Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1892-12-02
The Spook Brakeman.

wen, uuuUO, ediu tuc chS SihtVi'
as he wiped his hands on bunch Of
waste and seated himself beside us IN
the round house, Il never worried
much about ghosts nor spooks, and
I've mighty little faith in that kind
of thing, but | know one case. at
least. where if hadn't done as l was
told TO do by somebody or something,
| wouldn't be here to-day, and II that
somebody or something wasn't
spirit, | can't understand what II
was" The old man took prodigiouS
chew of tobacco and continued
More than ten years ago was run
min freight engine on the Shenan-
doah Valley Road, which had just
been opened to Roanoke, where il
connected with the Norfolk and
Western. II any OF you have ever
been down the Shenandoah Valley,
il won't be necessary for Inc 10 men
ton how crooked that road il nor
how the upper end is mainly tres
ties, and the lower end runs along
the banks Of the James river at the
foot Of the mountains.
In them days, as ] said before,
the line WAS new, and every freshet
washed out a span or two OF trestle,
and caused section or so OF land
bigger than Chicago suburb To slide
down over the track. Ii wasn't no
fun TO travel up and down there on "a
pitch-dark nis sht, not KNOWN whether
the track was where il ought 10 be,
or if half mile OF il had slid into
the river. The road was and IL yet,
for that matter, single track line,
and et,lements were mighty few be
tween Hagerstown aud Roanoke.
The old war sayin' that a crow Goln
down the Shenandoah Valley must
carry rationS, was still true, for
wilder stretch Of country than that
below Luray is hard TO find.
Just below Hagerstown is Sharps-
burg or Antietam, and sometimes
used to think saw Yankees and
Johnny Rebs standin' around on
picket duty on clear nights. though,
of course, knew it was only bushes.
We used to run trains good deal 10y
luck in them days. The engineers
got so accustomed To meetin' other
trains at certain points that the fact
of there bein' no telegraph offices
sometimes for thirty miles never
caused any trouble. My run was al
ways at night, and | used to take
siding about sixty miles north OF
Roanoke TO let the express rass. II
didn't get there in time, standin or
ders were TO take IA siding ten miles
this side There wasn't a house for
miles around, and no telegraph Office
nor signals. We were our own bosses
from the word 90.
The night was speakin OF WA
dark and misty so that You couldn'
see "A hundred yards ahead. / had "A
pretty heavy train on, and with
wet rail to contend with, the engine
had hard work to stick TO schedule.
According to my watch. however, we
were exactly on time when the en-
CINE turned into the cut half mile
below the first passing siding. So,
seein' there would be no difficulty in
runnin' the next ten miles and takin
the switch there for the express,
shouted TO Billy, the fireman, to let
her cool down "A little, and filled my
pipe for a good, quiet smoke. When
we were nearly to the first siding !
pulled the whistle. and from force OF
habit kept lookin' ahead, although |
knew there wes nothIn' to be seen,
and il there was, couldn't see it for
the fog. Billy was also lookin' out
on his side Of the cab.
Suddenly | saw light wavin'
right in front across the track. In
cases like that the engineer acts from
instinct. and | blowed for brakes, re-
versed the engine, opened the sand
box and then looked out again. !
could see Jack Smith, a passenger
brakeman, standin' in the center Of
the track still wavin' his lamp at us,
though he must have heard me blow
for brakes. The odd thing about II
was that he never moved as we came
closer and closer, although the bell
wa ringin', and the cars bumpin' to-
gether / tried 10 yell 10 him, but il
was too late, and the engine struck
him or rather passed over where he
was standin' He just disappeared.
and engine didn't even tremble as it
rolled on. turned around To TO Bill
Iy. thinkin' he must have seen the
poor fellow fall, but he was leanin' over
the boiler lookiu' at me in a curious
sort OF way. He shouted. 'What's |
the matter, what are you stopping |
for. Didn't you see that brakeman
we run down. / yelled. Billy
looked disgusted. Rats he replied,
YOU didn't run down no brakeman.
by that time the train had stop
ped. and the crew came running up.
| told them We hit man and to 90
back. The conductor aud fagman
went back, and although my watch
showed me We had plenty OF time TO
make the next siding, insisted upon
in on the switch just ahead.
for my nerves were all upset. Billy
was mad. but he couldn't help him
self and so / pulled the train into
the switch. We'll, boys, the last car
hadn't more than cleared the main
line before the express whistled not
more than u hundred yards away. a
--.o.1 Or IN LATER IL dashed ma = a