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Show _ 4Lj fJ fJWs _ wSEsSs ADVENTURERS ' - . ' ! Ji 1 r\t r t ' , \ ' CLUB , - .iI iI . , * ! rl : 'x'r xr ' * ' " t- t - t.1 \.1 .1 \ . f- f f.t - ! . .t t . .tr HBMI HBMI"The r " < ; . t : k . t1ss \ " . . ) Vy 1 1k , t1s/ t1s / Ws s SSn , sK 1-1 1 - 3 3"The . "The The " Turn of 0/ 0 0a ofa / a Wheel " By FLOYD GIBBONSFamous GIBBONS GIBBONSFamous GIBBONSFamous Famous Headline Hunter . i iTTT'HATEVER iTTTHATEVER ' TEVIR : you might say about gambling , it takes talcs nerveI nerveto nerveto nerve WHA I | JXTHATEVER Vr to do it it . . The best of the professionalcard professional cardsharks card sharks are mten mtenwho men menJwho menwho who can keep leep a poker face and never bat an eye when they're theyre they'rebetting they they'rebetting theyrebetting ' re lbetting gamb2eI Jwho betting their last nickel . . Yes , it takes plenty of f nerve to gamb2e gamble gamble'with gamblewith courabeI courageIto I ' with 'with your money-but money but money - but It it .Yes Yes takes tal.es tales . a doggone sight more courageto courabeto courabe courage I Ito ( to gamble , with tivitll . ith your life . I ; ) I\e I e I'se Ise \ ' \ got a yarn here from from Adventurer William Joseph JosephBrJnlJey JosephBrinkley JosephBrinlvley BrJnlJey Brinkley of Brooklyn Broot.lyn Brootlyn . , N . Y , and unless ' I'm Im ' no good at all at reading be between be- be between between - , tween the lines JInes of or a story . , Bill BllI Brlnl BrInL.lcy BrInLlcy Brinkley . ley is one of or those lads who can canI cankeep cankeep cankeep keep a cool head and figuie figure figUl e out the odds even e.en een . at moments " when "hen hen his lICe life lICeIs lifei lifeis lifeIs I Is In the greatest gre'ltest greltest ' of peril perU . 1 i If Bill hadn't hadnt ' had that faculty he wouldn't wouldnt ' be here collecting collectinghis his ten and jolninn Joining the Adventurers ' club today . , For back In 1915 1915fate 1915fate 1915fate fate tested out those Iron nerves of his-and his and his - and It was one of the themost themost themost most riflorous rigorous testa tests fate ever dished out to a guy , at that that.Iron thatIron . . Iron never ne.er neer . or no iron nerve ner.e nere . , , Bill BlIJ admits he was as pietty pletty scared when It ItIlappened ithappened itliappencd Ilappened happened Maybe Mnybe "pretty pretty " scared " Isn't Isnt Jsn't Jsnt ' quite the expression for it either either.When eitherWhen . When it was all over Bills nill s nerves felt moic mOle mote like Ilhe putty thin th'ln thln than ' Iron IronI I [ Bill Had a Prosaic Job Checking Freight Cars . , iIt i ' , It wis W'lS WlS was ' down in the town of AtlantaGa , Atlinta Athnta , . fia .fJa fJa , where here he was worl working lng as asan asan asan an Interchange lntercllange clerk cIerI . for the Central of Georgia railroad raBroad Bill BlIl was just justa a young lad then , and his job consisted of checking checUng up on cais cms cats that werei , were ' \ erc I II I ' to be switched swltthed from one line to another . It was during the June peachI peachseason peachseason peach I | season and there wis was 'is is ' 1 a ' * i lot of or traffic on the line The railroad yard was wastull wasfull wasI I full tull of bos box cars and It kept both Bill BlIl and his IllS pal pai paitncr tner , , Willie WlIllc Baker , on onthe onthe on'the onthe ' the jump most of the timeI time I ' I ' The first ftrst job lob In Bill's Bills BlI's BlIs , ' ' routine was to get the seal number on onthe onthe onthe the cars as soon as a train entered the yard . Bill would get themon them themon themon on one side while his partner , Willie , got them on the other other.They otherThey . They were supposed to wait walt for those trains at the break up uptrack uptrack uptrack track , but sometimes they would walk out to meet them and ride rideIn ridein rideIn In on the first car . That's Thats ' what they were doing when Old Lady LadyAdventure LadyAdventure LadyAdventure Adventure swooped down and got Bill In her clutches clutchesThey clutchesThey clutchesThey They had walked waII.ed waIIed . out to meet the * ' Special ' and the Special w\s w s was wslate waslate wislate ' \ late UInight tint UI\ UI Uiat ' \ night . , , so , without realizing It , they walked walhed a little IlttIe farther than thanI thanthey thanthey thanthey I they had Intended They met it quite a was a ; s out of the yard when It was wasi i I going at a pretty fast clip Willie Wllhe caught the first car , but Bill BIlI let three threeor threeor threeor or four go by before be he could make up his hlS mind to jump for it . He caught caughtthe caughtthe caughtthe the fifth car , and since he was supposed to clieck chech check the tbe other side of thetrain the thetrain thetrain train , he lie started to climb cUmb o\er o er 0er over 0\ 0 \ ' er the topBut topBut top topBut But Falling Fallmg Under a Train Isn't Isnt ' So Prosaic ProsaicBut ! But Old Lady Ad\ Ad Ad\enlure Ad enlure Adenture Adventure \ enture didn't didnt ' ever Intend that Bill BIlI should get to tothe tothe tothe the other side of that tbat train As he reached for the top grab lion hon with wlth hisI his hisHe I 11 11C I ' C pacltrl _ , . . r .dot dot . .dotl .dotHe l -He He - He Threw His Body Over the Rail Just in an Time . right hand the one beas be was \\as as \ holdln holding with his left broke away fiom flom the side sideof sideof sideof of the car His Dls Ilis body s\\ s s\\ung s ung sung swung \ \ ung out from the side of the car and started startedto to falIAs fallAs fall falI fallAs As Bill 8111 fell he clutched at the top grab Iron He caught . it .t t , but buthis buthis buthis his weight broke the hold . . His body twisted-swung twisted swung twisted - swung around be- be between between be between - tween the cars Then , as he dropped , his left leg hit h.t ht . the draw drawhead drawhead head He swung head downward and fell fell-under fell under - under the train . i , ' I lay Jay flat fiat on my back bach , ' siys S'lYS SlYS says ' Bill , ' and watched the bottoms of the thecars thecars thecars cars whiz by onlv only a few Inches from my face The wheels ground past pastonly pastonly pastonly only a n few Inches from my body on either side I lay for a moment ut- ut utterlv utterly ut utterly - terly terlv u unable able to move Then my m mind began to race . . . Underslung Underslung Hopper-Bottom Hopper Bottom - Cars Meant Certain Death Death'In DeathIn . , 'In In ' In a Hash flash I t hid h'ld hld had ' figuied figUled figured everything out I had been lucky enough to land toland be between \ \ een the tracks-not tracks not tracks - not on them As long as I did dtd not move I was wasperfectly 1 \ perfcctly safe unless-and unless and unless - and there wa was the horrible possibIlIty-unless possibIlIty unless possibility - unless tl1ere there tl1erewas therewas therewas 1was was wassafe a hopper bottomed coal In that car train The hoppers of those cars carsare carsare carsare are only a few Inches from the ties If one of them hit me I would bemangled be bemangledml bemangledmashed mangled-mashed mangled mashed mangled-ml mangled ml - mashed ! hed to a pulp-spread pulp spread pulp - spread along a halt half mile of track " And there was a darned good possibility that not one but sev sev- sev several sev.eral several - . longtrains longtrams eral of these hopper bottomed cars were in an the train In long trams trains like the one Bill 8111 was under It was the custom to put short shortempty , empty coal cars between the refrigerator cars to cut down the theside theside theside side Inhis sway . Bill knew that . . His mind was clicking on all four In his moment of peril-taking peril taking peril - taking in every consideration considerationThere considerationThere considerationThere Billit There was just one oneai ' \ \\ai ai way \ \ a out-a out a out - a perilous aY-but aY but way-but way " way - but something told Bill It bottoms was a better risk than waiting waItmg for one of those murdprous murderous hopper bot hot . toms He lIe be bC begin < ; ' in 'ln ln watching the wheels as they tl1ey clicked cliched b bgauglng by-gauging by gauging hi -gauglng gauglng - gauging theIr theIrspeed theirspeed theirspeed speed and their distance distanceWhere distanceWhere distanceWhere Where two cars were coupled to together etl1er the wheels were only about aboutfou aboutfoufeet fou fou-feet fou feet " - feet ipart 'lpart lpart apart ' . ? . but between \ t\\o t o two \ \ 0 wheels on the same car there was as a space \sheelpassed sheelpassed frontsheelpassed heelpassed wheelpassed ot of spaceof spaceot forty feet . . If he could throw bis hIs body over the rail as the front wheel \ \ heel passed , , and get acro across s < : before the rear wheel hit hIm-he'd hIm he'd hed him - he'd hed ' be site s'lfe slfe safe ' siteThere s'lfeThere safeThere There was no time to lose , but Bill gauged those moving movingwheels muscleThen wheels carefully . He nerved himself and tensed every muscle Then roll.He rollHe , as a front wheel flashed by , he started to roll . timeBill Ume'lBIIl Be He hit the rail and started to go o\er o er over 0 \ ' er . . Would he get across in Ume'l Umel time ? ' BIIl Bill didn t know hnow because his eyes were shut . He didn dldn t dare look at the thing thething ofthe he be was doing Then , all at once , be he felt himself go over the top p of the rail He opened his eyes and saclear saw sa\\ sa \ clear sky st.y sty . 0\ 0 ov overhead 0erhead ' \ erhead erl erlp erl"Then r end He had made it . ! ' allover "Then Then " , " says Bill . , " "came came " came the reaction . . 1 I began trembling all over and got sick as a dog And to this day the mere sight of a , hopper bottom coal car can give me a bad case of chillsWNU chills . " i-WNU i WNU ( } - 0 --WNU WNU - - WNU Servle Service S rrlce |