d passing into the town. They left Chattanooga on a train
bound for Atlanta, buying tickets for Marietta. They reached Marietta in
safety, and went to different hotels for the night. They had arranged
to meet again at four o'clock the next morning and take the north-bound
train. Two of the men were not called by the clerk of the hotel at which
they stopped: consequently they overslept, and their companions had to
go on without them when the train arrived. They had learned that Big
Shanty had no telegraph office, and that it was a breakfast station. At
that point Andrews determined to capture the locomotive. It was not long
before the brakeman put his head in at the door of the car and yelled
out, "Big Shanty! Twenty minutes for breakfast!"

Andrews and his men looked out of the windows of the car as the train
drew up at the station, and the sight they saw was not calculated to
make them feel certain of success. Opposite the station was a field
covered with the tents of soldiers, and in and around the station
thousands of soldiers were loitering and standing about. When the train
stopped, Andrews, the leader, and Knight, an engineer who had come with
the party, rose and left the coach on the side opposite the depot, and
went to the locomotive, which they found empty. They also saw that the
track was clear. Andrews and Knight then walked back until they came to
the last of the three box cars. Andrews told his engineer to uncouple
the baggage car from the box car, and then wait for him. Knight did as
he was told, while Andrews walked leisurely back to the passenger coach,
opened the door, and said quietly, "Now is our time, boys! Come on!"

The men rose at once and went out of the coach. Knight, as soon as he
saw them coming, climbed into the locomotive, cut the bell rope, and
stood with his hand on the throttle, waiting for the word. Andrews stood
near the locomotive, and motioned with his hand for the men to get into
the box cars, the doors of which were slid back. All the men were now in
the box cars except Andrews, Knight, and another engineer named Brown,
who ran forward and climbed into the locomotive. While this was going
on, a sentinel stood within half a dozen yards of the train, but he
had no idea what was occurring. Andrews gave the signal to go ahead.
Instantly Knight pulled the throttle valve open, and the locomotive
started forward with a jerk. It went puffing and snorting out of Big
Shanty without let or hin