The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-01-12
through 10 Albany. for the next day
was lay Off

4 was u ihl DAi
Johnny and / fought like beavers
against the cold. and. tell you. 10
was ticlrlish work. ] felt more anxious
about Johnny than l did about my
sell, for was old At the business and
he was new aud know how easy IL
was for sudden jerk 10 send "A man
flying down between the wheels But
Johnny wouldn't listen. He said he
wasn't afraid. and just then the whistle
sounded down brakes We were sit
ting In tho caboose. shivering around
dirty little fire. had frozen three
Of my fingers. and thought my ears
were frosted, too. You see the storm
came SO sudden we didn't have time 90
get on any mufflsrs, and the mittens
were pretty thin.
"Well. We climbed out, and Johnny
ran on ahead. saying that he was all
right and he'd take the front The
cars on top were as slippery as glass,
and we had almost To creep along
from one car 10 another to keep from
falling OFF. Cor she was running at a
! good pace, and the snow on the tracks
made the ears lurch and swing. l
looked mp, and through the snow and
the dark | recog nized the landmark
and knew we were nearing the water
tank, where Johnny's girl lived. Just
at that moment the train gave a
frig htful jerk and l saw the engine go
rearing in air. and about n hundred
feet ahead saw a lantern swing Wild
ly in the air and go down. went fiat
on the car and hung there for dear life.
We stopped in ten or twenty yards
and / swung off the car like mad.
Great God thought, II that was
Johnnyl"
Something made me feel that he
had gone under the wheels, and when
/ crawled ahead few cars there |
found him, lying all white and still
He was too much stunned TO say a
word We picked him up and started
TO carry him TO the house-where Jen-
ny lived. | saw that the wheels had
gone over both legs-over one near the
thigh and the other below the knee.
My, but he was game lad, for all the
torture of carrying him up the hill
couldn't wiring word from him. We
knocked at the door and said one of
the boys had got hurt-that the en-
] CINE had jumped the track. A white
i little face came TO the door and looked
at us moment, and then as soon as
she saw me and my face Jenny
shrielScd out: It's JOHNNY But she
didn't faint or cry, nor say another
word We just carried him in and put
him on the bed and she took charge OF
| him. One of the boys rode over TO
] D. he,
saw at once tina il was no use. 1t was
only a question of how long Johnny
could survive the shock lie lay there
very quietly, and finally when the doc
tor examination was finished he said:
is there any show, old man?'
] 81 couldn't reply. but he knew as
turned my head away what the an
swer was. Johnny was quiet for
moment and then pulling Jenny's
hand wit his own weakly, he said, in
Il husky voice; Little girl. want 10
go home And that h insisted on all
the rest OF the night We didn't think
that he'd be alive by morning. But he
was, and we decided to put him on
board the morning express. The
wreclking train had thrown the engine
out Of the road and cleared the track,
and when the express came down we
tagged her and took Johnny aboard.
All Jennie would tell ms was that his
father lived in New York. But she
gave the conductor an address for a
wire.
Eve didn't think he would last the
journey, and about half way down he
suddenly clutched Jcnny's hand hard
and then lay back still. The little
girl threw herself upon him sobbing
as II her heart would break, but it
didn't do any good. Poor Johnny was
gone"
Joe paused moment and looked into
the fire.
"Well, " he said, ito cut It short, when
we got into Jersey City Johnny's father
was there. II didn't take more than
glance at his clothes and his portly
bearing TO tell me he was rich man.
He sprang into the car, and would
have pushed me out OF the road. /
knew who he was, and i held on to
him, and said: Wait a minute. John
ny was pretty badly hurt He grabbed
me like wise, and said, in a set voice:
Can he live?' 1 shook my head, and
he gasped: is he
~ led him over 10 where the boy lay.
but he didn't want 60 see him. lie
looked very hard at the little girl who
sat there sobbing, and said, slowly: rs
this-Jenny2 And then he took her
very quietly in his arms and kissed
her.
II went TO the funeral the next day.
The old mans hair had turned white,
and his face was as lined and rigid as
though he was mounting n scaffold.
He was twenty years older than the
morning | saw him first II seems
that Johnny had been brought up,
like most boys, 20 have all the money
he wanted. lie got wild and I'm with
fast gang, and TO try 20 curb him, his
father, who was n wealthy banker. got
him n place In a store as cashier.
Johnny's allowance wasn't enough.