The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-01-26
The HerOiS11l.
OF Uncle AndV,

''Cncle Andy is the supply man at the
roundhOuse. He's everybody's friend.
There amt engineman on the division
who wouldn't speak we'll of him. He is the
most accommodatin' man to the boys the
company ever had, and nell go across the
yards knee deep in the mul any day to
shake hands with one of us.
Uncle Andy has been the supply man as
long as most of has ben on the road
He knows everybody'S record. but l dare
say there amt any of 'em got as geo.: a
record as Andy has, far as his experience
in runnin an gin goes He's len TOO old
to handle the throttle for many years, hut
he stayed in the cab until his eyesight got
SO bad he couldn't tell switch target from
crossing board.
There's a lot of people. though, that won't
forget old Andy long as they live Some
of EN- are way-up folks too. Twin on the
hill now. Andy saved their lives once by
the use of his nerve. They tell about Bill
Flanders nerve in the Melton collision Of
lettin' his engin' stop on the %" CROSSING
and the big five wheeler on the freight
crashin into him instead of pullin' up and
lettin' 'er go through one of the coaches
Uncle Andy don't have much to say about
his record, but the enginemen all know Of
1t, and they don't envy him it, either for
he's wllin' to help a fellow out if he's a
little shy on oil or anything, and he don't
always chalk it against aman's record. But
when Uncle Andy gets too Id to tend to the
wants of us tallow pots, he'll be workin'
in the presidents office or some other soft
snap for he's d pensiOner.
Twas when Andy was pullin' the fast
passenger train. They called 'er No 3 them
ysand while she wasn't scheduled as
swift as the flyers of these days, it took lust
as good man to handle her and make the
time. 1t was in the fall of year when tina
weather had been awful dry. There HADN'T
been u drop of rain for weeks and all the
rivers had gone dry. The grass and leaves
on the trees were burned up and the woods
was like finder. Andy left the west end one
afternoon with his train of five cars filled
with delegation of some kind of big fellers
comm down to the cities to a meetin or
convention of some sort. They was anxious
to get through on time, and Andy knew it,
He'd ben wheelin 'em along pretty lively
for two or three hours without noticin
anything particular 'cept his watch The
air was so full of smoke that it made peo-
pies eyes smart, and Andy kept close
watch on the track, for he couldn't see
more than a couple train lengths ahead
The read ran through that heavy woods
just west of Dwight like it does now, only
the woods was much thicker then, and ex-
tended about four miles further down All
them nice farms that's between DWieht and
the river was covered with trees then
and they stood thick as soldiers on a
battle field. Andy had run into the forest
for several miles, and when his eneln
pointed her pilot around that sharp Curve
onto the high treStle over Fish Greek Andy
saw a fire on the other side of the ravine
The grass and trees AMI a big pile OF old
ties was all blazing up right 1t the end Of
the bridge. and things looked pretty du-
bous Andy set the emergency air and
brought the coaches up standn', before
they had got onto the bridge.
"A stiff wind was blowing and Audy could
see that if he wanted 10 get across the
bridge with his train there wasn't any time
to lose but before he realized It. the breeze
had famed the fire into Ire stringarS and
the bridge was doomed. There wasn't a
drop of water in the creek. for it had been
dry month, and the fire was running live