The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-10-14

There was something familiar in the curve
, of the shoulder OF the engineer on the first
locomotive Of the Shore Line train. A
second later he turned his head and there
was a mutual recognition. The ham was
instantly forgotten In Amhorn's returning
wrath; gone were all his noble sentiments
it was his old neighbor, Abe Blaekman, the
slayer OF his pig.
They say that the record the outraged
George made for the remaining fourteen
miles into Damascus Junction will never be
equaled by freight train while the track
stands. 1t was done in eleven minutes and
fifteen seconds, magnificent nightmare,
tempcstuous dream OF bewildering speed,
fight like one OF the thunderbolts of Jove,
something to be told Of in a subdued voice
as one speaks OF things beyond ones
power to grasp But almost before it had
begun it was over and "Stubby' Sullivan,
who was rumored to say his prayers to his
engine was backing in with a powerful
mogul to take the cotton down the long
grades to the northward. No fear that the
second section would ever crowd him.
A different kind Of spur was reserved
for Stubby. 1t came in the form Of tele-
phone message that north from Damascus
Junction the Shore Line would split its
train into two fifteen-car sections drawn by
high-speed Atlantic type passenger en-
gincs. 1t was desperate move, an un-
usual one, and over against it the W. G, S.
held four minutes advantage gained by
Amhorn's wonderful spurt, thirty miles the
shorter line from the Junction to the river,
and Stubby in the cab. M
"Go it, old boy, go'' yelled George after
him as the Special roared out through the
great yard, Don't be beaten by a road
that hires pig-slaughtering engineers And
may your ugly red head be mistook for a
runaway comet from the James to the
Potomac"
Move the cotton! Beat the Shore Line!"
rang in the little engineers ears. And to
the everlasting glory Of his road it moved
moved with the wind shrieking past like a
tornado and the hind brakeman trying to
recall "Now | lay me- at the same time
that he was wondering whether he would
alight on American or Canadian soil when
the train did leave the rails
"The telegraph poles made solid wall
and the mile-posts looked like a picket
fence" was the way he afterward de-
scribed it.
Two calves and mule, their value en-
hanced three hundred per cent by violent
death, were reported to the claim depart
ment before midnight, but the cotton was
moving. Steadily as a clock, swiftly as an
arrow, Stubby moved it, his face aglowwit
the light that came to him with his Joy in
the running. Mile on mile, minute after
minute flashed by. Through eight counties
in halt as many hours fled the racing Special
until the miles ahead of her dwindled and
melted away into two and across the river
the tall, slender shaft OF the Washington
monument came into sight. Only then did
the pace slacken, and the sun was still high
when the long bridge across the Potomac
vibrated under the speeding trucks OF the
W. q. 5. Cotton Special forty minutes
ahead of the Shore Lines train and sure Of
victory. Dusk had not yet fallen when
bulletins from Holcomb's Office were being
posted at the division points all along the
road. They read:
"O Our Cotton Special. first Fifty three, of Tuly
1913, reached Jersey City hfty-seven minutes ahead
all concerned. u H"
To Amhorn and Sullivan went letters
that they will hand down to their grand ,
children
Two days afterward old George, tramp
ing home to supper from the yards was
turning over in his mind once more the
flight OF the cotton trains and the events at
Dover Tower when he met Abe, coming
from the direction of the Shore Line For
one embarrassed moment the two men
faced each other in sience then Blackman
flshed bill from his pocket and for the first
time in years he spoke to his former crony.
Here's ten dollars for that pig had to
shoot, George" he said land you're a
white man"
You go to Pittsburgh" growled Amhorn.
III not take your money The pig was
worthless, mere runt And | reckon YOU
belong outside the penitentiary yourself.
Shake!"
81 won't have it, l tell you." George
continued. "The pig was the runtiest /
ever saw. 1t was disgrace to my family.
I'm glad you killed it. / wish it had been
two pigs SO you could have shot both
81 them. What's more, we've been couple
If old FOOLS"
Amen" said the other can suppose
We both go down to Dover tomorrow and
lck that little operator Twill help his
morals and It's something that he is hun
'ern an thlrstin after. What say you2"
We needn't" responded George AZ
leld speech with him myself while ye were
'etting over the crossing. And when
PASSED through there yesterday he was still
long his telegraphing standing up."