Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-13
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.

Normandie last night, Wnen tne conEersd-
ton turned on exhibitions of bravery and
courage under trying circumstances. Ern-
est McGuirk of the Great Northern rail-
road shrugged his shoulders at Proprietor
Cakes recital of 'longshoreman's cour-
age in diving under a barge and rescuing
child which had fallen overheard.
THAT was a splendid act" he remarked.
land deserves life-saving medal, but the
most sublime thing that ever occurred, in
my opinion in the way of bravery. was an
event / participated in away out in the
state of Washington four years ago next
August / had been up in the neighbor-
hood of Lake Chelan looking at the vari-
GUS passes in the mountains which might
present favorable features for railroad con-
struction and returned to Seattle, when
learned that something was up in the
vicinity of the British boundary. / took
| train the Seattle, Lake Shore and
Northern and started northward. Early in
the morning just after daybreak, our train
came to a stop with sudden jolt that
threw me out of my berth and clean across
the car. When l recovered my senses
which had momentarily been knocked out
of me, / got into my clothes and went cut
side. Then / saw why we had stopped.
The train in sight consisted of the passen-
ger cars alone. Right ahead of them and
piled up in a narrow cut, through which
ran little creek, were the engine tender
and baggage car. The trestle had broken
Just when the cow-catcher reached IL and
the only thing that prevented the whole
train going down was the shallowness of
the cut. L walked up to look at the wreck,
when / heard some one say that poor jim
Boyle would never run another engine, be-
cause he would be drowned down there
even If his legs hadn't been crushed eff
already. / went forward and peered down
to the stream, and there 1 saw two train
hands holding mans head up and out of
no urnr
great wall of the wreckage rising threat
lngly above them. In few minutes / was
made acquainted with the facts. The
stream into which the engine had pitched
was very low in the morning, as there were
some Cinnamon working at placer mining
several miles above, and they damned up
the water over night and kept ii until they
got ready to wash their dirt and gravel
IN the afternoon. The man whose head was
pelng held up and out of the creek was
Jim Boyle, the engineer. and he was pinned
Gown there by hundred thousand pounds
or railroad wreckage. From Just above his
knees his body was uninjured. but the
lower part of his limbs was crushed fat
ana held In vice which knew no I'M
loosening.
The water was too high to admit of a
physician getting to the man to amumtate
MS limbs, even If a doctor had been pres
ent' and, of course. there was no moving
the wreck until a wrecking train arrived
from seattle. Another danger threatened
tne prisoner also. When the Chiname an be-
1ara. ~ , Masn tneir art in the afternoon a
large volume OF water would come down
anu that would settle poor Jim's fate sure
Now, the man himself lay there i'm what
.ilust nave Deen agony certainly, and. with
tne water barely below his mouth and icy
cold at that and never whimpared He in
quired calmly if a Golfer dam couldn't be
quilt around him. and when this was found
TO be impossible he asked that his wife be
sent for-he lived few stations hnck-to
come up On the wrecking train. Then he
asked Tor a smoke. and puffed AWAY AT a
pipe as contentedly, to all appearances, as
III ne had been in his engine cab The
trainmen relieved each other and the mas
sengers also took turns in holding I'm
boyIe head above the water, and as the
the awful strain but Boyle. Shortly Lefore
noon a welcome toot was herd to the
south of us, and Boyle heard it,
pei the cigars that Cllra's aboard
tnat train, was all he said.
1t was the wrecking train and tn, frs,
person OF OF II was a white-facod little
woman with tightly compressed lips. she
knew the state OF affair. and went straight
10 the cut and down into its awful bottom
with unhesitating steps. She took ner Lus-
bands head In her arms and kissed him.
My legs are gone, sure, Clara, said the
man, with a smile
We'll, your hearts all right she re-
sponded cheerily. There was no homeless
ness IN her appearance, no matter how fuI
her heart might have been. Some one came
rushlng down with a startled cry The
Cinnamon have begun washingr Neither
the man or woman showed bit OF fear.
Let me have the gun, dear he pIeeded
p" You'd die with a sin on your souI xba
replied TN do it, darling, AMI live to
square myself
That woman, gentlemen. had come pre-
pared to Kill the man she loved in prefer
ence to letting him die more h orrib,e
death in a flood of dirt and sand and sray-
ell. An Englishman, who lad been pas
senSer on the train. appeared at this iiInc-
ture with an implement shapad soneibinr
like mattock. No one knew where he
got it.
q" Maybe we can scrape The bottom away
under Boyles legs and drag him out or
what's left of him, anyhow he suggested
He went to work. Every now and then
he would strike the crushed legs of the
engineer and calculate, L neg pardon and
| every time Boyle would Invariably raplv
No harm DONE general In ten -,,irutes
he asked Boyle to brace himself and mo-
TONED to the men at his side. Doyles arms
and shoulders were quickly grasped by
muscular trainmen: there was a strong Jerk
and Boyle was released. Even in that ST.
preme moment OF agony. when he was laid
| on the side of the cut with masses of
bleeding. crushed quivering flesh and bore
where his feet and shins md knees h,,d
been, he looked up at the EnsIishman ana
SAID: General, thanks. you are "A corlSer'
and then tainted In his wife's arms Ten
minutes later the cut was ten feet deem
with bubbling kissing, rapid stream Of
yellow water How was that for bravery
all the way through?'
Early this morning a man wandered into
Wizards. looked around with something
like uncertainty in his glance and then
started for the bootblack's Headquarters.
The laborious manner in which he climbed
into the chair bespoke WEAKNESS SUPER
induced by arduous and determined
dallance with nocturnal recreation As he
put his foot on the foot rest one of the
colored porters named Henry. who is
somewhat below the medium size, came
in and proceeded to rub up the shoes OF
the customer. The latter regarded Henry
sleepily for a moment and then closed
his eyes. Just then something demanded
IIenry's attention elsewhere and he beck
oned to Berry, the enormous colored man
employed at the hotel, to finish the polish
ing operation for him. When the proper
shine had been secured Berry tapped the
sole of the mans foot and remark ed that
the job was done. The sleeper opened
his eyes and when they rested on Berry
he gave a jump that nearly carried him
out of the chair. Scrambling out he gave
Berry a quarter and without saying a word
he made haste for the bar.
Gimme an absinthe. quick" he exclaim-
ed; "a econ started to black my boots in
there He weighed about a hundred and
sixty when he began and over ton when