River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-07-30

struction train No. $40 was CHOSEN dc
the instrument to DO the stirring.
After leaving Bad River, the road
twists about for few miles, first RS
ing for a few HUNDRED feet, then de-
scending again to the valley level.
After reaching the Gap, the grades be-
come sleeper, and, finally, at Cedar
Springs, comes the fye-mile ascent UP
the Pinnacle, as Cedar mountain Is
called. From here there is a straight
down grade into Big Bend.
The train moved along fairly rapid
~ for the first hour but on passing the
| Gap, slowed down considerably, for,
though No. $40 was an eight-driyer
| and almost new, those nine flats load
ed with rails were uncommonly heavy.
At Cedar Springs, where five-m1nute
stop was made to take water, there
was some discussion between Foley
and the engineer as to whether IT
would not be better to split the train,
leaving half of it on the siding, and
make two trips up the mountain.
Foley, however, had unlimited conf
dence in No. $40, and it was finally de-
cided to try the pinnacle with the
whole train.
Meanwhile, back in the "side-door
Pullman" Slow-Foot was comfortably
pounding his ear" as he would have
expressed it. The bottom of the car
was not the softest bed in the world,
but he had used the same many times
before, and he slumbered on peace
fully.
He was awakened when the train
was about half way up the Pinnacle
by an uncomfortable pressure against
his body. He tried to turn over to a
new position, but his berth had sud-
denly become narrower. Still half
asleep, he felt about him on both sides,
and found that he was wedged in firm
" between the ties and the end of the
car.
"Was just dreaming / was United
States senator" he muttered, sleep
lily. Guess I must have got swelled
up over it, for I'm sure bigger than
when 1 came in"
He decided to crawl out and get on
top of the load where he would have
more room, but when he tried to rise,
his head struck sharply against some
thing hard. He reached up, and
touched solid roof above him.
In flash he realized what had hap
pened. In climbing the Pinnacle the
car of ties being loosely packed, had
shifted it's position, and was sliding
slowly down upon him. The upper
most ties not having so much weight
on them to hold them down, had slid
more rapidly, so that he was literally
walled in. Not only that, but the walls
of his prison were gradually closing in
on him.
A cold sweat of fear started out on
SIow-Foot Robinson, and he reached
up and tugged at the timber above
him, trying frantically to force it
back He might as well have tried to
break a log jam with his hands. He
shouted at the top of his lungs, but the
rattle of the train drowned his voice,
so he could scarcely hear it himself.
With the continual Earring of the
car, the huge mass of timber settled
slowly backwards. The space in which
Slow-Foot was squeezed narrowed
from scanty 20 inches to IS then 16,
and soon the tramp could not get into
position in which the ties did not
pinch.
At this juncture, with death staring
him full in the face, Slow-Foot did
little serious reasoning with himself.
"Serves me right" he muttered. Its
all my own fault. If I'd a worked the
way L oughter have, this wouldn't a
happened. Bet if I ever do git out of
this, leaves the road for good"
But there did not appear to be any
way of his getting out of the diff
Guilty. Moving slowly and irresistibly
as the wheels of time, the great ram
crept down upon him. The space
closed up till there was less than a
foot of room between the nearest ties
and the end of the car, and the pres
sure on his chest became almost I'M
bearable. He tried once more to call
for help, but gave it up and mutter
ing something which may have been
an oath, or, perhaps, a prayer, he set
tied himself to meet his fate like a
man. linen, SuQuCulJs dOONS the raft tie
of the train, he heard a shrill whistle.
81 thanks God, an l quits loafin'
from now cr." he muttered, solemnly,
for he had recognized in that whistle
No 34O's signal for BRAKES" This
meant that the top of the Pinnacle
had been reached and the train was
about to start down the other side
of Cedar mountain into Big Bend.
On the down grade the train moved
faster, and the increased Earring made
the great pile of ties slide back more
quickly than it had descended upon
him. Half an hour later the passenger
of the box car crawled out, a changed
man.
And the next morning the old say
ing, There's nothing new under the
sum-" was refuted, for, when that bril-
liant orb rose out of the east, it shone
on something it had never seen before.
That something was Slow-Foot Rob
inson, trudging down the railroad
track toward the shanty of the nearest
section boss to ask for work.