Show TUE PROMOTION AI ROCKY lEDGE How Amy Carroll Station Agent Heroically Protected the Railroad Property From Rioters BY ELINORE E PEAKE COPyiJht lS by the Aiithox Rocy Ledge wai the only stton on the division shorc plants eicw the windows or a cnal hittere in the ticket ofce It wa the only station whee te way freight brakemen did Dot spit tobacco juice on the platform the only station where a delicate be Witching sent hovered around the tele graph dnstrumct the only station where all conductors always peeped In pe just to see that everything was 0 K In fat there was probably no station like it in all southeast Geora The auditors ofce in Savannh nee found errors in the ticket te tcket reports signed in a I bold hand A Crrol The waybills waybfs and 3stcts receIved from A Carroll always tIed The traveling auditor I checked up A Carl meey as a mrt there is they wont hurt me I didnt hang Fillmore honestly asked Barney quizzing ly I Imagined you would oe just the girl to hang a nigger Then he added blithesomely holding out a heavy revolver re-volver Just shove that in your pocket or keep it somewhere handy You neent get scared Ive always said you ought to have 3 pistol you know and now you got one All you got to dQ with that gIrl is to point her and pull the trigger and shell do the rest Its kingdom come to anything in front of her Shell male a hole In a nigger that you could fswicl a box crhrough You neent tr just to see if Im te1 the truth but if the time comes just remember tat nlggers wH be awful and happy things in heaven with all then haps Section mIght have shown him that he was not helping the cause of the little woman across the track but the colonel was not addicted to reflection I He found Amy with her apron on bending over a sputtering skillet of I ham and eggs I Just in time for sunnah by Gawgc I explaimed the colonel jovially Ive had mine Ive just thrashed that buck of Terrls within a inch of his life I Miss Amy Ill kill that nigger yet I I dont the law will sooner or later Miss Amy r susnect theres going to be trouble heah tonight Ive a cyah of watermelons on the siding that I dont care to lose So has lajal Bird Has the maja been in No Well he had no appointment with me but I thought he might dron in These country nIg ger are flocking in like blackbirds Two of em left mv nlae this afternoon They left without theh wages I can as I suah you of that Miss Amy They have got hell enough In em without money to buy Iquah Beg pardon Miss Amy but Im a little excited Now mJ deah girl continued the colonel with a placid fatherly air refusing a char I want you to come outo ouah house tonight to-night r Singleton and the girls will welcome you with open ams as wH my sons and myselfgrtv ly speaking of cose Miss Amy Rod Is on his wa noW with the boss and phaeton to take you back So dont VT j = cE t U 4 U U q k F Jf t y fl 1i 7 t i l ji I k 1 L STOOD AT BII SIDE A GRM AN AVENGmG DEITY te of form unless indeed the personal equation entered into the transaction And yet A Carrlso uncompromising on paper s infallible s prompt w of duty austere in the performance was only a fufyheade girl a Yankee ocled whose father had come south I to die of consumption and leave his motherless daughter a stranger among strangers rock Ledge was no earthly paradise Of its 10 inabltnt threfourths were black and the remainder with the black of the railroad agent herself excepton self were the trsie of white tras11 The nearest lteman was at Cob neare Jel Singletons plantation thrw miles distant But if Amy Carroll ever got lonely or sick at heart 01 e pined for the smiling fields of Wisconsin no one heard of i She might grow wean of the eternal pine barrens that crowded up los to the track and almost in aded her back door she might fear that the agiie would In tme rob her of her age and dye her blooming I skin a sickly yellow she might tremble at times for her refinement among the unlettered horde around her But her sunny face never clouded The dripping drip-ping brakemen who bedraggled her white clean floor on tempestuous nights never missed her bonny words and Barney McCall the handsomest con dIt lW on the division swore daily that one of the lttle Yanks smiles was a better bracer for him than thre fingers of whisk When FnTan a notorious colored GuUa of the neighborhood a car riel into her office one night with his body nearly severed by the don freight and his life blood fat oozing away she bravely sa by him and sponged his brow until he bad breathed his lat ThE wide d black group around her afterward deC on that memorable night aferward de C lared that FanTa tool Miss Amy for lare an angel and fancied lIe was in heaven sno time heore ho die He might easily have done i for her sweet pityIng pity-Ing face that nhht was as white as any piece of sculpture marble On that same night Colonel Singleton in the comfortable Gittn room of the big plantation home declared with an ex presion not found in dictonariC that Amy Carroll Yank or no Yank was a girl after his en heart Not after your heart papa corrected cor-rected his daughter Charlotte with all a-ll play upon his words but alter your tutful sonS Rods heart Roderick could hardly marry a girl in her station Charlotte said the mother with a langour that evinced no rehenslons Hod could man a YPSY If she wee worli of him answered Charlotte spiritedly with a note of sisterly pride 1n her voice and the colonel quiet chuckled to himself behind the pages of Ins Atlanta Constitution bout a month later one night In eall June No 19 down freight for Savannah was wrecked at the sIxty sixth milepost one mile below Rocky rge A brakeman lost hIs life A posse of indignant planters assisted by the train crew scoured the swamp with dogs for the criminals and before sunrise sun-rise a negro name Fillmore was dang hog from the arm of a telegraph pole The subsequent excitement among the blacks in Rocky Ledge was intense though maifLtcd in a way characteristic character-istic of the neo Their dull muddY eyes and sullen movement were not to be misinterpreted With hangdog looks they shifted about the settlement in dusky groups mainly oscillating between be-tween the two saloons and giving vent to their wrath in rolling eyes nouUnJ hips and mumbled threats and cure childIsh manifestations but such as with this rae may portend the most terrible outrages The first violence was the stoning from abush of the northbod pas at enger frets avannah The news once spread ocr the divIsion by telegraph tele-graph At 1001 the conductor of the down fright looked in at the cozy dwn ofce t see how things stood with Miss Amy She told him with a smile 116S that she guessed eYe thlng was all right but she did i only because she fancied that that was what a mans man-s oud have done At 2 oclock Barney fcCa1s handsome face with its 13 I plerle mustachios was thrust in the b ticket wIndow He got his usual bracer but he imagined i was a t little diluted t Youre 100kln a little peaked Miss Yank ant you he demanded Maybe but I dont feel that way she answered cheerily I dont think tee will be any more trouble but if L After Barney had seen her gingerly deposit the weapon In the drawer and had been rebuked for his irreverence le stepped outside and took a sharp look around Spying the nero lad who did the heavy WOk around the agency he motioned him forward and sid sharply uIos if anything happens to Miss I Carroll tonight I will shoot you tp morrow morning Her With which r he swung his hand to the engineer and jumped aboard At 4 ooekabout the hour that Imeys train got into Saannahthe division superintendent caned up Rocky Ledge and asked if the railroad property prop-erty was in danger Serious as she felt Amy smiled for she almost knew that Barne McCaU was standing beside the instrument at the other end and with her minds eye she could see old Superintendent Su-perintendent rhltcombs father solicitous solicit-ous face as he handled the key with his own fingers Dont think you ned send guard Am not afraid for myself she clicked offIf I you arc came back the prompt answer take 23 for Savannah 10 23 was the passenger that had I reuc4veel the I stoning on the way up i etgn When et arrived at 530 the conductor and aeval passengers lu he into the 01ce to ln the latest news AU 0 1 so fa sId Amy feeling almost heroic Say lfer commanding attention by this single word forcibly uttered a hor thickset man with a closely cropped bed and a peculiarly positive air pushed forward puffing and blowing blow-Ing Is this young woman here going to stay in this hold all nigh alone he demanded of no one in partcJ1ar Amy hushed slightly and the con ductcr answered yil a grin Them seems to be her intentions AU right aU right aSlnted the positive man with savage abruptness backing off She wouldnt if uhe was my daughter no sires Bob not if she was my daughter And whats moreS more-S le wouldnt if she was my gent Goodnight Good-night young woman You are a brave grlm Any pondered thro words until long after the last faint roar of 23 had die away She half regretted that she had not gone In on the train as she could easily ho done and returned in the morning Only her pride had restrained her To fall short of what a man would do In her place to ask any privileges on account of her sex or Cen by any wcakners to remind the company that its Rocky Ledge agent was a om3 was exceedingly distasteful to her info IndeI pendent spirit In her loneliness she unconsciously drew nearer to the busy little instrument instru-ment which was clicking away like a thing of life and seeming to assure her I with cheerful fearlessness that a great corporation wa back or her And yet at every drunken hoot on the outside her cheeks took on an added pallor A little before G she made a circuit of the three living rooms attached to the station propel and saw that the windows and doors were securely fastened fas-tened But what fri barriers against I a infuriated mob Before beginning supper she stepped over to Diggorys store The butter was not a necessity but she felt that a show of bravery would sere to keep her courage up and mIght have a restraining influence upon the negroes The dusky group on the store porch made hardly a move ta I let her through and Dlggor himself seemed afraid to show her more than the most erulctr courtesy On her way back a fat nere s rudely elbowed I her out of the narrow path A horseman perhaps tel minutes after af-ter this happened rode rapidly down what was known as the Cottonwood road The gray horse the mltar beating of the rider his slouched hat and keen eyes were known far and wide a Colonel Slnletns As he passed a group of blacks In front of Blaclewels storejust across the track from DggOtssome indiscreet I Indis-creet fellow brave In his liquor sung out 3 Ue epithet The old fellow with a furious oath and veins swelling with rage spurred into the midst of the group regardless of life and limb and laid his whip with merciless igor over the face and neck of the offender Every member of the group was probably prob-ably armed but not a had was raised in defense of the victim With a final snort of Inexnressible indignation and J a parting shower of maledictons the I colonel wheeled out of1he sullen crowd I conscious of having doe his duty Re say no my desk girl for confound f I wont leave you heah alone I wouldnt leave my wn daughtah heah and I wont heave you Amy colored to the eyes with pleasure I pleas-ure but gently shook her head Colonel I Colo-nel i is so rood and kind of you said she but I dont believe there Is much danger Mr Vhltcomb wanted me to come In on 23 but I refused and he supposes I am here looking after things I I leave it will only encourage encour-age the negroes to commit some outrage out-rage on the property No colonel I am very very very grateful to you and she looked up into his eyes earnest lybut I I must stay here The colonel blustered and stamped and denounced her foolhardiness In unmeasured un-measured terms and even inadvertent by swore but an to no avail Amy steadily shook her head until the colo I nel impatiently put his hand upon the I yellow mass elow Stop that little thing abobbin he commanded Look heah Miss Amy I This is the height of absuhdly the apex ofofof obstinacy if I must say I it Sit down and eat youah suppab Id t tt tP I ny s sooner see you eat than eat myself But I wont heah to youah staying here no damn me I wont Neither will i Rod couldnt sleep my drh girl You werent bahn In the south and you I forget something Youah being a woman wo-man Is no protection against these I brutes If I may say it Miss Amy Its an added danger and youah beauty I my deah young woman only malWS it wuss A slight flush arose to the young wo mans cheek which she strove to hide by reaching for the sugar bowl Colonel Singleton said she alter a suitable pause I cant run away from my post of duty I I really thought there was great danger I should go but I dont think a little danger ought to scare me out I reel that my presence pres-ence here will restrain them and my absence simply encourage them Be reasonable and look at It the way I do she pleaded with an earnest little half fright laugh that was haf Once more the colonel fumed but when Amy patiently and leadiy refused re-fused his entreaties he suddenly broke forth in admiration Miss Amy accept cept the homage of an old soldier he exclaimed with a tender voice He took her hand bowed pompously over it and pressed his lips to the white surface sur-face Thats the homage of an old man to a heroine he continued and added with a twinkle but dont let that rascally Rod of mine pay you any such tribute Amy blushed He behaves better than his father I think she protested with averted eyes He ought to Hes hat cenan training train-ing than I ever had Ha Here Is the boy now he exClaimed as Roderick entered Get right back into youah buggy boy This young lady Is going to weathah the stohm right heals Where did you tie youa boss boy And the old gentleman as if Intensely i Interested In the whereabouts of the horse busted out secretly congratulating I I congratulat-ing himself on the subtlety of his exit Are you asked Roderick with surprise some surp1se I must Roderick she answered firmly rising from the table and facing him They will hardly dare to da anything she continued apalogetcal ly They know what the penalty will beThe The young man looked at her steadily stead-ily for a moment and said nothing He I possessed none of the fire of his father but perhaps his face expressed even I treP determination i than the colonels Father Is excitable said he slowly I dont think myself there Is much danger I I did I should not leave the matter In your hands at all She glanced quickly uP the liveliest I kind of emotion playing In her eyes and her hand made a little impulsive move toward him Then suddenly abashed her lids drooped In pretty confusion con-fusion before Rods steady gray eyes A faint pleased smile swept over his placId features You may stay said le conclusive iy l and perhaps she felt a little woman hy l disappointment at his ready aqules cenct I SQ his next words effaced i I But If anything happens I shall never I forgive myself I I His solemn demeanor did more to shake her fortitude than all the old gentemans lurid representations but she answered bravely All right sir You and your father have been very good I dont depreciate that If I do the danger As he took her hand to say goodb I he looked at her with c a Quiet suppressed longing that she felt her cheeks bur You wont go he asked In finality No she murmured quickly biting her lip tolde its quiv ring And Rod rickha hardly close the door before she burst into tea Until nearly midnlghtshe sat at her window watching the figures that const con-st nU darkened the bright doorway oi Diggors sore in the back part of which there was sold for drink a vile a compound as ever witches breweda socaled whisky that set their brains on lire dissIpated reason whipped into acton every low passion and trans formed them Into brutes almost as savage sav-age and ruthless us their cannibalistic ancestors Back and forth back and forth the dusky procession amrched stumbled and reeled hooting cursing threAening A similar scene was being enacted across the track at BlacweUs where the miserable propretorleaving walce out of the c ntae nol close To look for help from ether of these wretches In case of trouble Amy l > ne would be widly futile About 1 the crowds around the stores began to melt away and a half hr later not a soul was In sight from Amys window I would have been less suspicious sus-picious had a few loiterers been left But hopIng for the best the plucky HtUe agent tired find worn lay down upon her bed without removing her clothes Her head had scarcely touched the pillow when a stone crashed through the window With a heat throbbing painfully she sprang up and seized Barney Bar-ney McCaUs pistol For an Instant all was quiet then there came a rap at the door that seemed to turn her heart to lead Who Is I she called and In that moment when she believed that she faced death or something almost as bad she grew suddenly calm Its me missy came a frIghtened voice She recognized It as that of Moss the baggage boy and opened the door just far enough for him to squeeze through His eyes were round with terror oc his teeth chattering 1sse Iso afeared to stay In de baggage bag-gage room They done surroun us he whimpered They all crazy drunk ana 0 an-a gwine bun us The sight of tills abject terror nerved her beyond belief Stop your whimper Ins she commanded You must go for Colonel Slngletv run ever step of the way and tel him Im In danger Go quick 0 Gawd missy doan sea this pooh nigger out pleaded the boy You just same as kill me missy Imse they hate me Deed and double you do missy Befo Gawd missy you woan do that He dropped on his knees before her and clasped his uplifted hands his ere staring with terror his veins swelling I you dont go Ill blow your brains out rIght here she answered so stern by that he suddenly rose And remember remem-ber If you fail to go to Colonel Singletons Single-tons after you are safe on the outside he wi hold you responsible for anything that happens to me And so will the law and you will probably hang for It This liberal interpretation of the law had Its effect and with a final injunc ton for him to hurry Amy let the trem hung wretch out into the darkness Hours seemed to pas before anything occurred With the weapon still In her hands she waked from window to window win-dow around and around peering anxiously anxious-ly out but neither seeing nor hearing anything any-thing At last in the absence of succor she was forced to the conclusion that the boy had either been Intercepted by the rioters or had played her false Onco she thought of making a sudden dash for Diggrys She would be safe there perhaps but the railroad property would surely 10 Could she In the morning look upon the charred ruins and say that she had done her duty Then there were her books and clothingsmal things compared com-pared with life but nevertheless something some-thing that men might light for Suddenly she became conscious of a peculiar sound Itmight have been twenty twen-ty miles away it might have como from the clouds for It ounded something like the distant I roll of thunder or Itd miqht have come from subterranean depths But in an Instant she guessed the true cause and the thdught almost paralyzed her faculties for a moment To the north of the station lay a blind siding upon a sharp grade The tiding was then full of box cars in all stages of loading with mplnns Th nerroes e11oJ turned gtj I i ser n The noise Increased as the headless train gained momentum mid bore pitilessly down upon the frhi fortress ant its devoted de-voted defender Still she sat In fatal calmness calm-ness as though all eternity were hers until a yell without and a glare of bight OIl the ceiling broke the spell She threw hack the bois 1f the front door and sprang out 01 tf platform just as the runaway cars crashed with Insensate fury into the farmhouse end A tle greasy widee throng swarmed around the scene of devasta flea waving blazing pine i torches above their heads For just a monsent they held i thetseves sie1tUaml motionless as though appalled at their own work then one appaled drunker than the others I burled a brand Into the wreckage Without With-out hesitation Amy sprang down snatched the blazing pine from out the Inflammable material and sent It defiant ly back Into the faces of the mob Then drawing herself proudly and fearlessly up she leveled her revolver Standing there as white an Immovable as marble fragile but determined one against many fragie representative of a superior race she must have appeared In the bloodshot eyes of the marauders lle a guardian angel But they knew that the angri was flesh and blooda Iner flesh than theirs but of the earth I will shoat the next man who throws tones a ilrebrand said she In low distinct Those in front herd the threat in I logged silence but those In safer positions posi-tions In the rear urged their compan Ions on Vat might have happened can only be guessed for at that moment to Ams inexpressible relief she heard the clatter of hoofs The negroes heard It too and began to look uneasy Hal a minute later Rod Singletons black marc now white with froth dashed up to the end of the platform Amy did not turn her head she buses It was he In a ml raculousb short space of time he stood at her aide as grim as an avenging deity and two long horse pistols paralleled the I barrel of Amys weapon The little line was quickly reinforced by Colonel Singleton Sin-gleton and his two other sons I The old colonel was now strangely calm He marched down the 1tfor as though on dress parade holding his re I pealing rlle wIth military precision He OVen took time to wheel Into the line with I square turn as though ho were a whole column by himself He was living over Chickamauga The negroes a hundred or more in num her stubbornly held their ground Whisky had done more for them temporarily In the way of courage than had nature Every black hand grasped a leslie razor or pistol i j Boys eomanded the colonel In aloud a-loud formal tone cocking his rife Shoot to kill Uss Amy level youah I weapon at Sugah Masons breast You llac deUs If a man of you Is In sight I I 11 f h T Innnt flf llq frI e n nmr I for him with a wheelbarrow One two 1 three four live six The little lne of whites stood as immovable Im-movable asstatues Five pistols and two riles showed theIr yawning muzzles to the mob Opposite Seven eight nine ten Caucasian against Ethlooian here could be but one outcome to such a contest con-test and yet the branbenumblng whls Iy with which every negro was fled was a doubtful factor nego blacks did not move but a r1eab consternation was beginning be-ginning to depict itSelf upon the distorted features of those In the front rank Eleven twelve The stentorian tones swelling In volume vol-ume as the fatal number drew near had their effect The sons of Ethics were beaten they fell back a step At thirteen thir-teen they began to push at fourteen there was a mad wild scramble At ff teen delayed a second or two the storm of lead that swept across the space laid low not a single I victim y thnie i The danger over tile lat black dispersed dis-persed and the railroad property saved the heroic little agent did the most I womanly thing nosRlble under the circumstances cir-cumstances She fainted The living roon were yet intact the archouse and platform having bore the brunt ot the blow of the wild cars and Inta these the colonel carrie Amy She quickly regained her sense and was plainly ashamed of her weaness at the last moment But the colonel gave her 10 time for selfreproaches My deah girl l he exclaimed enthusi 3 tKl I have been in battle I have Sn 100 bravo men face death but Ill neveh fohget 1 how you and Rod looked as you stood theh 1 wa 3l held f foht So help if its roe Jd expect will to that tell re go that that in heaven way Boys I wondeh if I theh ant a nigger prowling around heah that wo could take a shot at And the old man marched outside followed by Pe ton and Ran dolph with knowing grins on their faces Ve dId bold it well murmured Amy with a coy glance at Roderick Yes he answered with his grave smile taking her hand I was just gave derng If wecQnbdnt hold It just as well all our lives wel 11 shouldnt 1e s rrlsedRod she returned wit drooIln eyes a > 1 U |