The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-11-08

'
1t was early in September, and the car.h was
Just us dry
AS Il lump OF punk and hottor than an Upper
Congo sky.
There had beon no rain since April and it nee led
To engulf the northern district, set it burning
like Il thatch;
And the people did not wonder when the smoke
began 10 rise
Till a pail hung low and darkly, shutting out
the summer skies.
Jim was running on the Limited, and when he
left Duluth
Tnere were stories OF the dangers which seemed
only partial truth,
But tho hand that held the throttle was a
hardy one and true,
And though hell was on his orders, Jim was
bound to take her through:
He controlled the lives Of many and he knew
that all his nerve
Would be needed when he headed for the hadea
round the curve.
They had made the run to Miller ere the breoza
began to scOrch-
Ere the people saw the waving of that mighty,
flaming torch;
sEut I'll run her through to Hinckley," thought
the little engineer,
@Where III wire in for ord ers-it is not too far
from here
Ard he yelled to Jack McGowan, who was on
Crowd the coal and keep her going, for ! mean
to let her slide!"
AlA ~ ~ bOiu ny DuHto, VII GLo piCIuiCo
Arc impcrfectly suggestive of that blazing right
of way;
For the universe seemed flaming and thu air
would fairly seethe
Till the people in the coaches fonnd it difficult
to breathe.
While the entrance into Hinckley seemed the
inner gate of hell,
With the devils inns disporting on the pima
tleas as they fell.
To have passed hey nd tire station would have
meant the death of all;
To ha e fooled around for orders from some fell
Aows in St. Paul
Would nave been the hight Of folly, AMI when
people who had run
For the train were safely sheltered from the
And, reversing, Jim moved backward through
the awful, blazing rain
To a place where he could harbor all the people
on the train.
There were flames above, around them, UNDER
Meath no hand could paint
All the uerrors of that moment, which made
strong men droop and faint.
Every car was like an oven; coaches blistered
Panec of glass began to shrivel, and to make the
hour complete,
Tongues OF flame trept through the windows as
the train began to burn
And q strange and deathlike wilderness crept
DER faces drawn ana stern.
But Jim Root was on the engine and had naught
to bar the flame,
Though his hand was on the throttle and he
stuck there Just the same.
As he backei her through the horror, with
skunk Lake nix miles away.
He had little hope OF living to recall that fear
full day;
But the engineer was plucky, and with Jack
McCowan there
He was good for any duty for he had a life to
srare.
When his hand began to blister, why, the other
one was strong,
And when both were sipppl and hyOjljpo thav
did duty right along;
When his overal!s We're smoking, there was
hardy, faithful Jack,
Who was standing with q bucket, pouring
water down his back.
Once or twice Jim almost tainted, once or twice
fell off his seat,
But he rallied like a hero as he fought away the
heat.
And he saved a train of people, just for common
Held tho throttle, cool and gritty, till they
reached the little lake,
Till the hundreds went il safety from tho
charred Inflated train.
And he never gave Il whinlper in his agony Of
pain,
Never murnured-no not even when his fear.
full ride was Ger
And he sank, all burned and nerveless, on the
blackened, burning floor.
They will tell you of the heroes who left no g3od
deed undone;
They say that al the honor should not go to-
merely one;
But whatever men accomplished for the CRATE
ful ones to tell,
Whom in future years tn y speak of all the hor-
rors of that bell,
1t was Jim, who, sticking bravely in the glaring
face of dea II.
Savei three hundred human beings from the oil
destroying breath.
When the day OF judgment cometh and the
armament unrOlls,
And the voice CT God is calling all the many
scattered souls.
There's q man who'll lead a phalanx up tho
~jeWelled, golden street,
To q corner they have saved for him beside the
mercy seat
For the angels hate q coward, and they love %
gritty man.
And they know that Jim's a hero on tho strictly
gritty plan.