The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-11-16
STOKES THEY TELL.
Railroad Engineers Become Reminiscent
and Talk,
atlanta Constitution.

QIoWus Aao CA'SooSA0o ~ olA SA6'ASSA
calling involves thrilling adventures,
narrow escapes, close. calls, and danger in
its worst form. he leads charmed
life, certainly, facing as he does, death
every day, and yet living TO tell the
story.
But the danger of IN engineers life is
outweighed by the fascination it has for
him. There is fascination, an exhila-
ration about the rustlng locomotive that
makes the engineer forgstful of his dan
ger.
In the mad into1ication Of farm fields,
neat painted farm houses, pretty groves,
babbling brooks, little villages, all glid-
ing by, like the continuation of q kalei-
doscopic picture the engineer loses aight
of the fact tha. death turks aloug the
rail. It's fascination that ends only
with death. It's stronger with the old
vaterans than with the younger engin.
eers. When an engineer gets so old he
can no longer go out on the road, his old
love still strong within him, he hangs
around the depot and watches the loco
motives come pulling In, with a sadly
reminiscent look in his dim eyes.
An engineer loves his engine like he
loves his wife and babes. He always as
sociates the two together in his affections.
In writing about an accident in which
some brave engineer has lost his life the
newspaper reporters always draw pic
ture of the engineer Gsting at his throt-
tie, watching the track before him, while
soft light plays gu his features. His face
wears tender look. He is thinking Of
his wife aud babiea. When suddenly
but you know the rest. It's pretty
picture though, and il nearly always true
to life. If an engineer ia thinking of his
wife and little ones, he's thinking of his
sweetheart.
There vel live in Atlanta aome Of the
pioneer engineers, who guided the first
locomotives that ever swept through the
Stats. They can tell rare stories of ad-
venture on the rail, and many Of them
will make your kair aand on snd.
And their youngor brothers, TOO, have
had many lively adventures.
Thoy can spin yarns by thu yard, and
not line O. them is dull or uniD!erest.
ing.
Bill Love is an old Atlanta hoy, and
an engineer Of many years. experience.
Mr.. Love is perhaps the best known en-
giuesr In the South, owing to his promi-
nencs in brotherhood matters. For the
past year he hasn't been active on .he
road, but is general foreman Of the Cen
trail and the Atlanta and West Point
roads.
When asked as to tue halr-brsadth es.
capea through which he had passed, said
tha: while be had many accidents the
one most to be remembered was when he
was engineer In 1883, on the East Ten.
nessse, Virginia and Georgia, between
Macon sed Rome. he says he wan coming
down on No. 48 one night, making q fast
run 70. No 40, with whom he had q
meeting point at Powder Springs. When
be lefs Dallas there was just sixteen
minutes in which to get therslu and
clear No. 49, and the distance was thir.
teen aud half miles. But trusting to
Providence and his engine iu whom he
had all confidence started to make the
run.
When rounding a curve three miles
this side of Dallas my headlight shown
on the rcd lights Of a freight caboose
standing on the main line. The freight
was running to Austeu to meet No. 49
and broken down and thinking only Of
that train, which had the righ: Of way,
had failed 70 send back flag to stop me.
When I aaw the cabooss l wRs not
hundred yards from them and running
fifty miles an hour, but as good luck
would have it the cabooss was one Of
those coaches the Western and Atlsntic
had built for The exposition, and 1hs old
81 first wallzsd through her like an egg
shell and into the next car that was
loaded with sack -four. just before hitting
the caboose 1 had reversed aud plugged
her and she went in spinning, aud
when ne got her out she looked like it
had been showing on her for week.
She WAS so covered with -four. You talk
about your Diarya, but didn't need one
for gentle reminder, for thought of
everything I had ever done in my life.
Did I jump of? Well, no, I did that
heroic act you newspaper reporters credit
us With and stuck to my post. Reversed
my engine and pus on the air brakes, sud
saved The lives Of the passengers. All
because I didn't have time 10 jump or I
expect l would have done tho LEAP frog
act. This horoic bu,iaoas souada very
nice in the papers, but ik no fus to read
about what you know that you have so
act whom you bsven's sacond to think
what is best to do in ths prsmiaas, and If
g man jumps of and sayes himself be is c
coward, and ii be stays on and g0ts killed
be Ia hsro, sud iu toe ssort space of
time in which we have to &C, iA hard to
tell ahich You want 20 be, dsad hero
or live coward.
There are mSu7 upa and downs iu an
engineers lifs, continued Mr.. Love, and
I have had scms ludicrous scares, one or
two of which l cal to minC. l came up
one night from Montgomery to Colum-
bus on fest through frsight on which
we made the round trip in the night. l
wasn't married then and of course like
all single engineers had girl at each
end of the road, I stopped at Mt. Meig5,