The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-09-03
"pplNo TIME" ON THE BRANCH.
BY Z. b. PERRY.

S/NN which L write was employed
on the western division of the road,
with headquarters at Michigan City,
Ind. A days work with our crew con-
sisted of the run from this point TO
Chicago and return each twentyfour
hours. for which service I received the
munifcent salary of forty-fve dollars
month. But / was somewhat roman
tically inclined in those younger days
of mine, and the pleasurable excite
ment derived from "a life on the rail"
seemed ample compensation for any
thing in the way of meager pay.
The company owned or operated the
jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Rail
road. the northern extension OF which
was then in process of construction
through the heart of the vast wilder
ness which stretched, unbroken by
scarce a settlement, from Bay City TO
the Straits of Mackinaw. A small vii
lage named Welch. some seventy or
eighty miles north of Bay City, was the
terminus of freight and passenger
traffic, though the line was built a con-
siderable distance northward of this
point. The region of country travers-
ed 10y this road was lonely and desc
late in the extreme. Once IN each
eight or ten miles logging camp, with
store attachments for the sale of
lumbermen's supplies, would in a man
ner relieve the monotony of the seem
ingly endless forest of gigantic pines
which stretched away in the distance
from every loint of the compass. 1t
was the next thing TO impossible for
the company TO induce men to stay for
any great length of time in this inhos-
pitable desert. despite the triple al
lowance of wages paid. Ho. weather
came on, aud so frequent were resig-
nations and desertions from the
Branch, as the road was termed by
us "main-liners," that heroic measures
were resorted 70 by the company to
re-enforce the depleted force of
Branch" trainmen, and the five men
comprising our crew were, | believe.
the first victims of the following novel
expedient.
We were returning one night from
Chicago to Michigan City, the end OF
our run. We were over eight hours
late, owing TO 'wash-out" short
distance east of Chicago, which had
line This, together with the fact that
none of us had slept a wink the pre-
ceding night, combined to make us
feel not only irritable and careless but
sleepy as we'll.
We approached the junction of the
"Joliet cutoff" at Lake Station at q
moderate rate of speed. came TO full
stop as required, and then proco eded
onward The road here was a dead
level and / was in the habit of re-
manning in the engine instead of going
back over the train to set the brakes,
a. was customary at stopping places
where the road was up or down grade.
have always believed the engineer
was asleep during this part of the per-
Torrance, and that he simply acted
automatically in stopping and starting
that train. You see, he was used to l.;
had. in fact, performed the same iden-
teal act at the same identical spot once
each day for years, and, In his drowsy
condition of mind and body. was
scarcely more animate than the big To-
comotive beneath his feet Be this as
it may, the fact remains that we crashed
into car of live stock which formed
part of train which had just arrived
from Joliet via the cutoff" l shall
not attempt TO depict the scenes of the
next few hours. They were laid amid
splintered cars and broken, twisted
machinery, and set to the music of
kissing steam, dark blue profanity, and
the frantic believing of MANNED and
mangled Texas steers. The debris was
finally removed from the track, and an
other engine towed our battered outfit
into Michigan City.
The day following the accident we
were ordered to report In body 10
the Division Superintendent, chron C
old dyspeptic named Moran. We re-
sponded, and not without considerable
anxious speculation as to the fate
awaiting MS. After adjusting his
specs" and glaring at each one of us
in turn, he began questioning us as to
the cause of the accident. Zach ques-
tion and its answer was taken down in
writing by subordinate, and the in
vestigation consumed the greater part
of the day. At its close we were dis
missed with the injunction that we re-
port to the Office the following morn
ing. We complied. and were told by
Moran that after careful consideration
of the matter he had concluded that
we were each and all of us guilty of
gross carelessness and negligence. He
then, after berating us for about fifteen
minutes, babe US choose between two
evils: Either discharge from the COM
pany's service or three months at run
ming log train on the Branch.
Ny partner, the rear brakeman,
chose the former as the more prefera-
BILE mode of punishment. The conduc-
tor, engineer. fireman and myself ac-
cepted the latter alternative, and next
dav we were sent 10 Jackson, thence
10 East Saginaw, where we were placed
In charge OF train and started north
ward. Our division extended from
East Saginaw TO Welch. and our train
was so timed that our nights we're
spent at the latter place. The hotel y
was conducted by n big, double
jointed, red-shirted Canadian named
Mccoy. 1t was rough board struct-
ure, the lower story being divided into
four rooms, viz: bar-room, dining
room, kitchen and family sleeping
room. The upper story was guiltless