The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-15

riety and number of small parcels with
I winch II mad for some unknown reason
/ encumbered itself
PROMINENT PEOPLE.
A number of prominent railroad men
were in evidence. two of whom were there
70 take portion of the trip. These were
/ r. G. Boylston, soliciting AGENT of the At
lanuc Coast Lines, and Il. r. HutchiEs,
| assistant master Of trains OF the Savan-
nah, Florida and Western. The latter
was the official in charge of the
| run 70 Savannah, ana il may
| fairly be said Of him that
/ beginning as telegraph operator, he has
/ risen rapidly to his present important
| position and is to-day looked uuon as one
! OF the i've men in the service Of the
! great Plant system. Much of the success
1 That attended the phenomenal spurnt was
| due TO the manner in which this accom-
! plished railroad expert perfected those
| arrangements which were so faith fully
| carried out by all connected with the
! trip.
The start was made PROMPTLY at 1925
o CLOCK, ana as we dashed away under
/ the big bridge that spans the iron grid
| iron al TINS point, we caught the tail end
! Of cheer. La Villa junction was hardly
reached before we We're getting down to
our work in good shape. and No. 50, in
the skiltful hands of Jim Ambrose was
showing what she was capable of when
fed with fuel and forced by fire.
A MILE MINUTE.
The first dash-the run to Callahan,
twenty miles from Jacksonville-wa
made in nineteen minutes. when the
Florida Central and Peninsular special
pulled out for the race. Considering we
had hardly got limbered up for our work.
this was extraordinary. but such is the SOL
ldlty of the Savannah, Florida
| ana Western roadbed that prob
ably few of the smartly dressed
and clipper young people who were
putting IN these first moments of
| their journey in making themselves CON-
Portable, realized the speed at which they
were passing through space
II must be confessed that for this rea-
son the run to Savannah was to the ANA
teur anything but exciting. and il was
not until later stage of the trip. when
engines were changed and crews shifted
that the desperate haste and determine
ton to lose no time that could possibly be
saved, began to spread among the pas
sengers the contagiOn that had from the
first infected the railroad men all along
the line
Savannah was reached at 1:57 D. m.
Here engines were changed and crews
shifted. Here, too, was time-not for
dlnner-but for light lunch, bolted at
the same speed at which we had Travelled.
Most of us had lunch baskets, which
most OF us opened; and ali of US,
imagine, found the usual satisfaction in
observing the difficulty with which hard
boiled eggs permit themselves to be eaten
from basket.
READY FOR THE RUN.
At eight minutes past , after stop of
eleven minutes, the bell sounded and the
journey was resumed and those of US
who had nothing better to do-who had
no pretty New England Mattresses who
had questions to ask and fears to calm
began footing up the figures of our fight.
Deducting the delays-taking into ac-
count fifteen minutes Tor water, i've for
some mysterious object known proffs-
slonaly as hot 'eccentrc," and all
stops and slow downs our actual run
ming time for the l12 miles between Jack
sonyille and Savannah was 1872 minutes.
Much of this time, however, had been
put in to better advantage. ana after
leaving Blackshear we skinned the sand
for time at the race of ~ miles an
hour, making for while an average of
65 BIO miles an hour.
We rolled into Ashley Junction at 4:17,
ready for another fresh engine and long
stop-both of which am glad to say we
got 1t was 5: rs before we again saw the
world flashing by US like a dream of solid
lty, but the wait was one we could well
afford, for a computation made for me by
an obliging expert, with talent for fig
ures and good nature, showed that our
average speed up to Ashley had been SD
miles an hour.
STOP FOR SUPPER.
Twenty minutes for support" was the
cry at Florence, and everybody who was
not too deeply attached to his or her
| lunch basket turned out in the dark to
make light of the awful mysteries of the
| WaySlde cuisine, II turned out to be a
very good supper-plenty to eat and
| plenty OF time in which to try the case
| and render the verdict. We remained
here twenty minutes, leaving with new
| engine at 1:4S o'clock, and the voice of the
| people was that they were minutes well
| spent, the only exception being n girl
| from Boston whose box of lizards
fell from the rack during her
| absence-a calamity which gave her
abundant occupation for the next hour,
| and indeed caused considerable commotion
IN the drap~ry department during the en-
| tire night
We were now well in for the long night
| run to Washington, and as the train, of
| course, carried no seepers, the coaches
soon began to take on the appearance of a
camp, with dim, mysterious shapes hud-
| died promiscuouSly over the seats in
| every attitude but one of comfort There
! games, OF course, that lasted well into
| the night, and more than one private bot
tie Was emptied to the success of the
| trip.
FINDING THE FAST MAIL
| And through it all, with swaying seats
and swinging lamps, and the cool nigh /
air rushing in at opened doors, we went.
| punglng blindly on into the darkness,
until at Smithheld, l2S miles north of
| Florence, we overlook and forever put
behind us, as the second section of our
/ special the fast mail, which had left
Jacksonville three hours and twenty-five
minutes ahead Of US. This was a feat to
be proud of, for the fast mail is not ex-
actly slow coach, and everybody who
could afford ii, turned over and went to
sleep, and aWO&e in Washington at 7:l9
the next morning.
GOING on TO GOTHAM
One cannot see much of WASHINGTON in
twelve minutes. but most of us, under
certain circumstances, can see our way
TO lunch counter in considerably less
time; and with breakfast in our hands
our laps nywhere-we were off for
New York, l13 miles, not as the
crow flies, but as we flew Our
train was now in the hands of
the Pennsylvania railroad, with "a perfect
roadbed, and a service nowhere to be ex-
celled; and this, the last heat of the race,