Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-05-02

single mile and only minute to do it |
IN. The throttle was wide open and |
the little engine was rolling that the |
bell rang continually. The fireman had
put in his last fire and was now strain
ing his eyes to catch the smoke of the
special
The engineer, with his left hand op
the whistle rope, chung to the side of
the cab to keep from being thrown
out of the right of way.
The wheels under the sewing ma
chine were so small that the best she
could do was As miles, and now when
she came down to the very last second
there was still quarter of mile be-
tween her and the meeting point, but
at that moment the flying wheels of
the special engine crashed over the
switch and shut her out. The little
sewing machine, hid among the sand
hills, was straining every nerve to reach
the passing point at which she was
already overdue. The man on the spe-
cial was just beginning to feel sure OF
| his position when he rounded a curve
and saw the light engine emerging
from a shallow cut. OF course he shut
| eff and tried to lessen the force of the
| collision, but to stop was out of the
| question.
| The fireman on the light engine saw
| the special and warned his companion.
| for they were curving to the left and
the driver could not see, but the four
| men knew that nothing short of a mir
acle could prevent dreadful collision
| and that in a few seconds time they
would all be piled up in heap. Both
drivers had called to their firemen to
| jump, and the fremen had turned to
their windows. The special engineer
was in the act of reversing, that he
might take the good opinion of the
| official with him. The other driver only
showed the throttle lever in, braced
himself and awaited the shock.
A man who has never lived up to his
last moment on earth and survived to
tell about it afterwards can never know
how much business one can transact
IN his mind during that moment in
which he waits and listens for the swish
of the scythe. But one does not always
review his past life at such a moment;
often he wastes time thinking about 4
mere trifie.
The driver of the special engine had
a boy, and this boy had climbed up on
a picket fence to kiss his father good
by that morning at their home in Salt
Lake, but he slipped, fell and hung there
: with fence picket through the seat of
his first pair of trousers; and it was all
SO funny that now as the engineer re-
called the circumstance he threw back
his head and laughed heartily he
had ever laughed in his life. The fire
man, casting a farewell glance at his
companion, saw him laughing and con-
Guided in his last moment that the
driver had suddenly become insane, but
: as he glanced ahead where death was
awaiting he was not sure that he was
sane himself.
The driver, having finished his laugh,
| and still feeling no shock, looked ahead.
The track was clear, He Unmatched tie
reverse lever and threw the engine in
l the forward motion, and the speed OF
the train, which had been but little
checked, carried them away down among
the sand hills. The driver looked over
r at the fireman and asked: did You see
anything?"
. NO" said the fireman. Did you?'
4 And the driver said no, tried his water
1 and opened the throttle, and the engine
= whirled away, while the fireman re
: turned to his place at the furnace door
: The two men scarcely glanced al
:. each other again until they stopped fol
: water at Green river, but each in hi:
o own mind was recalling all the wilt
:, tales of ghost trains" he had ever
n heard. Each was firm in his belief tina
e he had seen ghost but he would
n never tell it-not for his job.
e The official in the special train fel
n the resistance of the engine when tn,
engineer shut off and reversed, and tn
general manager, turning to the super
intendent, asked, with show of sur
prise:
when did you put in that siding p
what, back there? That's Coyot
spur, and it has been there for 81,
MONTHS was the reply
Il know very WELL" said the manager
where Coyote spur is, for we waite'
there Is minutes for No. going dow
the other day, but we just passed a sid
ing on the north
The superintendent was inclined t
be funny, but the colonel, stroking hi
long gray PETERS, remarked that he ha
seen a locomotive standing at the poin
mentioned and las trains are not in tn
habit of meeting and passing betwee
stations, l take it that there must b
u siding there" There was just a twinkl
of mirth in the colonel's eyes, which, de
spite the finger marks left about theI
by the touch of time, are still brigh
perintendent was utterly unable to III
derstand the general manager.
There was silence for a little Will
! but the general manager was by 4
means satisfied. He pressed the butte
and when the black porter came in b
ssDid Won see an engine on