SHE STOOD ON HER RIGHTS

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 189, 17 March 1893, Page 7

SHE STOOD ON HER RIGHTS

A conductor on the Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad told the following incident : —‘ We were whirling along the other day through the granite hills of Wayne county, behind time and ruuning at a furicus rate, when the engineer caught sight of an old woman slowly pottering ahead on the track Instantly the whistle was blown, No heed, however, was taken of it. Thinking the venerable dame wou>d get out of danger in due time, the speed was not slackened, though the screaming of the whistle made the hills ring. Yet still the old woman kept slowly on, turning her head neither to the right nor to the left until the engine was almost upon her. Then the breakers were put on with a will and the train was stopped just in time to save her life. ‘ What the devil is the matter with you ?’ asked the engineer as he jumped off and took the ancient dame by the shoulder. ‘ You needn’t scream so. You have made fuss enough already,’ was the caustic reply ‘ You heard the whistle, then ?’ ‘ Sartingly. I hadn’t deaf.’ ‘<Then, why in thunder didn’t you get off the track,’ 1 You ain’t got no rigtit to run over folks as I knows on, and it’s your business to stop when you see them walking on the track ‘ The swearing of the army in Flanders was nothing compared to that of the engineer as he pushed her aside, sprang upon the machine and set it going again to the tune of forty miles an hour.