The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1904-04-07
"OLD MAN
SPECIAL"


! BycuRRAN r. GREENLEY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
tCopyrieht, ,ssa. b. Daily seesy Pub. co.,
THE division superintendent had
/ stretched out few inches further
on the leathern lounge in the smoker as
Jake, the porter, reported: She'll be
here in about two hours, Cap'n. The
fireman OF 20 done come from the sta
tion above. an he say that am de latest
wire"
Here's kettle of fish," growled Brax-
ton, the travelling auditor. Here's both
of US that ought to be in Denver to-mor-
row morning, tied here by one leg like
Widow Malone's COW. No telling
what ducks and brakes those c. H. 4
T. l. fellows will make Of that bill il
they happen to get old man Padget in
their clutches. Trust Jimmy Atkins for
making hay while the lobby is clear
and here we are, penned up in our own
cars, the wrecking crew 40 miles away
and ten carloads Of cattle and God only
knows what else. piled up on the track.
Get out of here! You'll! A black face
vanished through the crack of the door,
and Braxton collapsed into the deep
chair opposite the division superintend-
ent, who puffed away at his cigar anu
watched him between shut lids, and
drawling, in his lazy, good-humored
voice: Quiet down, Braxton. We amt
the whole road. You've got your bones
left and all your skin, and Jimmy At
kins doesn't own the legislature. II the
old man did call us in to assist in pull
ing wires, that doesn't mean that they
won't be pulled without US"
He sat up and looked out of the WIN
dow. On one side, the granite wall OF
the mountain went up and up behind the
mere shelf on which the track lay liEe
a silver ribbon; on the other-far belo' =,
a blue trail of water wound between
ochre gorges, and already, where the
fragments of wreckage had been hurled
down. heavy winged buzzards tapped
to and fro, and the sun poured flood
of gold through the clear, thin air. while
from the smoking wreck, the noises OF
hell went up and rent the sacred quiet OF
the mountain as men toiled and sweated
amid the means of tortured animals
imprisoned in the burning wreckage.
Fifty yards away stood the Limited
Mail. trapped between the wreck In
front ard the landslide two miles in the
rear. that had made it risky question
getting through on the upgrade, and
backing down an impossibility.
The division superintendent yawned
lazily. He had been called from his
berth in the dead of night to stand six
hours in the bitter mountain wind di-
recting the demoralized train crew.
The fast freight had been making time
to Barry's, where they would switch
to let the Limited through; when sud-
denly the great engines reared, snorted
like wild thing and plunged head
foremost into the mountainside, and
with the recoil went over and over.
carrying poor Tom Donohughe down
with her. The fireman had gone back
on the tender just before the shock
came.
Crash! Crash! A binding hor-
ror filling earth and sky as the death
cry Of man and beast went up to God.
The division superintendent had
worked like madman, and now that the
wrecking crew would soon be on the
spot, and the searchers that went out
with the dawn, had brought Tom Don1-
hughe up the mountain and laid him in
the superintendent own berth, he felt
at peace with the world. and inclined to
be just little impatient with Braxton.
There was something familiar about
the crag that loomed above him-and
then it all came back. "Braxton!" he
turned to where the trayeling auditor
sulked behind a day-old newspaper. Il
thought this place felt natural. Here's
where l met "Old Man Special" Brax-
ton dropped the paper. "You don't mean
to say that you share in that nonsense
he growled.
NO nonsense about it. mean every
word of it. You have heard the ccys
tell how, when this line was new, and
things went haphazard generally, Mad
Murphy was running the Fast Mail.
The Benson gang wrecked 1t one night,
and Mad Murphy was killed at his post.
He was to have been married the night
that they buried him. and his girl went
crazy and had to be shut up in mad
house down there in Denver. 1t wasn't
more than a few months after. when the
boys began to talk of seeing things, and
it did look like Mad Murphy's old en-
gine. No. &c. was completely hoodooed.
She never went over the road but some
thing happened to her, and finally she
broke her neck and carried Jim Garret
with her off of Dead Mans trestle, and
from the day that old engine made scrap
iron of herself, the queer things began
to happen. and just as sure as man
was warned, there was some good rea-
son back Of it. Tom Baynes went out
with No. Is one night, and just before
ne got to Grants Crossing, there was
a danger signal. He put on all the
brakes and brought her to . standstill
not ten feet from two rails spiked across
the track: but there was never sign OF
token OF the man that set that danger
signal. and there was no lantern there:
though Tom said he was near enough