The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-09-16
An.Old Hero S
Story
BY F. A. Mitchell

THIS story over SiuSS VI nAShNA
raised in California;
Eet was in re beginning of re war
when re Prussian hat not yet conquer
re French people and we do not THINK
zey will overrun ze country and dc
tate terms of peace in Paris. was
with General lie Feyre, who command
ed a brigade near re frontier. we nave
ze railroad and re locomotif and re
cars. but when re Prussians cross ze
border all re employees of re road run
away.
In re evening Just before sunset an
officer ride up to re camp OF re Nine
ty-eighth regiment of re line and say;
ANY of you men locomotif engi-
neer"
l have been iocomotif engineer be-
fore enlist in re army, so shake my
hand In re air. Re officer he took no.
tice and he call for me to come TO
him. / go with him to General 10
Feyre's headquarters. and re general
ask me how much 1 know about loco
motif, and after tell him he say
to me:
81 send a thousand men to re other
terminal of zis railroad at once. Zere
is one company zere and re captain
telegraph Eat re Prussians are coming
10 occupy re high ground zere. but eel
he have a thousand men he can noiu
eet till General Bazaine send a large
force. Eet is sixty miles to go, ana
you must tax re train zere In leetie
more than an hour. Eef you git zere
before 20 Prussians you may save
France. ley are six or seven miles
from re place and march on foot.
say, YES, general, / tax re men
zere in one hour if re locomotif VIII
pull it so fast as Eat"
1t was YER dark when we start. re
moon only leetle crescent, nearly gone
down. We run from north to south,
re same way as re border line between
France and Prussia. We do not know
If ze prussians hat advanced so far as
re railroad. Eef they hat zey fire into
re train, zey try TO throw IL OH the
track, zey do all zey can TO keep US
from going on.
NV engine YER good engine, one OF
re best of eets kind. run sixty miles
an hour, sometimes more, sometimes
less. When come to re curves SLOW
down leetle bit. but make eet up when
/ have a straight road before me.
few Prussian cavalrymen, re advance
of re Prussians, have come SO far as
re railroad, and zey put obstFuctions
on re track. Suddenly l look ahead
and see a tree felled ON the rails. / re-
verse, zen shut my eyes to wait TOT re
smash. Eet does not come, only a
leetle bump.
When an engineer runs into re DARK
night he feels like Columbus when he
sail into re dark ocean. j nevaire know
when I round curve, but / run into O
bjp rock or some othaire obstruction
zat kill me and wreck re train behlno
me. / see specter all re time. SUD
denly a great black something seem e
spring up ON re track right before me
reverse. but before | come to ful
stop | see Eat it ees nothing Dut
leetle bug which hat fly on re glass
before re headlight.
All at once | hear a cracking above
ne noise of re train, and bullets whistle
through re cab. Some Prusslan horse
men fire zere carbines at us. But re!
do leetle damage, nothing but Dreai
nv right arm. So l cannot hold ~
throttle with Eat arm. But what 10
] want two arms when one will DO q
we'll except for sudden reverse, ant
nv zat time / come within about tel
miles of re end of re journey! New
airezeless / call re fireman, VINO COM
and look ovaire my shoulder.
Ze Prussians were by Eat time ver
near re point we wish to reach, ant
we both approach at an acute angie
Zev hear re rattle of our train, ant
we hear zere huzZas. BY gar, W
have to stop to take away ties zen
scouts put on re track, and while W
make no sound we hear Zere tram
at double quick. Zen we hear a guI
and I think we too late. Re Prussian
must be attacking re post But l G
on. and pretty soon come to leeti
earthwork our men hat thrown up o'
side the railroad and see that the
have a gun there and have dropped
shell into re Prussian advance.
In few minutes we reach our poin
whistle down re brakes, re trai
stop. and our men jump out and ru
M to re top of re hill, where re Frenc
have work two, tree days on re fort
fications.
Eat was ze end of my work. ! g
surgeon to fix my arm and am read
with my musket to receive the Fru
slams when zey come. ley have twl'
as many men as we, but we have ver
strong position and no trouble to no
out till Marshal Bazaine send larl
force.
When get back to my command u
general he throw his arms about u
and hug me like bear. he say 10 n
You have done great service ho
shall be a captain; you shall have
medal. will report what you nav
done TO the empereur."
Poufi What was Il all WORTH
Prussians march right on TO Paris. ar
after the capftulation our people pa
big ransom to get ZEN out, besides q
ing our beautiful provinces Alsace ar
lorraine Some day when we g
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