- Joined
- Jul 23, 2017
- Location
- Southwest Missouri
The Thomas O'Sullivan in Missouri
“There were no through trains except the specials. We stopped at every station. If we were informed in time that parties were anxious to get away on the train but hadn’t quite got their trunks packed, why, we would wait for them. It was the duty of the employees to be obliging. ‘
“Fate didn’t permit me to enjoy my career as boss of the ‘Chickasaw’ very long. The incident which caused me to abandon railroading occurred in Buchanan county in 1862. The ‘Chickasaw’ was pulling a special containing officers of the road into St. Joseph. Much trouble had occurred of late through the activity of bushwhackers and we were keeping a sharp lookout. The ‘Chickasaw,’ with safety valve popping off, was rolling smoothly along, making good time, when we came in sight of the Platte river bridge. An instant later I saw a man step on the bridge and signal us to stop. About the same time we noticed great volumes of smoke rolling up from the bridge. There were two guesses as to the motive of the man who was waving his hands at us. He might be a section hand warning us against danger or he might be a bandit intending to hold us up. I adopted the latter view of the dilemma and pulled the throttle wide open. The conductor, who had been looking out from the cars, took issue with me and signaled for me to stop. I felt a bit like a mutineer on the high seas, but as I knew the conductor’s object as well as mine was to get the train through safely, I put my judgment against his. As we swept on to the bridge a gang of long haired fellows rose up out of the brush and fired into us. The conductor, in the meanwhile, had crossed the tender and come into the cab, laid flat on the deck with us and the train thundered safely across the bridge.
The fire had been started too late to weaken the timbers. The only damage done was the shattering of glass in the car windows. There was considerable money on the train, and doubtless the bandits had learned of this. After getting a safe distance we slowed up and looked back. The bridge was entirely in flames.
“When we pulled into St. Joseph, Master Mechanic H. A. Rowley came up and congratulated us for the nerve he thought we had displayed in pulling the train out of danger. I told him for my part that I was much obliged, but I resigned my job as engineer right then and there, and soon afterwards joined the 9th Missouri Cavalry, under Colonel Odin Guitar.
I slept easy of nights after that.”
from the General History of Macon County, Missouri