The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-09-23
2.@&c3'2H 271'2S
s Circus Tain HOOdOO
e An Engineers Story of Air Brakes 4
n That Would Keep Getting Set.
aA HA@ASAHAA aA CO.

AIE were up against queer
Wv kind of a lunch the other Fri
day night" said the fat engineer to a
circle of his friends. at was the night
of the big circus in town and we had
the job of towing the circus train over
the division. When 1 met Murphy, my
side partner, in the round house that
night, he says to me:
"'Say, Bill, are you superstitious?
Do you believe in signs?'
Mary I said; mot unless it's res
taurant sign or a sign for the pay car
GIVE had all sorts of queer things
happen to me to-day he says. First,
got up on the, wrong side of the
bed, and then got my shirt on hind
side foremost. took it off and changed
it, and my wife says that's the worst
thing I could have done. She said if
] wanted to break the hoodoo / should
have left it on. But l didn't want to
come downtown looking like ferry
boat and have people ask me which way
was going. Then to keep the good
work going broke looking glass this
afternoon, and everything seems to
have been going wrong all day. I've
got a creepy feeling like ulster have
whert l buried cats in graveyard at
midnight to kill warts. The folks
wanted me to lay off this trip, but
thought it was all foolishness, SO here
/ am
Huh l said; you didn't see cross
eyed black cat with crumpled tail or
q fat niger with white spots, did your
"'No.'
"'Or dream your mother-in-law was
dead? He answered in the negative.
WELL l says, 4 guess Wen go through
o. X. with nothing more serious than
Dustin a water glass
"'What train we going to catch out
to-night?' he asked.
"'Circus train answered, as that's
about our turn out
"'Gee whiz!' he said, 4 knew we'd
be up against hoodoo. That's the
worst that could happen. Circus train
and Friday night
"'Oh, gowan,' broke in, maybe the
number of our train ordersl will be 10
and Wen have 10 cars. You give'1ne a
pain in the neck with your hoodoos.'
"I wish you were giraffe, SOS you'd
have that pain good and hard was his
rather uniind remark.
"My guess had been correct, and
about 1880 we got orders to proceed
down to the yard for the circus train.
We got down there all right and the
show people were all ready to start. 1t
was a good heavy train for one engine,
and | said to Murf: I'll take the creepy
feeling out of you before we get very far
with this train We got away, and
after we'd passed out of the yards /
commenced to swing 'em along pretty
good. / felt little drowsy, and like
all good, trusty engineers, with my
hand on the throttle and my eyes on
the track, thinking of home and the
old, oaken bucket, dropt into doze.
II was about half asleep when phut!
phw-i-s-t! l heard something GO and
I brought up i'll the front of that cab
and hit my head on the door frame. I
shut her off and we stopped very sud-
den, just like we had broken in two or
the train air hose had separated, set
Ting the air brakes. The head brake
man came running up and says:
"'Wot'l you think yer doin'? Tryin'
TO play snap the whip?'
"'You tend to your biz and I'll look
out for the locomotive saysI. The air
pipe has busted somewhere near the
engine; 1 heard her go?'
"'This trains branded with a hoo
doo,' said Murf. 4 wish 1 had laid off
tonight
"'Yes, by thunder, l wish you had!
/ thought. You make me feel like a
walking dreambook.'
"The brakeman gave me a signal to
go ahead.
"'It's all right he hollered; hose
5ust parted between the fourth and
fifth cars
81 tried the air, and as it worked al
right in minute we were off again
and hitting it at a respectable clip.
"'Wonder what made the hose part?
Murf hollered over to me.
"'Dunno,' / answered. I suppose
those darn nincompoops in the yard
didn't have them connected good
They
But my little speech was here in
l,rr had hrin nrinr M