The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-03-01
Story of the Engineer.

LII WAS reu TlDUOu ulccttuSs nhV eAC AAAs'AA
was locomotive engineer, bronzed and strong,
and having eyes full of deep determination
He signed his name In bold plain hand, tied
q red ribbon In his button hole, and as he lett
the hall he said:
"As the Lord looks down upon me III never
touch liquor again. e s4aW
Have you been hard drinkers' querieda
man who walked beside the engineer.
mo. Fact is, / was never drunk in my
life I've swallowed considerable whiskey.
but never went far enough to get drunk.
shouldn't miss it, or be the worse OF for an
hour, if all the intoxicating drink In the world
was drained into the ocean," s
But you seemed eager to sign the pledge"
$50 was, and I'll keep it through thick
and. thin, and talk temperance to every man
on the road.
"You must have strong reasonss"
"Well, if you'll walk down to the depot III
tell you a story on the way. It hasn't been in
the papers, and only ia few Of us know the
facts. You know run the night express on
the b road We always have at least two
sleepers and coach, and sometimes we have
as many as two hundred passengers. It's
good road level as floor, and pretty straight,
though there is bad spot or two. The night
express has the right O way and we make fast
time It's no rare thing for us to skim along
at the rate of fifty miles an hour for thirty or
forty miles, and we rarely go below thirty.
One night pulled out of Detroit with two
seepers, two coaches, and the baggage and
mail cars. Nearly all the berths in both sleep
ers were full and most of the seats in the
coaches were occupied. 1t was dark night,
threatening all the time to rain, and lone
some wind whistled around the cabs as we left
the city behind We were seventeen minutes
late, and that meant fast time all the way
through.
"Well," he continued after moment, sew
cry thing ran along all right up to midnight.
The main track was kept clear for US the en-
CINE was in good spirits, and we ran into
D. as smooth as you please The express
coming east should meet us fifteen miles west
of D., but the operator a. the station had
/ ItllCu W ICCCIVC Usual tCROAe HOAA OSAOW
That was strange, and yet it was not, and
| after little consultation the conductor sent
me ahead We were to keep the main track
while the other train would run in on the
side-track. Night after night our time had
been so close that we die not keep waiting
over two minutes, and were generally N sight
when they switched in.
when we left D. we went ahead at a
rafting speed, fully believing that the other
train would be on time. Nine miles from
D. is the little village of Parto. There
was telegraph station there, but the operator
has no night work He closed his office and
went home about nine o'clock, and any mes
sages on the wires for him were held above OIL
below until next morning. When / sighted
the station saw red lantern swinging be
tween the rails Greatly astonished, pulled
up the heavy train and got bit of news that
almost lifted me out of my boots, 1t was
Gods mercy. as plain as this big depot. 1t was
the operator who was swinging the lantern
He had been aroused from sleep by the whistles
of locomotive when there wasn't one within
ten miles of him. He heard the tooti foot
toot while he was dressing, and all the way
as he ran to the station, thinking he had beer
signalled Lo I! there was no train there Ey
cry thing was as quiet as the grave. The maj
heard his instrument clicking away, and lean
n his ear against the window he caugh
these words as they went through to D
For Gods sake switch the Eastern ex
press off quick Engineer on the Western
express crazy drunk, and running q mile
minute p
THE operator signalled us at once. w
had left D. nine miles away and the mes
sage couldn't have caught US any where ex
cept at Parto. Six miles further down wa
the long switch. 1t was time we were there
lacking one minute. We lost two or thre
minutes in understanding the situation and il
consulting and had just got ready to switcl
in where we were when the headlight of tn
other train came into view. Great heavens
but how that train was flying. The bell Wa
ringing, sparks flying and the whistle scream
ing, and not man of us could raise hanC
We stood there on the main track, spel-boun
as it were There wouldn't have been tim
anyhow, either to have switched in or got th
passengers out. 1t wasn't over sixty seconC
before that train was upon rs. prayed
God for breath or two, and then shut m
eyes and waited for death, for | hadn't tt
strength to get out of the cab"
well, sir, Gods mercy was revealed agail
Forty rods above us that locomotive jumpe
the track and was piled into the ditch in a
awful mass. Some of the coaches were col
siderably smashed, and some of the Peep
badly bruised, but no one was killed, and
course our train escaped entirely. Satan mu
have cared for Big Tom, the other enginee
He didn't get bruise, but was up and aero
the fields like deer, screaming and shrlekir
like a mad tiger. It took five men to biz
him after he was run down, and to-day he
the worst lunatic in the State"
i tom was good fellow" continued the e
Q gineer after pause, ''and he used to take b
glass pretty regularly. | never saw hi
y drunk, but liquor kept working away on /
| Nerves till at last the trenaezaS caught him, VIII
10 had hundred and fifty lives behind
nr; ne. He broke out all of sudden. T.
frema n was thrown off the engine, all stea
,,,ned o and then Tom danced and screamt
and carrie, on like fend. He'd have ma
awful work sir. but for Gods mercy. I
tren. bling vet over the way he came down
~ and IN ney, y think of it without my hes
jumping for my /, sroat Nobody asked me
sign the pledge, bu, ! wanted my name the
One such night on TIE road has turned
against intoxicating d. Nnks. and now that |
go, this red ribbon, i ,;ah talk to the DC
with better face. Tom is sSang' as told y
and the doctors say he'll n,wef ger ms reas
again. Good night, sir-my sf'alq goes IN
l. minutes"
A cocoanut pudding, 70 be eaSen coiu'
d desirable dish, as it may be made ana oe
\, of the way while the heavy dishes OF the
A. lner engage the cooks attention, rake
a. mediums sized cocoanut, CRATE 1t, CRATE
3f six milk crackers. place layer Of the crack
2 in the bottom of wel-buttered pudding al
e then layer Of cocoanut, and SO on until
IS dish is full now beat six eggs untll they
r. light. the whites AMI yolks together; ad