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OF KENNESAW r\OVNTAIN- X>. g< ' P'ASSEN^CpEP 0 !,"- TL^Ta '
Vol. I.
“Exchanging Civilities.”
Our cut is one which is emi
nently proper at the present time
and suitable to the state of feeling
which has taken possession of the
American people.
Here we have an “Old Reb”
and an “Old Yank,” declaring
a truce for a while, and one “giv
ing the other a light.” The
Yank has a cigar, the Reb,
—— ' f
hardly so fortunate, has had to
put up with an old-fashioned pipe.
The grizzled face of each shows that
they have fought many battles; but
each one evidently hopes that he has
fought the last one —certainly the last
one against the other.
W e congratulate the American peo
ple on the good sense which is their
characteristic, and which is so well typ
ified in the homely cut which is here
shown.
The “Racine.”
Our article in the October number
of the Kennesaw Gazette, about the
sleeping car, “Racine,” evoked consid
erable amusement, and was copied by
some of our best and livest cotempo
raries. We have since then heard
several more stories of the ‘ ‘ Racine ”
and her adventures which are fully as
as racy as those already given.
For instance, it is stated that at an ac
cident at Reed’s creek, on the Norfolk
& Western Railroad, several years ago,
a bridge gave way, and almost the
whole train went in, one car after the
other.
The engineer, as soon as the catas
trophe was discovered, began blowing
for brakes; but it seemed that nothing
could be done. The current was de
stroyed and the air brake would not
work on the “Racine;” but the train
men sprang to the hand-brakes on her
platforms and began turning these for
all they were worth.
She had her customary fortune, for,
almost on the brink of the collapsed
trestle, the “Racine” stopped. The car
ahead of her was coupled tightly to her,
but hung slantingly over the abyss,
which was about seventy feet deep.
The strain was so great’that the “ Ra
cine” was almost tilted up; but, as one
A. humorous dare-devil —tlie very man to suit my purpose. Bulwer.
OUR HOLIDAY NUMBER.
. _ _ - - « .1 i m i
of the men said, “she humped herself <
and held on with a grip which did not <
let the forward car pull her over.”
The conductor called to the passen- ;
gers in that car to climb upward and <
get out on the platform and into the <
‘ ‘Racine.” They did this, pulling them
selves up a slant of about forty-five de- <
grees, and catching from seat to seat,
until they all were safely landed on the
platform of the “Racine,” and walked i
back through her and soon reached ter
ra-firma. A number of the people, ;
however, in the other cars were hurt.
Her good luck still attends her. For
instance, a few nights ago one of the
passenger agents said to us: “Oh, say, i
you ought to have been here and seen
No. 11 off last night. The train was
almost full. The ‘Racine’ was along.” ;
“Oh, well,” we remarked, “that ex- i
plains it then ; no wonder about it.”
Conductor Bob Wylie stated that
that night he had an unusually large
number of passengers, and that he was
equally as well favored the next night
on his return trip. He said that be
fore the train started he saw two par
ties, who seemed to be laboring men,
walking down, looking at the car, and
overheard one of them say, “I can’t
very well see the name of this car. It
is almost beaten off by the weather.”
The other one remarked, “Well, I
have just made it out, and it is the ‘Ra
cine.’ That’s the first sleeping car I
ever rode in, about twelve or fifteen
years ago; and if she’s along the train’s
going to get to Atlanta on time without
any doubt. She’ll find the way, if the
rest of them lose it.”
“And” said Bob, “of course we came
into Atlanta exactly on time.”
Bob continued: ‘‘lf the ‘Racine’ had
the Miller platform and coupling I would
gs soog fraye her as any other sleeping
ATLANTA, CA., DECEMBER 15, 1886.
car that runs over the road. She runs ;
easier than almost any other car we <
have. Some how or other, her trucks !
are adjusted better than most any other
one. But we always have a big time 1
coupling on to her. When we get
ready to start we go back, and instead 1
of making the coupling, the ‘Racine’
bounces away from us; then we have ’
to try it again, and she bounces off the
second time. Then I have to swing ,
my lamp and get the engineer to try it 1
again, and again she bounces. Some- (
times it looks like we’ve got to back (
’way down to Augusta before we can
get hold of her; but whenever we do
she’s all right, and no mistake about
it.”
It is thought that on account of the 1
good luck which always attends her, ]
some of the other railroads leading into (
Atlanta may attempt to get the Pull- (
man Company to assign the “Racine” (
to them instead of to the W. & A.
They think that having her along would <
help their trains to make their sched
ules as regularly as the W. &A. trains ]
make theirs.
Since the Western & Atlantic Rail
road and its connections have estab- ;
lished their through sleeping car lines !
for the winter the increase in passen- 1
ger business is becoming very marked. 1
No line leading from the west to Flor
ida offers as many or as good sleeping
car lines to Florida as the Western &
Atlantic. Its schedules are remarka
bly good.
The Western & Atlantic folks are
happy over the way their passenger
business has increased. The magnifi
cent advertising which is being done
by that line is bearing its certain re
ward. It is capturing a great majori
ty of the travel done by the old soldier
boys of 1861—’64.
“The Elephant Line.”
In our extra edition of Nov.
15, we leferred to the fact that
it took two roads to bring Barn
um’s big circus to Atlanta; that
the lighter parts of is were brought
by the E. T., V. & G., whereas,
the elephants, it was considered
best, should be brought by the
Western & Atlantic.
During the month of November
Doris’ grand combination show also
exhibited in Atlanta and went thence
to Rome. Following the example of
Barnum, the Doris people found it best
to ship their elephants via the W. &
A. and Rome R. R., on account of
the superior safety, convenience, etc.,
which the W. & A. possessed for hand
ling these big monsters of nature.
If this thing goes on, the Western
& Atlantic will get to be termed the
“Elephant Line,” and all the circuses,
etc., will be coming down into this
country in order to get a chance to
travel over the Western & Atlantic.
The Western & Atlantic, however,
has a circus on hand every once and a
while. We do not necessarily mean
that it has elephants, trained dogs and
horses, and clowns with spangled tights
on; but we also include the railroad
circuses which they occasionally have
down in this country, in which the
Western & Atlantic generally figures
as ringmaster and some of its neigh
bors gallop ’round the ring or jump
high, in order to keep from being hit
by the whip.
These are rare times that they have,
and there is lots of fun in them for boys;
and when they open the box to divide
the money they find that it has nearly
all dropped into the W. & A. side of
it.
Hurrah for the Elephant Line!”
Holiday Number.
It will be observed that we name
this “Our Holiday Number.” We do
not do this because the Kennesaw Ga
zette, this number, has much of
Christmas tide, but because it will be
distributed from now to the holidays,
and read by tens of thousands while
merry-making and peace on earth and
good will toward all prevail. JThe
Kennesaw Gazette wishes all its
readers a merry Christmas,
NO. 13.
