The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-12-11

w 1Ottu0 lDO .t,ti n iti
in sort of whisper.
well, ] want to know says i,
| for was nightly astonished.
Tt was the Montana Southern
that stole her. said he She's down
at West Saragossa, not ten miles
from here. / saw her there yester
day myself. They've lacquered her
brass work black, and they've given
her a new smokestack, and they've
changed her name to the Pocahon-
tas, and her own builder wouldn t
know her. But knew her just as
soon as heard her puff. She's haul
ing the express on the Southern road,
and she lays up at West Saragossa
at night, and want you to come
down with me tonight, and we'll
steal her.
why don't you tell the superin-
tendent, and let him put in claim
for her?' asked.
:" Because he couldn t never provo
that she is the Fanny. The Southern
road owns the judge before whom
the case would be tried, and they'd
have hundred witnesses to swear
that she wasn't the Fanny. No, sir |;
she has got to be stole, and i know
now just how to get her on to our
track.
'How's that?' says l.
Don't you remember, says
Gridley, that down the road about
| 70 miles from here the Southern
track runs parallel to ours for spell
and only about 20 yards away?
When the Fanny was stole, she was
taken to this here place, and the
rails were unspiked and led across to
the Southern track. It's easy enough
to do, and we'll do the same want
! you to come along because you know
a fireman's duties middling well,
and / won't trust any of our firemen
on job of this kind.
"Well, said would go, and we
took a horse and buggy and drove
over to West Saragossa that after
noon good and early, SO as to see
how the land lay. When night came
on, we went out of town bit and
staid in the woods till about l
O'Clock, and then we crept down to
the engine house and showed the
Fanny out by putting our backs to
her, and when we had got her on
the main track we climbed aboard
and let her run down the grade,
which is 1niddling steep just out of
the village, while 1 worked at the
fires and got them to going good and
bright.
"We had about IS miles to run,
and Gridley said that, according to
the time table, there was no train
that would be in our way unless it
might be a wildcat. That's just
what 1 cal Plated there would be, and
the idea of running full speed along
q strange track in the dead of night
didn't suit me as well as some things
might. We got the Fanny up to
about 40 miles an hour, which was
pretty good considering that l was
not by any means q first class fire
man. Long before we got to a sta
ton Gridley would turn on the whis,
tie and keep it screeching loud
enough to wake the dead. shut my
eyes every time we came near q sta
ton, for I expected that something
would be in the way or thata switch
would be turned wrong, or that
something would happen to smash
Gridley and me for good and all.
But everybody at the stations
thought that we were special and
had everything made clear for us as
soon as they heard the whistle.
"We had been running about half
an hour when all of a sudden Grid
ley sings out, Brakes, quicker n
lightning, and reverse the engine
We came to halt, and Gridley says
to me: There was tramp lying
asleep with his head on the track.
We've cut him into a thousand
pieces. The man was trembling, and
! began to understand that the drink
had been telling ON him. Let her
go, says he in another minute.
What's done can't be helped. So in
a few minutes more we were boom
/ ing along again, old Gridley leaning
out straining his. eyes ahead and
keeping his hand on the lever. Pres
entity he sings out brakes again and
brings the engine up with a Jump
Another tramp, says he What in
all creation do they mean by sleep
ing on the track in this way?' Then
l saw that Gridley had the horrors,
and I was mighty sorry l had ever
agreed to come with him.
1.-The same thing happened five
minutes later. Says Gridley: The
whole blessed track is covered with
tramps. / can see seven ahead of us
now With that he seemed to get
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