The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-14
FRIGHT AND NERVE.
A Dynamite Drummer in Railroad
Wreck.

A Dynamite Drummer in a Railroad
Wreck.
"The worst case Of fright ana about
| the best case of nerve 1 ever came
across" said the drummer, was a chap
who was travelling through the middle
west for firm last spring l met him
on the train and found he played good
game of whist, so with two other men
| we made up little game. lie was my
partner and was very silent fellow.
He didn't even mention what his line
was which is unusual With him he
| had a satchel of very superior make,
and the way he kept his eye ON that all
the time, sneaking little nervous peeks
at it every two minutes led me to Sus-
pect that he was a iewelry man, and
had a big lot of valuable stones in the
grip, though ] couldn't imagine why a
man should take such chances carrying
such things in a satchel. Well, the
smash came-it was my latest one. by
the way-just as my partner was on his
way back to the game from having
gone to get some water. In all the eX-
element l distinctly noted the yell he
let out. 1t was the finest piece OF vocal
work of that kind that | had ever
heard. AS the car sort of crumpled up
he made dive toward US, and | figured
that he was thinking of his satchel.
My luck was with me and ! found
way out with nothing worse than q
scalp wound and a collection of bumps.
Pretty soon he came crawling out after
me- He wasn't hure, SO far as | could
see but he was whittier than sheet.
gave him a swig of whiskey from my
flash and told him to brace up. He
took an awful hooker and then began
to twist his fingers and kind of moan;
"My satchel; My satchel! My satch-
ELI
"wen, what's the matter with your
satchel' I said
"Its in there he said, and thought
by his tone he was going to cry. It's IN
there where / can't get at it.
Say you make me tired, / said.
You ought to be mighty thankful to be
out yourself without worrying about
any satchel.'
"Tl have to go in after It, said he
looking around kind of wild and pran-
cling like horse with sore feet.
"Not on your life said |. Every
things loose in there and the whole
thing may collapse at any minute, and
then whered you be? Besides, the
cars afire down at the other end.
"'My God.' he said, 'Afire? That
settles it. I've got to get that satchel,
then, if I die for it, and he actually
tore his hair. I'd never seen 1T done be-
fore except on the stage, but he did 1t.
"'Oh take brace, I said, getting
disguised with the man. 1 guess the
fire won't do much damage. If it's dia-
monds'-
Diamonds! he said. Man its dy-
Mantle, Enough of it to blow us all
into the sky.'
Dynamite!' yelled. What are you,
an Ararchist?'
mo; I'm a dynamite agent he said.
Don't keep me here talking. I've got
to go in. I've got to do it. There's no
other way There may be people in the
wreckage, and if that stuff goes Off
"'Never mind explaining it, / said.
Go in and the Lord help you
That's the sort of thing that takes
nerve I don't believe l could have
done it, He Topped down and crawled
in there and / watched and waited for
a week or so, as 1t seemed, and pretty
soon he came out looking like dead
man and bringing that satchel between
his teeth like a dog, because he needed
both hands to crawl with. Well, we es-
corted that satchel across two lots ana
buried it in furrow and put stone
over il before we went back to work at
the train. It happened that the fire
was put out before it reached the place
where the satchel had been, Why on
earth the stuff didn't explode and blow
us all to flinders when the crash came
is more than know or the agent either.
He said dynamite was always doing
things and failing to do things in the
most inexplicable way, and that was
what made the life of dynamite agent
one long round of excitement. He new
er dared tell what it was he had in the
satchel, he said, because the railroads
wouldn't carry him if they knew. He
went back and dug up his travelling in
fernal machine and walked with It to
the nearest town, and that's the last |
saw of him or want to see, though he
certainly did have good nerve Ever
since then when I've seen man with
satchel that he seemed to think heap
of I've quietly moved into the next
car."-Milwauke Sentinel.