, 1890-09-13
snelNEERls DOG.


It Was Slides Canine Instinct That Pre-
vented n Railroad Wreck.
Yes, sir, remarked the gray haired
gentleman with a slight tremor in his
voice, Il have given up ~railroading
now, having become a 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 I'VE my life to him
upon more than one occasion. His
names Slide not of Slide, Kelly,
sidel' fame, however. I'd go down to
the roundhouse and see my old girl Il
out and then monkey about her TO see
that nothing was nj of whack until it
was time TO start
Right at the hour Slide could be e e
coming down the street with my dinner
basket in his old mouth. When it be
came time to start I'd give the whistle
a 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, got
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. 1 even taught him to
pull the whistle cord whenever / com
manded. Everybody along the line
knew him. When l got down to oil
my wheels he would always follow and
watch to see hat no kids jumped on
the locomotive.
Il remember distinctly one stormy
night rs ! was approaching Chicago.
There was a tremendous tempest on
the lake, for / could hear the dull roar
of the waves beat upon the shore, /
had TO lay upon a siding and wait for
orders 10 pull in over any one Of the
fifty tracks hat spread out near the
city. There was n little telegraph
station a few rods away from where /
lay. Orders were confidently expected
in a few minutes, but they did not
come. Ny fireman and l got lonely
sitting out there in the driving rain,
and not even distinguishing each others
voices in the din. ] remember Tom
yelling "Itn be a 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
throw the switch, when Slide made a
bee line out OF the cab and flew at the
fellow as though he had gone crazy
and back. Why, he simply tore sounds
into shreds. He jumped It the fellow
every time he made n movement for
the switch. He would crouch down
and beg and whine terribly.
3" Say, Charley, / won't touch that
switch, the brakey said as he walked
toward me with a white face. There's
something gone wrong, and / know it,
lie went on. At first / laughed, but
gradually something strange came over
me suddenly. / could feel the warm
perspiration trickling down my back
bone. The conductor got impatient
and yelled TO us to pull out. The
brakeman started back to throw the
switch again, but, sir, the dog displayed
the same tactics and even bit the brake
mans hands. Just then there was "A
sudden lun in the storm. The most
mournful howl | ever heard came from
BET animal
y cod look cried the brake
man EW1tinp up the track Both Of
us prung to our posts and Deercd to
ward Chicago. A great rod Light came
like a fash out of the inky blaoknessr
and the special rushed past Rslike a
whirlwind and WIS gone,
-Four white faces looked into one
another's countenance a moment later,
and just then the operator came rush
ing out with orders to stop us, but we
had been stopped by a keener instinct
than human intelligence and telegraph
wires, Yes, he was our mascot con
cluded the old engineer, brushing a
strange moisture in his eyes and walk
ing further along LIES rugged road.
The dog had gone before him.-Denver
News.