SHORT STORY

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1446, 3 October 1905, Page 4

SHORT STORY

|| Saved by Presence of Mind §&, ,I»was doting the month of Novomberi I E, ! h i t W£' ' 1888, but lam not sure of the exact date j P^r' 0.W.8., and lifttloaed st a placo sailed i Owm, in wllat is known as the Western I M ' *%• ! m r My hours of daty wore from four am BSS to 4 p.m., and worked as follow?: fe Vl ~From four a.m. tosbtsu am. I had to Iff y-&jjjet'in lamps and 'attond to two small |||£' lieriei balled " Owm " and " Llandavel '[ j from seven ».m, to foilt p.m. I w«« in Ifeo'the signal box, §£|)?K ihat;time it was a single line (now it |fe§;'isjdouble),'and the-pbirita leading to or , ihesecollieries'were locked by a pin fetSs-.>Md padlock..''' ' Wti§?% ' Well, on this particular morning I was attending to a train that pot off some pl^E'i ;? emp ies at LanHavd, and after pwti; g Wosii them off there I locked iho siding galo and as usual, and. then had to travel s|p| : r;With the,train to put some more empties WsM 'ft''bff.aiOwrn Colliery, which was about half ptefVuiile further up. |§p|fe'-'lnstead of get'ing on the van at iho rear I usually did, I git on the |§t|fH'engine,'and when reaching the siding ga e Colliery, the morning being very |M>odark; : I dropped off the 'engine whilst it s|pKt was travailing at a. Burnt pace, thinking gate .and t then run to' the §syps/:p6ints and unlock them ad get the empties train away as quick aa posW&MiM to my- horror I fonnd, after alight-, i|M«€ing on: the ground, I oould not gaiumy ills'!'footing; theloose ballast rolling under my i|s^ : feet; : ani finally I fell back .against the §Sfe train. ffpfeu'l can well remember (as if it was yesterday) falling against the side of the truok Mi§VM. was : then knooked violently to the ground, and;luok'ily forme, after falling I the. presenoe of mind to remain peruntil the whole of the train had by me. . «?||/Yoa,oaa guess,bow near I was to the when -I could feel the pressure of tho the wheels on my right shoulder p|?|iand'the:.pinsof the brake racks striking they were passing over me, when I fell I was thrown olobb in S^p^io/th'ei'iail. ';•'.. ■'.. I esoaped without anf l&lfserjbasihjary., Theonlyharmlreooived mootm a piece.about tho size .of a five shilling ;$$ piece; knooked off tho, side of the right iHpknee,whioh, however, did not prevent me iKSdoirig my duty fbr the day. • unfortunate part of it was my r^ffalling-against the truok, beoause had I in between the open ,buff«s of the ap^-fWekeright aooss the rail, and, undoubwould have been out in two or otherffflll&fe /terribly mangled and would not now sojbucaa see the feipMoitpe'.was a very narrow one, ". ffi%sfi'{>The thought of it makes mo shudder it, » fegp||;>?Th'eonly personswho could corroborate Sj| ! il(iih« statement arol.ain sorry to say, both those are the guards of the the. morning, named Thomas «|||jSThqmaslatßof Aberdeen, and the landnamed Mrs Negus, with whom I Kft^-lodgefl'at'Aberdeen.. ■■■■ •■' m|; •': I have left the Q.W.R. soma years now of the' Monmouthshire Oonslabu§Pfs!f#farjtod' stationed at Ebbw Vale.