Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1904-03-09
HOW JIMMIE
Cot HIS ENGINE
BY WILLIAM
WALKER HINES
,,,,,,-t,bt. 1sQS. bp T. C. Mcclure
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I7,,,,, division of the y. ana \. Il.
ren. chen Jimmie Kincaid got his
IL 49, be would also get Nettie Oliver.
1inmfe's chance for getting an en-
Il, she near future did not seem
ein .i,,lorly bright He was fourth on
che list of firemen OF the Lawrence
-, division, and that meant he must
- until four engineers died, reached
w. ora Of limit or were fired. OF
80 there was always the chance
tta+ he would be able TO do something
~ a+tract the attention of the superin-
t,n5an, Of motive power, and then he
'airbt oet his engine at any time.
In the meantime Nettie had a fairly
mood position as telegrapher at Ben,
con station, and Jimmie could get "A
ohorce 70 chat with her for a few
minutes every day when his train, pas
eenger No. II, lay over on the siding
Of BENSON to allow the limited mail to
mass When he had begun scraping
an acouaintance with Nettie some
fling over a year before Jimmie had
used the pretext that he was thinking
of learning biography and under her
utorship he had picked up fair
working knowledge of the Morse code.
Many a sly joke did the train crew
NJ No. II crack at Jimmie's suddenly
horn ambition to learn biography, but
he bore all of these with equanimity
and said that the knowledge might
come in handy some time. After
awhile il became understood among all
fhe men that Jimmies case was really
serious, and then the jokes stopped.
Even the head brakeman of No. II,
who had a reputation as wit, forbore
TO make remarks about the connection
between the Morse code and pretty
girls
Benson station is at the foot of
Twelve Mile hill, and this hill is re-
garded by the engineers as the worst
place on the division. The grade is so
heavy that the track winds up the hill
in two long loops When you get to
the beginning of the second loop you
are only a mile from Benson station
on a straight line, but it is six miles
distant by the track. After he had
mastered the rudiments of the Morse
code Jimmie would take hold of the
whistle cord when No IA came to the
loop on the down grade and signal
Hello to Nettie at Benson station in
sharp blasts upon the whistle, which
stood for the dots and dashes of the
code.
So things went along for a year and
Jimmie's prospects of promotion got
little brighter. On the records of the
office of the superintendent of motive
power he was still merely James Kin
caid, fourth on the list of firemen
with good reputation and the pros
pect of succeeding to an engine in the
course Of five or six years. When
business picked up in the fall num-
Der of extra freight trains were put on.
and he got his first chance to run an
engine.
On the first trip it fell to his lot to
take out the third section of freight
train No. 1906 east bound. The third
section of No. 106 was made up of thir-
ty-one heavily loaded cars, and none of
these was equipped with air brakes.
AS he pulled out of Adairville the old
yard master swung himself up into
the cab of the engine and said:
Il think yell pull the engine all
right, Jimmie, me bye, but for the
love Of the saints be careful when We
strike the top of the hill this side of
Benson. Faith, it's a heavy train
they've given We, and if it should break
IN two going down that hill and thin
cyars with no air brakes on to them
therell be the devil and all to pay"
Despite this warning, there was no
rear Of "break in two" in Jimmie's
neart as he nursed his engine along
toward the top Of the hill on the other
side of which lay Benson This is an
accident which happens very rarely
ana which not even the most expert
enced engineer can successfully guard
against But as he struck the top of
the hill and began to descend on the
sue toward Benson he felt jerk
winch nearly threw him off his seat.
Looking back, he saw that the worst
mad happened. A coupling had snap
ped in the middle of the train.
FOR the present there was but one
'hlhg to do, and that was to go down
grade as fast as he could. Looking
osck' he could see that the rear brake |
man. who was the only man on the |
cars which had been left behind, had
made one Intellectual attempt to set the
brakes and then had jumped to safety.
Jimmie knew that if the fourteen cars
running wild behind caught up with
lhe forward half of the train there
would be a wreck which would cause
ia mage to the extent of thousands of /
uoiiars and blacklist, if not KILL the
engineer responsible.
raster and faster the telegraph poles
Un tne side of the track flew past him.
Jlmmie's mind was working faster
'llah 1t had ever done in his life. His
oruers directed him to wait on the
sidlng at Benson station for the west
FOUND passenger train to pass, and he
Knew that at any cost he must save the
PASSENGER Away of to the farther
l.