The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-10-16

An Old Hero $
Story
By F. A. Mitchell

Franco-Prussian war. who had been in
America long enough to speak English
as he would If it were French, told me-
this story over a glass of French wine
raised in CALIFORNIA;:
Eet was in re beginning Of re war
when re Prussian haf not yet conquer
re French people and we do not think
ley will overrun ze country and die
tate terms of peace in Paris. | was
with General lie Fevre, who command
ed a brigade near re frontier. We have
re railroad and re locomotif and re
cars, but when re Prussians cross re
border all &c employees of re road run
away.
In re evening just before sunset an
officer ride up to q camp of re Nine
ty-eighth regiment Of re line and say:
ANY of you men locomotif engi-
neer?"
have been locomotif 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 lie
Fevre's headquarters. and re general
ask me how much | know about loco
motif. and after ] tell him, he say
to me:
Il send a thousand men to re other
terminal of zis railroad at once. Zere
Is one company zere and ze captain
telegraph Eat re Prussians are coming
to occupy ze high ground zere. but eef
he have a thousand men he can hold
eet till General Bazaine send a large
force. Eet is sixty miles to 60, and
you must tax re train zere in leetle
more than an hour. Eef you git zere
before ze Prussians you may save
France. Zey are six Or eve miles
from re place and march on foot.
say. 'Yes. general. l TAX ze men
zere in one hour If e locomotif will
pull it so fast as Eat"
1t was YER dark when we start. Re
moon only ieetle crescent. nearly gone
down. We u from north to south.
re same way as re border line between
France and Prussia. We do not know
If re Prussians hat advanced SO far as
ze railroad. Eef they hat zey fire into
re train. zey try to throw it off the
track. zey do all zey can to keep us
from going on.
MY engine YER good engine. one Of
re best of eets kind. l run sixty miles
an hour, sometimes more. sometimes
less. When | come to re curves ! slow
down ieetle bit. but make eet up when
| have a straight road before me-. A
few Prussian cavalryme9. Ze advance /.
of re Prussians. have come SO far as
re railroad, and zey put distractions
on &c track. Suddenly | look ahead
and see a tree felled ON the rails. re-
verse. zen shut my eyes to wait for re
smash. Eet does not come. only a
leetle bump,
When an engineer runs into ze dark
night he feels like Columbus when he
sail into re dark cean | nevaire know
when | round a curve, but ! run into u
big rock or some Othaire obstruction
Eat kill me and wreck ze train behind
me. see specter all II time. Sud
denly a great black something seem to
spring up On re track right before me
reverse. but before | come to a full
stop | see u it ees nothing but a
leetle bug which haf fly on ze glass
before re headlight
All at once ! hear a cracking above
re noise of re train. and bullets whistle
through re cab Some f'russian horse
men fire ere carbines at US. But zey
do ieetle damage, nothing but break
my right arm So | cannot hold &c
throttle with EAT arm. But what for
want WI arms when one will do as
we'll. except for sudden reverse. and
by Eat time ! come within about ten
miles of re end of ze journey: New
%airezeless ! call ze fireman. who rome
and look ovnire my shoulder.
" Prussians were by Eat time yer
neal ze point we wish to reach. and
we both approach ut an acute angle.
ley hear re rattle of our train. and
we hear zere huzzas. BY gar. we
have to stop to take away ties ZEN
scouts put OH ze track. and while we
make no sound VIZ hear zere tramp
at double quick Zen w bear a gun.
and | think we too late ,Ze Prussians
must be attacking re post. But ! 60
on. and pretty so0n | come to "A leetle
earthwork our men haf thrown up be.
side the railroad and zee that they
have a gun there and have dropped a
)hell into re Prussian advance.
In q few minutes We reach our point
whistle down re brakes. re train
stop. and our lei jump out and run
up to re top of ze hill. where re French
have work two. tree days on ze fOrti.
6catiOnS.
Fat was ze end Of my work. | get
surgeon to 6x my arm and am ready