The Kennesaw gazette. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1886-189?, November 01, 1886, Page 8, Image 8

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8 The Kennesaw Gazette, PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH. Devoted to the Material Interests ahd Attractions fbir Tourists in the Mountainous Region of Northern and Northwest Georgia, BEACHED BY THE GREAT KENNESAW ROUTE: Western and Atlantic Railroad: Under the auspices of the Passenger Department, BY THE RECORD PUBLISHING COMPANY. A. L. HARRIS, MANAGING EDITOR. Atlanta., G-a.,N0v.,1886. SUBSCRIPTION: $1 a year; six months, 50 cts. A limited number of acceptable adver tisements will be inserted in The Kennesaw Gazette, which publishes a very large edi tion every month, and it is safe to fray that it is read by more people than any other paper in the South. Great numbers are distributed in Atlanta, to citizens and travelers, by the publishers and officials of the Western and Atlantic Railroad ; and at other points where The Great Kennesaw Route is represented. For space and terms ad dress ®ljc Bennesflii) ©alette, Box 57 Atlanta, Ga., and you will receive a prompt response. Our Information Bureau. Parties desiring information about any part of the South with view of locating or investing here, or with the view of travel ing here for health or pleasure may address their inquiries to this paper and they will be promptly and reliably answered without charge. If parties having property they wish to sell will send us a description and price, we will at once, without charge, place it in the hands of an efficient agent, best calcu lated to handle the particular kind of property described. If you wish to buy property in the South, send us your address and we will, without charge, have mailed to you such informa tion, or put you in correspondence with such parties as will enable you to choose a lo cation and find as nearly as possible what you want. The Atlanta Campaign. Our illustrated article on the At lanta Campaign, in the October num ber of the Kennesaw Gazette, at tracted such wide-spread attention and demand for copies of the Gazette containing it, that we concluded to re publish the article in this number, as our October edition was exhausted. Readers of the Gazette will find the lucid description of the Atlanta Cam paign, commencing on page 10, illus trated with the most accurate war maps of the country, between Chatta nooga and Atlanta, ever made, and with, life-like portraits of Generals Johnston and Sherman. The communication on page 6 is well worth reading. In commenting on our article headed “Pleading the Baby Act,” in the October Kennesaw Ga zette, our correspondent shows up the E. T., V. & G. Railway Co. in no enviable light. Kennesaw Mountain, the only moun tain by that name in the United States, is 22 miles north of Atlanta and on the Western and Atlantic rail road. Names for Locomotives. We have always been in favor of naming locomotives instead of merely numbering them. We rather uncon sciously associate with a locomotive a kind of individuality or almost person ality, and this sentiment, somehow or other, demands that a locomotive, like a person or ship, should have a name. The Western & Atlantic Railroad’s locomotives have always had names as well as numbers, and we trust that the company will continue this practice in future. These ’names are sometimes very pleasant reminders of persons who have been’associated with the road, or of localities, etc. Os the Western A Atlantic locomo tives,'doubtles the most famous is the “General,” (No. 3.) This is the en gine which was captured by 22 Fed eral soldiers in disguise on April 12, 1862, and with which they attempted to escape from Big Shanty up the Western & Atlantic Railroad, and burn the bridges on the line between that point and Chattanocga. The historical fact is well known that after an exciting chase of most thrilling interest, the “General” was overtaken above Ringgold by the pur suers who had pressed the captors so closely that they did not allow them time to take in wood and water during the last portion of the chase. The “General,” as stated in the Gazette several months ago, was also directly under fire of the Federal bat teries in the great battle of Kennesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864 —General Johnston having sent a train up to about where the present station, Eliz abeth, stands, just south of the Con federate entrenchments. She carried up a load of ammunition, and stayed there for the purpose of receiving the wounded in the battle and bringing them back to Marietta after its termination. Some of the shells from the Federal batteries, as before stated, exploded all around her. She was also the last locomotive to leave Atlanta when Hood’s army evac uated the citv. The “General” is still in the service of the company; but, being treated somewhat as a relic of the glorious past, does not do any heavy work. She has many callers on her, however, among the tourists who are anxious to inspect probably the most famous engine in the United States. Then, we have among the names of the Western & Atlantic engines those of some of the towns on its line, of States, etc., among which we may mention: The Kingston, The Atlanta, The Marietta, The Ringgold, The Chattanooga, The Graysville, The Calhoun, The Adairsville, The Acworth, The Kentucky, The Georgia, The Cincinnati. The Executives of Georgia have been honored in having selected from them the names of, Joseph E. Brown, Alex. H. Stephens, James M. Smith, Benjamin Conley. The Courts have had their usefulness reflected in the names of, TWF. KENNESAW GAZETTE. Judge 0. A. Loch- JudgeJ. R. Par rane, r °R> Judge H. K. McCay. The past Superintendents or other officers and deceased Directors of the company are remembered when we see ; the names of, Campbell Wallace, E. G. Cabaniss, J. W. Lewis, Gen. Wm. Macßae, BenjaminH. Hill, John H. Flynn, Wm. M. Wadley, Owen Lynch, H. I. Kimball, C. A. Nutting, W. S. Holt. The famous characters in history, mythology, romance, etc., are called to mind by the names of, Stonewall, Ajax, Gen. U. S. Grant, Vulcan, Ivanhoe, Samson, Atlas. The last four names are peculiarly appropriate to freight engines, which they are. Next we find the names of rivers, etc., in northern Georgia, when we look over the list, which includes the j names of, Nickajack, Etowah, Chattahoochee, Chickamauga, Connasauga, Oostanaula. Then, there are over one hundred and fifty thousand American soldiers, or the families of their survivors, who have recollections of vivid interest when we mention the name “KENNESAW.” This, of course, is for the majestic mountain at Marietta, where occurred the tremendous struggle between Sher man’s and Johnston’s armies during 1864. We feel like laughing when we see the names of the two switch engines, the Mark Tapley and Sam Weller, which work in the Atlanta yards all the time. “Mark” does his duty in the lower yard and is not often seen east of Forsyth street crossing; but old “Sam” has gotten to be a very familiar character around about the Union Pas senger Depot and all that portion of the city. There isanirresistably ludicrous feel ing which arises in the mind when one of the beautiful mail trains of the Western & Atlantic with its fine, trim built passenger locomotive glides into the Union Depot, and almost imme diately succeeding, we hear the clang ing of the tremendous bell whose sounds wake the air for more than a half mile distant, and then comes old “Sam, ’ black and sooty and puffing like a porpoise, down to the rear, to i pull the train back into the yard af ter the passengers have debarked. Frequently we see this pondrous lo comotive humorist bellowing like a . clown in a circus, and as awkward as ' an elephant, following a train which has just come in, and dragging behind him the cars of the train which has to go out within the next hour or two and there he is, sandwiched between the two beautiful trains, just as though there was an intentional contrast to emphasize the difference between the sooty engine and the palace car. “Sam Weller” and “Mark Tapley” were rich characters in the books; but they were hardly more so than their namesakes are in the railroad part of Atlanta. A gentleman was telling us a short time ago that his little boy kept a close watch of all the engines which entered the Union Passenger Depot, and said that he liked the “Sam Weller” better than any of them; but asked him one day: “Why is it, papa, that they don’t rub the soot and mud off of old “Sam” and make him look as bright and pret ty as those engines that pull passenger trains? He is a heap stronger than they are, and I think he’s a better en gine.” His father answered that he sup posed that old “Sam” had to work all day and all night, and, therefore, did’nt have time to wash his face like the pretty passenger engines did, This reply quieted the youngster; ■ but he still seemed to have a lingering feeling of certainty that “Sam” wasn’t treated fairly. Some of the locomotives of the West ern & Atlantic Railroad have been in i i the service of the company quite a number of years, and it is remarkable how great are the contrasts between them. Some of these have great power and do not stait very quickly; but can pull a pile when they do get started. Others are what the engineers term “smart engines;” that is, they get up steam quickly, start off with a run right from the beginning, and can al ways be depended upon for quick movement at short warning. The “J. W. Lewis” used to be con sidered the “smartest engine” on the road; but it is said that the “Gen. Wm. Macßae” is now considered at the head of the list; and this is peculiarly appropriate, as Gen. Macßae, him self, the former General Manager of the W. &A. R. R., was one of the quickest men in arriving at a mental conclusion and acting thereupon, who ever lived in Georgia. Among the other engines on the road we might name the, Chickasaw, Senator, Commerce, Enterprise, L. J. Gartrell, all of which are on the old list, but which still do good service. The engineers on the Western & At lantic Railroad are trained up to their tasks from boyhood, and as each one understands his engine thoroughly, is able, consequently, to do more with her than a new hand could. It is a fact which has been frequent ly noted that the W. & A. engin eers seem to be able to move more busi ness with engines of equal capacity than probably any other engineers in Georgia or in the south. We shall have more to say on this subject in future; but merely started out to emphasize our preference for re taining the names of engines instead of merely numbering them. The Western and Atlantic railroad runs more passenger trains over the same rails than any other railroad in the South.