Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-03-07

iron bar to drive out our spikes; O bent
"crow's foot" would have been worth
more than its weight in gold; but we
hammered away with what we had, and
spike after spike was drawn. Here saw
Andrews show real impatience for the
flrst-I am not sure but may say the
only-time. He had altered his dress,
throwing off the cape and high hat that
he wore while at stations, and had 4
small cap on, which greatly changed his
appearance. The nearing OF tho time
when his plans would all culminate in
success seemed to thrill and inspire him.
He snatched the iron bar out of the hands
Of the man who was welding it, and
though we had strong and practiced
workmen in our party-I had not
before seen the blows rained down
with such precision and force. Some
say that he uttered an oath on this occa-
sion, but though standing by l did not
hear him, the only words l did hear be-
ing directions about the work, given in
his mild tones, but with quite an en-
phatic ring of triumph in them. He
wanted that rail up in the fewest number
of seconds and then-the bridge! There
were several using lever of green wood,
and trying to tear up the eiid Of a.ra;i'
from which the spikes had not yet been
drawn; but the lever bent too much, and
fence rail was added and we lifted again.
At that instant, loud and clear from the
SOUTH came the whistle of the engine in
pursuit! It was near by and running at
lightning speed. The roll Of q thousand
thunders could not have startled us more.
What could we do? At the end where
we had been prying the rail it was bent,
but it was still too firmly fixed for us to
hope to lift it or break it like the last.
But we did the best in our power; we
bent the loose end up still further and put
the fence rail carefully under it, with the
hope that it would compel the pursuers
either to stop and adjust it or throw them
from the track, and then piled into the
car and engine with a celebrity born of
long practice, and with one of its old
bounds that jerked us from our feet-for
Brown and knight threw the valve wide
The impatience of Andrews to reach the
bridge had not been diminished by the
appearance Of this new element in the
situation.
Here our pursuers were greatly startled.
Their story had been swiftly told when
they reached Calhoun, and the engine and
tender of the passenger car, with re-en-
forcement of armed men, followed them
up the road. Fuller stood on the tender
of his own train, which was in front, gaz-
ing intently forward to see if there was
any dangerous obstacle or break in the
track, such as they had already many
times encountered. Soon he beheld us at
work with feelings which cannot be de-
scribed. Before getting near enough to
see our number, we had mounted and
sped away, and he saw with exultation
that we had not broken the track, and
that there seemed to be no obstruction.
With full speed he ran on till too close to
stop, and then beheld what he believed, at
first, to be broken rail and gave himself
up for lost; butit was on the inside OF a
curve, and as an engine running rapidly
throws most of its weight on the outside,
when he ran on it the bent rail was only
straitened down, and they were safely
on the other side of this danger. The
next train, which followed almost imme-
diately after, did not notice the obstruc-
ton at all. There is scarcely doubt
that two minutes more, enabling us to
finish getting rail up at this point, would
have given the control of the day into our
hands, for there were no more trains on
the road either to delay us or to be turned
back after u.s. But as it was, the Texas
pressed on after us without the slightest
loss Of headway. ..-,....--...-....
The coming Of this train before the
track was torn up was by far the most Sc
rious misfortune that we had yet encoun-
tered. But might it not still be overcome?
The plan which first presented itself to the
undismayed spirit of Andrews was to use
two of our cars as projectiles and hurl
them back at the enemy. This was more
in accordance with his genius, which de-
lighted in strategy, than the plain course
which most of the soldiers would have
preferred; that is, a straight out and out
fight with the pursuing tram. Accord
ingly our engine was leVerscd-could we
have selected down grade the chance of
success would have been better, but we
were coming SO near the bridge that we
could not delay to choose-and when the
speed in this way had been checked and
the pursuing train was quite close and
still going fast, we uncoupled and bounded
on again. But the skillful pursuers were
not thus to be beaten. They saw what
they We're about, and checking their head
way when the car was dropped, they also
reversed, and coming up to it with moder-
ate force, coupled on, which was easier
because their tender was in front.