Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-07-04

/ Il
4 dreamy old joke of No. 2, when my atten
ton was attracted to the cattlejobber
He was leaning half out of the window
and shouting "Stop stop!" at the very
/ p-top of his very loud voice. On our in
curing what was the matter, he replied
excitedly "Why, dang it! if we hain't
been and passed Yeckridge station, and me
and my mate had to get out there. Here
hi stop here, hi !" The last exclamation
was in a soft of prolonged shrek, which
woke the echoes as we shot into and roared
! through tunnel.
"My good man" ventured to remark
"you must be mistaken They would
never think of passing a station like Ack.
ridge without stopping, and certainly not
when they have passengers booked for it. y
Whether they sud or they sudDt, they
hev dun it; why, look! there's Bowlt's
smelt works, and we must be two miles at
least on tn wrong side O. Yeckridge !" and
here he relapsed into another indefinite
"hi " at the open window.
The matter all at once became very serl-
GUS indeed. We were bowling along at a
terrible rate, much quicker than any of us
had ever experienced on any previous oc-
casion on that line of curves and ugly gra-
d
itself in our faces,-a fear which first found
expression from the gentleman | have
hitherto designated as the second mer-
chant
cit is my belief" he said, =" that we are
sfrlI away with, - 3 i..i.....a =, b.f...t-.
AS he e. said the words there wasI.a hcrri-
hle. breath taking tumble of lamps, and
walls. and clocks and 'handbills, and white
faces, las we dashed into and through anoth-
er station, and then ay,-away into the
kblack, black night beyond After that
none of us doubted that our train was a
runaway, and also, that it was running
away to our certain destruction, and to the
certain destruction of nearly every passen-
ger in it, unless something could be done to
arrest its headlong career, and that very
speedily.
When the keen edge of the shock had
somewhat worn off, we began to think
of what chances and means there were of
deliverance, and naturally, the first to sug
gest itself was the guard. y Yes, doubt
less the guard would see the danger as we
had seen it, and would endeayor to avert
the awful fate which now seemed hanging
over us There wascomfortin the thoughts
but alas it was very short-Ived, Tor
glance down the train sutficed to show us
that the door Of the van was one OF those
which were still standing open. The con-
viction was therefor forced upon us that
the guard had been left behind. He was
not on the engine or he would have stop
ped the train; he was not on his way to 1T,
or we should have been able to see him by
the light of the side lamps of the train
and he was not in his van, or his door
would have been shut, and his brake Wig
orously applied 'ong ere this, and of that
there was not the slightest Indication.
Ours was truly an awful position. Pas-
sengers III a runaway train, on a black and
moonless night, and with neither engine
driver or guard to help us
The Mi0dlesham and Dillmouth railway
was about twenty-five miles long, and there
werefour intermediate stations, --Ackridge
burton, FELTON, and Ifcombe, between the
two termini Two of these stations were
passed, and we had therefore run about
half the distance. We had been fifteen
minutes in doing one half and would most
probably do the rest of the journey in less
time than that. A miserably short time to
save so many lives; but something must
be done. had already made up my mind
that / would do it, and was preparing by
divesting myself of whatever would i'm
pede my notions, and prevent the free use
of my limbs, when the first merchant look
ed wonderingly at me, and asked me what
/ was going to do.
"I am going to try to stop this train, to
save my life and all our lives" l have to
confess that until that moment l had been
thinking only of my own life, and had
scarcely given thought to the numerous
passengers on that heavily freighted train;
but when saw the merchant look shud
deringly out into the darkness through
which we were flying, and the hopeless
look with which he fell back, almost Sob
bling, into his corner, began to have an
idea of the duty that was before me; and
l nerved myself to the utmost to do it.
Hitherto, L have Intentionally said very
little about myself, but it is now necessary
to state that was an enlpl0ye Of the inn
mense railway concern, of which the Mid
dleshan and Dillmouth was but branch.
l have used ttAs sounding word employee,
but the simple fact was that 1 was relief
clerk and that was at that very time on
my way to Ifcomba to take the place of the
station master, who was then seriously i'll,
and unable to attend to his duties | was
very often called TO this particular kind of
duty, and had in consequence acquired a
very thorough and pra 3tlcal acquaintance
with the outside work O. a railway. had
had a great deal of knocking about from
one place to another, and had been involv-
ed in some four OF five different accidents
Of more or less serious character. | had
luckily escaped from them all without in
uryI unless dignity witt the. name of in
iuryI the slight brusei which / gotsby being
ami ned III Che doorway of an oyerturning
carriage, by q gentleman who was Just as
anxious to be out of itsas i was. ioy .5.aU Il
Nothing SO much tends to give man
presence of mind as being concerned in
few railroad accidents The first time he
is, as it were, knocked stupid the second
5ipie he begins to reason; but the third
time he decidedly objects, and the first
chance he is out of the train and doing his
best to assist his fellow passengers. had
this stage by, as | have said, two
OF three accidents, and had gained con-
siderable stock of presence of mind which
was prepared to use in the present emer-
gency. 80" .'s
! would try to reach the engine by walk
ing along the platforms of the carriages
My mind had been made up to that long
ago, for through my unenviable expert
ences of railway accidents, had got into
the unconscious habit of forming course
for myself for almost any eventuality |
which could turn up. l had besides known |
of two cases of runaway train. In both |
cases the steps of the carriages was used |
Rs means of communication with the en-
CINE. In the first case successfully, but in |
the second, the guard was smashed against |
a signal post in swinging from one door
handle to the next, and the train went |