The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1896-01-24
SAVED THE PASSENGERS.


An American wom,n who is Greater
Than Joan Of Are 90 Franee.
From the washington Star. Speak
ing OF experiences ON the railroad.
gaid a New York travelling man, had
I a slight scrapc one time ON @ mountain
road ln Tennessee that may be worth
the hearing. We were coming down
long grade OF ten miles ln % miSoi uaih.
I That is we had a goudol' ladd'l Win
| ties as the end car. with onr Two p'.i-
enger coaches and baggage car ana /
/ should say We were making about t"eh-
ty miles an hour on a track that would
be treating MS very kindly u it did not
sling us into eternity u We dared 10
add I've miles an hour TO our speed
when / happened TO look ont Oh the
rear door and saw q wild train OF load
ed coal cars swinging down aiier u.s.
They had evidently started ut u Hpple
which we had passed only a few MIN
utos before. and when saw them they
were going 20 fast that they disanced
the men on the ground. who made
run to get on and stop their tnrther
| flight. / made wild rush for the con-
ductor. but before I reached him he
had ordered the engineer to let ont
his engine for all she was worth. ana IN
this way keep ahead Of our chasers.
Fortunately we had no women aboard
and the men could be- kept In better
control. though ~ was all we could do
to keep them from jumping on. u was
only a short time until We began TO see
that our salvation lay in the pursuing
train dying the track. because We had
reached our limit and our train was
swaylng and tossing 30 that everybody
was scared out OF hls wits. ! know
was, and Just sat IN my seat and held
on, waiting ana listening to the thun-
der OF the train behind uH. which was
only 500 yards away and gaining every
second. IL was lar heavier than ours.
and ! knew that II anybody went on
the track II wasn't gOlng to De the coal
train. | said q moment nFo that We had
no women aboard, / mean we had none
TO speak Of There was one, but she
was homcly 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
TO enough TO count. l was looking nj
her In dascd kind Of way. when all OF
a sudden she 10 out OF her seat a8 n
] she had been shot out OF 10. and. knock
| ing everybody out OF the way she dashed
out Of the rear door before anybody
could touch her. and We thought she
had jumped or but she hadn't She
Jumped for the open car. hanging on
like q cat, until she got to tho lar end
OF Il, and In second she was tumbllng
those ties on at the rate OF dozen a
second. They would hit the track and
bounce every which way but she kept
pillng them or coal train getting cloEcr
every second. and at last a couple Of
them stuck up In a cattle guard. and
/ tho next thing we know there was
i terrible crash. rails and tloa. and tracks
and coal cars ilow. aud tho coal train
rolled over itself and went down the
hill In a heap. By George. as that girl
stood there In her plain calico dress
and her old sunbonnet nnd watched that
train pile up at her feet, thought that
Joan OF Are. Cleopatra, Queen Eliza
beth, Grace Darling and the lot OF them
weren't patching to her. and. as far
as we were concerned. they weren't.
She had saved our train and our lives.
and We took her on with un In triumph.
Ghon We made MP a purse for her big
enough to buy farm with. and IN
bet she's got more good clothes and
iowclry and books and trlnkols and
things than any Girl in the mountains.
for We never forget her sho doesn't
quite appreciate some OF the fno things
she has. but what do we caro- for that?
We appreciate her, Just the same"