Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-06-15

De pursued, tnaC descriptions anu pnO-
tographs of the ex-cashier of the Law
renceville Bank and Trust company
were already circulating from hand to
hand among the paid man-catchers, he
did not doubt for moment. While he
could remain as a workman unit in an
isolated construction camp, there was
some little hope that he might be over
looked. But to become the public char
acter of Williams suggestion i'll a
peopled city was to run to meet his
fate.
1t is said that the flow of mighty
river may owe its most radical change
in direction to the chance thrusting of
q twig into. the current at some critical
! instant in the rise or fall of the flood.
To the reincarnated Smith, charting
his course upon the conviction that his
best chance of immunity lay in isola-
ton and q careful avoidance of the
peopled towns, came the diverting twig
in this wise.
On the second morning following the
unofficial talk with BARLEY Williams
| In the iron-sheeted headquarters office
at the dam, n delayed consignment of
cement, steel and commlssary supplies
was due at the sidetrack a mile below
TIE camp. Perkins, the timekeeper,
called Smith from the quarry and gave
him the invoices covering the ship:
ment.
Il guess you'd better go down to
/ tL. e.fI oh fhfc stuff in n
that wen know what we're getting,
was his suggestion to the general util.
,ity man.
When the crookings of the tote-road
let Smith get his first sight of the side
track, he saw that the train was al
ready in. A few minutes sufficed fol
the checking. He sent the unloading
gang back to camp with the teams
meaning to walk back himself after he
should have seen the car of steel and
the two cars of cement kicked in al
the upper end of the sidetrack.
i While he was waiting for the trair
to pull up and make the shift, he was
commenting idly upon the clumsy lay
out of the temporary unloading yard
and wondering If Williams were re
| sponsible for it. The siding was Oh
the outside of curve and within G
hundred yards of the river bank
There was scanty space for the unload
ing of material, and good bit of whaf
there was was taken up by the curv
ing snur which led off from. the siding
to cross the river on a trestle, and b.
the wagon road itself, which camt
down q long hill on the south side o.
the railroad and made an abrupt turI
to cross the main track and the sidini
fairly in the midst of things.
AS the long train pulled up to clea
the road crossing, Smith stepped bacl
and stood between the two tracks. 4
moment later the cut was made, ant
the forward section of the train wen
on to set the three loaded cars out a
the upper switch, leaving the rear hal
standing on the main line.
One of the men of the unloading
gang, a leather-faced grade shovele
who had helped to build the Nevad
Shore Line, had Jagged behind the dc
parting wagons to fill and light hi
pipe.
"Wouldn't that jar you up right goo
and hard FIR q way to run railroad,
he said to Smith, indicating the who'll
deserted standing section of the freigh
with the burnt match-end. "Them fe
lies we all gone off up ahead, a-leavir
this yere hind end without sign c
man r flag to take keer of it."
Smith was listening only with th
outward ear to what the pipe-lighte
was saying. Somewhere in the ives
ward distances q thunderous murmu
was droning upon the MINDLESS air {
the June morning. A big gray aut,
mobile, with the cut-out open, was tol
, ping the side-hill grade, and Smith re
ognized 1t at once. 1t was Colonel De.
! ter Baldwin's roadster, and it held
: single oceupant-namely, the your
: woman who was driving it.
. Turning to look up the track, he sa
that the three loaded cars had bee
set out, and the forward section of Il
i, train was now backing to make Il
J coupling with the standing half. F
J. hoped that the trainmen had seen Il
automobile, and that they would n
nttempt to make the coupling uni
after the gray car had crossed behir
the caboose. But in the same brea
= he guessed, and guessed rightly, tn
they were too far around the curve
!, be able to see the wagon-road a
n proach.
Smith saw the young woman che
the speed for the abrupt turn at t
bottom of the hill, saw the car take t
turn In q skidding slide, heard the l
newed roar of the motor as the thrott
was opened for a run at the emban
ment grade. Then the unexpect
dropped its bomb. There was ia
|. Cling clash and the cars on the ma
track were set in motion. The trai
men had failed to make their couplir
A and the rear half of the train was SUI
y ing down upon the crossing.
: Smiths shout, or the sight of the {
coming train. one of the two. or bO
= put the finishing touch on the you
y woman's nerve. There was still til
81 in which to clear the train, but at
q critical instant the young woman {
: parently changed her mind and tri
y to stop the big car short of the Gro
W ing. The effort was unsuccessf
When the stop was made, the frC
~ wheels of the roadster were precis
In the middle of the main track, q
'ly the motor was killed.
ch BY this time Smith had thrown
ur coat away and was racing the back
m, train, with the x-grade-laborer a pt
in second n dozen yards to the rear. III
ey ing ridden in the roadster, Smith kD
ou that it had no self-starter. "Juml
q he yelled "Get out of the CARP {
IL then his heart came into his mo-
MT when he saw that she was struggl
to free herself and couldn't; that
lid was entangled in some way behind
Ter low-hung tiller wheel.
Smith was running fairly abreast
to the caboOse when he made this disc
Ou cry, and the hundred feet of cleara
is. had shrunk to fifty. In imaginat
to he could already see the gray car ov
. / turnpd md crushed undpr the VIII