The Van Buren press., 1898-01-15

Ba4ers- unasr control, JUS for IN. sne
be saesp y actual experience Eae sgress
/ and ksfsss way 10 board moving tralS.
+ n the wild section reached the s-5ls5=
where Joe was standing. ~ faob
f 9saa look aD and down sHs platform
benz his body forvar1 &c the direction
the ears were msNing. ran heg fssq
steps with a. ne speed r. could gather,
+ and a. ta< last sad ef the way car
reached aim. be threw oat both hands
and erasped the curved handle On the
side
Ths Jerk took am clear Off his feet.
and the speed was such that for an in=
ssant his body was sfrai gh6ened cut Lllse
an acrobat holding himself oat on an
upright poe. and then the reco5I threw
him all IN heap on the steps Of the
+ rear platform
f Although severely wreaehed bruised.
scratched and almost stunned BY tie
shock. Joe aever l0st his presence Of
miad. bmt rase Immediately and began
t N twist the brake On the way ear
! After twisting il as tight as be eouds
f he eliza bed the ladder at tie end and be-
gan the pef6aus feat Of passing from
one ear TO another setting eaeb brake
as be went.
f BY she time he had set tie third brake
+ the speed had been iessened considera-
! bly,. and each succeeding brake did il
share. until when. as be set the brake
on the last car, tHey came To com
+ plete stop
f When Joe was fully assured that they
we're really stopped. be looked up and
f dowa the track TO see what had become
OF the other sections.
He saw the third section stopped
aboa5 even with the depot. but the first
f he eoald not see at all. and hue began
to think that his work had al been
f IN vafn-F6ftg-seV was out Of Brown
+ ing. and the engine and TWO cars were
rushiag toward it at a terrific rate, and
there would be an awful wreck. after
ALL
f But Joe's fears were entirely erognd-
less. for, though the first section had
+ disappeared from sight, the engineer
on If had noticed that some aue had
succeeded IN boarding the wild see
ton. and then followed an example Of
+ how near 70 a science the work 81 rail-
reading has been reduced
1t had been the engineers first in
tention TO run far enough ahead 10 cut
of the two ears he had and let them
stop the second section then run to
get % a point where he could flag
Fortg-seVen and get back far enough
"a let Forty-seven stop n safety but
now that be was assured Of the fact
that the second section was stopped.
all that remained was to warn Forty
seven.
When they turned the curve that hid
them from the second section. Forty
seven was just Two minutes cut o.
Browning. The distance between
BaGefs and Browning is IA miles, and
they we're - miles below Baders. As
IT took ten minutes for Forty-seTen to
reach Badefs from Browning. ne still
had three minutes before he would meet
Forty-seven.
Al the engineers. watches have to be
kept within ten seconds Of a standard
clock. so he was safe there, and. with
his watch in one hand, he hooked her
up" notch or two with the other, and
was soon running at the rate Of mile
a minute.
When two minutes were almost mp.
he slowed down, dropped off the head
brakeman to flag Fortyeeyen, and then
reversed, and was soon backing up the
hill.
In q short time they reached the sec
cud section where Joe had stopped Il,
and found him on top Of the first car.
rubbing his sore spots in his arms.
Without stopping to waste any time
in explanations, the fireman got down
and coupled up, and they backed both
sections In on the side track AT Badcrs,
then cut the engine loose and went back
after the third section, and had just
gotten 1t in on the side track when
Forty-seyen pulled in with the brake
man they had left to flag on the en'
gine.
Now, If this were made-up story,
Joe would have been made out hero
the passengers on Forty-seyen would
have taken up a collection for him,
and In due time the superintendent
o. president Of the road would have pre-
scented him with a gold watch in the
name Of the company.
But II Is too near the truth for that
The passengers on Forty-seyen never
knew what a narrow escape they had;
the two engineers laughed over the
"close shave" and the conductor on
Fortyseyen johngly told the freight
man that he would report him for de-
laying passenger train, while the sta
tion agent, who had appeared on the
scene In time 10 see Joe make the jump
1oined in with the remark:
"Well, / guess l won't have to wire
for the wreckers, after all"
But good acts seldom 20 unrewarded
and so it was in this case. The train
reports had m official report Of the
mishap, and the message kids jump
soon became topic OF general con
yersation among the trainmen. The
superintendent Of the division heard
o. II, aud not only wrote Joe a very
kind letter, but stopped off TO see him
personally the first time he went
through Badcrs in his private car, and
the result was that the first vacancy
among the station agents was given
70 Joe.