Show TilE THE TiE LAST CURTAIN CALL URIOUS appellation appella I tion for a citizen S of this eat great commonwealth com corn a On I Iland Thompson I It came to him 12 quite naturally i. i His mother called callec caled him John Jolla away aay bAk in the musty musty boyhood days but TV when hen he began bean starring on the stage in in a play called caled On Hand iland and used big six sheet stands of bills bis for his big country billing a bl big red hand and Thompson emblazoned em em- emI I blazoned thereon they gave him his bis subsequent title tite His Ills play was a a. marvel of astounding dramatic and with red lire fire fre extending from tho the wings like moisture from well pressed clay The towns afflicted d On Hand by Ian were mostly mooty located in Central Illinois even eyen as far down clown as Egypt Thompson had a charming wi wife and a pretty golden golden- haired little girl ir that he frequently when her hel mother consented farmed out to o Uncle Toms Tom's Tora Cabin to play Little Eva E These hese pay two ho formed his family gods and aud likewise his ills family goods gOOtS for he had no other property With this little literary the overture O saddest allow alow episode me re in to tho the introduce introduce in in- Thompson family Have you rou ever been down in Central Illinois Well Wel for black mud big fields corn railways rail cornfeld trading horse poor rai S ways and general cussedness ednes the small smal town and country contributing thereto in Stark Tazewell ana anti and antiS S counties have hav lon long ranked hi h. h Anti And it ib was down there theN some fifteen or sixteen years back that old On Hand lland received his last curtain call The he nock lock Island and Peoria Peora Railway Rail Bail Rai- Rai way is a to the Great Rock Island Route and in the days clays ays I speak of was WIS an independent trunk line hue of O 02 92 miles mies in tapping a pretty rich coal countr country but so generally gen emily hard up that receivers were as lS common a as a rotten roten ties and every ever mile mie of the road was supported sup sup- I ported by bodied able mortgages Remember Im I'm Im speaking of those days Wel Well one lovely spring day it waa wal discovered by the On Hand Dramatic Company that they were short of bill bill- bi- bi in lug ng matter and Ind John Thompson loft left his Thespians sheltered in the tile shadow of a country hotel and started d fo for fOJ Peoria Leoria to replenish his printing He lie le kiss kissed d his pretty little wife wie good-bye good and alid under the somewhat unusual caress cre car car- cr- cr e ess to borrow to-borrow borrow 5 the poor pOOl little littIe woman had saved up and kept concealed from her husband Then John started He spent the day in Peoria eoria meeting very convivial fellows singing old songs practicing at the bar until it was too late to take the evening evening even- even ing ng passenger train so he be started out outto outto outto to to make a night of it It was Vas with trembling limbs sick stomach but a fat bottle of whisky that hat On Hand Thompson got on to t. t freight caboose early morning morn morn- ing ng away up at the yards near the roundhouse He Ho was en route for the town own where Mollie and the baby waited waited wait wait- ed for him The rite road winds about the hills and bluffs blut luCE i back backof of Peoria thereby giving a continuous grade ade for nearly six miles The lie actor and his load lay sluggishly alon along a bench in the caboose and after aft aCt er aT the railroad wit of the brakeman had bad rattled carelessly over his form he be was left leftin in peace to sleep and dream It was ngn against st the rules but they did it just the same The conductor hll had l his breakfast in in a pail and ad sat on n tile the lire man s seat in m the engine cab and the thu bead head brakeman was WIlS idly swinging ing around on the wheel of the second car Then tile the hind brakeman whose place while the train is in motion is supposed t to al always al- al wR ways be in tho the cupola of f the caboose clam clambered berel out and started across the tops of the for Cor a a. confab with his forward That was wasa bad for On Hand lland a man Thomp Thomp- son Suddenly the engineer conductor and antt crew felt the part of the train they were on make a sudden leap like an unleashed greyhound and with witha a a. startled look the expel experienced eng eor eol leaned awa away out of ot his cab and said Good gracious gradous Pete weve we've broke in two The conductor was only vaguely alarmed There bad had on other occasions occa occa- siong been similar accidents but nothing nothing noth noth- ing had happened Nosey on oil the caboose Hell He'll set sether sether her en then well we'll go o back en catch the old sash an blind factory said tho the con taking a bite bito from his plug plu of tobacco and aud beginning to climb down from his bis comfortable seat Tho Cho forward part of the train had shot around a curve and the conductor tor now noticed that tho the engine was pulling but five 11 box and two flatcars Then lie he mentally ran over oyer the full train complement and decided tha 11 rei and aud a caboose composed cut the By the time they had set several brakes and reversed the engine the conductor learned that the forward part of the tho train held his hi two brake brake- men You idiots he lie cried that train will start backward and no power hereabouts can stop its career until it turns bottom side up somewhere in inthe inthe the tue yards urda On the run started the conductor and his crew around the cur o between two high bluffs and BUd when 10 minutes Inter they stood at the top of f a straight stretch of down grado track they turned very pale and looked one oneat oneat oneat at the other pretty much in the wa waI way I fancy two WO telegraph operators look Jook after signaling ft n train wrong and knowing kno that there thero would soon be a disaster This was what they looked upon Scooting down the track thundering over o culverts high tre trestle tle bridges arid arfa at times scorning to lift clear of the theiron lion iron rails was th the hind section of the train on Jt its unbidden wa way to Peoria The rIle hn break t 1 of a ft link occurred about rivet five mites out and at the tue carr carp web going i it would wOllI only be a fow low rain min rainS S S l 1 i j i i f 1 rt i 1 S S iZ SS S S utes before the yards railway the shops chops the roundhouses and and the passenger passenger passenger pas pas- depot would le reached by tho the runa runaway way Good heavens there were scores of switch engines any number of passenger passenger ger trains being switched about tho the yards and all aU unconscious of the tho oncoming on on- coming train I was an of therode tile the rode at the time and was up at the shops on business when the shrill of the little shifting engine standing in front of the roundhouse called every ery one outside It was WitS a a. thrilling sight The Tile rod caboose leading leading lead lead- ing and rocking until it seemed impossible impossible impossible im im- im- im possible for fur it to stick to the rails On the roof of tho the second car bad back of the caboose was a man his white face and anti terrified expression chilling tho the blood and causing more than one hardened railroader to turn away sick and weak with fear There Thero wasn't any earthly power could add many minutes to the span of On Hand lIand Thompsons Thompson's life hero here bel below ow Then the tho rushing flying cars like specters swept past the tho shops and down Waller WaHer street t toward the depot The lucky little grasshopper as the tile smaller Vitchen s ines were wele called caned in those days had had time to betin get bet et etin in on a si side track and then throw th the switch back for the main mainline mainline mainline line but it was a pretty white looking en engineer that sat motionless in hi his big cab w watching the runaway sweep on Farther down Vu the yards ards near th the tJi big brewery was a large shifting engine with wiLls a crew crow sitting on the cow catch or er r lazily pulling puffing along Happening to lookup ook up the head switchman saw the tho on-coming on car carS carr heard the shrill blasts of warning from the engines up at the nock lock Island road shops shops- and ancl with a a. arell yell rell a curse and a scramble ho he was on his way down the little declivity toward to to- ward yard the Illinois J River niver or Peoria Lak f fig as if it i ia itt pallor Lu Luckily i the engineer an and 1 the fireman fireman fire fire- fireman man of the shifting engine heard the tho thorell yell rell and they fell rather than sprang from com the cab the foot of the embankment an and then tearing along out ol ot dangers danger's way There isn't much more moro to tell Old ld railway men said it was a a. little bit the worst wreck they bad had ever seen The caboose struck tho the shifting shirting engine there was a ra- ra port ort a roar of escaping steam pieces pieces' lying lIying through the air then tilen the entire mass of debris splintered carp care gnarled gnarl gnarl- ed sd iron running gear wheels pieces of boiler and somewhere mixed up with the he rest bits of On Han Hand Thomp- Thomp son on Six cars and the engine rolled over and over to the edge of the lake and there of road rail was a ers era rs and the search began for the man man seen een a moment before beCore on top the second second sec eec ond car clinging to the tho brake wheel i After hard work they pulled the actor out of tho the mass of wreckage his his' face faco aco made up by grim death for tho minor role in the game of Masks and Faces Paces Blood makes a sorry pigment On Hand wasn't quite I finished He couldn't respond to em an nn encore but he managed to whisper I something to a rou rough b tearful switchman switchman switch switch- man who was holding holdin his battered battered- head lead in his lap Jap f What do you suppose it was Oh no not a prayer I am afraid old Id On Hand had left leCt that out of of his repertoire so long that he be wasn't ip fn the lines Something ipg about his his' Yo You are right fight When the blood stained lips were were tenderly enderly wiped and his parched throat revived by a swallow of cool water he le softly and with extreme difficulty said aid Tell that please Mollie please that that the printing lie printing n and programs programs are are all right ight Up Up-by Up by express express L. today L. 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