The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-04-23


as possible, only transposing and changing
them sufficiently for versifcation. l had
never heard of the occurrence before, in
which the hero was brakeman by the
name Of
DAVE briggs.
Dave briggs he was a railroad man,
A common kind o. chap;
He didn't go cent on style,
He wouldn't give a rapp
Fur them as put on dudy clos
An hifalutin' ars,
An tho't 'emselves some higher up
Than Him upon the stairs.
He wore yaller flannel shirt
That made him look immense,
With that ar diomon pin o his
Thas cost him fifty cents.
Thar wuznt much in railroadin
He tho't he didu't know.
He wuz the brakeman o train
Upon the b. 6 o..
But after all he had some streaks
o. common sense la him,
A little cream inside his pan
That want too thin to skim.
I've seen him tipsy ez top,
I've seen him goin' wild,
I've seen him jump an resk his life
To save a leetle child
One dark December night the track
Got drifted in with snow,
That threw the engine down bank
A hundred feet below;
An up on end an all about
In every sort o. style,
The busted freight cars got 'emselves
Uncoupled in pile.
The engineer an fireman both
He'd left the track to stay,
An underneath the smashed caboose
The dead conductor lay.
But Dave, he heard the crash in time,
He jumped with all his might,
An in a snow bank, on his head,
Ker chug he CHANGED TO light!
He hung to his old lantern tight,
He got upon his feet;
Thar in the dark he stood alone,
The wreck waz iist complete
The snow it beat agn his face,
A bitin blizzard blew,
The wind jist howled an screamed an roared
An chilled him thro' an thro'.
1t froze the clos upon his back
Ez stiff as any shad,
| tell you twas the proper time
Fur all the sand he had!
Yis, Dave he had a level head,
Eff he wasn't much on dress,
He bounded back along the track
To save the night express.
He heard the rumble OF the train
just ez it hove in sight
Around the corner, sudden gust
o. wind blew out his light
An thar he stood, the wreck behind,
The comm train before,
A hurryin' on to sudden death
A hundred lives or more
There big an bright before his eyes
He saw the headlight CLEAN;
He heard the rattlin' o the wheels,
The sissin' o. the steam.
An leapin' from the railroad track,
Ez past the engine flew,
&Ato the cab with all his might
Dave briggs his lantern threw.
1t struck the startled engineer,
1t fell upon the floor,
1t rolled along into the light
Before the fire-box door
He read the letters "B. g. o."
Upon the shattered glass,
He stopped the train before he struck
The pile he couldn't pass
An Dave, he went to work next day
Jist ez he alwuz had;
He didn't go aloaan' round,
Nor git the big-head bad.
The city papers put him in
An laid the praise on thick
But, sho! for all the fuss they made
Dave didn't care a stick.
He still is brakein' on the road,
He WARS that yaller shirt
A leetle wuss for use, perhaps,
An ruther dark with dirt,
He traded off that damon pin,
Ez sure as YOU were born,
An got a cluster damon ringF
Humph! damon in horn.
Eugene j. Hall, in Chicago hlter-Oced
Hugh ]. levitt is director in tweni
railroad companies, Samuel Sloan in tive
ty-three, JAY Gould in twenty-tou
George b. Roberts in twenty-siX, Augu
a. 1 1 .