Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1915-05-20

slowly coming down toward MIN. Vi
q sudden he realized what II oil
meant; these were men who had been
discharged. They wanted to have the
dynamite blow itself up on the track
and 80 get even.
He had the charity to believe that
they did not think Of the possible
consequence to the express.
Suddenly his imagination filled with
q slckening spectacle. A passenger
train smashed all to bits, the smell Of
dynamite and fire. and OF burning
wood and burning flesh! Dead people
everywhere along the right Of way!
He struck his faAen foe q sharp
blow across the head with the sledge,
and with an awful sense Of fear and
horror he caught the side ladder Of
the passing car, and with the sledge
still In his hand. swung himself
aboard. He hurriedly clambered up
and sticking the sledge under the foot.
deck tried to set the brakes as he had
20 often seen the brakeman do.
The wheel spun around easily, but
Il seemed to have nothing at the bot
tom OF II. The car was now humping
merrlly along, like an irresponsible
calf broken from its yard He ran
back to the rear end. and stopped
there iEesolutely.
Swanson's first impulse was to leap
from the car, but the ground below
was flying back very fast now. He
Jaw that he had done q very foolish
thing in getting aboard
He looked down at the flying earth
beneath and at the ragged blur Of rock
and cacti rushing by. To leap meant
certain death! To ride on meant
death in the explosion that must
come when the flying car should dash
against the engine!
As his eye roved down the flying
track and back to the car again the
CLINT OF the sun on the face Of the
drill-hammer arrested his attention.
He looked at II. It was an ordinary
eight-pound sledge, and plan like
an inspiration came to him-a plan
not to save his own life, for he looked
upon that as lost, but to save the train
below him.
He hurried to the forward end and
peered over. Like q narrow ledge,
barely as wide as the sole Of his heavy
shoe, hung the forward brake-beam,
and down to that led the iron rod OF
the brake.staff. He looked only for
q moment, nodded his head confident
ly, and reaching back for the sledge,
gripped It firmly and slid down the
rod, His feet touched the swaying
brake-beam, and he exulted In the cum
ming of his plan.
The wind whistled in his ears and
drove his long yellow hair into his
eyes. The jolting jerks seemed al
wNS7 about to throw him OF. He
vlted. for It needed q curve to make
hn plan effective. Suddenly his eye
ena9ht the coveted curve barely hun.
dHed yards away.
SuR at the middle Of the turn he
tiltEst the maul-head down on the fly
Ing rail Just forward Of the wheel.
There was q sudden, tremendous jerk;
he had q feeling Of being thrown q
mile, and that was all!
Afterward, when the crew Of the ex-
press came up to find out whether 1t
was an earthquake or a volcano that
had broken loose and disarranged the
landscape, they found him lying in
the middle Of the right Of way,
thrown there by q strange trick Of
fate, while the box car, with its dead
~ cargo, had been hurled clear into
the canyon below.
They poured water on his head and
listened to his story. Then they took
him with them to the end Of the run.
When the superintendent heard his
tale and found that It was really true
he asked him what he could do to
square" the business. Swanson,
whose mind was simple, and who still
feared mines and dynamite, made an
swer:
"Ay tank Ay like to go back to
Meester McQuirk. Ay 1rI': hay
might haaer from his frand by dis
tame"
So, he went back, and McQuirk
shook him by the hand and put heart
and hope into him with few more
well-chosen words:
Swanson, yez have no more Until
lict than q jack-rabbit, although yez
have improved 1t, but yes do be havin'
an amazin' intilligince now, an there's
ND denyin' It. OF have changed the
moind of me about yez, an me frind
the prisldint Of the Raypublic Of Mex
loo will have to take O back safe ontil
the prisidint Of this railroad caan
have o thry for yeZ.
Swanson, be gobs, yea caan hav
yer Job back II yez kill aal the dagoes
on the division"