Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-11-25
An Escaped LOcOmOtive-.A De-
structiOn turned Aside.
"Of all the words by tongue or pen,
The s,pectest are, it might have been. J."

X "Of all the words by tongue or pen,
The s,ueetest are, it might have been"
Between FIVE and six yesterday morning,
two passenger locomotives going in oppo-
site directions on the Little Miami Road
came in collision near theInew turn-table, a
mile or so above the Front street Depot.
The engineers saw each other in time to
"reverse," and one, or both sprang to the
ground in anticipation of the shock, which,
however, was not great, as neither was en-
numbered by the momentum of a train
But the force of the collision jerked the
throttle valve of the upward train wide
open, and before the engineer could regain
his footing, it leaped back with a fearful
bound and disappeared, city-ward. in the
thick fog! Horror seized the men gather
ed at the depot, for the escaped monster
was fired up for the Express run 10 Chilli
co;he, and roaring under full head OF
steam; right in its path a mile below were
a hundred passengers settled on their
cushioned seats in the Columbus Express,
soon to leave the Depot. and beyond these
an unalarmed city of two hundred thou
sand soulsl a..iri Ar~' '<ip s''l ''s!f
It was all with God. No power could
follow after, and the doomed people hardly
warned by the trembling ground and the
clank of insane machinery, before the Wis
tation was upon them! d )" Hst h7.''HI
Fortunately, should we not say Provi-
dentially, switch under the arch of the
depot, Mat.should hare been open to the out
going train, had been left shut by neg
ligent watchman, and the fiery iron comet,
going now at seventy miles an hour, swept
drought the building, almost singing the
faces of the horror stricken subjects of a
Passover in the crowded passenger cars on
the parallel track-on, right on, through
the eastern wall of the Depot, and now
leaving the track, out upon the city! For
tunately, again the direction of the engine
was aside from the crowded street, and led
straight into one of those huge piles of
stone coal, that at this season fill the yards
of our fuel merchants. Into this-nearly
fifty feet from the depot-the engine sail
ed, absolutely without touching the inter
mediate ground. There it buried itself and
wallowed in its own wreck until its fires
had gone down and its steam quite spent.
People in Newport heard the unusual
noise made by the clang of the flying en-
gine, and came over on the ferry boat 10
learn the cause. a-- f.. I.lft '
The Ticket Agent of the Little Miami,
in attempting to describe the appearance of
the locomotive as it came through the de-
pot, used the most expressive paradox,
II saw sudden noise go By, and all was
still againI' -~ir-i ii.'l'
The exact circumstances of the collision
are not easily learned. The Little Miami
Locomotive, Jno. Kugler, was backing down
from Pendeton Shop to take out the A.
M. Express, and the Washington was 60
ing up to the turnpike switch for the cars
of the Marietta Express that followed the
Columbus train with an interval of fifteen
minutes. The KugIer may have been a
little in advance Of its time, as it should
have left the shops-three miles above the
depot-at $50, and the majority of the
testimony makes the time of collision :23
to $50. On the The other hand, it was
it was incumbent an the Marietta Engi.
neer, to keep out of the Kugler's way, and
moreover, the apparent force Of the COLI
sion did not justify him in jumping from
his engine. But it is not true that the
latter gave his engine asteamp after he re-
versed, nor that he was Inexperienced on a
locomotive. He (Waterman) was the reg
ular engineer of the yard, or swithing en-
gine. is likely that both engines were
going too fast, considering the circum-
stances of time, and the thick fog Gin.
Com. ' .t -ii 'aHi sr'