The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1914-07-03

THE:
LIMIT
An Engineers Ride For Life
and Lives
By JARED L. FULLER
DOWNRIGHT by Frank A MunSey Co. ,
By JARED L. FULLER

thought he owned the entire system,
gave out his opinion of Lannigan at
the end of the latter's first week on
the M. and S. p. And this was it:
''That Grandfather Longlegs never III
get to hold down a passenger lever on
this road. whatever he's done back
east. 1t amt in him."
Then the old man chalked up the
limit on the side of his little smoke dis
colored Office, spat' with emphasis and
well, that closed the subject as far
as Pug was concerned.
/ reckon If Lannigan hadn't begun
by blowing about his eastern record
he'd made more of hit with us.
He was a tall, awkwardly built man.
with a shock of sandy hair and a
smooth, humorous face. His legs and
arms were remarkably long and thin.
and old Donaldson's sobriquet stuck
to him. Daddy Longlegs" seemed
to fit.
Lannigan got freight, and the worst
bunch of scrap iron on the road, which.
in moments of enthusiasm. Pug called
an engine. If there was any man hand
icapped in the race to break the limit
it was the new man from the land Of
tenderfeet
The system of advancement follow
ed by the M. and S. p. did not include
length of service or pull" lust one
thing counted-the ability of driver
to get speed out Of his machine over
the worst track the law ever allowed
man to lay.
The country was new when the NJ
and S, p. was surveyed and laid down.
1t had been race between the M. and
s. z. and another corporation to see
which should reach the terminating
town where connection could be made
with the Pacific road first.
We won, but at a cost which Grip
pied the road financially for years, and
the renewing OF the first roadbed was
a slow and laborious job.
We ran one fast passenger-the Lin
tied. The through mail cars were at
tached to that train too.
1t was a continual fight all through
the year to keep that one train alone
up to the schedule called for by the
contract with the government
If any man on any other train show
ed the ability to get speed out Of his
engine he was watched, and if he
"broke the limit" he stood a good
chance of displacing the driver then
running the mail train.
The M. and S. p. in those days was
a farmers railroad" Most of the
way stations were merely huts and wa
ter tanks in forest clearings, tapping
certain section of farming country
stretching westward of the line.
Lannigan had been with us since the
winter before. He was a good driver,
but not brilliant. Anybody but pref
udiced old fool like Donaldson would
have recognized his good points, but
you never could stir the roundhouse
foreman when he'd once made up his
mind
Lannigan had learned the road and
his engine. IL he followed another
train he was on its heels all the time
and got himself well cursed for it.
Some of us began to see that there
really was more to the eastern man
than we had believed
That fall was dry. the sun and wind
all day and every day drying the sap
out Of the trees and brush and burning
the leaves brown before the frost could
make them pretty.
By and by the inevitable happened
Fires began to light up the heavens
nightly, and by day streaks of blue
smoke hid the tops Of the higher hills.
Reports reached us from all direc-
lions OF families burned out and set
Elements threatened. but for week
the CONGREGATIONS kept away from the
line Of the road.
Then suddenly one Sunday morning
a flood of fire swooped down the noun
tain side and crossed the tracks some
miles south of Yardsley.
The Limited came through somewhat
scorched, and the next day traffic on
the road between Lattell and the juno
ton was cut off altogether
This shut Off several settlements as
well as Yardsley, except by telegraph.
The wires were still working, and our
operators stuck to their posts like the
brave fellows they were.
Pretty near every living soul in a
hundred square miles Of territory lit
out for less dangerous ground. But
Yardsley was caught mapping, and its
300 people were practically hemmed In
by the fiercest forest fire the state had
ever experienced.
The entire system of the M. and s. P.
was pretty well tied up. We had pull
ed freight as near the fire line as we
dared, and the sidetracks were about
full Of waiting cars.
The fire was still burning fiercely be-
side the roadbed in more than one
place, and we weren't asked to try to
pull train through to the junction.
Naturally there were plenty Of loco
motives and plenty Of drivers at Lat
tell that day when the news came from
the Yardsley operator. 1t was his last
dispatch, for he had remained until It
was too late to escape by any track
through the forest. and there wasn't
even handcar left at the station.
"Wind changed. Fire will reach us
- 49,