Crittenden record=press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1907-1909, 1907-04-25
,.BrIdge burning ahead there"

i"rvousiy forward. We'll. that's u
den!. What You going to do about it:'
Run it. Are YOU McWiliams?"
"NcN illlHMS? wish was for Just
one 'm'a',te I'm one of his clerks"
"Whcrc /; hc:"
Il lest him on Ia Sale street yes
ter,,ay afternoon"
whats your name:"
Just plain Ferguson"
Well Ferguson. it's none of my
business. but rs long as were going
to put you into DclA-er or into the
river i'm about Il minute I'm curious t.
know what the biazes you're huStling
along this way for"
Me? I've got 81 100000 in gold coin
in this car for the Sierra Leone Ma
tional bank that's ali. Didn't YOU
know that five biz banks there closed
| their door; yesterday? Worst panic
! in the United States. That's what I'm
here for and five huskies with me eat
ing and sleeping in this car" continu-
ed Ferguson. looking ahead. You're
not going TO tackle that bridge. are
| YOU"
"Wc are and right off. If there's
any of your huskies want to drop ont.
now's their chance" said Pat Francis
as Sinclair slowed up for his run.
Ferguson called his men. The five,
with their rifles, came cautiously fos'-
ward.
Boys" said Ferguson briefly.
there's a bridge afire ahead. These
guys are going to try to run it. It's
not in your contract, that kind of a
chance. DO you want to get off? I
stay with the specie. myself. You can
do exactly as You please. Murray.
what do you say?' he asked, address
| ing the leader of the force, who appear
ed to weigh about 260.
what do | say?" echoed Murray,
with decision. as lie looked for soft
| place TO alight alongside the track. Il
say I'll drop out right here. l don't
mind train robbers. but | don't tackle
a burning bridge-not If | know it,
and he jumped off.
We'll. Peaters." asked Ferguson o.
the second man coolly. do you want t.
/ stay"
"Me?" echoed Peaters, looking ahead
at the mass Of flame leaping upward.
"Me stay: Well. not In a thousand
years. You can have my gun, Mr.. Fc"-
guson. and send ~ check to 1870 Mil
waukee avenue, II please. Gen
tlemen. good day" And off went
! Peaters.
And off went every last man of the
valorous detectives except one lame
! fellow. who said he would just as lief
be dead as alive anyway and declared
he would stay with Ferguson and die
rich.
Sinclair, thinking he might never get
/ another chance, was whistling sharply
for orders. Francis, breathless with
the news. ran forward.
Coin? How much? Twelve hun
dred thousand. Whew! cried Sinclair.
"Swing up. Pat We're off"
The Five Nine gathered herself with
spring. Even tn engineers heart
quailed as they g dway. He knew
/ his business, and liz ;ucw that If only
the rails hadn't buckled they were per
fectly safe, for the heavy truss would
stand a lot of burning before giving
way under swiftly moving train.
Only, as they flew nearer. the blaze
rolling up in dense volume looked hor-
ribly threatening. After all, it Wa
foohardy. and he felt ii. but he was
past the stopping now, and he pulled
the choker to the limit. 1t seemed rs II
she never covered steel so fast Under
the head she now had the cracking
bridge was less than five hundred,
four hundred, three hundred, two hun
dred feet, and there was no longer
time to think. With q stare, Sinclair
shut off. He wanted no push or pull CT
the track. The McWilliams SPECIAL
was just a tremendous arrow, shooting
through a truss of fire and half dozen
speeches. men on either side of the
river waiting for the catastrophe.
Jerry MacElroy crouched low undo
the gauges. Sinclair jumped from his
box and stood with a hand on the
throttle and hand on the air, the
glass crashing around his head like
hail. A blast of fiery air and flying Gin
ders burned and choked him. The ell
CINE, alive with danger, few like Il
great monkey along the writhing steel.
So quick. so black. so hot the blast and
so terrific the leap she stuck her nose
into clean air before the men in the
cab could rise to 1t.
There was a heave In the middle like
the lurch of seaslck steamer, and
with 1t the Five-Nne got her paws on
cool iron and solid ground, and the
Mattaback and the blaze, all except Il
dozen tongues which licked the cab
and the roof Of the baggage car min
ute, Were behind. George Sinclair
shaking the hot glass out Of his hair
looked ahead through his frizzled eye.
lids and gave her full head for the
western bluffs Of the valley; then look
ed at his watch.
1t was the one hundred and nine
tieth milepost just at her nose, and
the dial read 500 to second. There