The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1877-12-27
%. An ENGINE.
4 ..Times., Correspondent >tradfies
she Iron Horse and Taxes a short
K ide with the Ens ineer.

K ide with the Engineer.
rLATTsBURG, No, December Is.
EDITOR TINES Riding on an engine
isn't the easiest OF human accomplishments,
although If 4 man is gifted with a good
grip and has plenty Of hangontoitiveness he
can manage to get along we'll enough and
stay with the locomotive, providing, OF
ditch or perform some other eccentric feat,
The result of which is usually call for The
surgeon and coroner. Yesterday, with the
kind permission OF Aleck Latta, who ham
dies the reins Oh Tie out passenger on the
| Rock Island between Leavenworth and
Trenton, 1 climbed into the cab OF the en-
CINE, and, strapping myself to seat along
side OF Phelps, the fireman, prepared to ex-
pei fence the sensation of riding on
locomotive. We started off lively
| enough with no particular incident
to mar the pleasure OF the trip and all
went merry as pleasure excursion, until
| Beverly, the crossing Of the Rock Island
and tie Council Bluffs roads was passed,
when the engine settled down to solid bus
iness, and 1 began 10 hold my hair on anu
confne my attention exclusively TO keeping
my seat. Faster and faster went the drive
| wheels and more serious became the
situation The engineer and fireman didn't
seem to mind it and l began to be ashamed
of myself when sudden JOLT threw ME
nearly off my balance, and ieit seasick, a.
though l was leaving behind me all had
al 81 L..
relieving my overwhelmed self of all had
partakcn Of the past week.
THE Rock Islands solid, Johnny"
shouted Aleck from across the cab.
"Ies, Won bet she is" shouted ! in re-
Spouse as a luch Of the iron monster nearly
jerked me out of the window and complete
ly deprived me OF the breath l had remain
ing.
"IIow do you like riding on the engine ?"
queried Aleck, and / thought perhaps he
preaching dissolution.
II like it bully" said /, as another lurch
sent me toward the top oil the cab and near
ly drove me frantic. Il like it first rate
il's.fun, amt it,"
things apparently all her own way and was
spree. while / bounced from side To side
like cork in backwater eddy. She
lurched and careere and seemed half the
time as if endeavOriug to turn summer
sault, while the noise of the clanking and
rafting machInery created a din which
seemed to me little less than internal.
Every now and then the fireman opened
the furnace door to put in coal, and the red
A, 81 fl,.I
cab, gave to the interior and lis occupants a
sort OF Satanic hue, the outside darkness
making the inside momentary illuminations
all the more striking. We rushed past tel
egraph poles, fences and culverts with a
recklessness that seemed little less than des-
perate, while every small depression in the
track gave the locomotive an excuse for
lurching, which it did not fail, in even one
solitary instance, to take advantage of. As
We shot around curves and into cuts, over
entertainments and across bridges, thought
of how little it would take to send us into
the ditch, and then would come the coroner
and the hereafter, and the newspaper re-
porters to write us up, and probably brass
band TO accompany us to the cemetery, but
even that last thought couldn't wean me
from the desire TO live and witness railroad
lance from a safe distance.
This is Dead Mans Hollow" said Aleck
as We whizzed over a small culvert about a
mile and half this side of Plattsburg.
That's the name We know it by. Tom Hill
ton was killed there by his train running
into the ditch, the river having under
mined the bridge, and a short time after
another engineer was killed abOnt twenty
feet from the bridge by running over some
cattle
was heartily glad when We had got
safely. past Dead Mans Hollow, as thought
the notoriety it had already acquired was
sufficient for all ordinary purposes without
adding any more fdead men to its list |
and arriving at the depot Istepped from the
engine to the platform after a ride Of thirty
six miles, thought OF how much the pas
sengers on board train owed to
the engineer, the man who held
their lives in his hands, and upon whose |
GOODNESS, courage, nerve and pluck every
thing depended. If anything happens, the |
engineer and fireman are usually the first TO |
be dragged from the debris. although no
one else may be injured they run every
risk and receive few thanks; probably they
don't expect any? Consequently don't
look for them. Every day hundreds of
thousands trust themselves to the capabil |
ity and fidelity of the engineer, and al |
though accidents will happen, even on the
best regulated railroads, the engineer usu-
ally comes in with the passenger for his
portion of the damages. JOHN.