away from beneath the rails,
and they hung almost unsupported just
below the surface of the water. Thun-
dering down the grade in the rain and
night. every brakeman at his post on
the top, the great freight engine plung-
ed into the water and went crashing
down. Car after car was piled up there
aud hurled to one side down into the
ravine. Clinging to a brake just back
of the engine. and peering ahead
through the storm, his hands wrench
ed clear by the shock, Tom was hurled
outward into the air. The crash stun-
ned him, but the cold water into which
he fell revived him again, and he crawl
ed 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 violently
forward and then flung down, and now
hung tremblingly suspended upon a
single timber of the culvert, which
trembled and threatened each moment
to part and let. the battered car fall on
to the ragged rocks below.
is there any one hurt Calp' Tom
asked, anxiously, as he finally found the
conductor standing alone in the rain
beside the track.
No; all out safe, l think close call,
though. Tom; awful wreck l never
saw worse in thirty years.
Help me help'
The cry rang out shrill and agoniz-
ing from the suspenped caboose below
them.
Help! I'm wedged in Quick r
1t was Ballou's voice beyond doubt.
Give me the axe 7 and seizing the
weaponTom sprang out upon the tOtter-
Ing car and dropped down through a
shattered window. He knew the slen-
der, trembling timber could not sustain
that weight long. He knew he was going
to almost certain death. He knew a
moments delay might rid him of one
who had won from him the woman he
loved. 1t was moment for vengeance,
but he forgot it all. He knew a mo-
ment's delay and all of George Ballou
would be 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 bef-you
forget he was but freight brakeman.
Here. quick r he cried, as with few
| iAplu UlOWo ut CUT dSlu6 LUo DTOkcIl
seat which pinned his rival to the floor
of the car.
Quick 7 for he felt the car settling,
and heard the grooming of the timber
giving way. Cal. catch him r and
grasped by strong hands, Ballou was
drawn up through the broken window
to the ground above, and then, with a
lurch and crash of breaking timbers,
the heavy car plunged downward on to
the rocks, splintered 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 timbers.
They brought him up to the depot
and laid him reverently in the great
ladies' waiting-room, and, as the rail-
road men bore him by my window,
some one in the crowd said:
How luckily that only brakeman
was killed"
Some way it seems to me that great
hearted Tom Marshal has gone home
to Father who never looks 10 the