| Show THE TRAVELING correspondence I 1 could fill all volumes obeying what a velling travelling tra correspondent does not hesi hei tate to do in obeying orders in 1868 1 I was making a tour of some of the southern states especially with a view of getting at the bottom of the doings of the ku klux fairly and squarely without bias sometimes I 1 had to sleep leop in a negros cabin on the road ma aide in a lonely part of the country at other times I 1 fared well at city hotels had I 1 known when I 1 started from new york what I 1 was expected to do I 1 think I 1 should have shown the white feather I 1 was in starting simply told to logo go to nashville and at tend a convention that was to be held there when I 1 arrived I 1 found orders for me which said you will make a tour of these states and avoid when possible the beaten roads of travel 01 and then the details were given sis as to what I 1 should do this meant an n the country out cut evidently well I 1 went to nashville expecting to return in three days f I 1 never left the south for several months thanks to that avoid the beaten roads of travel order but I 1 will give only one incident of this tough stough assignment to show what a correspondent has to do to succeed sometimes even at the risk of his life I 1 managed to get fort pillow Pillo wP forrest the famous confederate cavalry officer to cot coi sent to talk to me full fully about the ku klux I 1 was in na nashville and he be was in memphis I 1 had to meet him on a certain day other wise my great opportunity was gone besides I 1 knew that a cincinnati newspaperman newspaper man was then on his bis WRY way to co memphis for the same purpose that knowle knowledge dize of itself made me desperate I 1 left nashville one evening but during the journey to my dismay the train broke down I 1 found that the only way I 1 could make up for lost time was to walk several miles but I 1 was warned that I 1 would have to cross a rocky stream on the narrow side planking of a huge trestle I 1 hundred feet long and thirty dwity feet high I 1 did the walking well till J reached that trestle it was a shaky affair and I 1 wonder how on earth a train in those days ever got over it safely after the wear and tear it bad rot got from war transportation work fortunately the moon was 49 hining and abd the sky was clear I 1 used my gripsack as a balance medium at times and was half way over when I 1 heard a whistle blow and the low rumble of a train behind the dins cliffs ahead of me it was a at agle track I 1 was walking on too I 1 dont know but I 1 think my hair stood on end like needles anyhow I 1 felt as if somebody had bad suddenly pulled it up by the roots and then dropped a piece of lee ice down my back there was a slight curve at the end of the trestle towards which I 1 was making nay way and I 1 could then see no train but I 1 saw it soon enough the shimmering of the headlight head light through the trees away beyond the trestle grow grew brighter and the rumble of the oars care grew louder and louder there was no time to be lost the engineer could never see me until he struck the trestle and then all the breaks in the world could not stop the train from rushing over where I 1 tood stood well that train went completely over me yet I 1 met forest the next day dined with him and had a three column collind interview with him on the wires twenty four hours afterwards afterward which interview inter view I 1 am happy to sagy ay henry watterson the brilliant editor of the L louisville courier journal copied in his paper with big headlines head lines when he saw it in the herald now let me ins say that although that train went over me the only damage it did was to make me drop the gripsack sack in the stream on the rocks below my only safety was not to follow the gripsack grip sack and yet it I 1 would I 1 not be crushed by the oars cars it was a question of policy that had to be settled as quick as lightning across the track reaching from rail to raid mid there were iron brace rods about two feet apart on almust almost a dead level with the lower part of the beams on which the ralls rails rested with both hands I 1 grasped hold bold of one of these before the train reached me and clung to it as if it was a love trapeze with my body swinging above the stream but of course below the tracks richard wad himi himself self again when the cars h had ad swept by and as vve said I 1 was able to fulfil fulfill my forrest mission |
