Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1890-10-16
THE ENGINEERS DOG.
It Was Slides Canine Instinct That Pre-
vented Railroad Wreck.

vented a Railroad Wreck.
eyes, sir" remarked the gray haired
gentleman with slight tremor in his
voice, Il have given up railroading
now, having become little bit too far
advanced upon the road of life to sit in
a cab and make a locomotive move.
Oh. You want to know about that dog
of mine. All right l used to run into
Chicago on the Lake Shore on old 1872,
That dog never missed a trip over the
road with me, and l owe my life to him
i upon more than one occasion. His
names Slide not of Slide, Kelly,
slideH fame. however. Id go down to
the roundhouse and see my old girl run
out, and then monkey about her to see
that nothing was out of whack unit! it
was time to start.
Right at the hour Slide could be seen
coming down the street with nv dinner
basket in his old mouth. When it be
came time to start I'd give the whistle
chance. and Slide would be on board
in the cab beside me. That dog never
would walk. He was too blooded for
that. 1t became no trick at all for him
to climb out on the foot board. run
along and jump down on the pilot. get
up again on the other side and walk
into the other window Whenever we
got to New York Slide would go down
and ride into town. big as life. on the
cow catcher. l even taught him to
pull the whistle cord whenever com
manded. Everybody along the line
knew him. When 1 got down to oil
my wheels he would always follow and
watch to see that no kids jumped on
the locomotive.
Il remember distinctly one stormy
flight as [ was approaching Chicago
There was n tremendous tempest Cd
the lake, for could hear the dull roar
OF the waves beat upon the shore. 1
had TO lay upon q siding and wait for
orders to pull in over any one of the
fifty tracks that spread out near the |
city. There was a little telegraph
station few rods away from where ! |
lay. Orders were confidently expected |
in few minutes, but they did not
come. Ny fireman and 1 got lonely
sitting out there in the driving rain.
and not even distinguishing each Others
voices in the din l remember Tom
yelling It'll be hard time out on the
lake tonight" and then the light CAME
from the station bobbing up and down
and someone came hurrying up and
gave me the written orders to proceed
over the last track to one of the
stations on the outskirts of the CITY
and lay there until a special had
passed
well, the brakeman got down to
brow the switch, when Slide made a
Zee line out of the cab and flew at the
elbow as though he had gone crazy
md back. Why, he simply tore sounds
nto shreds. He jumped at the fellow
very time he made movement for
he switch. He would crouch down
nd beg and whine terribly.
Say, Charley, won't touch that
witch, the brakey said as he walked
oward me with white face. There's
gone wrong, and know if.
e went on. AT first 1 laughed, but
radually something strange came over
lie suddenly. l could feel the warm
respiration trickling down my back.
one. The conductor got impatient
nd yelled to us to pull out. The
started back to throw the :
witch again, but, sir, the dog displayed :.
lie same tactics and even bit the brake !,
lan's hands. Just then there was a
ldden iull in the storm. The most
loumful howl | ever heard came from
lat animal.
" My God, look cried the brake
IAN, pointing up the track. Both of s
sprung to our posts and peered to- t
ard Chicago. A great red light came 2
le flash out of the inIy blackness a
nd the special rushed past us like a b
hirlwind and was gone. a
-Four white faces looked into one
lothers countenance a moment later Fl
Id just then the operator came rush s,
g out with orders TO stop Us, but we C
I'd been stopped by keener instinct t.
an human intelligence and telegraph jt
res. Yes. he was our mascot" con. G.
lded the old engineer, brushing a a
'ange moisture in his eyes and walk il
3 further along life's rugged road st
lie dog had gone before him.-Denvs, CO
,ws. a.
ow 1t Feels to Undergo an Operation. L
A party of three gentlemen were It
sted at table of a popular cafe the q
her evening discussing the case of u
end who had recently been through
errible surgical operation, when one
the party, who had had a similar vi
Grafton performed on him some 70
ars ago. observed: ga man who is VI
out to undergo a difficult surgical 20
Grafton experiences something of ths sb
ne feeling that man must sxpe- ba
nco who is about to be executed. 1 10,
oW 1t was 20 in my CASE. w;
had nerved myself, 1 thought, for IA