Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-11
JUMPED FROM THE BRIDGE.
An Incident in the Life of Robert j.
Hirhtower.


The death of Hon. Robert J. Hightower
at his home in johnson county recalls an
| incident of his early life which has hardly a
parallel in the annals of adventure and is
entitled to rank with the best incidents in
early railroad history.
Early in 1916 Robert Eightower. then a
young man about twenty years old, came
from Alabama to visit his uncle in middle
Georgia.
In those days railroads We're something
new in the South. and Robert had never
seen train of ears or railroad track N
his life. The trip from Alabama was made
! partly by stage and partly Oh horseback.
His uncle resided in the lower part of
Washington county, about fifteen miles
south of the Central railroad of Georgia,
which had been built just few years pre-
yious.
A few days after Roberts arrival, he and
his uncle set out on horseback to Tennllle,
the nearest railroad station, to attend TO
some business and TO enable Robert 10 get
his first view Of 4 locomotive.
Three miles west of Tennille the public
highway crosses the railroad, which at this
point runs through very deep cut on n
sharp curve. The highway crosses BY
means of :. bridge which spans the cut,
the floor of the bridge being about thirty
feet above the track.
Robert and his uncle had reached this
bridge, when they heard distant rumbllng
noise which his uncle informed Robert was
the train approaching from the west.
They rode out midway the bridge inmedi-
ately above the track. and concluded there
TO await the passing of the train.
As the iron monster shot into view around
the curve. the effect was bewildering upon
Robert. Never in all his life was he so
fascinated by anything. Nothing he had
ever seen impressed him so strongly, and
la of no, SSaSSp1 n MISSION ~
know more about ii, to get closer to 1t.
They had already dismounted and were
holding their horses by the bride reins,
when the locomotive passed under the
bridge. Impelled by an ardent desire 10
become better acquainted with this steam
monster. and knowing nothing OF the dan
ger that would attend such an act. Robert
exclaimed:
u shall jump down on it and ride to Ten
nile, uncle, you bring my horsel''
His uncle, little thinking that he was in
earnest. and taking his exclamation as d
joke, responded, jump! l will come on to
town with the horses
Suiting the action 10 the word, before the
astonished relative could prevent him.
he ledped from the bridge into the space
below.
The distance from the bridge to the top of
the cars below was about twenty feet. an
extraordinary jump for anyone under other
circumstances, but to him full of extreme
peril.
As he made the leap the last cars of the
train We're passing beneath him. These
were "fats'' or open cars, loaded with bales
of cotton piled one upon another rs high as
the tops of the box cars which composed
the remainder OF the train.
Good fortune went with him on his leap.
As luck would have it, he struck near the
front of one of the cotton cars, and was
carried backward by the inertia nearly to
the other end of the car, where he gained g
good foothold and sank down considerably
shaken up by the jump but with no bones
broken and not q scratch upon his person.
The top brakeman on the train was
nearly frightened out of his wits at the
sudden descent of a man from mid-air, as II
We're.
When Tennille was reached the train
stopped and he alighted. He was taken in
charge by the train crew, who showed him
tho train from pilot to caboose. much to his
delight, and who explained to him the fear
ful risk he had taken, much TO his surprise
and horror.
The acquaintance with the iron horse was
made, but he cared not to renew it after
the manner Of the first introduction.
His uncle soon arrived with the horses
and was overioyed to find the young man
physically sound.
The bridge still stands. Trains pass under
it day bv day, but no one else has ever
sought their acquaintance as did Robert
Hightower.
Our hero died q few days ago, having
reached quite mature age Atlanta Con-
stitution.