Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-01
.New Light on the Famous Race :.
OF "The General and "1he Texas

lean" n samson" e; "Kennesaw' 10
For several years the 'Ivanhoe, "cou-
rier'' and Jenny Dean" pulled the day
passenger trains, and. during most or
that tire. the sKennesaw." rs, was the
highest numbered locomotive on tne
Western and Atlantic railroad
But other locemtives were bought from
time TO time, aad the four locomotives:
..Ailatoona,' 81; "Chickamauga," s2;
lrConnasauga," SO, and "Oostanaula," -;
were bought before the remembering
took place.
some of the old engines having been
sold or consigned to 1nnocuous desue-
tude," the others were remembered begin
ming down at and on up as follows;
Governor" Sc. was changed DO i;
President" 81. was changed TO 2; Cen
eral" se. was changed to 3; Joe Brown,
40. was changed to 4: Senator" Al, was
changed to S; "Chieftain." A. was
changed to 6; ~ w. Lewis" z3. was
changed 10 q; "lIickajack." S., was
changed to s. "Enterprise." 45 was
changed TO 8: commerce, 46. was
changed TO 10; "Kentcky," As. was
changed TO II; Texas" 49. was changed
to u; "Chickasaw." 50. was changed to
ll3; Kingston" 81; was changed to l6;
Atlanta" 50, was changed to IL; Gen
u. s. Grant" 60. was changed to IS; Ma
rietta." &c. was changed TO 20; Carriers
VILE" So, was changed to 81; Dalton, !"
81 was changed to p; "Resaca," 65, was
changed to 81 'Ivanhoe." s.. was
changed to "a; tJenny Dean" IS. was
changed to IS; Courier" 50. was changed
TO Is: Hercules" TO- was changed TO q;
Vulcan" II. was changed to Is; Sam
son." Y. was changed TO %; ''Kennesaw,' .
70 was changed to 80.
Many of the Western and Atlantic boys
viii remember these last numbers even If
they do not remember the original num-
bers. Thus. you see, the General" 80,
was lowered TO 3. and the Texas" 40,
was lowered to T. The General was
taken and made a relic, while it thus
bore the number 3. but II made the race
when it's number was 80. as shown above.
Now. as 70 the Texas: It's number
was lowered from 40 to IL, as stated
above. But how does 1t happen that its
number today Is 2l22 II came about in
this way; Some time after the General"
was made a relic. the Western and At
lantic railroad was leased to the Nash
VILE. Chattanooga and st. Louis, and
then the numbers OF the locomotives and
passenger cars Of the Western and At
lantic railroad were prefxed by the fig
ure g So, as the Texas" had been
changed from 40 to II. 1t makes the pres
ent number OF the Texas to be 2l2,
which you can see by looking at 1t.
Now, suppose that the future genera
lions see the General" to be No. ond
the Texas to be 2l2, will they not nat
urally conclude that there were more
than 200 locomotives on the Western and
Atlantic railroad at the time when the
race was made when in fact there were
not so many as 757 / have tried to make
this plain, and 1 know that I have given
the facts; so I hope the proper authori-
ties will see to it that the General
shall have replaced on Il the No. 49, and
that the Texas shall have replaced on
II the No. 40. because those were the
respective numbers borne by each of
them when that peerless race was made.
II we are to make those engines appear
so nearly as they were when they made
the race. 1t is at last BETTING that they
should show the numbers borne at that
time. One of my uncles Joined the pur-
suers early in the chase on a hand car.
and afterwards taught three schools at
Kennesaw, Ga, where the General" was
taken. N. T.. w. STOKELY.
Newport Tenn.