Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-12-10
UNHURT BY A 40 FOOT FALL.


OINT7On . ~ nv Wv / NLl,.
Drummer Alightcd Oh stones Would Have
Been Killed Had y" nucu sober.
"Talk about the luck Of drunken
men, said the man from Bingham
ton. Eve seen enough Of it to l2.
licve that it 5 impossible for one to
hurt himself under amy circum-
stances. VI had an instance Of il'4
few weeks ago up in our town, aMd
you can bet your life that the only
reason the man wasn't killed Wa
because he was drunk.
"When coming into Bing hamtTu
from the west on the LackaWanl.;.
road, you havo to cross Il bridge
over the Chenango river. The river
runs right through the center Of the
town, and the bridge is about 10 feet
above it. It's shallow enough, bat
when the water low little islands
of small stones dot it for miles.
Right under the railroad bridge
there S one Of these islands, about
100 feet across. Ii S never entirely
covered except in the early spring,
when the water is very high.
"Well, OH the night of this occur
renee I'm speaking about train
was held ~ by signal dead in the
center of the bridge. 1t seems there
was drummer in one Of the sleep
ers who was bound for our town.
He had gone to bed paralyzed drunk,
but had left word to be called Is
minutes before the train arrived.
The fool porter forgot to call him
until the train was just going ON tho
bridge. Then he rushed in and
shouted: 'Binghamton Hustle up
there! Forgot to call you before.
Then lie daltGd away.
"Waled out Of Il deep sleep, the
drummer chucl;el his clothes on i'll
about 20 seconds and started down
the car, bag in hand, and still more
asleep than awake. Just as he got
to the door the train came to Il full
stop. He didn't though. He flung
open the door and stepped out into
the black. black night.
"What that fellow : feelings were
YOU can imagine. He must have
thought it was q new kind of jag he
had. Down, down, down, he went,
and landed, l.orrlunk, right in the
middle Of the island.
"Hc wnsn't missed until the train
pulled into the station. Then Tie
open door told tho whole story, and
the porter, pale and trembling, stag
eered into the station TO report the
matter to the agent The latter WAS
bright, hustlinS fellow, and he
Immediately rounded up two bag
gage handlers and the lunch counter
man. With the porter and the train
conductor they ran down to the liv-
er bank, ciamhured down to the WA
ter, cut tho painter Of Il Iowhpat
that was tied to d tree and put out.
"They shouted at the top Of their
lungs, hut got no response, They
looked in every direction for il float.
ing body, bat didn't see one, Final
ly the porter made out Il figure ON
the island of stones.
"'Fo' de Lord!' he exclaimed,
'dere he is dere.
"The STATEN agent ordered the
baggage men to pull for the island.
When they got within Il few yards
they saw the drummer sitting on Il
rock near the water. Tho agent in
great excitement cried OUT
MY God, sir, are you alive M
Ieadi'
"For Il moment there was no re-
Spouse. Then a faint, uncertain
voice, said:
Shay, if this Binghamton, |
mush shay y'havo the longest steps
ever see.
Its fact that beyond a few
bruises and Il good shaking up that
fellow hadn't boon hurt at all. We
took him up to the hotel, filled him
with whisky, rubbed him down with
liniments and then put HIM to bed.
The next day he was around selling
his goods as though nothing had
happened.
IF he'd been sober that night, it's
Il 10 to 1 shot that he'd been killed
by that fall. How he escaped with
out broken limb or fracture OF
any kind is one of the mysteries
that there's no solving. just at
trihute it to the luck Of the drunken
man. - New York sun.
The nlgc--l on must stop these
Interruptions, | won't allow Won to
waste the time Of the court,
The prisoner But, my lord. YOU
lpnt | have trnt pn l.N,yrr T., IL, ~