The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-24
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a. IL. MEYER Sc GO.

double-header and get against the snow as
quick as ii could be made ready.
All that day and most of the night Neigh
Dor worked twenty men on Sankey's device.
BY Sunday morning it was in such shape
that we began to take heart
IF she don't get through she'll get back
again, and that's what most of 'em don't
do" growled Neighbor, as he and Sankey
showed the new ram to the engineers.
|, They had taken the 5e6. George Sinclair's
engine, for one head, and Burnss 497 for the
other. Behind these Kennedy with
the 314 and Cameron with the 296 The en-
gines were set in pairs. headed each way.
and buci1led up like pack-mules. Over the
pilots and stacks of the head engines rose
the tremendous plows which were to tackle
the toughest drifts ever recorded, before
or since, on the West End. The ram was
designed to work both ways. Under the
coal each tender was loaded with pig-iron.
The beIeaguered passengers on No. /,
sdetracked in the yards, watched the prepa-
rations Sankey was making to clear the
line. Every amateur on the train had his
camera swapping at the ram. The town,
gathered in a single great mob, looked
silently on, and listened TO the frosty notes
Of the sky-scrapers as they went through
their preliminary maneuvers. Just as the
final word was given by Sankey, In charge,
the sun burst through the fieecy clouds,
and a wild cheer followed the ram out or
the western yard-it was good luck to see
the sun again.
Little Meta up on the hill, must have
seen them as they pulled out; surely she
heard the choppy, ice-bitten screen or the
sec: that was never forgotten whether the
service was special or regular. Besides, the
head cab of the ram carried this time not
only Georgia Sinclair, but her father as
well. Sankey could handle slics-oar as
CINE where, IL anything, the big chances
lowered What he was not capable of in
the train service We never knew, because
he was stronger than any emergency tnat
Bucking snow is principally brute force;
there is little coaxing. Just west of the
cruisers there was a volley OF sharp toot-
ing, and i'm Il minute the four ponderous
engines. two of them in the back motion,
fires white and threats bursting, steamed
wildly into the canon.
Six hundred feet from the first cut Sin
clair's whistle signaled again; Burns and
Cameron and Kennedy answered, and then,
literally turning the monster ram loose
against the dazzling mountain, the crews
settled themselves for shock.
At such a moment there is nothing to
be done If anything goes wrong eternity
is too close TO consider. There comes
muffied drumming on the steam chests-a
stagger and a terrific impact-and then the
recoil like the stroke of triphammer. The
snow shoots into the air fifty feet, and the
wind carries a cloud of fieecy confusion
over the ram and out of the cut. The cabs
were buried in white. and the great steel
frames of the engines sprung like knitting
needles under the frightful blow.
Pausing for hardly a breath, the signaling
again began. Then the backing; up and up
and up the line; and again the massive
machines were hurled screaming into the
cut.
lurching had stopped. No one else could tell
a thing about il, for IL was snow and snow
and snow above and behind. and ahead
and beneath. Sinclair coughed the flakes out
of his eyes and nose and mouth like a
baffied collie. He looked doubtful OF rhe
! claim until the mist had blown clear and
| the quivering monsters were again re-
called for a dash Then it was plain that
Sankey's instinct was right; they were
Again they went in, lifting very ava
| lanche over the stacks packing the banks
of the cut with walls hard as ice. Again
as the drivers stuck they raced in frenzy n,
and into the shrek Of the wind went the
unearthly scrape of the overloaded safe
Slowly and sullenly the machines were
| backed again.
shes doing the work. George" cried
! Sankey. For that kind OF cut shes as
| good as a rotary. Look everything over
/ while / go back and see how the boys are
/ standing IL. Then We'll give her one more,
| and give il the hardest kind"
And they did give IL one more-and an
| other Men at Santiago put up no stOuter
| fight than they made that Sunday morning
| in the canon of the Blackwood. Once and
| twice more they went in. And the second
| time the humping drummed more deeply.
| the drivers held. pushed painted, and gained
/ against the white wall-hcaved' and stun
! blcd aheaG-and with a yell from Sinclair
1 and Sankey and the fireman. the double
header shot her nose into the clear over
/ the Blackwood gorge. AS engine after en-
CINE few past the divided walls. each cab
| took up the cry-it was the widest shout
| that ever crowned victory.
| Through they went and halfway across
/ the bridge before they could check their
monster catapuit. Then at q half-full they