The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-06-16

sharp whistle yelp, the brakes gripped
the wheels, the one-car train, with fire
grinding from every brake-shoe, came
to jerking stop a short car-length ON
our side of the switch. and a man
dropped from the engine step to go
sprinting to the rear. And 1t was
plain that neither the engineer nor
the man who was running back saw
our outfit waiting on the leg of the old
"Y."
Kirgan was the first one to under
stand. With shout of warning, he
jumped and ran toward the stopped
train, yelling at the engineer for Gods
sake to pull out and go on. Back In
the hills beyond the curve of approach
another hoarse murmur was jarring
upon the air, and the specials fire.
man, who was the man we had seen
jump off and go running back, and
who, of course, didn't know that we
had our man there, was apparently
trying to reach the switch behind his
train to throw 1t against the following
engine to shoot 1t OFF on the "Y."
BY this time the boss was off of our
engine and racing across the angle of
the "Y" only little way behind Kir-
gan. He realized that his plan was
smashed by the stopping of the spe-
cial, and that the very catastrophe we
had come out to try to prevent was
due to happen right there and then.
Whatever our man waiting at the
switch might do, there was bound to
be a collision. If he left the points
set for the main line, the wild engine
stopped special; and If he did the 9TH
er thing our engine and coach stand
ing on the "Y" would get it.
"Get the people out of that carl"
heard the boss below, but even as he
said 1t the pop-valve of the stopped
engine went off with roar, filling the
shut-in valley with clamorings that
nothing could drown.
Two minutes, two little minutes
more, and the sleep-sodden bunch of
men in the specials car might have
been reused and turned out and saved.
But the minutes were not given US.
While the racing fireman was still a
few feet short of the switch the throw
ing OF which would have saved the
one-car train only to let the madman's
engine in on our engine and coach, and
our man-already at the switch-was
too scared to know which horn of the
dilemma to choose, the end came.
There was the flash of another head
light on the curve, another whistle
shrek, and / turned to help the major
take Mrs. Sheila off our car and run
with her, against the horrible chance
that we might get 1t instead Of the
special.
But we didn't get it. Ten seconds
later the chasing engine had crashed
headlOng into the standing train, bury
ing itself clear up to the tender in the
heart of the old wooden sleeper, roll
ing the whole business over on its side
In the ditch, and setting the wreck
age afire as suddenly as II the old
Pullman had been fagot of pitch-pine
kindlings and only waiting for the
match.
If / could write down any real de-
scription of the way things stacked up
there in that lonesome valley for the
little bunch of us who stood aghast at
the awful horror, 1 guess / wouldn't
need to be hammering the keys Of a
typewriter in a railroad office. But
never mind; no soldier sees any more
of battle than the part he is in.
There were seven of us men. includ-
ing the engineer and fireman of the
special, who were able to jump in and
try to do something, and, looking back
at it now, 1t seems as If we all did
what we could.
That wasn't much. About half Of
the people in the sleeping-car-six by
actual count, as we learned after
ward-were killed outright in the
crash or 80 badly hurt that they died
pretty soon afterward; and the fire
was SO quick and so hot that after
we had got the wounded ones out we
couldn't get all of the bodies Of the
others.
As you'd imagine, the boss was the
head and front Of that fierce rescue
fight He had stripped of his coat,
and he kept on diving into the burn
ing wreck after another and yet an
other of the victims until it seemed as
If he couldn't possibly do 1t one more
time and come out alive. He didn't
seem to remember that these very men
were the ones who had been trying to
ruin him-that at least once they had
set trap for him and tried to kill
him. He was too big for that.
After We had got out all the victims
we could reach, there was still one
more left who wasn't dead; we could
hear him above the kissing of the
steam and the cracking of the flames,
screaming and begging us to break in
the side of the car and kill him be-
fore the fire got to him. Kirgan had
found an ak In the emergency box of
our day-coach, and was chopping away
like madman.