Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-07-16

Brookville and then to Ellsworth right
on time. Our next stop was at Oakley.
1t had been pretty cloudy all afternoon,
and about two miles out of Ellsworth l
noticed a cloud, blacker'n midnight,
that seemed to rise up out o the prai-
RE about a mile away on the right
hand side of the track. 1t blossomed
out at the top and started obliquely to-
ward the track and in the direction we
We're going, with Il roar that sends
cold chill down my back when think
of it to this day. / saw that it would
cross the road about a mile ahead and
just about the time we got there. Right
there l made the mistake of my life.
should have stopped and let that stem
winder go on; but I remembered that
it would make us late at Oakley,
surer'n guns if we did, so, thinkin' of
my record. pulled her open to head
off the cyclone.
,, Jim Doolittle was firm for me then.
Jim comes over on my side and looks
! at that stem-winder a minute. Dan,
he says, downhearted like, it's pretty
hard lines for a teller that's gone
through three head-end collisions and
two spells of the grip to get done up
| in a low-down cyclone. just then
| that tornader took a sharp twist and
| headed straight for us. l remember
| thinkin' how nice it would be if | knew
| how to pray, and then, when l had dug
| the sand out of my eyes SOS l could
see there we was bowlin' along so nice
and quiet that made up my mind that
l had been dreaming about the cyclone.
| Pretty soon we pulled up at sta
ton, and l got down to oil round,
when Jerry Blake, the conductor,
comes bustling up with his time card
in one hand and his watch in the other.
DAN says he, what town S this"
why, it's Oakley, of course says
| |, without lookin' up.
"'Of course. must be- says Jerry.
we are due at Oakley at 1906, and it's
lust S:O6L now. There can't be no
doubt about it bein' Oakley. But I'll
be blowed if l ever knowed before that
Oakley was so much like Ellsworth
Il raised my eyes, and there was
| Ellsworth over the waiting-rOom
door in letters foot high. / got right
ND and pulled out for the next town
without saying word. The next stop
ought to have been at LinwoOd, but
the town we got to looked enough like
Brookville to be it's twin brother. Jerry
tottered up to the engine so pale that a
snowdrift would have looked like a
heap of charcoal beside him.
Dan says he, I'll never touch an
other drop of whisky so longs l live,
so help me graciousn
"Sh-h. says 1, go back to the bag
gage car and don't say nothin'. I'm
with you on that pledge and off we
goes agin.
1--WE ought to havegot to Wallace, but
| after a lively spin of twenty minutes
we pulled into Salina, right where we
started from an hour and twenty min
utes before. There couldn't be no sort
of doubt about it, for out comes the
trainmaster foaming at the mouth and
wants to know what in blankety- blank.
blank blank we meant by laying on,
the express two hours. You see, he
thought we hadn't started on the run
vet, when the fact was we had got over
thirty-six miles of road when that
blamed cyclone took up the whole
train. turned it end for end, and set il
back on the rails again, and there we
had started on the back track without
, ever slippin' a turn. And that wash
all. The baggage, and express, ano
postal fellers had dumped out mail ano
; truck as though we were goin' straight
} ahead; and the brakes had hustled of
way passengers at the same stations
they got on at, and there was no enc
of Investigations, and damage suits
and confusion generally in conse
quence."
, THAT reminds me l had an expert
l ence Just like that, only it was differ
emit" rem arked Patsy Owen. II wa
on way-freight on the Indian Valley
l road one winter. l started north on,
morning on No. s. We got along al
right until we were half way over the
division, when there came up the wors
= blizzard | ever saw. On, but it was
corl1er! The snow was so thick that
couldn't see the sandbox, and it blowe'
. so hard that in five minutes from tn
:, !, time the wind came up there wasn't ;
number left on single car on tn
J. train. Bowed 'em all off clean. An
it kept getting worse every minute
, | made up my mind the best thin
l could do was to get to a coal an
y water station and stay there befor
the road was blocked entirely. So
= began to open her up. We pounds
8 along for fifteen minutes an
: began to look out for tn
. station. Another five minutes and
grew uneasy for fear we had passe
the town in the thick weather withou
seeing it. Five minutes more and
> was real scared. | called the fireman
: to mind 'er minute, pretending
; wanted to get drink | got down i
u the gangway and kicked off lump @
coal and watched it to see
Il we left it behind. Gentlemen
l. YOU may not believe me, but w
+ didn't get away from that lump G
coal worth a cent. The fact was tina
headwind was SO strong that it blew Il
Il back as fast as we went ahead, and a
;, though we were turning the wheels a
~ a twenty mile an hour gait. we wer
Z practically standing still. Yes, Sill
g and there we stood, too, steamin' ava
= for all we were worth and never ge
;. ting ahead, hour after hour, until w
had burned up our tank of coal, an
Z then we had to send the brakeme
70 back to the last station we had passe
4 with wheelbarrows to get fresh SUI
= ply of fuel"
'iOh, say, now, Patsy" interrupte
the Corpse, 'how could them brake
men wheel coal in the teeth of a win
} that YOU couldn't make Roadway agi
- with train?
why, YOU don't pose a blow Xix
a that could last forever, do you?' snorte