Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-06-25
dollars. Understand it, Harrys Five
thousand dollars -


'Of course, understood it. saw now
1 the reason why the wages had been cut
| down / understood it all, and my blood
boiled. | felt that | would save the road
| if | lived, and told Roberts so.
' See that you do it, Harry he replied
as he climbed up the steps Of the coach.
which was coupled to my engine.
6 spraug up into the foot board. got w
! the switch tender to help my fireman,
| opened the throttle. and, just as she cons
meneed moving, looked at my watch-it
was just eleven O'Clock, so that had one
hour to make my seventy five miles in.
:" From y to G. there were few
curves in the road but there were several
! heavy grades. | was perfectly acquainted
with every rod Of it; 50 that knew exact
| ly what | lad to encounter and when
saw how the engine was moving felt very
little fear Of the result.
" The road, for the first few miles, was
an air line, and so smooth that my engine
few along with scarcely perceptible jar.
was SO busy, posting myself up as to the
amount OF wood ard water aboard. etc
| that We danced by the first station almost
before was aware Of it, having been five
minutes out, and having FIVE miles accom-,
| plished.
49, You are losing timel' yelled voice
from the coach. | looked around, and
there stood Roberts with his watch in his
hand.
g knew very well that we would have
to increase our speed by some means, if we
carried out our plans Ct reaching CT by
midnight, and looked anxiously around, to
see what l could do to accomplish that
purpose. She was blowing of steam
fiercely at one hundred and ten pounds, so
| turned down the valve to two hundred,
| for | knew she needed it all to make some
of the heavy grades which lay between us
and C.
1t was three miles to the next station.
With the exec ptihn of few curves, the
track was as good as the last. As we
darted around what commonly seemed to
be rather long curve, at the station, but
which was, at our high speed. short err )ugh,
| looked at my watch, and we had done il
in two minutes and q half
"' Gaining | shouted back to Roberts,
who was standing on the platform of the
coach.
80 Look out for the heavy grades he
replied, and went inside the car.
The next six miles rose gradually from
level, the first, to ten and half feet
grade, The last, which lay between us and
the next station. My fireman kent her
iuli and now she began to get hot The
furnace door was red, and the steam raised
continually +; So that she kept her speed,
and passed the station like streak of light
in five minutes.
Now came niEe miles like the last ::
over which she kept pace with her time
and passed the station IN seven minutes.
Here, for ten miles, we had twenty
foot grade to encounter; but the worst of
1t all was, at this place we would be obliged
to stop for wood. was just going ia speak
Roberts about it, when | looked around
and saw him filling the tender from the
coach, with wood which had been placed
there before starting, while he was como
after me-
81 believe We would have made this ten
miles at the same speed as before but
through the earelessuess of the fireman, the
fountain valve, on the left hand side of the
engine, got opened, and the water rose in
the boiler, 50 far as to run the steam down
to one hundred pounds, before | discovered
where the difficulty lay.
" At first Roberts didn't appear to notice
the decrease o. speed, and kept at work at
the wood as if ordear life But presently
| he looked up, and seeing that the speed had
decreased, he shouted:
as larry, we are stoppingr
And then coming over to where was.
he said:
Why, here we have been ten minutes
on the last ten miles and | believe W will
come t. dead stand, if something is not
done. The speed is continually Stacking.
| What is the NATTER?
explained the cause. lie was apnar>
antly satisfied with my explanation. and
after having tied down :he safety valve. he
climbed back over the tender, exhorting
me to put her through, for Gods sake, or
we are beggars togetherv
Just then we passed the next station
having taking nine minutes for eight miles
We were now more than half over the road
and we had lost nearly ten minutes times
and had left only twenty seven minutes to
do thirty four miles in.
g had shut the water off both nv pumps
a little back, where discovered what was
the matter, and she was now making steam
finely down as,ight grade From less than
one hundred, with which we started over
that ten mile stretch, she had two humid
red before we finished it; and as the gage
indicated no higher than that and the
valve was tied down, | could not tell how
much over two hundred pounds she carried.
but she certainly carried none less the rest
OF the journey. And wei might she carry
such an enormous head of steam for after
passing over that ten miles in eight min
utes. there lay ten miles of i've feet up
grade, and fourteen miles of a twentv.to-
the mile depression between us and c..
and it was now eleven O'Clock and forty.
seven minutes,
s. Now the engine was hot in earnest
The furnace door, smoke arch and chimney
all were red; while she seemed to fv or
ward, as if the very evil one himself ope-
rated her machinery.
"Six minutes carried us over that ton
miles and we darted by the last station
that had lain between us and C Now
we had fourteen miles to go, and nv time
showed eleven o'clock and fifty three min
! utes.
"If I live said I, to myself, Il will
make it, and we plunged down the twenty
| feet grade with all steam on. Persons
| who saw the train on that wild run. said
! that it was so soon after they heard the
| first sound Of her approach, when the
| strange object, which looked as if it was a
fame Of fire, darted by, and then the sound
Of its travelling died away in the distance,
and they could hardly convince themselves
that they had seen anything. 1t seemed
more like q creature of wild dream than
a sober reality.
" And now let me tell you, that no engi.
neer ever beat the time we made on those
fourteen miles. Those great wheels, eleven
feet 10 diameter, spun around so swiftly
that you couldn't begin to count the revo-
lutions. The engine barely seemed to touch
the track as she few along and although
the track was as true as it was possible for
it to be, she swayed fearfully, and some
times made such nrodigious .jolts that it re
/ quired considerable skill for one to keep his
! feet. No engine would hold together If