The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-12
AN STORY.

An ENGINEERS STORY.
eorty-F1vs Years on h Rootboard-Ths
Romantic Record Of . Busy Lite.
From the Montgomery, Ala, Advertiser.
Probably the Oldest locomotive engi.
neer in point of service in the South, if
not in America, went out on the Eufau-
la train the other evening. Old Uncle
Ned Graves, aged 70, was the man,
and the record of his long and toilsome
life would fill q volume and be as en-
pertaining as the most highly colored
romance of the day. Uncle Ned began
work for the Jersey Central forty
seven years ago, soon after the first
shovelful of earth was thrown up at
Savannah. which was the beginning OF
the present great Central system. Dur
ing the first year or two he worked in
the machine shops, and growing tired
of that he was by his W request put
on an engine, and for forty. i've years
he stood on the footboard and held the
reins of the iron horse. A few months
ago he retired from active service on a
life pension from the Central and with
a life pass over the entire system in his
pocket. He was we'll fixed in the
worlds goods, it is said, having some
SIS, 900 in real estate in Macon, where
he resides, and about $4,000 in bank.
IT have had some mighty narrow es-
capes during these forty-seven years."
he said to o reporter on the train.
"Somehow I've always come out of &C
cidents unhurt, and I've had Q lot of
'em, let me tell you"
Being encouraged by the reporter,
Uncle Ned proceeded:
"Coming out of Savannah one Sunday,
I noticed the clouds looked rainy and
stormy, and / felt $ little uneasy. I'm
not superstitious, but somehow 1 had a
presentiment that evening. Along to-
wards night is began to rain in torrents
and the wind blew q stiff gale. l told
my fireman there were lively times
ahead of US, and I put the old engine
out for all she was worth. Nothing
happened until we had got in an hour
or two of Macon, and says l to my fire.
man: After we get over the hill ahead
yonder and under good Roadway We can
count on being in our beds asleep in an
hour and a half The night was dark
as the smokestack, and we ran right
down to Warner creek before we knew
it, and, bless God, three spans of the
bridge had been washed out. But we
discovered it too late to reverse, and
pulling the engine wide open we sat
back and waited for the crash, which
came in less than no time, and down we
went in the seething Kissing flood. II
was an awful time we had down in War.
ner creek that night and more than ONT
soul went to heaven, but I was spared
unhurt.
Another time I went through a
bridge over Bigger creek OIL the Col
umbus and Macon line, and five cars
followed me. That was ahorrible time.
One Of the curious features of the &c.
cident wa that Of an iron rod tearing
a lady's bonnet from her head and going
through o partition and piercing right
through the body of a man sitting in
the smoking car with o cigar in his
mouth. He was pinned to the oppo-
site wall, where he hung and died. !
was never IN o worse accident than
that"
"And one morning Just before start
ing out of Macon 1 told the boys:
Well boys, I guess the engine will
turn over on Uncle Ned o -day,' and
sure enough she did. She jumped the
track and turned bottom side up right
over me, but l was not ever scratched"
eyes," resumed the old man after a
long pause, during which his brain SEEM
ed to be teeming with the memories of
a long life, II have had many narrow
escapes and exciting adventures. Dur
ing that awful yellow fever epidemic in
Savannah, in 1854, during which people
dropped about like dying sheep by the
hundreds, Iran an engine every night
for six long weeks, and never closed my
eyes between sunset and sunrise, work
ing all the night through, and I never
caught the fever. But it caught me in
Savannah in 1876, and came near kill
ing me. I have never been we'll since
then, and l think that fever caused me
to have the dropsy, which I have got
ut this moment. The dropsy is mighty
hard on me, mighty hard, mighty hard.
During the war they used to send me
with trains over to Salt riverin Virginia
to haul salt for the confederate gov
eminent"
IT have served under all the presi-
dents the Central has ever had-W. W.
Gordon, the first; Cuyler, Wadlev,
Alexander and Raoul. Gordon was a
great man, he was. I've seen him many
3 time trudging along the track in the
rain and mud, with q bundle on his
back, inspecting the road. People
called him crazy for doing that way,
but hehad his all In the Central-slaves,
lands and everything. Mr.. Wadley vas
a great man, too, and Mr.. Raoul is
great"
Union Springs!" shouted the brakes
man, and Uncle Ned slowly arose from
his seat, and leaning over till his face
almost touched that of the reporter, he
said: "Tbey say that corporations
have got no soul, my lad, but don't you
ever believe it. Maybe it's so, though,
maybe it's so. But it don't apply to Che
Central. The Central has been as good
to me as a strong man could be to his
feeble old father, and, please GOD, /
wsnt to get well enough to drive an en-
CINE once more. l rode on the engine
a little bit this morning, and it makes
me feel more like my old self than I've
felt before in a long time. Good by,
lad. good-by. There, there, thank you,
thank you; much obliged for your
kindness"
A moment later and the old man was
good-naturedly joking with a hackman
down in the dusty road below. "Drive
me to Mr.. Fox's," he said, II want to
see the boy"
Poor old Uncle Ned; his is a wonder