Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-22
An Old Hero S
Story
By "A. mitchell

America long enough to speak English
as he would If 1t 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 hat not yet conquer
ze French people and we do not think
zey will overrun re country and die
tate terms of peace In Paris. | vas
with General lie Fevre, who command
ed a brigade nea re frontier. We have
re railroad and re locomotif and re
cars, but when re Prussians cross re
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 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 be say
to me:
II 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
to occupy re high ground zere. but eef
he have a thousand men he can hold
- All No.--. rl...t.. @o.1 - lnw~r
force. Eet is sixty miles to go, and
you must tax re train zere in leetle
more than an hour. Eef you git zere
before re 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 will
pull 1t 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
IL re Prussians haf advanced so far as
re railroad. Eef they hat zey fire into
re train. zey try to throw 1t off the
track. zey do all zey can to keep US
from going on
My engine YER good engine. one of
re best of Gets 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. A
few Prussian cavalrymen. re advance
of re Prussians. have come so far as
re railroad. and zey put distractions
on re 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 re dark
night he feels like Columbus when he
sail into re dark ocean,. | nevaire know
when | round a curve. but ! run into a
big rock or some othaire obstruction
|. Eat kill me and wreck re train behind
me. | see specter all re time. Sud-
denly a great black something seem to
spring up on re track right before me.
| reverse. out before | come to a full
stop l see Eat 1t ees nothing but a
leetle bug which hat fly on re glass
before re headlight.
ALI at once | zeal q cracking above
re noise of re train. and bullets whistle
through re cab Some Prussian horse
men fire zere carbines at us. But zey
do leetle damage, nothing but break
my right arm. So | cannot hold re
throttle with Eat arm. But what for
| want two arms when one will do as
well, except for sudden reverse. and
by Eat time ! come within about ten
miles of re end of re journey? New.
airezeless | call re fireman. who come
and look ovaire my shoulder.
Re Prussians were by Eat time YER
near re point we wish to reach. and
we both approach at IN acute angle.
ley hear re rattle of our train. and
we hear zere huzzas. By gar. we
have to stop to take away ties zem
scouts put on re track. and while we
make no sound we hear zere tramp
at double quick. Zen we hear a gun.
and | think we too late. Re Prussians
must be attacking re post. But / go
on, and pretty soon | come to a leetie
earthwork our men haf thrown up be-
side the railroad and see that they
have a gun there and have dropped a
shell into re Prussian advance.
In a few minutes we reach u point
/ whistle down re brakes. re train
stop. and our men jump out and u
up to re top of re hill. where re French
have work two. tree days on re forti-
ications.
Eat was re end of my work. get
surgeon to fix my arm and am ready
with my musket to receive the Prus-
SLAMS when zey come. ley have twice
as many men as we. but we have very
strong position and no trouble to hold
out till Marshal Bazaine send large
force.
When / get back to my command my
general he throw his arms about me