Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-09-01

because when 1t burned ct all 1t woulo
make q hotter FIRE and last longer
but we had lots OF trouble keeping
that green wood burning. No mat
ter how careful we were that fire
would 60 out, and then we would
have to tie up and cut up fence rails
to get up steam enough to 60 ahead.
"You fellows who think you have
tough times in bad weather ought to
have been with US on some OF our
runs" Captain McGonigle said.
"Oh, we could have got out and
helped push when the fire went out"
said one Of the engineers.
"Well, we did have to do little Of
that" the captain said laughingly.
II remember We bad an awful time
one day when Brice Custer was firing
Brice, you know, was the Oldest
brother OF General Custer and be was
a corking good man. He was firing
green maple wood and the engineer
was trying to get to the siding. The
wood would not burn any more than
a chunk Of ice would burn. and the
fire went out. 1t had been raining for
week-off and on-and when we
turned out we couldn't find a stick OF
timber anywhere dry enough to start
fire. We lay there for hours until
finally, in desperation, walked two
miles to the nearest farmhouse and
borrowed an old gray horse and we
pulled that engine to the siding and
then took the cars along the track,
one at a time, in the same way.
"We frequently had to wait long
time at meeting point for the train
coming from the opposite direction
for the other train crew had the same
Kind of luck that we bad. Sometimes
we would wait until we got tired and
then we would proceed cautiously.
Approaching curve to avoid a col
lision the brakeman would be sent
ahead of the engine to flag the ap'
preaching train If he saw it coming
We called that running curve.
"One night we had been having an
unusual run OF bard luck. 1t was
raining, and, as usual, the fires went
out time and again, and we we're all
mad, hungry and wet to the skin.
We managed to get to the siding at
about 8 " lock in the morning. We
ere so glad to get there that we
jumped off without waiting to get on
the siding and went to farmhouse
and went to bed. And what do you
think happenedP Why. that little
engine on the other train came tearing
down the track and banged into oul
engine and did whole lot OF damage.
Sat another time when our IRE
went out we were seven miles from
the nearest switch. The snow was on
the ground and it was 10 degrees be-
low zero. The conductor told me
be would give me weeks wages II l
would walk down to the switch and
get the engineer Of the other train to
bring his engine down to pull us to
the siding. That was about the
toughest experience ever had. 1t
took me two hours to get to the switch
and / was nearly frozen to death"
swell, it was that way all the
time" the captain said. ave got
disheartened and then the railroad
company had reached its limit and we
we're getting our pay in due bills.
"About this time Tom Scott, after
ward the great railroad magnate,
came TO the relief Of our company.
He was a poor lawyer living at Csdiz'
O., and did not have enough money to
pay his grocery bill. Somehow he
managed to get to London and then
he secured enough money to build a
bridge across the Ohio river at Steu-
benville and to extend the line on
west to Columbus. This, then, was
the first start OF the Panhandle road
west Of Pittsburg, and now q part OF
the great Pennsylvania system"
Captain McGonigle, when the new
company took hold, quit railrosding
for q time. When the war broke out
be enlisted In an Indiana regiment.
After the war he was q railroad time
keeper for q while at DsnniSOn, o.
Then be came out West and for nine