The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1904-02-25
HOW JIMMIE
0 HIS ENGINE

r. r. that when Jimmie Kincaid got
his engine he would also get Nettie
oliver. But Jimmie's chance for get
ting an engine in the near future did
not seem particularly bright. He was
fourth on the list of fremen of the
Lawrence3urg division, n that
meant he must wait until four en-
gineers died, reached the age of limit
or were fired. OF course there was al
ways the chance that he would be able
to do something to attract the atten-
ton of the superintendent of motive
power, and then he might get his en-
CINE at any time.
In the meantime Nettie had a fairly
good position as telegrapher at Ben
son station, and Jimmie could get a
chance to chat with her for a few
minutes every day when his train,
passenger No. IA, lay over on the sid
ing at Benson to allow the limited
mail to pass. When he had begun
scraping an acquaintance with Nettie
something over a year before. Jimmie
had used the pretext that he was
thinking Of learning telegraphy. and
under her tutorship he had picked up
a fair working knowledge of the
| Morse code.
Many a sly joke did the train crew
OF No. IA crack at Jimmie's suddenly
born ambition to learn biography, but
he bore all of these with equanimits
| and said that the knowledge might
| come in handy some time. After
| awhile it became understood among
| all the men hat Jimmie's case was
really serious, n then the jokes stop
! ped. Even the head brakeman of No.
IA. who had a reputation as a wit, fore
bore to make remarks about the con-
nection 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 sta
tion on a straight line, but 1t Is six
miles distant by the track. After ne
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 Sig
nal Hello" to Nettie at Benson sta
ton in sharp blasts upon the whistle.
which stood for the dots and dasnes
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 a good reputation and the pros
pect Of succeeding to an engine In
the course OF I'VE or six years. When
business picked up in the fall a 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. 1O6, eastbound. The third
section of No. LOG vas 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:
II think yell pull the engine all
right, Jimmie, me bye. but for the
love of the saints be careful when we
i strike the top of the Hill this side OF
Benson. Faith, it's a heavy train
they've given we. and II 1t should
break in two going down that hill and
thin cars with no air brakes on to
them there'll be the devil and all to
pay
Despite this warning, there was no
fear of a break in two" in Jimmie's
heart 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
and which not even the most exper-
fenced engineer can successfully guard
against. But as he struck the top Of
the hill and began to descend on the
| side toward Benson he felt a jerk
which nearly threw him off his seat.
Looking back he saw the wors. lad
happened. A coupling hap mapped
in the middle of the train.
For the present there was but one
thing to do, and that vas to go down
grade as fast as he could. Looking
back. 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 n then had jumped to
safety. Jimmie knew that II the four
teen cars running wild behind caught
up with the forward half Of the train
there would be a wreck which would
cause damage to the extent of nous
ands of dollars AND blacklist. II not
kill, the engineer responsible.