Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-10-02
THE CAT SAVED THE TRAIN.
dev II Was Done, Related ~ As
Young FirsHan

As the train WAS about to pull out Of
the Broad street station | recognised
an old friend in the engineer, says the
Philadelphia Inquirer. He nodded to
me and | jumped into the cab. Dick
and shook hands and he introduced me
to his fireman. = young follow. with
large. truthful. honest eyes, and tho
most innocent-looking face | ever saw
Perched on the seat was a huge black
cat. ugly. scraggy, and with = ground
plan of fur that looked like a railroad
map. it was 50 plowed aud cut up.
Naturally noticed The cat and asked
what it was doing there.
That's wonderful cat" said the
youthful fireman. land thereby hangs
tale. Do you want It'll"
''Of course"
well, about = week ago we-Dick
and me-were making run between
Philadelphia and Trenton. 1t was q
dirty. black night-cold and a driving
rain, and we werr-thAt is, Dick was--be.
hind time, and We were-that il, Dick
was-making hsr hum for all she was
worth. We-that is, Dick-had a
clear track and the right OF way. A
fow feet ahesd Of the pilot it was as
black AZ nothing. We were driving
into chaos at the ratio of sixty mile, an
hour. l could not he p thinking that
if we ran into anything we'd know
more about the other world than was
ever written in books, and | said .
little prayer that | learned in Sunday
school. The prayer didn't seem to do
me much good, and asked Dick if it
was necessary to run so fast. Dick
gave me look of mild contempt, and
then got on my dignity and felt as ii
I'd rather like to strike something just
to change that look of Dicks to one of
surprise. This was wicked. l know,
but couldn't help it,"
Suddenly there was an awful crash
directly in front of me, splintering OF
glass in the window, and this cat
came tumbling in. My heart got right
up in my throat and | thought I'd
choke. l saw Dick turn pale, and,
terrified as | was | remember being
glad of it. He didn't lose his head,
though-Dick never does-but re-
versed the machine, and when the
train was stopped wc-that is, Dick
got out to investigate. And what dc
you thinkp There was a rail mis-
placed within dozen feet of where we
had stopped. The hagman at the
switch had seen it and stationed him
self up the track to signal us. He had
a pet cat which followed him wherever
he went. The cat was with him as
usual When he heard us laundering
down upon him his lantern went out.
He laid it down to re light it; a gust OF
wind caught it and it rolled down the
EN- bankment. Here was a state OF
things. The flagman wa. quick to act,
however, and grabbing his faithful cat
by the tail ho hurled it at the cab rs
We ratified by. Here is the cat that
saved our train. Didn't you, Danger?'
The cat bumped its ugly back ip
recognition. and looked ut the frank.
innocent face of the boy. He returned
the look with widc-open, truthful eyes.
Shades of Mount Vernon! What 8
liar that fellow isl" said Dick to me in
a whisper. He has. the reputation OF
being the biggest liar on the road.
He'll finish first in race with Tom
Ochiltree. That cat story is his latest
saved the train business | saw him
fish that eat out OF ditch two days
ago.