The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-09-14
By Frank H. Spearman.

Could he make il?
a cry from the sleeping children rose
in his heart. Another breath, an in
slant fiOundering. a slipping leap. and
he had it. He pushed the key into the
lock, threw the switch and snapped it,
and, To make deadly sure, braced him
self against the target rod. Then he
looked.
No whistling now; it was past that.
He knew the fireman would have
jumped. Cameron, too? No, not Andy.
not if the pit yawned in front of his
pilot.
He saw streams Of fire flying from
many wheels-he felt the glare of a
dazzling Highland with a rafting
crash the ponies shot into the switch.
The bar in his hands ratified as if II
would jump from the socket, and,
lurching frightfully, the monster took
the siding. A flare Of lightning lit the
cab as it shot past, and he saw Cam
eron leaning from the cab window,
with face of stone, his eyes riveted on
the gigantic drivers that threw a sheet
OF fire from the sanded rails.
Jump" screamed Ben. useless as
he knew it was. What voice could live
in that hell of noise? What man es-
cape from tQdL CAD now
one, two, three, four cars pounded
over the split rails in half as many
seconds Ben. running diZzily for life
to the right. heard above the roar of
the storm and screech of the sliding
wheels a ripping. tearing crash. the
harsh scrape of escaping steam. the
hoarse cries of the wounded cattle.
And through the dreadful dark and the
fury of the babel the wind howled in
a gale and the heavens poured a flood.
Trembling from excitement and eX-
haustion, Ben staggered down the
main track. A man with a lantern
ran against him; 1t was the brakeman
who had been back with the torpe-
does: he was crying Historically.
They stumbled over a body. SeiZ-
ing the lantern. Ben turned the pros
trate man over and wiped the mud
from his face. Then he held the Ian
tern close. and gave a great cry. 1t
was Andy CamerOn-uncOnsciOu true
but soon very much alive. and no
worse than badly bruised. How the
good God who watches over plucky en-
| gineers had thrown him out from the
| horrible wreckage only he knew. But
there Andy lay; and with % lighter
heart Ben headed a wr-cKlng crew 10
begin the task of searching for any
who might by fatal chance have been
caught in the crash.
And while the trainmen of the
| freights worked at the wreck the pas
| senger train was backed slowly-sO
| slowly and so smoothly-up over the
/ switch and past. over the hill and
past. and so to Turner junction, and
around by oxford to GAINESVILLE.
When the sun rose the earth glowed
/ in the freshness OF its June shower
/ bath. The flyer. now many miles from
/ Beverly HILL was speeding in towards
/ Omaha, and mothers waking their lit
| tie ones in the berths told them how
/ close death had passed while they slept.
/ The little girls did not quite under
stand il. though they tried very hard.
| and were very grateful TO That Man,
whom they never saw and whom they
would never see. But the little boys
never mind the little b0ys-they I'M
derstood II. to the youngest urchin on
the train. and fifty times their papas
had 10 tell them how far Ben ran and
how fast. TO save their lives. And
one little bOy-I wish knew his name