The Opelousas courier., 1886-05-08
AN ENGINEERS STORY
Ills Strange Passenger on a
Southern Railroad.
In Incident of The War in Which a Prom
inent Confederate Figured

says "Halstonn in the New York Times,
or three locomotive engineers sat
over strange experiences, and
his was the story that one of them told:
Il was a young man working on a South
srn railroad as 4 fireman when the war
broke out. Before the war was over |
got an engine of my own; but before |
was regularly promoted the engineer of
ny train fell sick all of a sudden and [
was ordered to take the engine out my
'elf. ] shipped a brakeman to do my fir
ng, land started away at 6 o'clock in the
morning, pulling one passenger and
aalf a dozen freight cars. There wasn't
any fighting along my line, but there was
/ deal of bad feeling everywhere, and
oss of lawless deeds were being commit
ed. The track on this road had been
:orn up in two places only a week before,
md there was a good bit of talk about
irainwreckers and the like. At about s
o'clock at a way station I got a telegram
rom headquarters to drop all my cars
md hurry right on to the end of the line
with only my locomotive and tender. It
vas a queer order, but I knew that it
vas official and / made ready to obey Or
lsrs, when a little man with a brown
Touch hat, who did not look as if he
weighed over q hundred pounds, climbed
Up into the cab and said to me that he
wished I would let him ride in there
With me, he was so anxious to go forward
IS far as he could. | told him that my
rders were to let nobody ride, and ex-
blamed that | didn't think I could let
lin go. Don't you expect me9 he
lsked. / told him | didn't. 1T will be
Ill right, he insisted, but when / asked
lin what was his name and what was
lis business he couldn't be induced to
ell me. Then it's all up said 1; I'll go
light along without YOU Then he sug-
rested that he was willing to ply me
we'll for letting him remain aboard, but I
wasn't taking any chances, and l told
lim SO. l was only waiting til my fire
nan attended 20 some business that he
aad gone down the track about, and then
[ was going to shoot ahead and leave
everybody behind. You ought to have
seen the sparks in That little mans eye.
You needn't wait for your helper he
said in that kind O. quiet tone that had a
whole battlefield in its very quietness.
You needn't wait for your fireman. I'll
do his work. Go ahead 7" | looked at him,
wondering whether or not he was crazy,
when he calmly took out a shiny pistol and
tapped gently on one of the brass rods of
the cab seat, and he repeated once more,
Go ahead!' / was knocked clean out.
What could the stranger mean2 That
sparkle in his eye grew brighter and
and brighter, and seemed fairly to dance
like a diamond under the sun. DO YOU
understand he inquired in the quiet
tone that pierced me like a bullet. Go
ahead, ] say | went ahead. On, on,
and On we dashed, through the fields
and forests and by the villages, stopping
nowhere, my passenger felt that he
was a madman-ke ping a close watch
on me all the while. I was scared. That
pistol was still in his hand, and like the
little hand Of a watch its rat-a-tat-tat on
the brass rod kept counting off the sec
onds and the minutes till l grew almost
crazy myself. | was ratified. A sort of
film kept coming before my eyes. Hesaid
not one word, but / felt that his search
ing gaze was on me all the while. And
finally | could stand it no more. There
was a rush of blood to my head, I stag
gered and fell-with the town / was
bound for just in sight. What | remem-
Der next was a buzz of voices over me as
/ lay in a doctors office. Aside from a
nervous shock ! had suffered nothing.
My engine had brought me into town all
right, and had come to a ! alt at the sta
ton as gently and aimably as any old
family horse. The man who had rode
down with me had known enough to
govern her, but he had waited at the
depot after arriving only long enough to
tell a bystander that I was in need of
help in IN the engines floor. A week
after / learned the reason for the strange
order that had been given me to hurry on
with my locomotive and no cars, and /
learned too the name and the mission of
my passenger. A telegraph operator had
blundered. My dispatch should have
read: Take on little man with brown
SLOUGH hat; drop all cars and rush for
ward with no stops The operator had
carelessly left off the first phrase about
the little man with brown SLOUGH hat,
and given me only the last part of the
order. The man? He was Alexander
ii. Stephens, and he had important war
Observation-Disclosures that he had
been willing to trust to nobody else. He
apologized to me afterward forhis strange
actions, but he said he felt that only in
such a way could he ever manage to make
me go on, for he didn't know what the
real text Of my orders was and he was
afraid to ask for fear that be might find
me either u~nfriendly or untrustworthy.
Hl LAl -a