Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-09-16
An Engineers Experience.

N uozen railroad engineers and con-
ductors met by chance the other day
and an old, gray-haired veteran of the
cab told a story. He had been an en-
gineer with a big reputation as run.
ner" in the days gone by, but, on &C.
count of failing nerves and eyesight,
was now enjoying an easy berth around
the shops. He said
ut was when the old Y. M. & B.
was first opened up" he began, 81 was
pulling passenger, and took the first
coach over the road. got good
run, all day work, and was holdin her
down as good thing. Bout year
after we'd got to doing good business
had some extra running and lost my
turn for while and run nights all of
the time. 1t was my last trip before
I'd get back my own run and was
feelin' glad to get on to the day trick
again. We'd had some mighty bad
weather and lots of water fell. Our
track was in pretty good shape, though,
and didn't much fear washouts, so we
kept up with the card pretty we'll.
On the night l spoke about l was on
No. 2. We had a heavy train, but
the machine L had was able to get
there and l was on time till we struck
freight that couldn't take the sidin'.
They swung us down and we side.
tracked until the freight got away. 1
was pretty warm over losing the time,
and when we lit out of there I pulled
her right up to the notch and she went
for all she was worth. We were MAX
ing about 40 miles an hour, and when
we reached the 'fill' east of Wildcat I
worked steam all the way down. We
were bout half way to the creek when
the bell rang. worked mighty quick,
but it was down hill and the rails were
wet, and didn't get stopped until the
pilot was almost over the bridge-or
where the bridge ought to be, cause
when | stopped the headlight was
shinin' over chasm. The bridge was
washed away. Cad You can tell
just bout how l felt. My fireman
nearly tainted and l wasn't far behind
him. Well, after we stopped the con-
ductor, a smart chap, with fancy
lamp and rubber collar, came run
ming up wantin' to know why l stop
ped.
"Cause the bell rang. What did
you pull the rope for?" says.
"'I didn't says he.
"'Well, who did?' says l.
Ono one, says he, hot like.
"Well, someone pulled it, or
wouldn't a stopped, says 1.
THE CON looked at me a minute,
and just then the brakeman came up.
"'Did you pull the rope, Joe?' said
the con-
emo says Joe.
"Just a sudden, a thought struck
me, and l told the 'brakey to ask the
porter. The coon hadn't pulled the
bell and the passengers in his car were
all asleep until l jerked them endways
with the air l took the conductor
around to the front end and showed
him the bridge. He was scared to
death and we went back together
through the train to see who pulled
the bell rope, but every mothers son
of them swore it wasn't touched. I
began to get scared again and told
them about the bridge and everybody
came out to look at it. We couldn't
find any one who gave the signal, and
after we'd tagged back to the station,
1 got to thinking more and more, and
1 came to the opinion that the bell
was rung by Providence. There were
$50 people on the train, and if that
bell hadn't rung I'd taken them
all over into the Wildcat and dropped
them about 100 feet into the water.
There wouldn't been anybody left to
tell about it either.
"The superintendent looked into the
thing after L reported, and had me
and Joe up 'on the carpet twice, but
we both heard the bell and swore to
it. Some chap got out long explain
alton that the bell rope was tight.
stretched, and we struck a low joint
coming down the hill, when one end
of the coach sagged, and the rope be-
ing tight it rung the bell, but l don't
believe it. 1t was Providence that
did it, and l know it, and I've never
swore an oath since and never will"
Kansas City Star.
Specimen Cases.
S.H. Clifford. New Cassel, Wis, was