The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-09


MS balance and gave up thinking about
It. and going into the wash room, 1 sat
down in the wash basin, which was the
only dry seat in the car, and, leaning up
against the corner, tried 10 get nap.
By this time the train had left the sta
ton several miles behind and was run
nlng at rate that l knew would have
been risky on any road, let alone as
rough road as the one we were on. At
first didn't mind this, the running OF
the train not being my business, but pretty
soon l found that / could not keep in
my seat without holding on with both
hands. I've been in cars that have done
some pretty tall running, and over some
mighty rough roads, but ] never before
or since knew a car to jump and roll and
shake herself generally as that car did.
1 began TO think that the engineer was
either drunk or crazy, and that the pas
sengers had got so scared that they had
all left the train. To tell the truth,
would have been glad to have left the
train myself, but l never was fond OF
jumping, and II there is any man who
says that he likes to jump from train
that is going forty or fifty miles an hour,
why just don't believe him.
All OF sudden j thought OF the bell
cord, and l decided that l would pull
il and stop the train. Then II any con-
ductor appeared l would tell him who
was and inform him that III he didn't
make his engineer run train in a decent
way l would take good care that the di-
vision superintendent should know all
about the thing. So l got hold of the
not the very hardest sort Of a pull, you
understand, but just a moderate pun. The
cord broke in my hand as easy as II II
had been piece of thread, and all chance
of stopping the train that way disappear
ed. l looked at the bell cord and saw
that IL was as rotten as a politicians
conscience, so / just broke off a piece
OF it, about two or three yards long and
put it in my pocket intending to show Il
to the division superintendent as a speci-
men of the way in which Pullman car
conductors n
"All the time the train was rushing
ahead at a speed that would have been
York Central. When she struck a curve
and there were lots of them-she just left
the track entirely, and swung round the
curve with her wheels In the air And
when she did strike the track again you
can bet that things shook. OF course I
don't mean that the train actually did
leave the track, but that was the way
1t would have seemed to you If you had
been aboard that car. / went to the for
ward door to see II there was a chance
of getting into or over the baggage car
and so reaching the engineer, but IL would
have taken a monkey in first-rate train
ing to have climbed over the baggage car
without breaking his neck at the rate at
which we were running. ! went back
into the sleeper again, and, holding on
to a berth, tried to light up cigar but
somehow the match didn't seem to take
much interest In the thing. / felt conf
dent that in a few minutes more the car
would leave the track and go to everlast-
ing smash, and ! remember feeling thank
full that | had gone over my accounts just
before leaving Jericho, and that nobody
could fail TO understand them. Just then
/ thought of the brake. If | should go
out on the platform and put the brake on
the engineer would feel the drag on the
car and would stop the train, unless he
was stark mad. At any rate, the thing
was worth trying.
81 got out on the platform hanging on
for all / was worth to the hand rail- until
] got hold Of the brake wheel. 1t was as
rusty as II Ii had been soaking in water
for a week. but ! didn't mind that.
damned that brake down good and hard,
but the brake-chain snapped almost as
easy as the bell-cord, and there was an
end of that plan for stopping the train.
or course, / knew that a brake-chain
sometimes snaps, and you can't prevent
1t, but it was curious that both the bell
cord and the brake-chain on that car
should have been good for nothing.
We'll, | got back into the car again,
and / took a middling good drink of the
whisky, and ii sort of warmed up my
courage. / never was a drinking man
even in my young days, for l despise a
drunkard, especially If he is a railroad
man. But hadn't had above six or seven
drinks that day. and | knew that another
moderate one wouldn't do me any harm.
1 was beginning to feel a little better,
when l remembered that / had never
heard the whistle OF the locomotive since
we had started from Manlius station.
That showed me that the engineer wasn't
either drunk or mad, for in either case
he would have blown his whistle about
two-thirds of the time-there being moth
ing that crazy man or a drunken engi-
neer finds as soothing as steam whistle.
/ couldn't explain our flying around
curves and other level crossings without
sounding the whistle, except on the theo-
ry that the engineer had dropped dead
in his cab. But then there would have
been the fireman. Both of the men
couldn't very well have died at the same
minute, and If there was anything the
matter with the engineer the fireman
would naturally either have stopped the
train and tried TO get help, or he would
have run 1t very cautiously, that not be-
ing his usual business and would have
been very particular about whistling at
the proper places. Not hearing the whis-
to me than finding a Pullman car with
out passenger, or without niger por-
ter; and with the bedclothes soaked with
water and the bell-cord almost too rotten
to bear its own weight.
"There wasn't a thing to be seen
through the car windows, for they were
thick with dirt. So, wanting to get some
idea of the locality that we had got to- /
went out on the rear platform again, and,
getting down on the lower step ] leaned
out TO have look all around. Just then
we started around another curve, and
what with my fingers being little numb.
and what with the swaying of the car 1
lost my hold and was shot off that train
like mailbag that Is chucked onto our
platform when the Pacific system goes
lucky I fell into snowbank and
wasn't seriously hurt. However the
shock stunned me for awhile, and when
] came to and found that / had no bones
broken and that my skull was all right
] picked myself up and started to walk
down the track till l should come to a
house After walking, as / should Judge,
about half a mile, / came to East Fabius-
vile, where there is a little tavern, and
mighty glad ! was to see it. / knocked
the landlord up and got a bed and it was
noon the next day before 1 woke up.
There wasn't any train to Jericho until
after o'clock, so not having anything
else 70 do / looked up the landlord and
found he was an old acquaintance of mine.
by the name of Hank Simmons. When
told him that 1 had come to Fabiusville
by a night train he sort of smiled and /
could see he didn't believe me. don't
say that the train stopped here, I said
for the last I saw of IL 1t was a mile or
so up the road, where l fell off the rear
platform into snowbank But all the
same did come most the way from Nam
Hus last night in a Pullman sleeper