A goat flew above the telegraph line and an unusual wedding on a train

Continued stories from Rev. R. W. Brooks of Escambia, County, Alabama written in 1939 –

The goat continued eating

“It was while I lived at Bluff Springs, Florida, I was justice of peace, railroad agent, postmaster, and in all these jobs, which I held at one time, I mean all at once, many amusing incidents occurred.”

“One day as I was at the depot, and as usual, there were several men and boys standing around. The pay train came along running about sixty-five miles an hour, as it only had one car. The local freight had just unloaded some corn and some of it had spilled on the ground between the tracks. A little half-grown goat was in the middle of the track eating the corn when that fast train came thundering by and it very neatly picked up that goat and knocked it over the telegraph wires!

“A little boy about ten years old, and undersized, was standing there gazing at the train, and as the goat came down, it struck him on the shins and knocked his feet from under him making him fall on his nose. He and the goat got up about the same time, the little boy laughing. The goat said ‘Ba-a-a’ an switched his tail and went on eating corn.”

An unusual wedding

“Being justice of the peace, I had to perform many peculiar ceremonies One day a boy and girl, the boy about twenty, and the girl sixteen, came down from Georgiana, and with them were two men. They were as drunk as drunk could be and carry it.”

“The men went on to Pensacola for the license, and asked me to be at the midnight train and marry the couple on the platform if we could get the train to stop that long.”

“When the men arrived in Pensacola, they went to the judge’s office and just as they came in he was reading a telegram from the girl’s father, telling him not to issue the license. The men went on to Milton, got the license and came back on the same train.”

Married on the train going forty miles an hour

“When the train arrived at Bluff Springs, the conductor said he did not have a minute to lose as he had to make a connection at Flomaton.”

L & N. Railroad at Flomaton, Alabama ca. 1939 (Alabama Department of Archives and History)

“So I got on the train with them. He gave me the license, and as I got about half through the ceremony, I discovered that the license had been issued at Milton, but I went right on with the ceremony and married them.”

“When the passengers saw what was going on they all rose up and the conductor pulled off his cap, and the crowd cheered; so I married them with the train running forty miles an hour. At Flomaton the boy told me he didn’t have a cent but would pay me well for the night’s work, and in two weeks he sent me a two dollar bill.”

Rev. R. W. Brooks written in 1939

Once Alabama was admitted as a state of the United States of America on December 4, 1819, a great wave of immigrants from other states and countries came by flat-boats, pack-horses, covered wagons and ships to become the first citizens of the state. ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Statehood presents the times and conditions Alabama first citizens faced in lost & forgotten stories which include:

• Who Controlled And Organized The New State of Alabama?
• Tuscaloosa Had Three Other Names
• Chandelier Falls & Capitol Burns
• Alabama Throws Parties For General LaFayette
• Francis Scott Key Was Sent to Alabama To Solve Problems
• General Jackson’s Visit to Huntsville For A Horse Race Created Discord At Constitutional Convention

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About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey

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