Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-05-19
lille, OHIO, THURSDAY, MAY Ie 1859.
An Incident in the Life of a Loco
motive Engineer.

An Incident in the Tifezof Loco
motive Engineer.
In returning from Philadelpbis about ths
middle of August, 1858, the cars were very
crowded, and my companion in the sans
seat with me found to LOCOMOTIVES En-
gineer, and in the course of our conversa.
ton he made the remark he hoped he had
ran his last trip upon Locomotive.
Upon making bold to ask him ria reasons
he gave me the following story, and since
then / have found it out to be strictly true:
"Five years since was running upon the
IN. Y. C. r. R. Ny run was from B. to
R. 1t was the Lightning Express
Train, and it was what its name denotes
for it was fast-a very fast run, and if do
say il, the old 1'ornado could 60. l have
seen her throw her six feet drivers so as to
be almost invisible to the eye. And let me
here remark. it is supposed by many tina,
railroad engineers are q hard-hesrted set OF
men; their lives are hard, 'tis true, but do
claim to have as fine a-feeling. and heart
that can sympathize with the unfortunate
as any man that breathes. But to my story
.Abou: half mile from the village OF
B. there is nice little cottage but a
few feet from the track. At that time a
Young married couple lived there. They
had one child, little boy about four years
old, bright. black-eyed. curly headed little
chap as you ever saw. l had taken great
dea! of interest in the little fellow and had
thrown candy and oranges to him from the
train, and was sure to see him peeping
through the fence when my train passed.
"One fine sunny afternoon we were be.
hind time and running fast, nor did not stop
a, B., and was making up one hour
before reaching R. We came up at a
tremendous speed, and when sweeping
around the curve, my eye following the
track, not over two hundred feet ahead sat
the little fellow playing with a kitten which
he held in his lap. At the sound of cur ap-
prosch he looked up dfl f6ughed, cIapping
his little hands in high glee at the alright
ed kitten as it ran from the track. Quicker
than the lightning that blasts the Ia III pine
upon the mountain top, whIstled "down
brskes,r and reversed my engine, but |
knew it was impossible to stop. Nobly did
that old engine trv to save him. The awful
straining and writhing Of its iron drivers
told too plainly of the terrific velocity we
had attained. | was out of the cabin win
dow and down on the cow-catcher in q
flash. The little fellow stood still. l mo-
toned him off and shouted, his little blue
eyes opened wide with astonishment, and a
merry laugh was upon his lips. | held my
breath as we rushed upon him, made des-
perate attempt to save him, but missed, and
as his little body passed heard the feeble
cry of 'Mo,herp and the forward truck
crushed his body to atoms.
"Oh, God! that moment! may live,
sir, 10 be an old man, but the agony of that
moment can never be erased from my mem
ory. The cars stoPPed.some rods from the
spot, and ran back as soon as possible
His mother saw the train stop, and fear
full fcreboding flashed upon her at once
She came rushing franticslly to the spot
where we stood. Never shall forget the
look she gave me as she beheld her first
born a shapeless mass. would have given
nv whole existence to have avoided that
moment! | have seen death in all its forms
upon railroads. have seen men, women
and children msngled and killed. have
seen all this, but that little innocent boy
as he looked up in my face, and was killed
almost in my arms--it unnerved ME, and
from that day made a solemn VOW never to
run Locomotive any more.
THAT young mother is now in the Utica
Lunstic Asylum. From the hour her boy
was killed, reason had left lis throne"
He stopped and wiped the tears from his
eyes. and said: "You may think it weak in
me to shed tears, but cannot help it,
"No,' replied, "out think il noble; and
sir, would to Gsd every man had a heart as
large as yours"
have often thought since, how few are
those who give one passing though to the
man of strong nerve and stout arm, who
guides them through the darkness and
storms with the speed OF the wind safely to
their journeys end. They do not for mo-
ment turn their sttention to the iron mon.
ster that is dragging them forward with
fearful velocity to meet friends or relations
or home and all its loved ones They dc
not realize that ;he man who guides the
fiery monster holds all their precious lives
at his command, and that the least negli.
gence upon his part would cause sorrow
and mourning in thousand homes that are
now waiting the return Of the absen, loved
ones.