The age-herald., 1900-11-25
JOE BILLUPS IN
 MULHATTAN CLASS
Clever Passenger Agent Tells the Story of a Thrilling
 Incident

Joe Billups, travelling passenger agent of the Southern Railway al Chattanooga, IS credited with telling a story that places him alongside Mulhattan MT. Billups was for a number of years located in Birming- ham as travelling passenger agent of the Southern, and while here he was a quiet modest fellow, and numbered his friends by the hundreds It seems that he was at Tus- cumbia recently, and witnessed a scene that almost caused his heart to cease beating It may be that he had only quenched his thirst at Tuscumbia's mammoth spring, but whatever may have been the cause, the tale he tells Is most marvellous. In the hands of a gifted playwright the incident could be worked into thrilling medodrame, the rem dition of which would elicit such mighty yells and shrieks from the gallery gods that the roof would be lifted from the house.
 MT. Billups tells the story most interest ingly and in such manner as to dispel any doubt of it's truthfulness And here is the way he tells it:
 You may talk of all your Hobson bra very and the work of other war heroes, but last Sunday I saw as heroic deed as was ever performed by a man who took his life in his own hands at a terrible risk to save a whole trainload of people.
 Tt was in Tuscumbia, Ala in the South ern Railroad yards. A wreck had just oc- cured as we were on our way from Deca- tur A freight engine, in charge of the reg ular crew, had run into another train and several people had been injured, but in try ing to avert the accident the engineer had reversed his engine and jumped. The en- zine, after it struck, started backward and gained terrific speed on its way to De- catur and towards our passenger train which was moving into Tuscumbia. The switchman and an engineer who were standing in the yard waiting for the pas senger train realized that something must be done immediately to save a great many lives. They tried to reach the next tele- graph station, but found that the passen- ger train had already passed that point, and could not be reached until it was as Tuscumbia.
 "Without further time for thought-in fact, before they had time to think Engi- neer s. J. Anderson and Switchman J. F. Malone had made quick jump into pas senger engine that was standing there wait ing to relieve the passenger train coming III.
 "Thon started race for life. It was en- ne-catch-engine, or the sacrifice of a num- Der of lives. These brave fellows jumped Tn that engine to race after another engine, and both in the face of an almost certain death from collision with the oncoming passenger train.
 ''It was Malone's intention to outrun the freight engine, steal up behind it and climb into the cab and throw the lever.
 "All the foregoing We learned after We got safely into Tuscumbas when the terri ble excitement was over. What we saw was a race for life between two engines, which was the sight that greeted our eyes as we rounded curve going toward the city.
 "When we first saw them they were not over a quarter of a mile distant from us, but when their race was finished and Ma lone had climbed over the tender of the en- zine and brought it to a stop, they were not more than fifty yards from us. Just as-they were brought to a standstill our train was also stopped with a suddenness and shock that brought everybody from their seats.
 Tt was one of the most thrilling deeds and heroic rescues ever attempted by any man, and both Malone and Anderson are the heroes of the hour.
 'It is only once in lifetime that man gets to witness such a scene as that, and 1t impressed me more than anything that has ever happened in my life.'