The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1867-04-05
The Heroes of the Locomotive.

yet | confess to a high admiration of {
class Of men 10 whom vast burden o
responsibility in the matter of human lift
i constantly entrusted: | refer to oul
railroad engineers. The locomotive il
itself Is a marvel ingenuity and power
Compact, perfect in form and adaptation
/ Indispensable to the wants of civilization.
1t Is one Of the finest Instruments The
man who controls these thirty tons OF or
ganlzed iron which we call locomotive
must secure both self-rc>pect and sclt-con-
tidence. | have sometimes stood beside
the track when train has come flying
along, and have observed with boundesS
admiration the man on whose vigilance.
skill, and pluck the safety of that train 81
largely depended His left hand Oh the
lever, his right on the reversing levcr-ii
that be lis name-his body bent forward
eagerly, and his eye kneely scrutinizing
the track ahead, lest the tremendous mo-
mentum Of his train, meeting with some
obstacle, should dash itself in an instant
into a horrible wreck. How, now, can a
man be weighed down with such response
bllty and not be Il stronger and more self
reliant man
Some years acc, with a party, it was
my fortune to be un the Erie Railway when
the engineers engaged i'll general strike.
| sided with tie engineers. believing them
to be wronged. At the Susqucllnna
station we found large body Of engineers.
more than had ever seen together at one
time. They were not noisy, nor braggart,
nor tipsy; but l then said. what | now
believe, thai they We're the finest body of
operatives ever saw. Intelligent. bold.
strong, each tine manager of such won
dertuI machine, they found at least one
ardent admirer that dav.
Some OF the most remarkable cxhibi-
tons OF courage have been made by men
OF this class. y lew years ago my friend
OrsjOne, who has driven the locomotive
for the mail train Oh the Morris Il Essen
Railroad for twenty years at least. with
taultle>s tailhtunes>, was once dclaycd by
SHOW on the track for several hours. but
received explicit orders from the superin-
ttndcnt-n0t that splendid officer who has
lately resigned his office on that road-"to
90 ahead" iur the road was clear. 10 9TH
cr train was on the track. After satisfy
Ing hipsct that he had not misunderstood
the order, he left the summit on Il steep
down Grade. and, in rounding Il sharp
curve, came on :. tram that was ascending
the same Grade under full head OF steam.
In an instant he whi>tled down the brakes
and reversed his engine. The noble thing.
under such a tremendous strain. rs if iullv
aware Of the danger, obcycd, and threw
Itself back TO avert the catastrophe. Mean
while the other engineer had done the
same thing wiki his locomotive: but il
WAS possible only to modify the shock.
Together ru-Ic, those two painting and
reItctad giants. their JOINT weight not les
than sixty tons, with the gathered momcn-
tum Of their following trains. They rose
like two furious animals in tioht. standing"
on end, and in trice the two splendid
machine, were wreck The cars behind
them were also badly crushed. Or-bonc
did not leap from his engine; but never
moving his hands from the levers which
controlled it, he stood as resoIute as rock
at his post until the shock came. and then.
quick as thought, adjusted his valves TO
allow the steam to escape without IN cX-
| plo>lon. Our war can furnish no clearer
proof OF the finest courage than that.
AT the crossing OF the Morris Il Essex
Railway and the Orange turnpike may be
seen a ilagman with one leo. The other
he lost in the wreck | have Just described
Had he had Orobones nerve to face dang
CT, he would have escaped also unhurt
Poor fellow. the man who issued the pre-
sunptuouS blundcr that day tried to buy
hlm oft from prosecuting the company for
the sum of one hundred doLais-an offer
which poor ''Bobs' wife met with this
! >l' "p"t you HCIl
one OF yOur legs for a hundred dollars -
During the war an incident occurred
on the Pennsylvania Central, which was
related TO me by an eyewitness. My in
formant was with a regiment of soldiers
going from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg in a
special tram. Between ,Johnstown and
the summit they were delayed by freight
train OFT the track, or a part of its cars off
This they learned ut one of the stations.
and remained there until they should be
informed that the track was clear. 1t wa,
III the night, and most OF the thousand
men on the train were asleep, unconscious
OF their danger. -Four heavily loaded coal
cars belonging to the train ahead had. by
accident, become detached, and began the
descent of the heavy grade at speed
which soon became terrible The en"i-
neer OF the special train heard the roar OF
the descending cars and surmised what
was the matter. In an instant he order
ed his engine to be detached from the train
and put on steam to meet the runaway
cars if possible, to break their force and
save his train. His locomotive was Iarrc
freight, and he had moved several rod,
ahead when the coal cars struck him Gk,
a thunderbolt, and crushed his engine back
on the tram !; but his heroic courage hat
saved many lives. His engine was utterl,
demolished, and many of his cars were
also crushed but SO had he broken tn,
force Of the shock that no lives were lost
The mans name was Story, and his crate
ful beneficiaries presented him some ee
CANT Silver-pIate, with the deed itself anc
their names engraved on them. Wher