Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-06-20

The old Constitution was on her muscles
Our train was actually swaying and rock
ing with speed like yatch on the waves,
The telegraph-poles, upon which the light
from our windows would CLINT in the
dense darkness, were flying behind US at
every second. The sound of our wheels
as they struck the end of the rails was
continuous hum. But. do the best that it
might, our engine with its heavy train
was no match for the light-weighted one
| behind. That was gaining upon US, and
was not the eighth of mile off. The
glare from its lantern shown brightly in
our faces; thought Jake's face looked
a little pale, and perhaps mine did, too.
Now that our pursuer did not halt at ia
maica, we were entirely off our reckon
| ings, and we could make no guess as to
the cause of the chase, nor when it would |
end. The prospect seemed that we might |
be driven to the end of the road, if we |
were not overtaken and smashed before |
it could be reached.
"'That's the Franklin. sure,' broke out |
Jake once more. NO other engine on the
road could overhaul US as we are going
now. What can that fool of a Simpson
mean by driving her at such rate? He
must be drunk. If the boss don't break
him tomorrow he won't get his deserts.
He will be into US in two minutes
"F You are right jake said I. Go for
ward and see if you can not get up a lit
tie more headway. Empty a few of those
petroleum cans on the wood, and pitch
it in, and see what can be DONE
''While Jake was forward on his er-
rand thought over the situation. Here
1 was with a hundred or two passengers
under my care, all ignorant of the dan
ger which 1 knew they were in. If we
should be overtaken and crushed in the
rear, the disaster would be a serious one
and would probably cause the death or
injury at least of some of the passengers.
If we were not smashed in this way.
there was another and perhaps greater
danger before us. The train of which l
= have spoken, which left Greenport when
we left Brooklyn, was on its way to meet
US on the same track. It should switch off
> at Lakeland in the middle of the island,
and allow us to pass an hour after we
started, or at eleven o'clock. It was now
half-past ten, and we were close to Lake
land already, and would pass there long
before the arrival of the Greenport train,
which ordinarily got there first. The re-
suit would be that we should meet that
train considerable distance beyond Lake
land without warning of our approach,
and collision in front as well as the
" rear would be the consequence.
''We reached and few through the Lake
land depot nearly half an hour ahead OF
time. OF course the Greenport train was
not there yet, but was coming down the
- road. Our speed was now little ahead
8 of any ever before made upon the Long
Island road. The telegraph poles fairly
danced behind us, and the bushes OF
70 either side of the track seemed a contin.
. uous wall of fire as they were lighted uI
= by the flame which was pouring out o
our smoke-stack. But dangerous as i
was for us to keep on, it was just as dan
gerous to slacken speed, and so on WI
went"
The conductor rolled his quid from on
"a cheek to the other, raised the window b,
~ his side and expectorated into the cute
,, darkness, and became silent for severa
: moments as if burdened by the recollec
: ton of his former perils. After waitin!
= a reasonable length of time for him to re
AZ a sumo his story, said, 'sWhen the coils
:, ion occurred, was it with the train il
front, or in the rear, or with both ?''
go, the collision ~ said the conductor
"Well, now you come to the ridiculou
y part of the story. The collision did NJ
take place at all, - he said, in an apolC
- getic tone, as if there ought to have bee
a serious accident after SO much prepar'
ton. ''While was standing on the pla
- form, thinking whether had better war
- the passengers to hold themselves read
for a shock, Jake came from forwar
- dragging after him two large petroleum
cans, each of which would hold a qua
ter of a barrel of oil.
ns "FNow, then,' said Jake to me, IF yo
0O will oil one side of the track, 1 will tr
the other.'
F'I saw at once what his plan was. W
~ each brought the mouth of an oil-can
II" near to the polished surface of the rail
'in possible and commenced pouring on it Il
kerosene. In less than minute a hal
- mile of iron rails on both sides was nice
-. oiled, and as slippery as the tongue of
-, Hebrew dealer in secondhand clothes
~, ''You have raised my expectations of
- catastrophe so high that you have BET
- obliged to grease the track so as to l
them down again easily" said I, for I fe
~, a little nettled at the unexpected turn tt
story had taken.~and was inclined to
lieve that the conductor was drawn
largely upon his Imagination for tt
facts.
~ "Why don't you know that an engi
~ can no more make headway on greas
-: track than tom-cat can climb ste'
80 roof covered with ice?" said the condu
tor, with plying glance at one so pr
-. foundly ignorant of railroad matters
~ myself. ''I slapped Jake on the back, al
tto tl said, odd fellow, your 'cuteness h
- brought us all out of bad scrape.'
- ''In few seconds the lantern of t
ba train behind us was getting dim in t
distance. We slackened speed and back
,b4 down to see what the matter was wi
E7.- Simpson, as Jake said. There stood t
w. old Ben Franklin putting and snortir
4 if and paving like mad bull, the drivir
3D. wheels buzzing around on the greas
- - track like all possessed, but not gaini
1,-o an inch. We sanded the track and DO
ton Po'' 'ii1 oi0 :. .iAohli1e' "
at the engineer Simpson. But no sign
o. os an engineer, fireman, or any other lfvi
tha being was to be found. The engine b
,ah only tenter attached, and althOu
aoia there, was still a full head of steam
Io,,o the fires were getting low. We made she
,,,st work in pushing back to Lakeland. +"