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i/i AZHT F VIEW OF KEBHESAW FOUNTAIN- ®\o> c^vJjl^^'OlTpXsSEH^MpEP o7 </ \J ' k <== ’ "-“■ — ——• ■""' ' \SL-2-- —~ (o A'ALLETj.rtjfy 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- 1 i-SL ~ \ : ' r SaSIMBwIWtoM 1 KjEsaapwr- < The “General.” |n>' 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 s> •>. J eSLv f 7 /f MCI *’ 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 2z lllll/TnTT'rv _: V I" fr*-~ I" fw>~< k //r<M3ir2. bL*. itT«rj" , ~li Illßnfilir - ! i THEY CUT THE.WIRES. MO. 8.