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As Bell turned and ran, the V-shaped engine pil

ot on the front of the locoiant, he tue of the deck before catching hied in the steelwork, Isaac Bell watched the loco way down, and for a moment the entire train seemed suspended in the air

The loco of cars thundered into the river with a splash that deluged the banks Strealow cherry red in the gondolas But the cars were heaped in a tight string across the riverbed like the closely bunched islands of a barrier beach that protected the mainland from the power of the ocean Floodwater tumbled over and around them, its force dissipated, its impact diminished

The Cascade Canyon Bridge stopped shaking The fallen train had diverted the flood And as Isaac Bell passed in and out of consciousness, he saw the electric work lights blaze to life again as bargeloads of railroad men swarmed back into the caissons to buttress the piers

59

BRAVING A BLIZZARD, CROWDS GATHERED BEFORE A GRAYSTONE mansion at Thirty-seventh Street and Park Avenue to watch the guests arrive at the wedding of 1908’s winter season: the union of a son of Old New York and the daughter of a shirtsleeve railroad titan Those observing a handso the snowy sidewalk to mount the steps of the entle the arm of the beautiful woman at his side so she would not slip on the ice The opposite was true, but no one heard Isaac Bell say to Marion Morgan, “Who needs a walking stick when he has a strong woman to lean on?”

“A detective recovering fro …”

“Only slightly Never would have made it, otherwise”

“… nearly bleeding to death, infection, and pneumonia, is who”

“If that cameraman takes my picture, I’ll shoot him”

“Don’t worry I told him that Picture World would fire him and throw his family in the street if he points it anywhere near you Do you have the ring?”

“In my vest pocket”

“Hold tight, darling, here come the steps”

They made it, Bell pale with effort Butlers and footasped at the flowers arrayed through the foyer and up the grand staircase “Sweet peas, roses, and cherry blossoet them?”

“Anywhere it’s spring beside the father of the bride’s railroad tracks”