The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-06-19

locomotive OF the Shore Line train. A
second later he turned his head and there
was a mutual recognition. The ham wasl
instantly forgotten in Amhorn's returning'
wrath; gone were all his noble sentiments
it was his old neighbor, ABB. Blackman, the
slayer Of hispig.
They say that the record the outraged
George made for the remaining fourteen
miles into Damascus Junction will never ba
equaled BY freight train while the tracg
stands. Ii was done in eleven minutes and
fifteen seconds, magnificent nightmare, a.
tempestuous dream Of bewildering speed, a.
flight 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 rumorcd 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. II came in the form Of tele-
phone message that north from Damascus
Junction the Shore Line would split its
train into two ifteen-car sections drawn by
high-specd Atlantic type passenger en-
gines 1t was desperate move, an un-
usual one, and over against it the w. G. 5.
held four minutes advantage gained by
.amhorn's wonderful squirt, thirty miles the
shorter line from the Junction to the river,
and Stubby in the cab.
Go ii, old boy, go' yelled George after
him as the Special roared out through the
great yard. Don't be beaten by road
that hires pig-slaughtering engineers And
may your ugly red head be mistook for
runaway comet from the James to the
Potomac
Move the cotton! Beat the Shore Linel"
rang in the little engineers ears, And to
the everlasting glory Of his road it moved
moved with the wind shrieking past like
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 lea the rails.
The telegraph poles made solid wall
and the mile-posts looked like picket
fence, was the way he afterwxd de-
scribed it,
Two calves and mule, their value en-
HANGED 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 aglow With
the light that came to him with his ioy in
the running. Mile on mile, minute after
minute flashed by. Through eight counties
in half as many hours fed the racing Special
until The miles ahead Of her dwinded 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 mGer the speeding trucks Of the
W. 9. s. Cotton Special, forty minutes
ahead Of the Shore Line train and sure of
victory. Dusk had rot vet fallen when
bulletins from Holcomb's office were being
posted at the division points ". along. the
road They read:
Our Cotton Special first Ftty-three, of Juiv
i7-TS reached Jersey City hfty-seven minutes ahead
q lhe competing lines train, Congratulations 10
all concerned b. a. Hw
70 Amhom and Sullivan went letters
that they viii 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
fight Of the cotton trains and the events AZ
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 silence. then Blackman
fished bill from his pocket and for the FIRST
time in years he spoke to his former cronv.
Here's ten dollars for that pig had to
shoot, George he said, "and you're a
white man
You 90 to Pittsburgl 7 growIed Amhorn
LII not take your money. The pig was
worthless, a mere runt. And / reckon Won
belong outside the penitentiary yourself.
ofdke' e-sas
s | won't have it, tell your George
continued. The pig was the runtiest (
ever saw. Itwas a disgrace to my family.
I'm glad YOU killed it | wish II had bess-s
two pigs 50 you could have shot both
oi them, What's more, we've been a couple
Of old fools.
Amen, said the other. An suuDoss
we both SO down to Dover tomorrow and
kick that little operator Twill help his
morals and It's something that he is hun-
germ An thirstin after What say yonP't
We needn't, responded George. 'sB
held speech with him myself while We were
getting over the crossing And when {
passed through there yesterday he was stiIl
doing Ills telegraphing ,6tandinu.a.p.1 @ z