Show 1 J AOU N HU miracle on a brid bridge e f by FLOYD GIBBONS OW its a well known fact boys and girls that adventurers NOW have adventures but why is it nobody ever gives a thought to adventurers wives they have adventures too particularly if they travel around with their husbands like grace stanley of fairview N J mrs stanley is the wife of the late col king stanley a traveler and adventurer of long standing during the four years that she traveled with him she says she had enough adventure to fill an encyclopedia but the one that gave her the biggest thrill a and nd also the worst fright happened down in the wild and woolly state of texas in the spring of 1926 grace stanley and the colonel were taking a trip by automobile from texas to shreveport la just beyond marshall texas they ran into a severe storm and when storms are severe down on the texas plains severe and no mistake this one was a combination of thunder lightning rain and hail the rain came down in sheets there was no cover in sight and nothing to do but go on they were getting close to the state line when the car came to a bridge spanning a deep cut through which ran the tracks of the K X C and S railroad As they hit the end of that bridge grace heard a DEAFENING CRACK A sudden flash of light almost blinded her the car came to a sudden stop and the air was filled with a sulphurous smell lightning had it struck them with her heart in her mouth grace raised her eyes there were three people in the car her husband and the driver in the front seat and grace herself in the rear the men up front were all right grace breathed a sigh of relief but at the same time something inside of her was telling her to sit still not to move even so N X the driver got out on the running board much as a single muscle without moving her head she turned her eyes to the right the sight she saw there FROZE THE BLOOD in her veins the bolt of lightning had ripped away the entire corner of the bridge the car was standing on three wheels teetering precariously cariou sly over a fifty foot chasm its fourth wheel the left rear one hanging FAR OUT OVER SPACE then the lar car started to sagi sag the men in the front seat moving either they sat stiff and motionless with grim set expressions on their faces then slowly the car began to sag to the right toward the broken twisted wrecked side of the bridge there any time to waste quickly they talked the matter over decided the only thing that could save them was to shift as much we weight ight as possible to the left side of the car grace who was in the rear seat on the right side directly over the dangling wheel move because the seat beside her was filled with luggage it was up to the driver and the colonel to do the shifting the car settled a bit more grace held her breath as she felt herself sinking the driver opened the door slid over in his seat and I 1 got out on the he running S board both bo he and the colonel were big men both of f them weighed ed in the neighborhood eo hood of two hundred pounds and grace found herself 1 breathing a prayer of thankfulness for that in an agony of suspense she watched while the driver got out and her husband slid mhd over in in the seat to take his place behind the wheel all ali this time says grace the car kept on settling sown down toward the right it was probably only a minute or two but it seemed like a thousand years I 1 hugged as close to the baggage on the left as I 1 could but still the car settled it looked as if I 1 we were going over in spite of all our efforts saved by truck driver with a rope the colonel too was climbing out on the running board now shifting his weight as far to left as possible still the car sagged and there was nothing more they could do if they stepped from the running board the car would go over if grace tried to move it might furnish just the vibration needed to send the car off the bridge and down to the tracks fifty feet blow it was a heartbreaking situation death was staring her in the face and nobody dared to do anything about it but at that same moment help was in sight A small truck shot around a corner from the opposite direction and the driver saw what them had happened d he stepped on the gas and came speeding toward again grace was afraid to breathe would the vibration by the truck send them over the side set up but the driver ot of that truck had a lot of presence of mind also he had his hand a rope ile he leaped from his seat with the rope in looped it around the front of the fast car and then made it to the far side of the bridge colonel with the rope holding the car grace could get out she and the driver who went around to the back of the automobile to join the truck I 1 was them the fellow excitedly crying that nothing but a miracle had saved of the was right too the lightning had curled up the ironwork bridge off both right tires and like so nuch much straw one of the curls had ripped curl had completely ruined one side of the car another caught had kept them from under going the car over itself and that was the only thing that 0 service |