St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-07-12
From the June Lippincott's.l
Chased by an Engine.
4. p. BUFFET.

OndSeu Dy an Engine.
E. P. BUFFET.
| was riding Oh night-train of the
Pennsylvania Central from New York
to Washington on mission as newspa-
per correspondent. We had passed Bal
timOre, and within an hours time would
be at our place of destination. The con-
ductOr had finished collecting the fares,
and seeing II vacant seat by my side had
dropped into it as if for little rest at
the end of a tiresome days work. He
made an entry in his note book, closed
it, placed it in his breast-pOcket, but
toned his coat, folded his arms and
turned to me with friendly remark as
if now he felt at liberty to lay aside all
official dignity and be sOciable. l was
glad to while away the time as the train
was rushing along in darkness which
concealed all objects of interest with
out, and so | encouraged the conversa-
tiOn.
"You must have met with some in
teresting experiences in the course of
your life" said |, the conductors grizzly
beard showing that he might have seen
IL long service.
''Well, perhaps The most exciting
time i'll my experience was the night
was chased by an engine-a night which
this one reminds me Of" said he, look
ing out into the darkness.
"Chased 10y an engine !" said getting
interested. "HOw did that happen 2"
"Well," said the conductor settling
down i'll the cushion and bracing his
knees against the back of the seat in
front, ''many years ago l was running
the night express on Long Island from
Brooklyn to Greenport, IL distance of
ninety miles, the entire length of the
road. The Long Island road was then
a One-hOrse affair, having only a single
tack, with switches at the different
stations to allow trains to meet and
pass. On the evening to which / now
refer | started from Brooklyn at ten
o'clock with the old Constitution, long
since broken up, but then the crack
engine of the road, with IA baggage or
freight car and three passenger cars
The night was as dark us IA pocket, or
ii anything perhaps little darker" he
added, just as if he had accurately test
ed the Obscurity of that useful portion
of the dress.
at must have been very dark" said |.
eve were the only regular train upon
the road that night, with the exception
of the GreenpOrt express to Brooklyn,
which was to stalt at ten O'Clock and
meet us at Lakeland Station, in the
middle of the island, switching off there
to allow us to pass.
"Well, we were perhaps six or eight
miles on our way when | stepped out
on the back platform of the rear car to
see if it were growing any lighter. We
we've then going over a part of the road
which was as strai ght as an arrow for a
distance of four OF five miles, As was
looking back over this stretch | saw
behind us, at the distance of three miles
or so, what | knew was the headlight
of an engine, as it was too bright foI
anything else for of course | did not
suppose the government had been put
ting up any lighthouses along the
road"
"Probably not" said |.
lyon may be sure l was little sur
prised," said the conductor, "for there
wasn't an extra train once week upon
that road, and l knew that there was
none going out from Brooklyn that
minutes until l saw it was really an en-
gine coming, and what was more was
gaining rapidly on us, although we
were going at our usual rate of speed.
When | was satisfied of this fact | hur-
ried forward and said to the engineer
Jake, there is n train close behind u.s.
Jake dropped the oil-can and his
lower jaw at about the same moment,
and looked to see whether was crazy
or joking.
well, let the fireman attend to mat
ters here, and come back and see,' said /.
We hurried to the rear, and in a mo-
ment Jake saw as well as myself that if
there was any joke in the matter we
were the victims of one and of rather
a serious one too, for the train in the
rear had gained on us a full mile while
| had been forward. The red cinders
were pouring out of the smoke-stack as
If from blast-furnace the head light
threw glare along the road, burnisb-
ing the iron rails to our very wheels.
Close as he was upon us, the engineer
of the advancing train had not given
the slightest signal to warn us of his
approach, and made no response to our
repeated whistles of alarm. He was
violating all rules, and if he had de-
termined to secretly run us down he
would act just as he was then doing.
Jake ut first seemed to be struck dumb
not so much because he then tbon0bt
of danger as at the cool impudence OF
the engineer behind. He looked as il
he would like to throttle him. His
tongue after while got into working
order, and he broke out what does
that crazy fool mean p
'The engineer must be either crazy
or drunk said 1. IF he keeps on in
that way ten minutes longer he will
surely be into us : and | signalled to
the fireman to put on more steam,
What business the train has upon the
road at all tonight is what puzzles
me.'
Il wonder if it isn't an engine the old
man is sending down to Jamaica to tbe
shops for repairs p said Jake. Il saw
the Ben Franklin standing on the side
track with steam up just as we started
From the way she Overhauls us there
can't be much of train behind her,
did not know but that Jake mieht
be right, for 1 had seen the Franklin
standing in the depot when we left
That engine was just as fast as our own,
and If 1T was without train attached
as Jake supposed, might easily gain OF