New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-09-26

/ And dark howe'er Hfs,s night NAV be- -
Beyond the grave I'll meet with thee. .1 \
From the New York Courier and Enauirer1
5.es Railroad Sketches. m
There were in conveyance across the Erie
Railroad some valuable horses They formed
part of the burthen Of long and ponderous cat
tie train which was bearing to market-to that
extraordinary city market which never seems to
be SO full as to be cheap-a drove of which, be-
fore the railroad era, would have, with slow de-
lays, been driven on foot over the long and
weary ways, pasturing for the night wherever
chance shelter might be available, and SUBJ
jected to all the losses and casualties Of labor
ious travel. They were now in comfortable
cars, resting even while they journeyed, wonder
ing, if that emotion is known beyond the circle
of man. that they were the passive instead Of
the active, in transportation. Not having a
clear perception of the future, the brief and
conclusive calamities Of the abattoirs were hid
from them
1t was night of intense cold, and however
luxurious to cattle, whose experience of floor
and roof is limited to the attendants, the ere
vices and openings of the cars let in entirely
more of the wild north wester than was agree
able The owner of the horses in the car near
the tender had an apartment rather better
guarded, and as he understood the ways of his
animals. he was not in the same fear which
others less experienced would have of being
with them Nor is it without real danger to
ride in car with a horse The sudden start
may break the halters, and in the fright scene
of plunging and trampling takes place, in the
midst of which the presence of man might, for
hisown sake, be well spared He who rides
with his horse in the car must have courage and
energy, SO that he shall not be APPALLED, at a
false alarm, and that if he is in danger he. can
mount and keep his perilous position unharmed
The train was approaching the long seven
miles down grade which occurs just before en-
tering Deposite from the Westward. At the
last station the Superintendent had deemed it
best to have two very heavily burthened cars
affixed to the rear of the train, They greatly
augmented the load, and the Engineer demur-
red, but the discipline was good, and the order
was obeyed. It gave the engine enough to do
on the level grade, and all it wanted on an
ascent. What precisely it was to do when the
heavy grade was to run down, was not quite
clear. The Engineer had nerve, however, and,
while he doubted the safety, he did not falter
The cars coupled, the slight blow was given to
the starting-bur, and the train was off The
engine gave forth its exhaust (as the word is
quantity phrased of engines that know no ex-
haustion) with vigorous whistle, and over the
level the wheels rolled sharp and hard in the
bitter frost ss7G r
The train was due at Deposite at such a time
as would cause it to meet another, which by
bIto tlul0 MaS lu uc uu NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. bue
passage of the Western Cattle train In few
minutes my informant found that the down
grade had been reached. He had with him
several of his friends who were in the same bust
ness, and who had left their uncomfortable cars
for his pleasanter one. The tremendous pres
sure of the load soon bore upon the engine.
The stout cattle, the heavy and weighty cars,
and the great additional burthen which had
been added at the last station, crowded on the
machine, from which the engineer, soon realiz-
ing the condition of his train, had withdrawn
the steam, 50 that it moved by its own momen-
tus alone. .-s
Another and more appalling truth soon mani
Tested itself, that with the increase of cars addi
| tional brakemen had not been sent, and that the
| brake force was becoming powerless. Power
! less it soon became as velvet touch, rather
| than grasp on the wheels. The ice ON the rail
rendered even the force that was applied USE
less, and each instant increasing, that train
| first rolled, then tore along; my informant says
he knew of no gradation of speed. From the
moment that the down grade was reached, it
seemed to him and his companions, shut up as
| they were in that close apartment with animals
whose strength would at the first terror arouse
to destruction--to him that sensation was as if
the train fell! 1t had that peculiar motion, not
continuous or regular, as in the rapid roll of
the wheels, but as if all else but the train were
away, and it was going at the speed of huge
| mass falling, and the acclivity Of descent in
/ creasing each secondhand all this fearful time
| that train at Deposite was to be met -
/ They knew it was to be met, Engineer, and
| firemen, and brakeman, and conductor, and the
hardy drovers that were the passengers, knew
it, and in their terrific speed they feared less, il
it might be, for themselves than for the doomed
| train, through which, and over which, amidst
dead and mangled men, and crushed fragments
never stopping for shrek or sorrow, their train
would go The miles they were passed over, nt
man thinking of their existence The trair
tore onwards, The men upon it intensely con
scious, and even the cattle appalled, by q new
sensation. The engineer stood on bis platform
knowing that the widest and most appalling
danger was about him, in shape or form irresis
tible if the thread of safety snapped. The
4 speed made leap for life but more rapid rush
to death. He could not retreat The wheels
refused the least adherence to the brake. The
ponderous train drove itself madly on, and il
an instant more, Deposite was to be reached.
+ Perhaps every mans experience shows, it il
most probable, that on the train coming west
!, ward there were those who were provoked a
!. the delay which prevented them from reaching
! deposite It was, they said, too bad to be be
: hind time, (as if time was not often our shielt
: from sorrows1. The train ought to be at il
card place Indeed, if they were the manager
I of the road the trains would never be out of th'
minutes. Every car usually has on it some o
these safe reformers, who accomplish all impos
sibilities, it being SO safe and easy to theorise
It did not arrive, the grumblers were not ye