The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-09-02

liz ooS oS4OAS 41oOC1 SlldIl1 It'll lllS Train
Numbered, gaining momentum every
second. The engineer was getting ready
for h rise to the top of the hill, and
he meant to make the finest plunge
down the other side that ever had been
made. He meant to leave the agent at
Belair dumb with establishment and be
half way to Wheeless before the opera
tor could telegraph to the next station
to hold up the freight. At the top of
the hill he pulled the throttle out,
hooked the lever up to he top of the
gauge, and down Habersham hill he
roared under a full head of steam.
But the agent at Brazelia had not
caught the up freight at Wheeless, and
when fucker began to plunge down
Habersham hill it was waiting for him
at the bottom. That would have been
all right, for the way freight had o
by dozens of times under just such cir
cumstances, but there was the Sunday
school excursion running special, and
that was why the agent at Brazelia a
tried so desperately to stop the heed
less engineer.
The special waited on the main line
with the up freight on the siding; when
the way freight came they were to
saw by" But they had not reckoned
how it would come. With the engine
leaping and lurching owe the rails, the
loaded cars rocking and Keeling, the
train shot down the frightful grade. The
oar warned the men at the station
of the impending danger, but fucker
was engrossed in contemplation of the
landscape while his fireman sat with
his back to the cab.
The people at the station were be-
number with fright. They stared with
horror-stricken faces at the oncoming
engine as some great demon hurrying
to destroy the excursion train with it's
load of human freight. Paralyzed with
fear they could neither move nor call
aloud.
In the whole crowd there was but one
who could think and act. He was a
slender, pale-faced boy, and he rushed
up the rack toward the oncoming train.
Cit out, git OUT his shrill voice
shouted to the men in the cab of the
up freight. Jump and run, jump and
run"
He was Juggling at a switch key, and
they saw what he meant. So down the
men jumped from the engine, while the
boy ran on to the switch. His hands
seemed paralyzed, so long did it appear
- A1~, h. ~%oo
ped back just as the way freight rushed
by and ran full tilt into the up freight.
There was a tremendous crash. The en-
CINE of the way freight rode over the
other and smashed it into fragments.
Then it sat down on it's own a with
the forward truck in the air and one
wheel whirling round like a milestone.
The following cars piled up in a great
cloud Of dust.
The terrified e~xcursionists scrambled
from their w train, rushed over to the
wreck, and stood for a time in speech
less horror and amazement. Then the
freight conductor came up, and search
ing among the crowd, led out a slen-
der, pale-faced lad.
ITO this brave boy" he said, raising
his hand to command attention, "you
owe the preservation of your lives
Here his voice choked. With tears
streaming dow his face, he finished
the sentence by motioning toward the
excursion train.
There were more thar 500 on board
said the Sunday school superintendent.
1.-THE majority of them children"
mot a life lost cried one of the
trainmen, running up. quicker, his
fireman and both brakemen jumped for
their lives after shutting off steam
and putting down brakes. They came
off without a scratch"
''It was a miracle" said the preacher.
''It was Bubber Ramp" sale a child
ish voice. IT seen him when he opened
the switch"
Then the crowd surrounded the pale
faced lad, pushing and showing to shake
his hand, to touch him or even to get a
look at aim. What was said or who
said it no one could tell, but in the
midst of it all there sounded the shril1
whistle of a nearby steam saw-mill.
Its 'leven O'clock" said Rubber,
looking up at the sun. cts about time
for my chill, SO I'd better be gettin'
home.' And he hurried off down the
track toward the ten-mile shanties as
complacently as though nothing had
happened.
The following week the Sunday schoo
superb : ,ndent accompanied the rail.