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Page 21
The first car struck was loaded with hay and grain. My engine
literally split it in two, throwing the hay right and left, and
scattering the grain like chaff. The next car, loaded with horses,
was in like manner torn to pieces, and the horses piled upon the
sides of the road. The third car, loaded with tents and camp
equipage, seemed to present greater resistance, as the locomotive
only reached it, and came to a stand-still.
My emotions during these moments were most peculiar. I watched the
remorseless pressure of the engine with almost admiration. It
appeared to be deliberate, and resolute, and insatiable. The shock
was not great, the advance seemed very slow; but it plowed on
through car after car with a steady and determined course, which
suggested at that critical moment a vast and resistless living
agent. When motion ceased, I knew my time of trial was near; for if
Colonel Williams had not been thrown from the top of the cars into
the gorge below, he would soon be forward to execute his threat,--to
shoot me if any accident occurred. I stepped out of the cab on the
railing running along to the smoke-stack, so as to be out of view to
one coming forward toward the engine, and yet to have him in the
full light of the lantern which hung in the cab.
Exactly as I had surmised,--for I had seen a specimen of his fierce
temper and recklessness,--he came stamping and cursing; and jumping
from the car on to the tender, he drew a pistol, and cried out,
"Where is that cursed engineer, that did this pretty job? I'll shoot
him the minute I lay eyes on him."
I threw up my six-shooter so that the light of the lantern shone
upon it, while he could see me but indistinctly, if at all, and said
with deliberation, "Colonel Williams, if you raise your pistol you
are a dead man; don't stir, but listen to me. I have done just what
any man must have done under the circumstances. I stopped the train
as soon as possible, and I'll convince you of it, if you are a
reasonable man; but not another word of shooting, or you go down."
"Don't shoot, don't shoot," he cried.
"Put up your pistol and so will I," I replied.
He did so, and came forward, and I explained the impossibility of
seeing the train sooner, as I had no head-light, and they had
carelessly neglected to leave a light on the rear of the other
train. I advised the choleric colonel to go forward and expend his
wrath and curses on the conductor of the forward train, that had
stopped in such a place, and sent out no signal-man in the rear, nor
even left a red light. He acknowledged I was right. I then informed
him that I was an officer in the ordnance department, and was in
charge of a shipment of ammunition for Bowling Green, and would have
him court-martialed when we reached there, unless he apologized for
the threats he had made. This information had a calming effect on
the colonel, who at heart was really a clever fellow. He afterward
came and begged my pardon; we shook hands cordially, and were good
friends.
Having settled this talk of shooting, and put the responsibility
where it belonged, we had time to look at the damage done by the
collision. It was nothing compared with what it might and would have
been, if we had been running at high speed. Even as it was, it
stirred up the sleeping men not a little. The front train contained
a regiment of men, most of whom were asleep, while the employees
were repairing an accident to one of the truck-wheels of a car. They
had it "jacked up,"' and had all the lights available, including the
one from the rear of the train, to aid in their repairs. When we
struck them they were driven ahead some thirty feet, and of course
their disabled car was still more damaged. Our men were all suddenly
waked up, and some of them slightly bruised. The colonel himself was
thrown down by the shock, but fortunately did not roll off the car,
and was but little injured; and there were no lives lost, except of
three of the horses. But we had a toilsome night of it. The
_d�bris_ of the three cars which had been smashed up was carried
back through the cut, between the train and the steep sides, and
thrown down into the gorge, off the trestlework. The dead horses
were drawn up the bank with ropes, and the front train put in
running order, after six hours of hard work by as many men as could
be employed in such narrow quarters. As the day broke, the forward
train moved off; in a few minutes more we followed, and reached
Paris by seven o'clock, A.M., December 18, 1861. Thus began and
ended my railroad-engineering in Rebeldom. At Paris they found a
professional runner, and I resumed my uniform, very thankful to get
out of the profession so creditably. Reader, the next time I run a
railroad train in such circumstances, may you be there to see it.
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