The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-10

pcrdlutB eplbnetS at the engineer, WHO, W
this ii ne, was nearly blind with rage.
At this moment the conductor made his
appearance, and crawling out upon the
tender, began throwing humps Of coal at the
boy, as the engineer, putting on steam, drew
near the poor fellow.
Fortunately the conductors aims were not
well taken, for had the young man been
knocked down the locomotive would have
undoubtedly run over him.
From this the rough autocrat of the train
soon desisted, for the idiots hackers with an
American sense of fair play that animates
even the toughest of our brutes, began pelt
ing the conductor with stones, each pebble
sent with the accuracy OF rifeshot at that
part of his animal economy where the legs
end and the body begins. He retreated hur-
riedly TO the engine house, where he rubbed
his person in q comical way with one hand
while with the other be assuaged his wrath
by furious ringing of the bell. The en-
gineer seconded his efforts by letting off short
shrieks and keeping the locomotive fright
fully close upon the heels of the wretched
youth
Having begun life with a strange dispo-
sition to take upon myself the ills of others,
and finding such practice extremely I'M
| pleasant and useless, have gradually traine
myself into the other extreme. and gen
orally bear the misfortunes OF my friends
with a philosophical indifference that Is
very composing. On this occasion, how
ever, forgot my cynicism and found my
self running under that broiling sun. shak-
| ing my fist, with my heart my mouth, at
the conductor, and demanding in the most
| authoritative manner that he stop the train
From the depot to the tunnel was about
half a mile; to accomplish this distance the
train and idiot occupied some 20 minutes.
| The passengers, crowded at windows and on
| the platforms, took as lively an interest in
the affair as the entire population Of Glen
| Cove that accompanied the train and backed
the idiot. 1t was a godsend to the passen-
gers, and they expressed their satisfaction by
| the liveliest betting and cheers, first for the
| locomotive and then for its strange COM
| petitor.
1t was neck and neck between life and the
| locomotive. A false step, stumble, and the
huge mass of roaring, throbbing iron would
have gone crushing over the frail body Of
the man, who strangely impeded its prog
reSS, And such result was imminent; for
the poor fellow, exhausted by excitement and
| over-exertion, staggered at times, and at
times reeled as if about to fall in way TO
| make me shudder.
That such would probably have been the
result became painfully apparent, when an
| abrupt and somewhat unexpected termina-
ton was put to the cruel sport. The man
stationed at the mouth of the tunnel and
employed to keep its murky depths clear OF
Instructions suddenly seized the youth, at
| the risk of his own life, and threw him with
some violence to one side Such was the
effort that both rolled over, and the huge
locomotive, giving a shrill scream of
| triumph, dived into the tunnel, followed by
the long train, that disappeared as if the
earth had opened and swallowed it.
sat down at the mouth of the subterra
mean excavation quite exhausted as the crowd
dispersed, and from the mouth of the dark
| entrance was pleased to find a cool damp air
| that came out in puffs, as if a dragon were
cooled up within and painted out its cold,
a series of idle questions, of statistical sort
such as a man under the circumstances al
ways INDUCES in. He grunted out the exact
length of the tunnel the time required to
construct it, the accidents that occurred
within his remembrance, and altogether, in
response to my leading questions, exhibited
good deal OF information ON tunnels. For
man to know one thing well is a power 1t
is better, however, to believe you know some
one thing and impart the information to
| your friends. 1t is a bore at best and just as
well when it takes the shape of tunnel.
| Having exhausted the hole in the ground
and really, come to think of it, there was
nothing in i'll spoke of the late race
''Crazy jackass!n quoth the sententious
| guardian Of the excavation; "he1l git killed
| yet, and sooner the betterfor all consarned. "
"Why, do they often put him up to thatF'
| mo, not frequent. They do it on that
train sometimes, for they hate the conductor.
Onct, long ago, it wasn't needed. He used
to run ahead of every train, clear through
the tunnel, warnin' people of. They
switched that out Nv him. Now the ornary
cusses puts him up to it."
"Queer sort of insanity"
"Isn't it'll and be was onct q bright feIler-a
rale schollard"
"IndeedT
eyes, was onct, but left his senses in this
| tunnel
why, how was thatT
"Well, you see, he's the son Of old Judge
Conrad, of these parts-only child, at that
and was sent to college, and no end of trouble
taken and money spent to finish and furnish
ND his intellects. When he come home to
study law, what does he do but take after a
little girl named Mary Grubbs. da'ter OF thu
cooper, an she was po,r as q pig an purity
as painted wagon Well, / guess she was
about the handsomest critter In this part Of
he vineyard len Conrad was struck. I tell