The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1902-12-19
ON A FREIGHT TRAIN

| - -" ~ ~ NASho1 WV ANOH
! York Chicago merchandise train, was
sliding swiftly toward the metropolis
of the, middle west. The last 200
miles between the two great COM
mercial centers was being covered.
Number twenty-eight was the pet
train of the line. Her schedule was
fast, her stops were few, and engine
:, and trainmen fought for the privilege
of taking her over the road, for it
meant an easy run. The engine and
caboose were coupled on, an order
was signed and away she went.
AS was their custom on the home
stretch of the division, the two rear
brakemen and the conductor were
seated in the caboose laboring hard
with well muscled pipes. Being near
the end of the run the conductor had
finished the work of making out his
report, and had drawn his chair near
the squatty stove to listen to the
latest stories of his brakemen.
"Well, l suppose we git the hog
train back Thursday mornin'," said
the Sandwich man." as the tall
brakeman was called because Of his
never satisfied appetite for the indi-
gestible staple of the luncheon coun-
ter. "Things are comm purity easy.
The merchandise west and the live
stock back. | think I'll take in the
dance at Huntington tomorrow
night, if | kin git that hatchet-faced
ham and egg singer to join me. She
threw me cold the last time l asked
her to go out in society, but | have
given her a three weeks chance to
cool off, and maybe she'll be ready to
go now"
Dance! Ketch me goin' to no
dance after nearly SO hours on the
road" drowsily interjected ''Slum-
ber," the brakeman, whom his ac-
quaintances averred had not been en-
tirely awake since he was born.
"You ken call things comm easy if
you want to, but I've got another
name for it. [ call it -hidin'.
Thirty-six hours on the road. What
if you did git 10 hours sleep in
the sc and two fast trains to end up
with. Twelve hours in SO amt
enough for me. Dance! You'll find
me nicely laid out in one Of Mother
McInerney's soft beds this time to-
morrow night if anybody should be
lookin' for me-"
'The only way you'll ever git
'nough sleep, 'Slumber,' will be to
de-" said the conductor, half con-
temptuously.
''Slumber" was too drowsy to no
tice the remark. The hot stove and
the swinging motion of the caboose
had thrown him into his usual state of
semi-unconsciousness. Though when
in this condition he appeared more
dead than alive, he could always hear
a whistle, see light or catch the
lowest word of command from the !
conductor.
"There's somethin' about the
swing of this train tonight that
makes me think of the night Ed Hill
man fell off our train just this side of
Limmers," said the Sandwich man."
"That was a funny thing. Twas brak-
in fur Ed and was on the hind end.
We was both sittin' in the cupola. Ed
wanted to 60 ahead to see the en-
gineer about somethin'. He climbed
through the cupola window and start
ed ahead over the train. 1t was the
darkest night | ever saw. We had IS
loads. About ten cars from the ca
boose we had string of five coal cars.
Besides bein' dark, the night wus
cold and the cars was covered with ice.
Though I've been railroadin' long
while | never see a man start over
train that | don't kinda unconscious
ly watch him till he's over. |
Eds lamp fickerin' until he
came to the coal cars. The box car
MD the first coal car and l didn't see
him until he got on the second one.
Then his lamp showed up again. All
1t once see the lamp fall right down
between the coal cars.
"1t's all up with Ed,' says l. 1
grabbed my lamp and was out on top
4. jiffy swingin' teh engineer down {
md settin' brakes at the same time. 6
Ne wus goin' down little grade and |
Vus slippin' along purity lively. 1t '
eemed to me that it took us ten miles
o stop, but of course it didn't. But e
ve wus at least two miles from where
oor Ed fell when we got stopped S
nd ready to go back and look for the {