The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1903-02-05


* in tn" engineers room up at
y the junction one night; he
;"!u ii without my asking for
II. and without any introduction. He
simply locked up from his pan,r and
started in
IN fhr first place" said Ne. Il Should
Never have taken the Limited on, th,t
high'. \" man in my cGnH;: ion should
nav" %"n" out moi even on Il Shif,rr.
bul waS Kid then. | was the yo,,u~.
vs. engineer nn the road. and when
Hurry likes had died the week hr-
'"fc 'h"E picked me from the whole
gang I" run thu Limited on off nights.
hhi t""n ~ il just Il week. as
Sa'd when 'lhr King came out and
gave III" 'tr train for keeps. and raised
III" 20 81. The next afternoon | wont
down TO Milly'S and asked her thr
u"eS''"h hau been Keeping back until
S"' 'lla' raise. and she accepted me-
80 Wh'h came down to the round.
house ihnl n!=ht ] wasn't fit 10 work.
WAS simply crazy. | was walking on
air ami nothing Jared me. IL was
showing lightly rs I hacked the old
ia down through the yards and nv
II ocl0ck. which was the kimilrd's
pen time. there WAS about in inch o;
the white stuff on HE ground. But
'hat uiuH iraIr me: neither did tic
S"N'n l'ulmnnS ana two extra OK.
presses bother me-
"Whrn tarrllthrrS gave me thc Sic
nal | pulled out. and the old Girl
slipped ani slid ont over the cross.
II
h"r "lli int" the night ] WAS us r;ISy
with her lis | could hc: but when the
rails arc al irr YOU can't hr very easy
ana then. us Nv" said. | was lust craZy
happy. Well. nothing very much hap.
prncd until after we'd go, out past
ll"rn"rSvillr. where The Rush River
Branch runs off. Then the fun com.
nrnrd. There wa> nothing wrong
with my train. but everything else on
the road WIS upside down. II hnDDcns
That way sometimes. or course the
snow, which WAS pretty thick. had n
good deal to Ito with it. but even maxi
ing allowances for thai. there was II
lot or cuSS"dnrSS lying around loose
We hhh to dodge frriMhtS. al Of which
were late. and ut EO0:h htOwn We were
hrld up ten minutes on :: crossed order
Then The draw nj James Creek cot
iamm"d with ice. AMI that took ND
some more Of our time. Aud when we
did have II clear track i, waS so blamed
icy YOU couldn't "rt more than forty
miles ont of il.
'Wrll, the long and short OF it WAS
that we rrcp into Emerson thirty.tive
minutes late: and Brown. thr ,lcs-
Dntchcr AT MrloiropnliS. was swearing
SOS to melt The wires 1t was up to
me. so to speak. and ! was lust crazy
enough to appreciate the beauties OF
the situation. From Emerson to
Mclor"polis it was i73 miles. and the
l.lmitedS time was four hours. AS
was late. had just three hours and
Twenty-Five minutes to do il in. That
wasn't bad. aud I could have done il
on an ordinary night; bu, with six
inches OF snow on the ground and a
whole road tied up in front or me
we'll. it was II different story. Rut |
was crazy that night rs I've already
said. | told the fireman to keep busy.
and then we pulled out. | mana gcd
to get The old III under way in pretty
good shape. but | cmpticd my sand
box doing il. However. it was all level
road ana things were going very nicely.
managed to knock out The eighty
eight miles 10 Swinbournc in two hours
ana twenty minutes. which was very
hishcnrtcnina. | stopped at Swim
bourne and went up to lhr tower.
"'Tcli Brown" | said. That | want Il
clear track into Mrlo,ropoliS. as I'm
going TO bring thr Limited in on time.
"Thcn ] went back and climbed up
into The cab Of III and nullcd out. |
had Just an hour to do the last eighty
five miles. and I counted ON the down
grade from SwinbnWrnc to help me
do it. You'll readily "rc how crazy
| was. But a man only gets accepted
by the girl he loves once. 50 ii was OK
c'lSabic. but | Oughtn't TO have taken
the Limited out.
once we struck the top Of the grade
! pulled the throttle out to the last
hotch ana jammed the lever way for.
Waru. Ihc old'tcn-w wheeler jumped a.
ii her hrcDoX was loaded with dyna
mlte, anu she blew stream Of sparks
INTO the air that made her look like
NcSuvuS. My fireman cursed me coof
and loud, but gave him a kick in tho
ribs that kept him quiet for awhile
When he got his breath he simply shov
cllcd coal. Little by little I got tht
lever back, and the old III simply lai(
herself out in earnest. I coaxcd hcr nj
could and finally when I GOT no,
up to her best gait I looked around
! Behind me the fourteen cars were
aamming around like mad, each on,
seeming to be going Off OH line O.
i Its own. The scenery went past me il
z white streak, and the wet snow com
{ mcnced to bank up hard OH the from
OF all our top gear. The bell got burict
III 1T. the headlight glass was covered
half an inch thick, and rs for the cal
windows they simply weren't any lis,
ut oil lll14 I'M III