Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-04-02
Second
Seventy
BY FRANK q. SPEARMAN
COuuiua 1900. by Funk n. SpearnAn
(coNTINUED.l
cpydsh. 1900. b. F.al H. sp..r..n

In the dark. A sharp gust tore half
his rain coat from his back. Ripping
Off the rest. he ran on. When the wind
took his breath he turned his back and
FOUGHT for another. Binding sheets
Of rain poured OH him. Water stream
ing down the track caught his feet. A
slivered tie tripped him, and, falling
headlong. the sharp ballast cut his
wrists and knees like broken glass. In
desperate haste he dashed ahead again.
The headlight loomed before him like
a mountain of flame. There was light
enough now through the sheets Of rain
that swept down on him, and there
ahead, the train almost on it, was the
switch.
Could he make It?
A cry from the sleeping children rose
in his heart. Another breath, an In
stant foundering. slipping leap. and
he had 1t. He pushed the key into the
lock. threw the switch and snapped 1t
and, to make deadly sure. braced him
self against the target rod. Then he
looked.
No whistling now. 1t was past that.
He knew the fireman would have
Jumped. Cameron too? No. not Andy.
not If the pit yawned in front Of his
pilot
He saw streams Of fire flying from
many wheels. he felt the glare of
dazzling light. and. with a rafting
crash, the ponies shot into the switch.
The bar in his hands ratified as II 1t
would jump from the socket, and.
lurching frightfully. the monster took
the siding. 4 flare Of lightning lit the
cab as it shot past. and he saw Cam
eron leanin. from the cab window with
face of stone. his eyes riveted Oh the
gigantic drivers that threw a sheet of
fire from the saDdeI rails.
"Jumpr screamed Ben. useless as
he knew it was. What voice could live
In that hell Of noise? What man es-
cape from that cab now?
One, two. three. four cars pounded
over the split rails In half rs many
seconds. Ben. running dizzily for life
to the right. heard above the roar OF
the storm and screech Of the sliding
wheels ripping, tearing crash. the
harsh scrape of escaping steam. the
hoarse cries Of the wounded cattle.
And through the dreadful dark and
the fury Of the babel the wind howled
in gale and the heavens poured a
flood.
Trembling from excitement and ex-
haustion. Ben staggered down the
main track. A man with a lantern ran
against him. 1t was the brakeman
who had been back with the torpedocs.
He was crying Historically.
They stumbled over a body. Seizing
the lantern. Ben turned the prostrate
man over and wiped the mud from his
face. Then he held the lantern close
and gave a great cry. 1t was Andy
Cameron-uucousciou true. but soon
very much alive and no worse than
badly bruised. How the good God
whs watches over plucky engineers
had thrown him out from the horrible
wreckage only he knew. But there
Andy lay. and with Lighter heart
Ben headed a wrecking crew to begin
the task of searching for any who
might by fatal chance have been
caught in the crash.
And while the trainmen Of the
freights worked at the wreck the pas
senger train was backed slowly-so
slowly and so smoothly-up over the
switch and past, over the hill and past
and so to Turner Junction and around
by Oxford to GAINESVILLE.
When the sun rose the earth gl0wed
In the freshness Of Its June shower
bath. The flier, now many miles from
Beverly hill, was speeding in toward
Omaha. and mothers. waking their lit
tie ones In the berths, told them how
close death had passed while they
slept. The little girls did not quite
understand 1t. though they tried very
hard, and were very grateful to that
man. whom they never saw and whom
they would never see. But the little
bOys-never mind the little bOys-they
understood 1t. to the youngest urchln
OIL the train. and fifty times their papas
had to tell them how far Ben ran and
how fast to save their lives. And one
little boy-I wish | knew his name
went with his papa to the depot master
at Omaha when the flier stopped and
gave him his toy watch and asked him
please to give 1t to that man who had
saved his mammals life by running so
far In the rain, and please to tell him
how much obliged he was-if he would
be SO kind.
So the little toy watch came to our
superintendent and so to me, and /. sit
ting at Cameron's bedside talking the
wreck over with Ben. gave 1t to him.
Aud the big fellow looked as pleased as
II it had been a jeweled chronometer.
Intleed that was the only medal Ben
got.
The truth Is we had no gold medals
to distribute out on the West End In
those days. We gave Ben the best we
had. and that was passenger run.
But he Is a great fellow among the
railroad men. And on stormy nights
switchmen In the GAINESVILLE yards,
smoking In their shanties. still tell Of
that night. that storm. and how Ben
Buckley threw Second Seventy-seven
at the foot of Beverly hill.
Definitions.
Asked to define a suffragist, Brit
ish schOolboy answered, "A person