The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-22

SirtinC near the front Goor OF the sAAvh-
fng car Of one Of the CentraIs fast trains,
eastward from Buffalo the other night
was a weakened little man. with slender
arms and spindle shanks. BY his side
leaned a pair of crutches. As l entered
the car his eyes fastened themselves rpol
me. and when ] returned his gaze his eoun-
tenance seemed familiar. But l did not
know him until he spoke, and even then,
although the tone of the voice was the
same as II was ten years ago, when ! iEei
him last and he was one Of the best en-
glaeers on the line. the words were whis-
pered out with a distressing sound, and
his consonants and sibilants We're cut
short In those days he had monthfal
OF teeth. his muscles were round atu
ana swelling. his chest was broad ana ms
Voice was strong and fun Now he Was
in about as dilapidated state as man
can he and stay out Of bed, and ! straight
way fell to questioning him as TO what
awful railroad wreck he had passed
through.
1Iis replies interested me. as lid also
his subsequent talk on charms and warn
ings and so / have here set down all ne
said. emitting his name as matter OF
courtesy, though there are sure 10 be
many along the line of railroad between
New York and Buffalo who viii recognize
him fast enough.
We'll" he said replying to my ques-
tioning. Il didn't have any accident
That is, / wasn't hurt while running my
engine, nor by train, though l was hurt
on the railroad 1t was about two years
ago that my bad luck came. As you used
TO know, l have always congratu ateq
Slyself on my freedom from disaster. !
ran an engine for about thirty years all
told and In all that time l never had
run off or a collision, and never killed
so much as a chicken. l was called one
of the luckiest men who ever sat on the
right-hand side of an engine. You think
careful would have been a better word
than luck? Well. maybe il wasn't an
luck but / certainly was no carefuller
than many another poor fellow who has
killed men repeatedly. and perhaps gone
down himself at the end in frightful
zone day I asked for day of and got
1t. Then / went out shooting with
friend who lives along down near Semen
ectady. After we had tramped all DAY
and shot some small game, 1 went TO his
house for supper, and after that start
ed to walk home on the railroad track.
1t was dark and l was tired and proba-
bly, careless-anyway. fell down through
a twelve-foot culVert. knocked out near
~ all my teeth, broke both arms and
both legs. l managed 10 cali Tor help.
track walker heard me, and was taken
home where / lay for months, being
patched up. After a long time | got well
enough to sit on the right side again.
but il wasn't for long, for paralysis soon
set in, and ! had to lay of for good.
shall never sit on the right side, again
and II sometimes makes me feel pretty
bad, but that's useless-its always use
less to cry over what you can't help-and
on the whole, / guess I'm about as cheer
full now as / ever was.
There was one thing for which blame
myself If that had been different ] should
not be the broken-down old wreck now
am. I'd be fat and plump and red-faced-
all that used to be, only Ia be probably
a little gray, but not white haired. what
do 1 mean? Why, went out shooting that
day without either rabbits foot or
buckeye with me. Now, never went on
my engine without a charm Of some kind
in my clothes in my life but once and then
had queer luck, but was often careless
about my charms when ] was away from
my engine. and on that day when l went
shooting and got hurt | felt my charms
in my overalis. l never go anywhere With
out a charm now, l tell you, and ne
proudly pulled out buckeye And !
never shall again.
urging to induce him to tell OF the queer
luck" he had on his engine when he went
over the road without his talisman, but
he prefaeed his tale with word or two
Some folks" he went on, like to sneer
and make light of warnings Don't you
ever do it. I'm old now, and I've had
chance to observe. Engineers generally be-
lieve in warnings, though they often deny
it. They can't help 1t. / don't know that
they are warned oftener than any one else.
] suppose they are not, but they are likely
10 be more observant than most tolks, and
disregarded warnings are likely to be more
serious to railroad men, IN the nature OF
things than TO most folk For my part,
can't see how an engineer can bear to
speak lightly of Them and I've often said
so 10 the younger men, who are more IN
clined that way than the old heads.
Il had three warnings in my life. They
were all alike, as the same mans warn
ings generally are. Each time II was
black cat running across the track in
front of my engine, and each time the
warning came to me when l was asleep in
my bed. Each time, in my sleep, shut
of steam, put on the air and gave her the
sand and each time j aWoke up almost
frightened to death with the wheels grind
ing under me and the cold sweat standing
all over my body.
Twice, after / had been warned by a
black cat in my sleep, l took great pains
to see that my rabbits foot was in my
pocket when l climbed TO my place in the
engines cab. On neither of those occa-
sions was there any accident; neither did
/ really see any cat, black or white, on
the whole run. And that / considered
frst-class proof that there is something
in the power of the rabbits foot TO ward
off accidents. If ] had not had mine with
me on those days I'd have had trouble
sure, as, in my way OF thinking, is fully
shown by the, bad luck had on the day
Il put on a new pair of trousers that
morning, and by an oversight that / can I
understand ] neglected to change the
rabbits foot with my clothes. That day
] did see a cat, and a black one, too,
which ran across the track in front of me
just north OF Hudson. i was scared, OF
course, but as there was nothing else in
sight ahead of me did not slow down.
If had I'd never known what the warn
ing was for, for I'd have lost quite a
little time, and the whole run would have
been different.
About ten miles farther north noticed
a farmer driving down the hillside with a
load of apples and making straight for the
tracks. l saw that we must hit him, and
yanked the whistle open and shut off the
steam. The man heard me and stopped
and / pulled out again. Then he whipped
up his horses and tried to cross the tracks
just as though he hadn't stopped at all
1t was too late for me to stop then, and
the man on the left side saw il as soOI
as I did and groaned.
We were going about twenty-five miles
an hour. 1 should think when We struck
the farmers wagon square and solid
scattered his apples far and wide anC
gave him a free excursion up into the air
He went at least once and half as higl
as the smoke-stack, and ] stopped as sooT
as l could and backed up, fully expecting
TO see dead apple grower. But he was
not a corpse by any means. though his
wagon was in bits and his horse blanke
hung in a tree by the side of the track.
THE roses We're not hurt, and the farm
er was performing a sort of cross be
tween the can-can and a Sioux war dance
in front of the team. / went up to him
and asked If he was hurt at all.
Go 10 Halifax and md out" he re
piled in a loud voice.
g Are your horses hurt% 1 asked
Visit Cohoes for your information,