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About North Georgia times. (Spring Place, Ga.) 1879-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1888)
NORTH GEORGIA TIMES Vol. VfU. New The Life Pilgrim. There la no life, however smooth its outward But bears current flows, its heavenward upon way some sorrow as it goes. But sorrow shall be lost at last in God as in the sea. ’ h r LiffCpilgrim, is it not enough to know this thing shall be? Our lips were made for victors’ songs, our brows to wear the crown; Why stand ye then, O sons of God, with heavy hearts bowed down? However fierce the tempest be, your hopes may yet be warm. The U^btning flash of God’s great power can pierce the darkest storm. Then forward! let the midnight ring as grandly as the dawn, With songs that tell of earnest souls that march in courage on; The bitter conflicts of the world shall find In death a goal Spurred by the eagle pinions of the glad and conquering soul. —[Earnest W. Shurtleff. A Station Agent's Stories. ‘T was,” said tho man with the wooden leg, “station agent on tho B. and. R. railroad for a good many years, and several things occurred thero which were tho talk of the line and which you may find interesting enough to publish. My station was both insignificant and important. Whilo it wns only a hamlet in population, it was a railroad crossing. While every train seemed to be in a hurry to get away as fast as possible, all engines had to take water or coal, and various trains had to pull in on the long siding to let various other trains pass. “Tho policy of our road was nig¬ gardly. The object was to get every¬ thing cheap, and to work every man to the limit. My station building was little better than ashed, and it was im¬ possible to get any repairs or improve¬ ments. I was required to act as tele-, graph operator, ticket seller, freight agept* chore boy, and all else, and did not have an hour I could call my own. I had a cot in the office, and was on call during the night. Let ’em sound my call while I was in the deepest sleep and inside of twenty seconds I was ready to atrawwi f-should-hare had a first-class assistant at my station, but tho com¬ pany would not permit it. I must either do the work dftone or get out for ' who could and would, and some ono so I kept hanging on month after month and year after year, always thinking about going, but never making up my mind to it. The situation was grave enough to keep my nerves under con¬ stant strain. Train despatching was not the art it is now, and if a regular got behind her timo it caused confusion all along the lino. “One of tho queer incidents occurred after I had had tho Btation about two years. It was in the fall of the year, with a grew deal of nasty weather, and trains'were continually late. The last passenger train on our road passed me, according to schedule, at 10 1-3 p. m. The next ope passed at 7.20 a. m., and it was suppose! that the intervening time belonged to me. If tho night freight was on time, and if I did not get a call on the instrument, and if there was ho special on the line, and if a dozen other things dii not occur, I could sleep from 11 to 0. It may have occurred that my sleep was unbroken five nights in a year. On- all other nights ! was turned out from one to three or four times. The night freight should reach mo at 12:05—fivo minutes after midnight. She* never left nor took up a car at my station, leaving that for the day freight, but made a stop of seven or eight minutes for coal and water. If there was a special on the line, or if there had been an acci dont, tho freight might havo to side¬ track and wait, but such a thing was rare. “As a rule, I was always asleep when the freight came in, but somehow or other I know of Irir arrival. I knew of it without waking up, and next morn¬ ing could have told whether she was late or on time. Twenty-eight minutes after her time a passenger train ou tho other road made the crossing; this crossing was eighty rods above tbe sta¬ tion, and while I had nothing to do with the trains on the other road, I natural¬ ly kepttrack of them and knew whether they were late or on time. Oa this partic¬ ular night I went to bed at 10.45, and was asleep before 11 o'clock. At 12.20 I suddenly awoke. The night freight had not come in. I had been sound asleep, but I knew she had not. She was fifteen minutes overdue, and yet my call had not been sounded. This to me meant somo sort of accident between me and tho next station north, which was eleven mile3 away. I at once called for the station, but the operator had gone. I ran to the door and looked out. There was a fine raiu and a dense fog. SPRING PLACE. GEORGIA. THURSDAY. MARCH 8, 1888. “Freight trains are seldom on schedule time, and I had known those on our lino to be an hour late without worrying over the fact. However, ou this night I was all worry. The rain and the fog, the crossing, the fact of my waking up as I had, the failure to raise the agent at the station above, these things made mo terribly uneasy, and at 12.25 I lighted my lantern, put on my rubber coat, and started up the line on a run. I had not gone forty rods when I heard a hissing of steam, and two or three minutes later I could see the glare of a headlight through the fog. In a couple of minutes more I found our midnight freight—twenty-two loaded cats and a big locomotive—and she was standing directly on the crossing of the roads. I shouted as soon as I had made out the locomotive, but no one answered me. I pushed along to the cab, climbed up, and found the engineer and fireman on the floor of the tender, arms around each other, and fast asleep or dead. At that same moment the passenger train on the other road whistled for the crossing. “I am telling you, sir, that I lived a year for every minute in the next five or six. I knew very little about an engine, though I had seen how they were re¬ versed and how the throttle was worked. If anything was done I must do it, and do it quickly. Why I did not pull ahead I do not know. It struck, me that I must back up, and I flung over the bar, gave her steam, and she began to move. The steam had run down, and we moved at a snail’s pace, and even when I pulled her wide open, the engine scarcely had power to back the heavy train. We did move, however, although it was foot by foot. I could hear the roar of the passenger train, and I knew that every second was hastening a terrible calamity, but I did not leave tho engine. Back] back! back I we crawled, and of a sud¬ den a great light flashed in my eyes, there was a crash, and I saw cars mov¬ ing in front of me and disappearing into the darkness. What had happened? Well, I had backed the freight until the locomotive of the passenger train only carried away the pilot as it crossed our line. That was all the damage done, and no passenger had a suspicion of his narrow escape from an awful smash-up “When the train had disappeared and I could realize tho situation, I began to investigate. I ran back to the caboose but no one was to be found. I shouted and screamed, but soon found that I was all alone. Then, climbing back into the cab, I sought to arouse the en¬ gineer and his fireman. Dead? No. Drunk as two Lords! Yes, sir. They were drinking men, though tho com¬ pany did not know it. They had been taken off another run two weeks before, and coming down tile lino on this trip had brought a bottle with them. At the station above they had reached the limit, and in their drunken deviltry had suddenly pulled out and left all the train crew behind. Tho conductor could not readily find the station agent, and when he id rout him out and get him to tho office I was out of mine and did not answer his call. Tho two men had let the steam go down, and the train had crawled down to the crossing and been stopped where I found it. The men were by that time too drunk to stand up, and had grabbed each other and rolled on tho floor to sloop. I was yet in the cab, trying to kick some sense into them, when tho conductor and his two brakemen arrived on a hand car, and after getting up steam we got the train over the crossing to the station. The two drunkards ought to have been sent to state prison, but for fear of the story getting into the papers they were allowed to skip. “It wa3 with this same night freight I had a startling adventure the next summer. I had gone to bed and to sleep before it came in. It was exactly 11.50, as shown by the clock, when I got a call on the instrument, and as I sprang out of bed I heard the operator at K--, a station eighteen milos be¬ low me, clicking off, ‘For God’s sake stop and side track No. 9! There's a runaway engine coming np the line!’ I got this by ear, you understand, and I gave him an 'O. K.’as soon as he was done. In three minutes I was out doors and had my "Danger— Stop 1* signal set for the first time in months, and as I startod down the track with my lantern I could hear the rumble of No. 9 as she crossed the bridge three miles above. She was on time and booming right along, but it was clear and the red light would stop her. “I should have told you that there were two tracks in front of the station. One was the main track, of course, and tho other a long siding, with a switch j at either end. No. 9 had the right of way at night, and, instead of side-track¬ ing her, I proposed to switch off the runaway. I went down over the ties as hard &3 I could run, and just as I reached the switch I heard No. 9 blow for mf station. While I was un¬ locking the switch, the engineer called for brakes, and then I knew ho had seen the light and would stop. I pulled tho bar over, and then picked up my lantern and ran back, reaching the sta¬ tion just as the heavy freight was coming to a standstill. My purpose was to run down and open the other switch, and thus let the runaway out on the main track again, to run until her steam went down, but I had scarcely moved a hundred feet when I heard her coming. It was then too late, and I stood on tho platform to see her go past. Blie was truly a runaway. Sho had broken away from the accommodation train, which came no further up thau G--, and was coming up with a full head of steam and everything roaring. There was gross carelessness in bringing about this accident, but it was covered up and kept out of print. We could hear the runaway a mile off, and we could locate her as she came through the woods by tho shower of sparks flying from her smokestack. On she came, and as she struck the switch it seemed ns if she must go over. There was a clickety clash and a bang, and she righted and whizzed past us like a fiery arrow. “We knew what would happen at the other end of the siding. There was a field beyond, and when the runaway left the rails she tore up a hundred feet of track, made splinters of a score ol ties, and ploughed her way into the field for a quarter of a mile and blew up. Had she encountered No. 9 on the main track there must have been a ter¬ rible smash-up. At the speed she was going the runaway would have climbed right on top of the train. Af¬ ter the explosion I entered- the station and called for K—, to givo him the news, but he could not bo raised. I could not get him until tho usual hour next morning, and then I learned some¬ thing which made my hair stand on end. He had not heard a word of the matter. He was not in his office when the ac¬ commodation passed, and be had heard nothing from G—, tho station where the engine broke away. I then, culled for the agent at G—, and it turned out that at 5 o’clock on the afternoon pre¬ vious, he had met with an accident by which he had been made delirious all night. When they went for him to telegraph about the engine he was in bed, and being held there by nurses, and they did not even try to make him understand what had happened. As a matter of fact and record, no living hand clicked that message to me. Every man on the lino was examined, but ail denied it. I heard it and understood it, and acted upon it, and it came from K—. How do I explain it? I never could. I have had people tell me that it was mind tele¬ graphing to mind, but you can take any theory you wish. I was called for in the usual way, understood fully what was being said, and hurried out to do what I have described. Tho matter has been a puzzle and a mystery for years, and I have no hopes of a solution. “How did I lose my leg? Well, there was a mystery about that. We had cnanged our time and a passenger train passed my station at 2 a. m. I awoke one night at 1 o'clock, feeling that the upper switch had been left open by tho freight train. I lighted my lantern and ran up there, and sure enough it stood wide open, and a death trap had been set for tho express. I closed it, and was on my way back when three cars which had broken away from the freight several milei away, at tho top of a grade, came whooping down, and, in trying to get out of the way, I made a stumble and got my leg under tho wheels. I dragged myself into the station and tried to call up tho offices above me, but could raise no one. The cars were missed, and hunted for from one end of the line to the othor, and, strangely enough, they could not be found. It was an odd thing to lose cars in that fashion, and before they got through searching men walked over every foot of tho line. It was six weeks before they were found. They had jtoft the rails at a curve near a steep bank, and had gone over tho rocks into a deep river without leaving a trace. It was as if they had been picked up and flung over by human hands. Being loaded with hardware, they had gone to the bottom, but the current rolled them along until they finally showed above the surface ia a bend. When hauled out none of the three were damaged a cent’s worth, but it was a deal of trouble to get them back to tho rails again.—[New York Sun. A GREAT BATTLE. An Alligator Attacks Three Sav¬ age Bulls. Twp of The Bulls Killed Before i the Saurian Succumbs. 7 A recent letter from Kissimmee, Fla., to the Globe-Democrut says: A very exciting and sanguinary contest be¬ tween a huge bull alligator and several head of cattle occurred Saturday, a few miles below here, on the bank of Lake Tohopakaligo,. in which the alligator was killed, and two bulls so badly in¬ jured that they had to be shot, and another was rendered almost hors de combat. A party of hunters, several of them visitors from the Tropical Hotel here, wero camping out on the lower shell mound, eight miles southeast of here, which over looks tho lake though sev¬ eral hundred rods from the shore, which is marshy and grassy. Cattle gather near there by the hundreds, as tho grass is always fresh, and black flies, their bane on most lake sides, generally absent. While eating their dinner that day the hunters were startled by loud bellowings that came from the lake accompanied by the well-known “cry” orgrunt of alligators. On hastily getting to the bluff a most exciting ssfene Was witnessed. From the appear ahfce of the field it would seem that one of the old bulls went to tho shore, for venter, and as he was drinking a big The 'gator swam up and seizod his noso. spectators came on the field just a moment afterward. The bull, s big black, with a pair of magnificent sharp horns slightly curving backward, was taken at terrible disad¬ vantage, aud began bellowing loudly and endeavoring to shake off his an¬ tagonist. Tho’gator had secured a firm hold, however, and ha clung tenacious¬ ly, churning tbo water into foam with his immenso tail, the blood streaming ft the bull’s lacerated noso already fag the waters red. With a mighty Ort the bull plunged backward, haul¬ ing his “attachment” partially ou dry land, and then the fun waxed furious. Tho bull, rendered frantio from the pain, endeavored to hook the and, failing in that, stamped at him and plunged around madly to get rid of his foe. Attracted by the bellowings, two other bulls came furiously down the side, and, seeing the ’gator, plunged at him. Observing his new enemies, the latter tried to escape, but too late. One of them caught his horn near tho ’gator’s fore leg, and with an upward toss tore a big holo in his side, the saur¬ ian responding with a deep roar of an¬ ger and pain. As tho othor bull came on the ’gator thrashed around with his tail and gave the animal a terrible blow knocking him over on his side with a dull thump. His first victim was now free and the'three thoroughly infuriated animals surrounded their foe, bellow¬ ing and with lowered heads, presenting a picket of sharp horns which tho saur¬ ian didu’t like as be attempted to crawl into the water. HU thvee opponents now began a systematic warfare. First one would dash at him, escap¬ ing the flying tail of the big reptile, and give him a dig with his horns aud en¬ deavor to toss him. The ’gator was getting weaker all the while, and, though still game, he seemed anxious to cry guits. Ono of the bulls allowed his ahger to blind bim finally, and as he canie on without his usual caution the reptile whirled aud delivered a sweep¬ ing blow with his tail that caught the animal’s legs, breaking them like pipe stems, the old fellow falling with a roar of,madness that could have been heard a mile, while the saurian's eyes seemed to gleam with triumph as they glowered at Ms enemies. Then ensued a rough and-tumble contest which no description could do justice to. The bulls plunged viciously at him, oftentimes hitting one another in their mad rushes, while the alligator swept his big tail around in endless circles and inflicted terrible whacks on their sidei and legs. For over twenty minutes this was continued, the mingled roars of the infunated ani¬ mals producing ear-splitting sounds. Finally the ’gater again soized his first victim by the nose, and with a death grip. The other animal plunged in, and catching both horns under the ’gator’s side gave him a toss, ripping him up so that his entrails protruded. The effect was seen at once, as his terrible flail played more feebly, but his hold on the bull’s nose could not be broken. Several more ugly wounds were made, and the reptile’o roan of anger changed to thoso of pain and fear. His antagonist charged bim time and time again, lacerating him terribly. Finally no resistance was made, the victor trampling on the bloody carcass, though the terrible grip of those iron jaws still maintained their hold on the nose of the first bull, who had been forced to bis knees and was fast dying from the terrible blows he had received and the great loss of blood. Several of the watchers then went down and mercifully shot the two wounded bulls. The alligator, which measured, as well as they could ascertain, over 17 feet, the head and jaws being 0 feet, was literally torn to pieces and disem¬ bowelled. The blow delivered by tho ’gator’s tail broke several ribs of tho bull, whose legs were also broken, while even the victor was badly injured. The one which had been seized by tbo nose presented a horrible appearance, the flesh having becD stripped to tbo bone by the iron hold of the saurian’s jaws. The 'gators attack young cows and calves very ofloa, aiid tho annual loss to tho cattle owners amounts to hundreds of dollars. But it is seldom a bull is attacked, as they arc so wild as to become very ferocious and danger¬ ous. Castaways on Little Islands. Castaways who suffer for months on uninhabited islands are not so few in number as might bo supposed. Tho English newspapers announced a few weeks ago that a vessel was to be sent'to the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean, almost within sight of Antarctic ice, to rescue some shipwrecked people who are supposed to bo there. Many of these far Southern islands are out of the track of ships, and castaways might live on them for years without being discovered. The Crozets are famous as the uninvit¬ ing home of several shipwrecked crews. A whilo ago the survivors of the sealer Strathmore reached tho Crozets, where they lived for many weeks oa penguin flesh and eggs before a vessel luckily happened to heave iu sight. A few weeks ago there arrived in England eight of tho crew of the Derry Castle, which was wrecked off the Auckland Islands, south of New Zea¬ land. They had a hard struggle for life cluring the three months they spent on the islands. Shell fish and sea animals were all their food, and a regular diet of oysters palled on their appetites long before they escaped it. There was tim¬ ber in abundance, but the poor fellows had no matches, aad ' they had to eat their food raw until ono of them hap¬ pened to find a cartridge in his pocket. They wero thus able to kindlo a fire, whose flames wero fed night and day during the remainder of their stay in this insular prison. One day they found a bottle of salt, which proved a most desirable adjunct to their oysters. The salt is supposed to have been left there by the crew of the General Grant, who were cast away on these islands twenty years ago, and lived there many months. They had saved some creature comforts from their ship, which ren¬ dered existence more endurable. Their exile was far longer than that of th crew of the Derry Castle, whose signal fires wero observed after they had lived three Months on flsli. Among tho most terrible of ship¬ wrecks are thoso of the whalers and sealers in Behring Sea and the Arctic Ocean. It is probable that some of these unfortunates reach land only to perish in the desolate regions of the North. Our Government was requested a few years ago by our Signal Service expedition to Point Barrow to maintain a permanent station there for tho relief of shipwrecked sailors, but no bill was ever passed on the suggestion. —[New York Sun. No Cards. A young law student ia this city has a very interesting collection of the busi¬ ness cards of the eminent lawyers of the country. It contains the cards of Wil¬ liam M. Evnrts, Benjamin F. Butler, Horace Binney, and others of equal promince. A day or two ago, wishing to add to his collection, he made his way into the office of Ex-Attorney-Goncral Benjamin Harris Brewster on Walnut street. “Will you kindly let mo have ono of Mr. Brewster’s cards? he asked of a youthful limb of the law loitering about the stately apartment. “Mr. Brewster has no card," was the reply. “IndeedI” sail tho collector, some¬ what taken aback. I presume ho had a business card at one time? “No, sir; I don't think ho ever had. He hasn’t even any printed stationery, lie never puts his name in type if he can hejp it” So the collector didn’t get a card; but he learned a curious thing about an eminent man.—[Philadelphia Press. NO. 5. Last Night. Last night my dream-clad feet did tread On well remembered paths; and I did see The self-same scenes—the same stars shed Their dreamy light on you and me; The little stream coursed on its silent way, Our little boat rocked idly at our feet, And side by side we watched the shadows play, And list to strange, weird music, wildy sweet, bast night. Last night we drifted down the self-sum stream; And 1 looked down into those midnight eyes, And read in their clear depths my life-long dream; They were to me my heaven and my para¬ dise. You sang, and e’er the echoes died away My heart beat wildly with a throbbing pain, My eyes were weeping, for 1 could not stay The tears that came for the hopes long Blain— Last night! Last night e'er the evening shadows fell We met, we parted, ‘twas the last oa earth, I heard, as of yore, the village church bell. As it rang on that eve of the Saviour’s birth, How little we dreamed as he turned to go, The different paths we were doomed to tread! . i Then my heart grew sick and my head bent low— Oh, many the sorrow that lips never know! And 1 sprinkled with tears a hopo long deal Last night. Last night my dreaming fancy led me wher j In days forgotten we would often stray, And bid me dwell for one brief moment there, And sip the fragrance of the new mown hay And faces that the sod hath covered o’er And blotted from our sight, came back to me, And phantom figures pressed the tufted floor Where we two lingered in our Infancy Last night. —[George Wilmot Harris: HUMOROUS. 1 A good nick-name —Satan. A mere shadow. The dctectil IKE She stoops to conquer—Tha^^JH woman. The sonorous shouts of the fish ven¬ ders should be called fish bawls. Now is the time to lay in your ther¬ mometers. They are way down. The dresses of engaged young ladies wear out soonest about the waist. Wonder if a balloon would bo more effective if it were made of fly paper? When the fire is kindled in your par¬ lor stove, then look out for “sparks." Nothing will turn a woman’s head so completely as a bonnet that has passed by. When a girl is little she has a doll baby; when she grows up she has adol man. A young man intending “to press his suit,” first went and had his suit pressed. A European miser has learned to bark, so as to save the expense of keep¬ ing a dog. A farmer say3 that “gate-money” is that which is expended for the damage caused by Jim and Kata Toast—An honest lawyer, the noblest work of God, when an old farmer added, “And about the scarcest." It i3 when a man sits down suddenly, unexpectedly and severely that he real¬ izes what a hard, hard world this is. A musician advertises that he “teaches the piano." After he has taught the piano we suppose he will look around for pupils. The public look upon the college yell as a useless accomplishment, but in later years, when some of the boys get into the itinerant fish business, they find it comes powerful handy. “I trust your late husband had some¬ thing laid up for a rainy day," said a friend. “Indeed he had,” replied the widow, with a fresh burst of tears, “he had seven umbrellas. John was the thriftiest man over I see." “Do you see that man sawing wood over there?" “Yes. What about himf" “Ho wasn’t always doing such work as that.” “Has a history, eh? What did ho formerly do?” “Why, when I saw him last he was splitting wood.” A Prize for Somebody. There is a girl in the Treasury De¬ partment at Washington who can pick a counterfeit bill out of a pile contain¬ ing $30,000,000. There is a prize for some man. Think Of being able to sleep o’ nights without the haunting fear hanging like a sword of Bunker Hill over your head that thero may be a counterfeit bill in your $20,000,000.— [Binghamton Republican.
