Gilpin observer., 1908-11-26
S m OR AND
SAWM I'LL
How the Fat Engineer Wac Fooled
by the unmusIoal Fiagman

81 was asleep in the bunk shanty
over in Delray," said the fat engi-
neer, when l awoke suddenly with
a start. l could hear sawmill goin'
to beat the band.
"'Now that's fine layout l says
to Hank Simms in the next bunk.
How under the canopy do they ex-
pect man to sleep, buildin' bunk
shanty right near a sawmill?'
"'Sawmill nothin'!' says Hank.
That's Jerry Day, the new fagman
for Archie Dunn, snorin' over in the
trainmen's bunk room. Amt he
pippin?'
If that anti-noise society gets next
to him. l says, they'll hotfoot him out
of this community instanter.'
There was no more sleep for US
that afternoon, SO we got up and sat
In hot game Of pinochle.
Jerry Day was first out with Archie
Dunn that evenin' on the first 70 n
was second out on second 70, freight
runnin' so heavy them days that they
were runnin' the fast freights in two
or three sections.
when 1t came time for us to leave
the freight yards the fog was SO thick
you couldn't shoot holes into it with a
machine gun. l tell yCu 1 was mighty
cautious, movin' along on only about
notches of steam on the throttle.
Pretty soon on the heavy air I
heard a sawmill goin' full blast.
Strange l says to myself, that
they're running a sawmill In these
parts this time of the night
There was peculiar sound to that
sawmill that I'd heard before. All of
sudden 1t came over me like flash
what it was. That's that green flag
man CT Archie Dunn's,' it came to me:
he's just hidin' his red lantern under
bushel of snores while his train Is
stalled on the main track
80 quicker'n a deaf n dumb man
can say Jack Robinson got my engl.e
in back motion. l couldn't see thing
but from the sound Of that foghorn
ahead we'd stopped about a caboose
length this side of that warnin' snore.
The fog shifted for a minute n
there was the tail lights of Archie
Dunn's caboose almost restin' on the
right of my cowcatcher. 1t was a
lucky thing for me that I had recog-
nized the deep snore Of that fagman.
"Mebbe I didn't climb onto that ca
boose n give that new hand a brief
n pointed speech on the rules n fegu-
lations of sleepin' on duty. especially
dwellin' on the necessity of the flag.
man totin' his red n white lights II
telegraph poles back when his train
stopped on the main track.
"A week or so after that I was
second out again behind Archie Dunn.
An 1t was just such a foggy night as
the one I was speakin' of before. She
rock Holmes himself couldn't pene-
trate the density of that mist.
Il was movin' along again under two
speeds forward. keepin' my weather
goggles trimmed for trouble ahead.
Just as sure as you're born there
came to me again that 40-sawmill-pow.
er snore Of Archie Dunn's rear guard.
$50 says to myself: My little heart
to-heart talk with that fiagman bore no
fruit. eh? Well. I'll just give him lit
tie bump this time n see what little
scare will do him.
You can just imagine was pretty
warm under the collar. comm up on
that feller snoozin' on the breastworks
twice in two weeks. l kept getting
closer n closer to the snore, but
there didn't come along any hind end
for me to bump into.
II got a little scared myself, then,
thinkin' mebbe might hit 'em too hard,
SO sot up in the air n we swung
under the lee of that warnin' snore.
Well, now, mebbe | hadn't made up
my mind to write up round robin on
that careless fagman of Archie
Dunn's
You bet what I would say in my
report would end his usefulness to the
railroad. | hadn't reported him the
first time, thinkin' he was young n
new to the business, relyin' on my lit.
tie talk to reform him. But 1t was all
of now. Discipline required that
must make a written report.
| I'VE laid there few minutes. with
that feller snorin', me jawin' to myself
n mebbe envyin' him just a little of
his sound sleep. when all at once the
fog cleared away as II 1t had been sent
for. You could have bowled me over
with toothpick! Scan that track
ahead Of me as far as I could see.
could detect no tail lights of a train
ahead. But off to the right In the
fields was n really truly sawmill, prob.
ably workin' overtime on some little
extra Job.
Now, say, mebbe didn't feel as
cheap as pair OF ice skates In the
summer time. l nearly got laid off
for ten days myself for delayin' that
fast freight"