The Forrest City times., 1904-03-18
"OLD MAN SPECIAL"
By CURRAN GREENLEY
Copyright, 1906. by Daily Story Pub. Col

on the leathern lounge in the smoker Is Jake. the porter, reported: shell be here in about two hours, Cap'n. The fireman of 9 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. Heres 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 drakes those C. II. & T. L. fellows will make of that bill if 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 wreeking 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 and watched him between shut lids. and draWling in his lazy, eood-humored voice Quiet down, Braxton We aint 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 like a silver ribbon, on the other-far belCI a blue trail of water wound between ocLre gorges. and already, where the fragments Of wreckage had been hurled down, heavy winged buzzards Tapped to and fro. and the sun poured a 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 moans of tortured animals imprisoned in the burning wreckage. Fifty yards away stood the Limited Mail trapped between the wreck in front and the landslide two miles in the rear, that had made it a risky question getting through on the upgrade, and backing down an smposs bility.
 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 10 Barry's, where they would switch to let the Limited through; when sud denly the great engines reared, snorted like a 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- TOT filling earth and sky as the death cry of Jnan and beast went up 10 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 Don5- hughe up the mountain and laid him in the superintendent own berth. he felt at peace with the world. and inclined 10 be just little impatient with Braxton
 There was something familiar about the crag that loCmed above Lim-and then il all came back "Brtxton," he turned to where the travelling auditor sulked behind day-oId newspaper. T thought this place felt natural Here 's where I met "old Man Special Brax- ton dropped the paper You dCn'tmean 10 say that you share in that nonsense gs he groWled.
 Nc nonsense about it. mean every word of it You have heard the boys tell how. when this line was new. and things went haphazard generally. Mad Murphy was running the Fast Mail. The Benson gang wrecked it one night. and Mad Murphy was killed al his post He was to have been married The nfoht that they buried h.m and his girl went crazy and had To be shut up in a mad house down there in Denver. l. wasn't more than few months after. when fbe bbH D AtEd4 u tdItA Ol SFt4IS illHgS. and it did look like Mad Murphy's old en- zine. No, 26, was completely hoodooed She never went over the road but some thing happened tO her and finally she broke her neck and carried Jim Garref with her off of Dead Mans trestle. and from the day that old engine made scrap iron of herself. the queer things began 10 happen. and just as sure as man was warned there was some good req son back of il. Tom Baynes went out with No 28 one night. and just before he got to Grants Crossing, there was a danger signal He put on all the brakes and brought her to standstiu not ten feet from two rails spiked across the track; but there was never sign or token of the man that set that danger signal. and there was no lantern there. though Tom said he was near euof45b