Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-08-15
CHASED By A TRAIN On FIRE.
An Engineers Story of His Most w onder-
full Adventure.

DUNKIRK, n. Y. June 15.-"Pve been
down the bank more'n once, an had a
few bad smash-ups in the twenty year
I've run locomotive, but the closest
>call ever had was the time | was
chased from Mayville to Brocton lnc-
ton by an oil train all afre I kin
almost feel my hair grow white now
when think o that"
Hew one of the oldest engineers
on the Lake Shore Road, and was riding
me on his engine from Brockton to
Dunkirk
81 was on the Buffalo, Cory and Erie
Road then. 1t was in 1S69-August the
18th. The bit O track twixt Mayville
and Brocton is about the crookedest an
steepest stretch there is IN the country
Its ten miles from one place to tother
but the twists in the road makes it four
teen. The grades bout eighty foot t
tn mile The road S so crooked that
it's standin' joke 'mong the boys that
they dasn't puG more'n ten cars in
q train er tn engine Il butt th, caboose
certain The road runs down into the
Pennsylvania oil country, an heaps @
petroleum is run over it. That night,
~kbout 8 o'clock, was gettin' ready t
leave tn summit with box car, six oil
cars and two passenger cars. TIL latter
was full TIL box car had two valuable
trottin' horses in it. | got the signal
from tn conductor to go ahead and
Roadway when [ see flames bust out'n
one O the oil cars. [ Whistled down
brakes. The passenger car was cut
loose, an the brakes put on. We cut
the engine and box car off from the
burnin' cars, an thinkin' the brake
mend stop them, [ pulled on slowly
down the hill. But pretty soon see [
was in a fix. The oil cars wasn't stopped,
an they came tearin' down the grade
after us, an fore could give my engine
speed 'nough to git out'n the way, ker-
boom they came 'ginst the box car.
smashin' in one end, an knockin' tn
horses an their keeper fiat on tn floor
It's a mighty wonder tn shock didn't
knock tn engine off the track, an it did
give her'n awful husselin' But she
settled down t her'n work, s if she
knoW'd we was bound to have race for
life
"Lord, how them flames roaredl
Every internal canvas afire now, an
tn heat was terrible. / could hear them
horses fairly scream with terror. Both
tn keepers clumb up t TIA end O. tn
car mex t tn engine. [ could see by
tn back-Hght of the furnace that their
faces was s white as chalk an they hol-
Tered t me: For Christ's sake, Jack,
give her more steamr' They didn't
know t [ had her pulled wide open, an
was tearin' down that eighty foot grade
at nearly eighty miles an hour. She
went SO fast, SO help me God, that she
quit pumpin'. We shot round them
curves like streak of lightnin' an
every time we'd strike one It seemed t
we mus go over. When the oil cars
struck us, we made gap of about
ten foot between them and us, an we
couldn' increase it to save our souls.
"Poor Jimmy keenan, was my fire
man. He was crazed for bout a
minute. when the burnin' cars hit us
an KEEP SO close in our wake. He tried
to jump off, but | grabbed him and held
him till he cum to himself and he stuck
to the old gal like man. Jimmy got
killed in pickin' a young one off the
track ahead of an express train, near
Cory, a year or two afterw'd. He saved
the young one, though.
It was dark night, an though l
felt t the chances was we'd never git to
Brocton alive, couldn't help but be
struck with tn scene. Here was us
thunderin' along EASTERN any engin
ever went in this country afore Or since,
through woods an on tn edge O high
rocks, expectin' every minute to be
hurled off tn track an be carried home
to our wives crushed an mangled out
O. all KNOWN of U.S. The bosses was
stampin' about in the box car, neighin'
in way that sounds in my ears Wit
when git a thinkin O this. The keep
ers told me afterward that they crouched
nwn In a fur corner of the car almos'
ssweltered with heat, expectin' grand
crash every second, an in danger O.
bein' trampled to death by tn horses.
Through the broken end O. tn car they
could see tn blazin oil tanks roarin'
down after us, ant seemed t them,
they said, S if they was gainin' on us
every second Oh, Lord! what sight
them oil cars was Thousan's an thou
sans O gallons O oil, with all tn COM
bustiblest parts of it still in it, a burnin'
all at once, an rushin' down the noun
tain like tremenjis meteor, on a night
s dark S pitch! The blaze was more'n
sixty feet high, an lit up tn crooked
road for miles around. The whole
heavens was illuminated, an from