The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-04-08
DRIVING WHEEL
OF Locomotive licked Like a Watch
and Revealed Tragedy.
From the New York Times.

Cooling rapidly after her daily rush
from New York to the distant shore,
No 1929 stood alone in the dark round
house with her Irish hostler. The hiss
and bubble of the falling steam had
ceased, and the soft booming of the sea
was only broken by the occasional snap
or click of contracting joints as the fire.
box heat went down Quietly the man
worked by the light of a flaming torch,
thinking, perhaps, as he wiped the giant
steel limbs of the day when he, too,
might control that machine or one just
like her, until he passed the forward
starboard driving wheel he heard little
men making nails"
The conceit amused him at first, but
every time thereafter as he passed that
part of the engine he heard, or thought
he heard the faint ticking of a watch.
Suddenly he recalled that he was wear
ing none and paused startled at the trick
he believed his nerves were playing.
Then he stopped and listened. There
was no mistake about 1t. Clear and dis
tinct a watch was keeping time some-
where within that great hub.
Flare in hand the hostler dropped into
the ash pit and climbed up between and
behind the wheels Wedged fast between
the Jaws of the engine frame and the
chair carrying the journal was gold
watch bearing the eompany's private
mark and number. The hostlers face
showed challxy white beneath the CRIME
as he bore it out.
Conductor John Connaughton. local
train No 6I2, north bound, had fallen
upon melancholy days, and this was the
saddest of them all for him. His wife
was but a few weeks dead his son Grip
pied on the railroad, himself removed on
change of schedule from proud fller
which he had run for years to the slow
accommodation, which, starting from no.
where, ended nowhere, serving simply as
a feeder to certain fast trains running
over the main line; and now his daugh-
ter had gone to the hospital for serious
operation.
To make matters worse train No. 62
had done little business, and he had
nothing to do but to brood over his
troubles. His train, Indeed, had run
ahead of its schedule, and now at Whit
sons there were two full minutes to wait.
John Connaughton had many friends
about the station, and they talked cheer
ingly to him on the platform. Just above
lay the Peddler Freight going down the
line, but run in on the siding to let the
fastest afternoon express go through to
the sea The Peddlers engine was
tuning and painting as her men joined
the little group at the station. Two long
and two short blasts Of a clear, deep
whistle can1e family down the wind. The
block signal just below the station
changed with hiss from Danger to
Line Clear and shone sickly white
against the sunset glow. John Com
naughton looked at his watch Then
he dropped his arm, and Train 6i2
began to move slowly up the track. lie
fingered for a few parting words until
the last car came about opposite him.
Good bye" he called, and ran across
the tracks
No. 1929 shot out from between the Ped
dler locomotive and Tram GAP with a can
>nonrlIxe roar The electric lights in the
Pullmans danced and glimmered for a
second or two, and the blood-red tail
lamps dwindllng to sparks, made long,
graceful curve across the landscape and
disappeared in the dark pine forest, above
which the steam rose gray against the
sky.
Vamables often disappear with start
ling suddennesse in passenger wrecks.
but it was doubly distressing to those
who picked up the body of John Con-
naughton to note that his watch had
gone when there were none but railroad
men about. In the excitement some one
threw the semaphores down the line
against No. 1929 One caught her nearly
nine miles away. Neither the men upon
her nor those who rode behind knew any
more than she did until then that she
had killed man. The train crew ran
along the cars, but whatever they found,
they found no watch. and the fiier ended
her run almost on time
Much wonderinent was expressed when
the number of the watch, found by the
hostler flashed along the road. identifying
il as Connaughton's. and rather more
Of awe that 1t should have lodged where
it did and Travelled nearly 100 miles, but
the explanation was simple. When the
watch was found il was still clasped
and held fast in the .stiffening fingers OF
John Connaughton's severed left hand. :