The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-07-26

BIT THE GIRL WAS EQUAL TO TIE OCCASION.
and proposed with the rest of the Brother
hood) to stay by the company and his loco
motive This made the strikers exceeding
lvangl.v and, as q consequence, Anna was
constantly fearful Of some harm Detailing
Joe, or the dearly-loved engine--or both,
One night when Burdette had to pu8
mail train number four out OF SteamVitS'
Anna in Q strange but earnest manner
becged permission to accompany him.
s.Vhy, my dear little girl,' said Joe,
| that can hardly be. NO-you stay at home
and have breakfast ready on my return"
But the girl entreated with remarkable
! persistence, though she could give no GOOD
! or logical reason for her wish At last
Burdette yielded, and when Number Four
pulled out of Steamville there was girl,
| wrapped in a big shawl, huddled like
| bundle on JCes seat in the cab. she hld
herself thus so that JOS enemies might not
| report him for carrying a passenger on ms
engine, and she reclaimed IN her nldlng-
place while Joe, with his hand on the lever
| and his eve set straight ahead, guided the
throbbing locomotive through the misty
| darkness of q November night over the tntrl-
cate maze of main tracks, SIDE tracks,
switches and sidings of the great Steam
vile yard.
They had got about one mile from the
DEPOT. and were still crawling very slowly
v
Burdette missed bis fireman who had gone
to the tender to throw down some coal.
Still keeping his hand on tbs lever, Joe
ueered through the leather curtain and, as
he did so, was rudely dragged from the
locomotive by strong arms, welded by Two
of the desperate and revengefal strikers.
| In another moment, Anna, VINO was Wld6
awake. had grasped the situation. She I'M
derstood, perfectly, that thcntention OF the
rascals who had kidnapcd Burdette and his
, fireman was to allow mail train No. to pro-
coed on its way unguided and unfettered r.
, to rush with increasing speed 10 certain oc-
struction. But the girl was equal, and
more than equal, to the occasion. She was
2 bright as a dollar and smart as a whip ana
! | as Burdette had frequently asserted, she
lSneyy as much about q locomotive as many
of the engineers on the Chicago q over
land She now saw an opportunity 10 save
Joe's reputation, as well as TO make one lor
herself; she also saw the chance-nay' Ihe
i1nDerative need-to save the old locomotive
and many lives, and 80 to frustrate the vale
plans of the unprincipled strlkers.
How she did it not even the girl herself
could tell after the exciting time was past.
The mail train was scheduled to run over
the division without stop, and run 10 ol'
For three hours the plucky girl stood in the
cab. guiding the train through all its dan
gers, both seen and unseen. She peere.
ahead into the darkness, she watched th'
stean-guage, and anon shovclcd coal int
the furnace like an old-tme fireman
II was hard work and the hours were o
wei nigh interminable length; but the enc
came. and mail train No. 4 rolled INTO Chi
cago on time.
To-day the boys hardly call Joe Bnrdett
eserazy,7 and they are willing 70 admit tina
Joe onpht to have ''sOft spOt' for the gir
who did so bravely on that eyentful night
Nor is one OF the Chicago q Overland en-
N ployes Jealous of the fact that upon the pas
ut roll of G. d o. engineers appears, each r.
I'd curing month, the name Of Anna Pender
so W II. S. ATKINSON.