Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1874-09-12
" Going 1Ier Prs.ties'."
Tor. Pogs T,Hs E5,r his Locoaoiirs Jampe2
a Ggp.

lOrt oitt ItA3 f4oN ltN JutNHtiftc """tltN
Gap.
Tom Potts. wei knDun engineer in Cana
da and The States. is the self-accselitcd hero Of
the following wonderful story Of successful dar-
ing. will narra,e It as near as I can in his
own words. have heard him tell il often;
"Wen. gentlemen, say You'll think it'sa
lie, but can't help ,ha; you have asked re
to tel. and all can say is if you'd been in my
Ilice you'd have seen it.
al had been driving the Witch fer about
seven mouths, aud a sweet thing she was.
never was half 50 fond Of an engine as | was Of
her. She was the kind Of a machine man
gets once in lifetime.
"she made her steam quick, and was easy
on fuel, started OF lively. and went like deer
Her cylinders were l6 inch, her stroke %
and her drivers feet g. and she wss as hind
to handle as a baby.
"To see her run Oh with heavy load, light
and cay, was enough 70 shame the Juno,
Venus. aad Helen. and other is inch machines
" She never wanted txing up. Venus was
always going in and out Of the shop to be tit
ivated, and if there's anything don't like it's
an engine that all the time wants to be ttiva-
ted. She was always ready and willing for
work. Why, bless you she was only washed
ont for tho sake OF cleanliness--she didn't need
it bit
"She was the tiiicst thing I ever seen
seemed as though dirt wopldn't stick 70 her.
" Well, what am going TO tell came of yeats
ago. before left the old country aud it was
one of the best railroads, single track then.
though its got three now, and four in some
spots.
"Wei, ,be Witch and were put on The mail,
one ofthe fast trains, and they went Ike sixty
in them days.
"The engineer was fined a shilling FIR cv-
cry minute he lost.
He dared not 70 slow for FOG, unless 10
wanted to lose bis days pay
lie had to keep going night along, aud SEQ
things before he go, in sigh, OF EN-.
1--WE were running north ono darkish win,ry
dav. and were making our best s,rcahs.
should reckon we were going about fifty miles
an hour
81 was saying to myself, she's going her
pretiicst, when we suddenly shot ahead, as if
we bad been fred ont Of a cannon.
81 knew what that meant We had broke
loose. we hadn't car lef, behind us. The
coupling had broken between The tender and
the first coach.
g How we flew, to be sure2 ! whsied tic
guard to break Up the train. How we boan-
ded along
81 could make ont no object Alongside we
seemed to 60 faster and faster VIC must have
got rs fact rs 100 miles an hour.
1t was n straight piece Of track for some
miles. did not shut or steam directly wo
broke. ror didn't want the train TO run into
us, which might have happened if they did
not hear me wl istle for brakes.
at was lucky hep, her going, for just rs
I had about enough Of snch hyingi man
started 90, about six hundred yards before Us,
bearing red flag.
"There was nothing in the way, so ! knew
something must be wrong with the track.
"You might as well have tried to stop \
whiriwini as the Witch 10 that distance.
Her speed was frightful
"There wasn't much time 70 think, and as
we could not top, The faster we went iho
better; so gave what moro steam there was.
She seemed to have 90 in in reserve, fof We
shot past the red Gag ike a fash.
q saw men standing bouor-struck.
"Bh, eaid, quick Get on tho coke
aud see whats ahead
Gle looked aud went deadly pale, tottered,
and fell back in a faint
"By this time | could sec plainly enough
wha, was wrong.
There WAS gap in the track where
bridge had gone down.
you can't imagine my feelings just then.
Going to desib-dea.h, swift and terrible, At
I aboat two miles n minute, -geliiug nearer,
nearer thought Of my wife and child
/ nearer an instant more--the gap
"God have mercy. shrieked
"WelI, would you believe it2 that engine
just cleared tha, gap
"It was fifteen feet across, and abou, sixty
feet deep.
"she jumped that gap like stag, and
what's more, she struck the rails al right On
the other side and kept right along, just as If
she had not noticed the gap.
"I stirred Bill up, aud, Ui.h.b5sh Of US at
the brake. we managed al Jas. 70 stop the
Witch.
"She was on a tear that day, but never
dreamed she'd jump the gap--thats fact
Tryior's lioaerH Higi,r1ys.
..-s.. ,~r~.1rI