The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-12-21
A RIDE FOR LIFE.
A Young Lady Caught in a R

A Young Lady Caught in Railroad Cut,
Yesterday there occurred ON the
Oregon and California Railroad, be-
tween this city and Salem, one of the
most thrilling railroad incidents we
ever heard of, which, while it demon
strates the foolhardiness of some peo-
pie, also shows how near there came
to being q terrible railroad accident.
The following particulars, furnished
to our reporter by an eye witness,
may be relied upon as true: When
the down train come near one of the
stations on the road it was running at
full speed in order to make up time as
it was few minutes behind time
The road at this point runs through q
cut something more than a mile in
length, and in entering it the road
makes curve SO that the engineer can
not see through it. So, as he thun-
dered along yesterday, hc little
thought what stirring tiInesxR ~ INrP ~
on him. He had hardly gotten into
the cut before he saw woman riding
leisurely through il, and with perfect
nonchalence using the center of the
track. She was not more than half
way through the cut, and barely a
quarter of q mile ahead of him. He
Immediately whistled " down brakes" !"
and sounded the warning. The wo-
man, hearing the peculiar death Whis-
tie of the locomotive, looked over her
shoulder and saw the train rushing at
her. She did not shrek, nor faint,
nor give up all hope, but like true
Webfoot; her courage, rose equal to
the emergency, and without q mo-
ments's hesitation she commenced
swinging her riding whip from one
shoulder of her steed to the other,
thereby urging him to exert his ut
most speed. The whip, and perhaps
the shrieking of the steam whistle,
caused the animal ridden by the lady
to put In his best licks, and he made
about as rapid time as any animal ever;
seen in Oregon; but each instant the
iron horse gained upon the one COM
posed of blood and muscle. a<e
The shrieking of the locomotive
whistle caused the passengers to look
out of the windows and upon their
discovering what was the matter the
widest excitement ensued. Several
jumped forward and seized the bell
rope and commenced pulling on it as
if they could stop the train by that
means. The brakesmen were exerting
all their strength on the brkes and the
engineer had cut off the connection
and was doing all he knew how TO
stop the train, while the woman was
doing her level beet to make that bit
of horsefesh rise to the speed of q
8. Helmbold )" but alllin vain; the To-
comotiye kept gaining ons the horse
and its rider, and there was hardly a
person on the train whe did not think
that both the woman and the horse
would be killed. eil ss sei7.i|
There were perhaps thirty feet in
tervening between the cow-catcher
and the horses heels, when, Fortunate
ly for the woman, she eobseryed a place
which was q little wider than pencil :
and with steady rein she guided theF
fleeing horse from the track and en-
deavored to press him against the
side of the cut, in order that the train
might pass without injury In doing
this the woman was encouraged by
Mr.. Sam. Winans, the conductor, who
had run forward and got out ON the
A few seconds only
passed by when the frey monster
poked its nose past the rnmp of the
horse. AT this moment Mr.. Winans
threw his whole force against the ami
NAL and held him until the train stop
ped, and then ronsing cheer of graf
fication and joy at the escape of the
from terrible death was CIV
5n.-PortEQ71CI, OTeg07s, Bulletin.