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Vol. 11.
The Capture of a Locomotive.
A BRILLIANT EXPLOIT OF THE WAR.
“Twenty minutes for breakfast.
Nothing particularly interesting
about the old familiar cry, but when
on a bright April day, in 1862, the ‘
train man sang out:
“Big Shanty, twenty minutes for ,
breakfast,” the heartsof a score of brave
men beat faster, as they knew
the hour had come for the be
ginning of one of the grand
est exploits in history.
The men, from their dress,
were citizens and had board
ed the north bound train at
Marietta, a pretty little Geor
gia town twenty miles north
of Atlanta. They paid their
fare to different points, and
from the conversation it was
learned that “they were ref
ugees from the Yankees,” but
in reality were disguised sol
diers of the U. S. Army un
der command of General
Mitchell, then in middle Ten
nessee, bound South.
They were volunteers to do
a dangerous work, and were to get
through the country as best they could,
to Marietta, then board a train bound
for Chattanooga, and, at Big Shanty,
seven miles away, while the train crew
and passengers were at breakfast, de
tach the engine, run north, obstruct
the track, cut the wires and burn
bridges, of which there were fifteen
between Big Shanty and Chattanoo
ga; this was the brilliant scheme; how
well it was carried out may be found
in the words of the conductor’s story.
On the morning of the 12th of April,
1862, Capt. W. A. Fuller left Atlan
ta at 6 o’clock in charge of the passen
ger train, having three empty freight
cars next to the engine, which were
intended to bring commissary stores
from Chattanooga to Atlanta. When
he reached Marietta, twenty miles dis
tant from Atlanta, a considerable party
of strangers, dressed in citizen’s clothes,
got on board and paid their fare, some to
one point, and some to another. They
THE START.
A humorous dare-devil—the very man to suit my purpose. Bulwer.
THE "CAPTURE OF A. LOCOMOTIVE”
i
I
all claimed to be refugees from within
the Yankee lines, desirous of joining
the Confederate army.
Seven miles from Marietta, at Big
Shanty, the train stopped for break-
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fast. Big Shanty has been noted for
the past twenty years as a place to get
a superb meal. Most of the passen
gers and train’s crew went to the break
fast house, which was situated some
forty feet from the track. At this time
Big Shanty was the location of a camp
of instruction, called
CAMP MCDONALD,
and there were about 3,000 Confeder
ate recruits there at the time, being
drilled ready to send to the front for
active service. The passengers had
taken seats at the table, Capt. Fuller
was sitting on the opposite side of the
table from the railroad, and facing the
train. He saw through the window
some of the strangers who got on at
Marietta, get on the engine in an ex
cited manner, and
START OFF RAPIDLY,
with the three freight cars detached
from the passenger train. He remark
ed to his engineer, Mr. Jeff Cain, and
Mr. Anthony Murphy, who was pres
ent, the then foreman of the Western
& Atlantic Railroad shop:
“Some one who has no right to do so
has gone off with our train.”
All three arose up and huiried out
of the house, just as the engine passed
out of sight.
Some deserters had been reported as
having left Camp McDonald, and the
commanding officer had requested Cap
tain Fullei to look out for them and
ATLANTA, CA., APRIL 15, 1887.
NL-**”-'’ -■ ?■ ' .■ -
arrest any
soldiers who
atte mpte d
to get on his
train with-
out a passport. No one had any
idea that the parties in possession of
the engine were Federals, but sup
posed that it had been taken by par
ties desiring to desert Camp McDon
ald, and who would run off a short
distance and abandon it.
Captain Fuller, Murphy and Cain
left Big Shanty with a clear and well
defined motive and a fixed determina
tion to re-capture the engine, no mat
ter who the parties were. They start
ed out
ON FOOT AND ALONE,
nothing daunted in putting muscle in
competition with steam. Captain Ful
ler outran his companions, and soon
reached Moon’s station, two miles from
Big Shanty. Here he learned from
the trackmen that the men with the
engine stopped and took from them by
force their tools. They reported that
on the engine and in the freight cars
there were twenty-four or twenty-five
men. While stopping here some of
the men gathered the tools, and others
climbed the telegraph poles and cut
the wires in two places, carrying away
about one hundred yards of the wire.
This statement satisfied Captain Fuller
that these men were Federals in dis
guise. This added new stimulus to
his resolve. The determination then
was not only to capture his engine but
the Federals.
With the assistance of the track
hands, he placed on the track a hand
car, such as is used to haul cross-ties
and tools, and pushed back for his en
giner, when he soon met Messrs. Mur
phy and Cain,
Knowing the schedules, grades, sta-
tions and distances so well, he
was confident that by using great
effort he could reach Etowah
river by the time the fugitives
could reach King>t->n. At
Kingston Lc knew they would
have to contend with a number
of freight trains, which would
necessarily detain them several
* minutes.
As soon as he got Mr. Mur
phy and Mr. Cain on board, he
told them his plan was to push
on to Etowah as quickly as
possible, for there he hoped
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to get old ‘Yonah,’ an engine used at
Cooper’s Iron Works, and his plan
proved successful. No men, or set of
men ever worked harder, using greater
diligence, or were in more danger than
they were, as tb.° sequel will show. In
the ‘rapid transit’ by hand-car, Capt.
Fuller, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Cain
took turns in pushing,
TWO RUNNING ON FOOT
and pushing, while the other rested;
one mile from Moon’s station they
found a large pile of cross-ties on the
track —placed there by the fugitives
to obstruct pursuit. The obstruc
tions were removed and they pushed
on to Acworth. Here they pressed
into service such guns as they could
find, and were joined by two citizens,
Mr. Smith, who lives in Jonesboro,
and Mr. Steve Stokely, of Cobb coun
ty, who rendered valuable service in
the subsequent pursuit. Resuming
their journey they found no obstruct
ions until they reached a short curve
two miles from Etowah. Here two
rails from the outside of the curve had
been taken up. The result was the
hand-car was ditched. In a few sec
onds Capt. Fuller and his men had the
car on the track
BEYOND THE BREAK
and with renewed energy and determin
ation they pushed on to Etowah where
to their great joy, they found the engine
as they supposed they would. And
yet it appeared a slim chance. The
engine was standing on a side-track
with the tender on the turn-table. The
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i THEY CUT THE.WIRES.
MO. 8.