The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-12

nailed all right and Mccormick pulled +
out He had long string of empty I
flats for a stone man, an empty box for
O'Grady'S spur, and various other cars, f
and freight for all the flag stations on (
the division.
"O'Grady's aboard he shouted as
he snatched a copy of the running or
ders from the conductor and the con-
ductor, recalling the story of O'Grady
and the bull pup smiled up at the en-
gineer, but said nothing The big
mogul had picked them up, so that by
the time the way-car came along they
were making 20 posts, and it was as
much as the conductor could do to get
aboard. The brakeman and the brick
maker were having an animated argu-
ment as to the right of small shippers
to travel on the company's trains with
out paying fare, when the conductor
came in.
the captain of the train. L give you
notice that this is the last time you
ride on the local What do you sup
pose the company runs vanished cars
for but to carry capitalists to and from
their places of business"
'A-h-h- go t tn divil."
That's where we're headed, and if
we were not going to stop there any
way, I'd ditch you right here.
All that was lost on O'Grady, for the
warm stove was making him drOWsy.
Five miles out they stopped, unloaded
a lot of Christmas goods, set in a fiat.
picked up a load and left 10 minutes
late Again they were going to the
| Willows for the limited, and when Mae
whistled for O'Grady's the conductor
stood on the top of the caboose and
S1gnalled him to make a running switch
to save time. The head brakeman cut
the train just in front of the empty
that was for O'Grady, the rear brake
man pulled the pin behind the empty
and climbed to the top to ride it in on
| the spur. 1t would make your hair
! stand to see the train falling at 20
/ miles an hour into O'Grady's in three
! sections. The engineer must fly over
| the switch, but slow enough to allow
| the head man to fall off; that man
must find his feet and switch key, un-
! lock the switch get it over to the spur
for the empty and back again to the
main line for the rest of the train. [
| tell you it's exciting, and one of the
! finest jobs in the train service, and so
quick-if you make it go. If the lock
hangs or the switch sticks, then you
have to couple up, back over the switch
and do it the slow way
Mccormick slid over the switch with
perfect confidence, and seven cars with
air still tied to his tank, the switch
went over, the empty joted in on the
spur, but when the switchman tried to
throw the switch Up to the main line
again ii stuck. He heaved and swore
and signalled the conductor to stop.
The signal was not seen by the captain,
but he had seen the leaning target and
was already twisting brakes for dear
/ life.
/ OF course, if they had stayed on the
main lire they would have had ample
room to stop, the two brakemen would
have boarded the two flats as they slid
past, and by the time the way car had
reached the switch, O'Grady could have
stepped off without cracking an egg,
but they were going in on the spur
where the empty had bumped up
against four cars loaded with brick and
all the brakes set. The brakeman shout
ed to his partner and stood by. The
conductor, seeing the head car shoot
in ON the spur, braced himself, holding
onto c bralzewheel at the rear end of
a fiatcar.
Back in the caboose O'Grady, with
the basket of eggs in front of him,
stood in the back door looking at the
two strips of shining steel that We're
slipping out from under the way car.
The car was heavy with the odor of
alcohol. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that if O'Grady had breathed into his
basket he might have had three dozen
/ eggnoggs, extra strong. But he was
breathing out into the open world
with both hands holding the handle
of the basket that crossed his anato-
my about where an AM wears his
sash.
So stood OGrady when the collision
occurred. When car after car had
taken up its slack and finally it came
to the caboose, O'Grady was shot back
ward the full length of the car with
such force that his shoulders splintered
a panel in the port. and the breath, ro-
bust as it was was all knocked out of
him. When the crew came back to
look for the deadhead they found him
stuck fast in the sDlintered door, and
he was sight to see. Three dozen
eggs had been smashed in his face and
We're trickling through his whiskers
and down his front.
+ When they had pulled him from the
broken door they found that his right
shoulder was broken, but that he was
frrlI Mo-