The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-06-29

can that fool of Simpson mean by driv.
ing her at such Iates He must be-
drunk. If the boss doesn't break him to
morrow he won't get his deserts. He will
be into US in two minutes
You are right, jake said !. go forward
and see if you cannot get up little more
Roadway. Empty few Of those petroleum
cans on the wood, and pitch in and see what
can be done.'
while Jake was forward on his errand I
thought over the situation. Here I was
with hundred or two passengers under my
care, all ignorant of the danger which I
knew they were in. II we should be over
taken and crushed in the rear, the disaster
would be 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
great danger before us. The train of which
| have spoken, which left Greenport when we
left Brooklyn was on its way to meet us on
the same track. 1t 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. 1t was now half.past ten.
and we were close to Lakeland already, and
would pass there long before the arrival of
the Greenport train, which ordinarily got
there first. The result would be that we
should meet that train beyond Lakeland with
out warning OF our approach, and collis-
ion in front as well as the rear would be the
consequence.
We reached and flew through the Lakeland
depot nearly half an hour ahead of time.
or course the Greenport train was not there
yet, but was coming down the road. Our
speed was now little ahead of any ever be-
fore made upon the Loug Island road. The
telegraph poles fairly danced behind us, and
the bushes on either side of the track seemed
continuous wall of fire as they were lighted
up by the fame which was pouring out of our
smoke stack. But dangerous as it was for us
to keep on, it was just as dangerous to slacken
speed, and so on we went"
The conductor rolled his quid from one
cheek to the other, raised the window by his
side and expectorated into the outer dark
ness, and became silent for several moments
as if burdened by the recollection of his for
mer perils. After waiting reasonable length
OF time for him to resume his story said,
when the collision occurred, was it with
t tdae e6e s' ed6h SAID lie sondaetor:
'swell, now you come to the ridiculous part
of the story. The collision did not take
place at ALL" he said in an apologize tone,
as is there ought to have been serious acct
dent after so much preparation. "While I
whether 1 had better warn the passengers
to hold themselves ready for a shock, Jake
came forward dragging after him two large
petroleum cans. each of which would hold
a quarter of barrel of oil.
''Now, then," said Jake to me, eff you will
oil one side of the track will try the other"
Il saw at once what his plan was. We
each brought the mouth of an oil can as near
to the polished surface of the rail as possible
and commenced pouring on it the kerosene.
In less than a minute half mile of the iron
rails on both sides was nicely oiled and as
slippery as the tongue of Hebrew dealer in
secondhand Clothes"
You have raised my expectations of a
catastrophe so high that you have been
obliged to grease the track so as to let them
down again easily" said I, for felt little
nettled at the unexpected turn the story had
taken, and was inclined to believe that the
conductor was drawing largely upon his i'm
agination for the facts.
''Why, don't you know that an engine can
no more make Roadway on a creased track
than tom-cat can climb a steep roof coy
cred with ice?" said the conductor, with a
plying glance at one so profoundly ignorant
of railroad matters as myself. II slapped
Jake on the back and said, odd fellow, your
'cuteness has brought us all out of a bad
scrape.'
behind us was getting dim in the distance.
We Stacked speed and backed down to see
what the matter was with Simpson, as
Jake said. There stood the old Ben Frank
lin putting and snorting and paving like a
mad bull, the driving wheels buzzing around
on the creased track like all possessed, but
not gaining an inch. We sanded the track
and bore down upon the old machine. Jake
was the first aboard, spelling for good
chance at the engineer, Simpson. But no
sign OF an engineer, fireman or any other liv-
ing being was to be found. The engine had
only tender attached, and although there
was still a full head of steam on, the fires
were getting low. We made short work in
pushing back to Lakeland. We reached the
station and got fairly upon the switch when
the Greenport train, which we should meet
there, came in, and were waiting as if moth
ing had happened, and as if we hadn't been
fifteen miles out on the road to meet it few
minutes before.
The telegraph operator at Lakeland handed
me dispatch which read as follows:
TO Conductor c.: The Ben Franklin has
broken loose and is coming up the road. Turn
switch at Lakeland and run her off the track.
BARRON, Superintendent.
Brooklyn, 10 :05 D. H.
You see we did not have much time for
turning switches at Lakeland" he continued,
$50 we did still better, and saved the old Ben
which was not responsible, after all-from
a smash up"