Montgomery County sentinel., 1891-03-20
Miseellamenms.
FORTY MINUTES LATE

IOnIl MIN U LED LhI Il.
1.-The most fearful accident that evel
happened on locomotive" echoed The
engineer, looking round at me. The
brave man was member of my parish
and was sitting at his tea table. After
a moments thought he pushed back his
chair, for the frugal meal was finished
and looked hard at his wife, II was o
curious gaze Of his honest eyes, and the
lady met bis glance with an almost pa
thetic cntroaty: "Do not toll it," writ.
ten on her kind face.
"Sho don't like to think Of it," he re-
turned, laughing at the same time he
shook back the long hair that fell in
waves over tho left side of his brow
uncovering blushng scar and reveal
ing that he had been dismembered OF
an ear. ''But | am not so bad look.
ing fellow, after ALL" he said. In fact,
he was singularly fine looking.
''It is one Of those memories" his
wife interrupted, rising, 'that one fears
to recall But, thank God. it will be
no more likely to occur again for the
telling of it, and he may tell it while |
put the boy to bed up stairs"
at was one Of those accidents that
nothing can prevent" resumed the on
gineer "No foresight can guard against
the hidden flaw which the best of steel
sometimes hides in its own false heart.
The best crank or shaft ever forged will
sometimes break on steamer in mid
ocean So Of connecting rod on pair
of drivers Now, | think the thing
am going to tell you is the most terri
Bile accident that can happen on loco
motive, because it is the worst ever
experienced. 1t worked the most havoc
and scared mo more than any other
ever went through. | cannot get over
the dread of it even now, and probably
never shall Still another man might
single out another as the worst"
My friend still runs, as be did that
almost fatal day, the fastest train that
speeds between the two large cities. -
At one end of its fight tho train is
obliged to traverse n long tunnel Mil
lions of people pass through that tun-
mel yearly in perfect safety. But if they
knew the hairbreadth escapes of the
first few years. and especially during its
construction, even now they might no
always sit so comfortably; but the best
of appliances have somewhat lcsscned
the dangers.
"When we were ready to leave the
depot at - the new general manager
of the division came along down the
platform with the agent and was intro
duced to me. | pulled off my greasy
cap, and was about to get down, when
he said, Never mind, that he was go
ing to run with us. Of course l offered
him his choice of seats, as you wouldn I
do to your own father; for whoever rides
iD the cab he must take stand up or
the fireman's box, if the fellow is good
natured enough to offer it. A big officer,
like the manager, was different, howcv-
er, and gave him anything. To tell
the truth, | was relieved to know his
errand was only to ride for this En-
glish gentleman a kinsman Of our big
owner, had been turning up lots of good
men. He seemed to think we Ameri-
cans couldn't make fast time, and cars
are heavier, our roads not 30 straight as
the English
" we are forty minutes late, he said /,
as he straddlcd in front Of the fire box
and consulted bis watch. This occurs
about every day, my man, more or less,
and it's about time the blamed practice
was stopped.
"'Traffic is heavy in October, sir |
said, trying to smile my prettiest.
" Can you drive this machine in on
time, he kind o growled at me.
II gave him real Yankee stare back
for moment, and then my blood was
up. That was ten years ago, before
had any wife and babies IL is wife,
babies, ten years and ditch or two that
takes the dare devil out of locomotive
engineer. At first man knows no fear,
but any of the aforementioned things
kind o tempers him down lie cant
keep his pluck up as at first, do what
he will Ny wife, by the way, was ex-
pectiDg nc to come round with the min
lister to be spliced week from that very
day She had sent out some wedding
cards--rather snowy for humble folks
to do. The wedding had to be deferred, y
and he tried to smile as be referredto
that incident, though it was evident that
the remembered tragedy was beginning
to overshadow his own manly face, as il
had his wifes before she left US "Well
pastor, | just frowned on the English.
man, and said, If you'll choose which
seat you'll take, and let my fireman gel
in some of his work, we'll show you
what the Sycamore can do when she Il
mad
"I will take the stokers box ht
said that's English for fireman. you
know. And he climbed up, rolling i
cigarette and lighting it with funn,
kind of foreign machine in his hand
~ started her easy. We pulled tel
cars. We had run Of seventy-fou
miles, schedule time two hours. [ wa
to run it in one hour aud twenty min
utes. There were to be three slow ups
and one dead stop at drawer Tha
would give me most Of the miles to d
in sixty seconds. We often do that 70
mile or two. Every fast train doe
every day But seveutv-four sneh mile