The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-08-06
99339309993339aa.
S A REAL HERO.S
BY A. W. WEHTEFORD. v
B 9
VI w
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"HTELL, Mike, we will have to di-

4 ELL, we VIII HiLNc W III
w vide the gang for awhile this
morning, because there is two jobs
that have to be done right away. They
broke the frog at the north switch last
night, and we will have to put in Il new
one; and then there is a bad rail re-
ported just at the end of the trestle,
down in the hollow. We will load up
while we are all here together, and |
will take two of the men to put in the
frog. and that leaves three for you.
guess I'll send Teddy along with you,
too. He can't do very much when it
comes to lift, but you can put him
on the ratchet. drilling the holes. or
something. You'll need all the help
that you can get, for that's job that
must be done in a hurry"
The speaker was William Hogan, IA
miliarly known as "Old Bill" foreman
of the section gang that kept in repair
five miles of the track of the Burling-
ton on each side of Rock Bridge, H..
and he was giving his orders for the
days work.
The Mike spoken to was Mike Lynch.
the workman who had been longest in
the employ of the company. as Il men,
Der Of the gang, and whose right it was
to take charge Of the second division
whenever the work was such that the
gang had to be divided.
They were standing with the rest of
the gang in front of the little red shanty
or section house in which were kept
their hand car, ''dumpes," rails, spices,
spikes, and, in fact, everything that
goes together to make up section
gang outfit.
But we must not forget Teddy, with
whom our story has the most to do. He
was the son of Hogan. the foreman, a
well-built, active, freckle-faced lad.
about Is years of age, and he was en-
ployed in the capacity of a water boy
during the summer months when he
did not have to go to school.
He had to carry water for the men to
drink from the neighboring farm
houses when they were working along
the track in the country; and, when not
either going or coming with bucket.
he was kept busy carrying tools from
one to the other. running after spikes
and doing countless number of little
things that were constantly turning up
and were always left for the kid'' to
look after.
Besides all this his keen ear was al
ways the first to detect the rumble of
an approaching train, until the men
had come to depend upon him to give
them warning when they were out be-
tween stations on their hand car.
lie was general favorite, too, with
them all, because he was always good
naturcd and willing to work, and ON
this particular morning after his IA
ther had finished giving his orders
Mike turned to him with the remark:
'All right, Teddy; you come along
with US. You see, your father knows
how to pick good company for you.
Well make roadmaster out of you yet,
if you just stay with us, and then We'll
all expect a job as boss some place"
"You can take the hand car, Mike,
and Wen take the 'dumpy,'" said llp-
gan, when they had gathered together
all the things needed and were about
ready to start. And if we get done
first We'll come down and help you
finish up. If we don't, you can come up
to where we are"
And with this the two parties sep
arated, Hogan and his men starting in
one direction with the "dumpy," while
Mike and the balance clambered up on
to the hand car and began pumping"
and were soon moving in the opposite
direction.
The trestle spoken of, which was
really an uncovered bridge, spanned
gully known as "McCoupin Hollow"
1t takes its name from the creek that
flows through it, and with possibly one
or two exceptions is the highest rail
road trcst!e in the state of Illinois, it
being fully 90 feet from the rails to low
water mark.
1t is $50 feet long, and the lay of the
land is such that the track is compelled
to curve so at each end that it is al
most impossible to see the trestle until
you are almost upon it.
Lying, rs it docs, between two steep
hills, it is a hard pull both ways for
heavy trains, and in order to get out
of the gully without stalling and hav-
ing to double the engineers generally
"let 'em rolf down into the hollow,
some of the more reckless ones often
rushing across the trestle at the rate of
80 or GO miles an hour. 1t can then
readily be seen that bad rail at the
end of the trestle might mean very
serious mishap.
1t was only about IL mile and half
from the town, so it was not long until
Mike and his men reached the place,
and after throwing Off the new rail
they had brought, unloading their tools
and lifting the hand car to one side of
the track, they proceeded to examine
the rail.
One glance at it showed that it was in
imminent danger of breaking every
time a train ran over it. one spot in
particular being worn almost in two.
so they Immediately began to fit the
new one to take its place.
Had it been a straight piece of track
this would have been a very easy mat
ter, because all rails are made stand
ard length, and they would simply have
TO take out the bolts at the end, pull out
the spikes from the ties, throw the old
rail out, slip in the new one and finish
the job by driving in new spikes and
pulling up the bolts in the ends.
But it was on curve, and the rail
had to be bent 20 fit the circle; so, after
placing the new rail alongside the old