The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-29
Our Daily $bort Story

the ground few feet away. law Sherin Wilson. unconscious. the blood running from gash in his forehead.
 On every side were men and women some dangerously Injured. others dazed, yet little hurt. others stil pinned down by the wreckage. It had been a coli- sion and a bad one. and even as Billy strengthened himself up and tried to re- call his scattered senses. from every d. rection came groans. shrieks. calls for help. and all the heart-breaking accom- panlments of railroad accident.
 Billy's first thought was to turn in and devote every energy to helping those less fortunate than himself who had been caught in the wreckage. Then he stop ped. Sheriff Wilson was unconscious. Before he regained his senses Billy could be far away. When the sheriff missed him 1t would be thought he was buried In the wreck. With So much time Billy was certain of making a successful es- cape It would be a mean thing to do. thought Billy. but on the other hand rose up the grim picture of the peniten- tiary. its narrow cells. It's bitter routine of labor. its hardships and loss of all that made life worth living. Besides. what difference would one man make In the task of clearing such a wreck?
 Once again. when he had regarded all as definitely settled. Fate had brought home to Billy Thompson the choice of which path in life he should take.
 It was babys chubby hand that turned the balance. Even as Billy stood undecided he heard a frightened wall, and saw a dimpled little fist sticking out from under one of the shattered frag- ments of the car in which he had been sitting before the wreck And with a sudden thrill Billy realized that the plump, friendly baby. who moment be- fore had been cooing and laughing In hts face, was pinned under tho wreekage All thought of the penitentiary vanished Billy plunged at his task of rescue. working furiously. yet careful not to dis lodge any of the timbers in such way that would fall on the little prisoner.
 It was a hard task and not a short ono. though other willing hands soon had joined to Billy's. But in the end both the plump baby and it's young mother were extricated from the wrecked car. In the car were dead and badly injured, but the baby and its mother were un- hurt, except for a few bruises. When the, car had careened to one side the back of the seat on which they had been sitting had turned over in such a man ner as to imprison them. but also to protect them from the broken glass and timbers. But if 1t had not been for Billy's prompt and desperate work there was a chance that they would not have been released until the flames which now were sweeping through the mass of wrecEing had rendered 1t too late.
 When Billy realized that the plump baby and It's mother were safe he drew a long breath of relief. Then he sud denly realized that among the men who had been assisting him was Sheriff Wilson. The sheriff had been only slightly injured. and as soon as he re- gained his senses. regardless of the blood which was pouring from the cut In his forehead had rushed to help in the work of rescue. Now he turned to Billy.
 ESQ., while I was on my back you were getting the kid and It's mother out of the
 wreck. instead of trying to run awayT he observed. in voice whose gruffness tried in vain to conceal Its kindness
 He glanced sharply at Billy as he spoke But 1t was not the look of sheriff to- wards his prisoner, but such as one brave man gives another. Billy met it with a: | straightforward a glance. For a mo. ment he was no longer the convict. but l a man who had made his choice bravely and well in one of life's great emergen | cies.
 'If I've got any influence in Willlstor | County" added Sheriff Wilson in em
 phatic tones, "and think have. 1t won
 be so very long before a pardon comes | to the pen, Billy"
 l Billy looked at the plump baby and 1t: | mother She was weeping, but her tear. | were not those of grief. And Billy dil not regret his lost chance to escape, no l the choice he had taken. Even withou the sheriffs last words he felt that 1t hat been a good one.