Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-04-30
A Runaway Train.

Speaking of experiences on the
railroad, said a New York travelling
man, i had a slight scrape one
time on a mountain road in Tennessee
that NAV be worth the hearing. We
were coming down a long grade OF
ten miles in a mixed train. That Is,
We had a gondola loaded with ties as
the end car, with our two passenger
coaches and baggage car, and l should
say we were making about twenty
miles an hour on track that would
be treating us kindly if 1t dldn t sling
Us into eternity if We dared to add five
miles an hour to our speed, when l
happened to look ont Of the rear door
and saw a wild train Of loaded coal
cars swinging after us They had evil
IDENTIFY started at a tipple which We
had passed only few minutes before,
and when I saw them they were Just
about under headway.
AT least they were going so fast
that they distanced the men on the
ground, whomade a run to get on snd
stop their flight l made wild rush
for the conductor, but before | reached
him he had ordered the engineer to
| let out his engine for all she was worth
and in this way keep ahead OF our
chasers. Fortunately we had no
women aboard, and the men could be
kept in better control, but 1t was all
we could do to keep them from Jump
ing off.
1T was only short time until we
began TO see that our salvation lay IN
the pursuing train flying the track
because we had reached our limit, and
our train was swaying and tossing so
that everybody was scared out of his
wits. l know | was, and | just sat IN
nv seat and held on, waiting and list
ening to the thunder of the train be-
hind us, which was not five hundred
yards away and gaining every second.
1t was far heavier than ours and !
knew that if anybody went off the
track it wasn't going 10 be the coal
train. said moment ago we had
no women aboard. meant We had
none to speak Of
There was one but she was a
homely mountain girl, who didn't seem
to know anything, and because she sat
quiet in the corner and didn't scream
we thought she didn't amount tC
enough to count. | was looking at
her in dazed sort OF a way, when al
of sudden she lit out Of her seat al
if she had been shot ont Of 1t, and
knocking everybody out Of her way
she dashed out of the rear door before
ANYBODY had time to touch her, anc
we thought she had jumped of, bu
she hadn't She Jumped for the oper
car, hanging on Ike a cat, until sh'
got to the far end Of it. and in a sec
ond she was tumbling those ties off a
the rate Of a dozen a second.
They would hit the track 'n'
bound every which way, but she KEEP
piling them off the coal train getting
closer every second, and at last
couple of them stuck up in a cattle
guard, and the next thing we knew
there was a terrific crash, rails, tie
and tracks and coal cars flew, and tn,
coal train rolled over itself and Wen
down the hill in a heap. BY George
as that girl stood there in her plaiT
calico dress and her old sun-bonne
and watched that train pile up at he
feet, thought that Joan Of Arc, Cleo
patria, Queen Elizabeth, Grace Oar
ling and the lot Of them weren't
patching to her, and, as far as We wsr'
concerned, they weren't
"She had saved our train and on
lives, and we took her on with US II
triumph. Then we made up purs
for her big enough to buy farm with
and I'll bet she's got more good clothe
and jewslry and books and trinket
and things than any girl IN the mount
aims, for We never forget her. Sh
doesn't quite appreciate some Of tn
fine things she has, but what do "
care for that we appreciate her jus
the same, and the other men coul
scarcely refrain from rising and CIV
ing a whoop or two for the mountai
lassie Of Tennesse.