The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-08-25


time l was chased from Mayville to
Brocton junction by an oil train all atire.
/ KIN almost feel my hair turn white now
when | think of that"
He was one of the Oldest engineers on
the Lake Shore Road, and was riding me
on his engine from Brocton to Dunkirk.
81 was on the Buffalo, Cory & Erie
Road then. 1t was in 1S69-August II.
The bit O. track 'twixt Mayville and Broc-
ton is about the crookedest an steepest
stretch there is in the country. It's ten
mile from one place to t'other, but the
twists in the road make it fourteen
The grade S bout eighty foot to the
mile. The road s so crooked that it's
standin' joke 'mong tn boys that they
dasn't put more'n ten cars in a train er
the engine'll butt the caboose certain.
The road runs down into the Pennsylva-
mia oil country, an heaps O. petroleum is
run over it. That night, bout nine o'clock,
l was gettin' ready it leave tn summit
with a box car, six oil cars, an two pas
senger cars. Tn latter was full. Tn box
Car had two valuable trottin' horses in it.
got the signal from III conductor to 90
topble Roadway when see flames burst
out'n one o. the oil cars. 1whistled down
brakes. The passenger cars was cut
loose, an the brakes put on. We cut
the engine and box car off from the
burnin' cars, an, thnkin' the brakemen
d stop them, ] pulled on slowly down
the hill. But pretty soon see was in
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 get outn the way, kerr
boom they came 'gainst the box car
smashin' in one end, and knoCkin' tn
horses an their keepers 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 work s if she knowd
we was bound to have race for life.
Lord, how them flames roared! Every
Car was atire now, an tn heat was terrible.
| could hear them HOSES fairly scream
with terror. Both tn keepers clumb upt tn
end O tn car mex t. the engine. l could
see by tn back-light of the furnace that
their faces was s white as chalk, an
they hollered t me: For Heavens sake,
Jack, give her more steamr They didn't
know It had her pulled wide open, an
was tearin' down that eighty-foot grade
at nearly eighty miles an hour. She
went so fast that she quit pumpin'. We
shot round them curves like streak O.
lghtnin' an ey'ry time we'd strike onet
seemed It we mus go ever. When the
oil cars struck US, we made a gap of about
ten foot between them and US, an we
couldn't increase it, to save our souls.
Poor Jimmy Keenan, was my fireman.
He was crazeG for bout minute, when
the burnin' cars hit us an KEEP so close
IN our wake. He tried to jump off, but
| grabbed him and held 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 eX-
press train, near Cory, a year or two
afterw'd. He saved the young one,
though
ut was dark night, an, though felt
It the chances was we'd never git to
Brocton alive, l couldn't help but be
struck with tn scene. Here was us a
thunderin' along EASTERN any engine ever
went in this country afore or since,
through woods an on tn edge o. high
rocks, expectin' every minute to be hurled
Oft tn track an be carried home to our
wives crushed an mangled out o. all
KNOWN of US. The bosses was stampin'
about in the boX-Car, neighin' in a way
that sounds in my ears yit when | git a
thinkin' O. this. The keepers told me
afterw'ds that they crouched down in a
fur corner of the car, almos' sweltered
with heat, eXpectin' grand crash every
second, an in danger O. being trampled
to death by tn horses. Through the
broken end o the car they could see tn
blazin' oil-tanks roarin' down after us,
an It seemed t. them, they said, s if they
was gainin' on US every second. % Lord!
what a sight them oil cars was. Thou
sans an thousans O. gallons of oil, with
all tn combustiblest parts of it still in it,
q burnin' all at once, an rushin' down
the mountain like tremenjls meteor, on
dark s night s pitch! The blaze was
moren siXtyfoot high, and lit up tn
crooked road an the woods an mountains
for miles around. The whole heavens
was illuminated, and from Brocton they
said the sight O. this great blaze, tearin'
along like demon, now hid for second
by cut or piece O. woods, an then
leapin' out ag'in an jumpin' up t'wards
the sky like a huge fountain O tire-why,
they said twas jes' grand an gorgeous.
The light was SO great t the boys see US
swoopin' along ahead O. the mass O.
| flying flames, n they know'd what war
up. They knowed there was a race for
life agoin' on down that mountain, an
they know'd the chances was agin the
ones what was chased.
"O' course the whole thing COM
menced N was over in good deal less
time n I've been tellin' of it. When |
see the lights o. Brocton Junction it
struck me all of sudden t the Cincir-
natl express on tn Shore Road must be
about due there from tn west | looked
at MY watch; t only lacked one second
of tn express time at Brocton. We'd
been thinkin' all along that to save
'rselves tn switch at tn junction must
be opened T. let US in on the Shore track,
where the road was level, and we could
git away from tn burnin' cars. Tn
switch, of course, was closed, n now,
even if tn switchman opened it on my
signal, there was tn danger O. crashin'
into tn express. IT. add t. this fearful
situation, see freight train from tn