The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-03-06

and this piece of track through the
Black CANYON was then especially so.
though not now.
They were nearing the place where
McIvor had found the rock; the night
was clear, the rail good, the grade easy,
and they were turning the curves grace
fully, while now and then the steam
for she was always hot-escaping from
the dome of the Rockaway screamed
in the CANYON and startled lion or
caused a band of elk or deer to scamper
away up a side canyon.
An excursion party, in heavy wraps,
sat in an open observation car at the
rear of the train viewing the wonder
full scenery, made weird by the stiffness
of the night. How wild the walls
looked with their white faces where
the moonlight fell and dark recesses
where the shadows were. To the right,
beyond the river, the falls of Chipeta
leaped from the rocks 500 feet above
the roadbed and tumbled into the wa
ter below; while to the left Curicanti's
needle stood up among the stars.
1t was not the time of year for rocks
to fall, for rocks only fall in the spring,
and this was summer; but the uneX-
pected is hardest to avoid, and, now,
for some unaccountable reason, a great
rock whose wake was afterward fol-
loved for more than a mile up the
mountains, came down with the speed
of a cannon ball, and striking Rock
away just forward of the air pump,
cut her clear from her tank and shot
her into the river with poor "Noah'
North underneath her. The ewift cut
rent brought the lucky Irishman out
of the cab. however, and at the next
bend of the river threw him out on
q rock The parting of the air hose
set the automatic brakes, which, as
the train was on down grade, were
already applied lightly, and-the track
being uninjured-the train stopped be
fore the second car had passed the
point where the engine left the rail
The murderous rock standing in the
middle of the deep stream, showed
still three or four feet above the sur
face of the river.
The roadmaster, another Irishman,
whose name, think, was Hickey, came
from the smoking car, took in the sit
uation at a glance, and, being used to
such wrecks, ran along the bank be-
low to be at hand if either of the en-
CINE men came to the surface.
Hickey, overioyed at finding Ryan
dazed and dripping, seated upon rock,
caught the wet driver in his arms
for they were very dear friends-and.
turning the pale face up to the moon.
asked anXiously: tom, are yez hurt
ed? I say, Tom, spake to me; Tom,
tell me, are yez hurted?"
Tom, upon hearing the voice of his
friend, realized that he was really alive,
and said coolly: Hurried, now why the
devil should l be hurted?"
THAT'S so," said Hickey, whose wiz
was as handy as was that of his friend
"'That's so, l wonder yer got wetted."
They worked for two days and nights
before the Rockaway could be lifted,
then she came up slowly, and "Noah's''
body 1oated to the surface and was
taken back to Sedalia and buried. 1t
would be absurd to say that the rail-
road company was in any way respon-
sible for the accident, but it gave Mrs.
North $500 to start in business for her
self.
Engine 107 was not rebuilt for long
time, and was never again employed in
passenger service. The foreman in one
of the repair shops wrote to Phila-
delphia and learned that 100 was COM
pleted OH Thursday and 107 on Friday
AS | said awhile ago, railroad employee
are not superstitious-they will all tell
you so-much less railroad officers; but
it is a fact to-day that a new To-
connective or locomotive that
has been rebuilt is never taken
out on the Denver & Rio Granda
on Friday. No order was ever is
sued forbidding it, but it came to be
one of the unwritten rules of the road
"a sort of Monroe doctrine, that is
always respected.
And now, aftera dozen years, after all
that has been related here, which in
cludes only what the writer remembers
the tank and cylinders of 107 are rust
ing in the scrap heap at Salida, while
her boiler. stripped of its bright jacket,
is made to boil water for a pump at
Roubideau. But every Thursday night
at midnight the fire is drawn. on Fri
day the boiler is washed out, and at
midnight she is fired up again.-Cy
War1nan in n SIM