Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-03-24
LIFE UPON THE RAILROAD.

LIFE UPON THE RAILROAD,
The best part of my life has been spent upon
railroads, and the last ten years as q locomotive
engineer. | am prepared to speak from facts. and
the first one is this:
1t has always seemed strange to me that the
public take 50 little notice whether they have a
good, careful and sober engineer to guide them OH
their journey. That fact is never thought Of
But let me say to them that the man who holds
the throt:le-valve in his hands, he who regulates
and guides the awful power that drags them on
ward with almost the speed of thought, has more
to do with their safety than he usually gets credit
for.
In the first place, we will admit that trains are
liable to accident, and especially passenger trains,
that at times run almost at lightning speed
There are a great macy different kinds of danger
to be unprecedented when on a fast run. In the fret
place, that of broken rails-and upon a night run
it is impossible for 40 engineer to see them until
it is too late. Then agsin, there are switches set
wrong by villains or by the stupidity Of those who
have charge Of them. which is not an Uncommon
occurrence. Then, there are cattle upon the track,
rocks falling down deep cuts. embaukments giving
out. and a thousand and one things that the trav-
cling public never give a passing thought.
l was led into the above reflections by an acct
dent not long since, in which / was the engineer
on the night express from - To-. Our
leaving time was 10 p. NJ, but we did not get
away till III p. n, on account of waiting for con-
Meeting trains.
Our regular running time was thirty-6ye miles
per hour, and it was sEpected that | was to make
OF the lost hour by faster running. A speed far
too great for the condition of our road at that time;
however, if the wheels kept under the engine, i
was bound to make ii.
The night was intensely dark, aud for the first
City miles we did well, and made up twenty-five
and ten mint ties later | would not have
given q fnrthing for the lives Of all on board that
train. We were on a heavy descending grade,
with high em%bankments, and | " as giving her all
the steam that she Gould work, the scale indicating
one hundred and twenty pounds to the square
inch. You may be sure that, with a six-foot
wheel, We were going at a tremendous speed
All at once we discovered by the flicker of the
headlights, and but q short di-tauce ahead, the
bright show Of horses feet. twinkling as the light
glanced upon them. knew that q few rods from
the spot, re passed through a large covered
bridge, AM whether those horses would leave the
track before reaching the bridge. | could not de.
termine. | knew it was impossible to C me to a
stop tefars We reached the bridge, at the speed
~e vera running.
l was also aware that the horses could not get
over the bridge, as there was nothing but ties for
them to walk upon. Whom first discovered
them, | had whistled down brakes We we're
gaining upon them, when, after reaching the
bridge, in the place of turning Of, they both,
side by side, jumped through the track between
the ties. and their whole bodies lay upon the
track.
Now, ! had rather run over any four-footed ami
ma: than a horse. They are almost sure to throw
a train IF the track, and in this case / had two to
contend with, both fast in the middle Of the track,
and that too in a wooden bridge with a span Of
eighty feet from the creek below.
saw at once our case was desperate, and az
desperate cases need a desperate remedy, ms
tantly whistled of brakes pulled the throttle
valve wide open. and resolved 10 strike them at
City miles per hour, for that | knew was our last
and only chance. Frank, my fireman. saw how
things stood. Poor fellow! he had been on the
IOdc iOT u iOuS hWos Dut Nuis was tue Hres time he
ever knew fear. His face was deadly pale. lie
~crouebed down in the tender among the wood. |
knew that he saw death ahead. As for myself, /
thought over all my past life in a fash. yet 1 was
not excited. 1t is true | saw a shocking death
approaching with lightning speed. and thoughts of
home and those | loved flashed upon my memory.
| said to myself-'Be q man, and live or die at
your duty
l shut my eyes, and with a laundering roar we
were upon them. | felt the old engine quiVer. aud
hen a dull, grinding sound, as flesh, blood and
homes we're ground together, aad Cor a few seconds
| knew nothing, I soon came TO my senses. My
face was covered with blood and e~n,rails. and 10
fact the whole engine was perfectly eiogged with
gore and horse flesh. We were yet laundering on.
I whis'led down the brakes. aud We stopped about
a mile from the spot. The engine looked like
some huge 6end believing for more blood, ADD
serAping the ground with its ponderOus claws
The conductor came forward 10 learn what the