West-Jersey pioneer., 1879-09-25
A THRILLING RACE.

A THRILLING RACE.
"Did you read that railroad item in the
Times of Monday headed my Murder?' y
asked a railroad man in circle last night
"You mean a clipping describing how
supposed runaway locomotive was wrecked
by a station agent under orders OF the com
pany's officers, and it was subsequently dis
| covered that madman was on the locomo
tive. and the cause of the runaway losing
his life at the same time ?' inquired another
person.
"Yes, the same,'' was the rejoinder.
"I have heard that story BEFORE" re-
marked third party, between sundry puffs
of cigar smoke.
'sIt was quite exciting" said another
railroad man. 81 know of an accident that
was far more exciting. however, and it hap
pened on the Marietta and Cincinnati rail
road not many years ago. 1t came near
costing number of lves?'
.sWhat was that?" was the general in
ouiry: and with one accord the circle closed
mn about the man who evidently had a
ssyarn to spin.''
sit happened east of Chillicothe. You
all know Bill Gallagher, passenger con-
! ductor of the M. & C.p Yes. Well, that
fellow has been in more accidents and shows
fewer scratches than any man l ever saw.
At the time speak of he was conductor OF
tho M ~ q He had a
lively train one night and the operator had
orders to instruct Gallagher to side track it
at the next station east of Chilicothe. The
operator made mistake, however,
and the order Bill received sent him on a
station further. The brass FOUNDER soon
found out that he had made grave blum
der, and one which might cost many lives.
Upon making the discovery he became al
most insane from fright, and by his remark
able actions and incoherent expressions, at
tracted the attention of every person near,
among others, Charlie Howard, the train
dispatcher. He raved like crazy man
and no one could get anything out of him
except that he was the cause of some terri
BILE calamity about to happen on the road.
Charlie Howard watched and listened to
the man attentively for some minutes, and
for his knowledge of the trains and running
time he guessed at the true state Of affairs
The next station was called and the start
ling information learned that the freight
train had passed there. The west bound
passenger train was also found to be on
time and terrible collision on the road
seemed at the time inevitable.
ssCharlie Howard proved the right man
in the right place that time. An engine
was hastily brought out and pressed into
use. A red hot fire was soon causing steam
to apgrily hiss from the valves. The throt-
tie was pulled open and the engine sped
away like frightened race horse.
"Never was such time made on the rail
before. The engine was urged on at
frightful rate of speed in the seemingly vain
hope of overhauling Bill Gallagher's freight
train. At last the object being chased could
be seen long ways ahead, and the steam
whistle was called into use. Gallagher saw
the engine bearing down upon him and
heard the whistling, which he failed TO un-
derstand. In some way he became i'm
pressed with the idea that another freight
train was behind and rapidly approaching
him. Relying on the telegraphic orders ne
had received, and desiring to keep away
from the supposed train behind him, he
hurried his own train ahead. Thus it hap
pened that a very Unmatched race COM
menced and promised to Illustrate the plans
of Charley Howard.
"Gallagher's train was being pushed to
it's utmost speed, and the time consumed in
shortening the distance beween it and How
ards engine seemed painfully long to the
pursuing. parties. Steadily but surely,
however, Gallagher was overhauled, but it
was not until the single engine touched the
rear end of the freight train that the signal
down brakes was understood. The train
soon came to a stop, the situation was hur-
riedly explained, signal was thrown out,
and in a few moments Bill Gallager's freight
was backing up with all the power that two
engines could supply. Scarcely had the
train commenced to back when the shrill
whistle of the passenger train coming west
was heard, and in few seconds the cars
could be seen sweeping around the curve
beyond at speed of twenty five miles an
hour. The signal thrown out stopped the
train, and thus terrible disaster was pre-
vented. Charlie Howard got the freight
train back to the side track, and the passen-
ger train passed on with its human freight,
all unconscious of the great danger cool
head and prompt action had averted. I
have no doubt many men on the road are
familiar with the story"
sProbably some of the officers never
heard it, though" said cynical looking
person who looked like commercial trav-
eller. s'Similar events happen every day,
and the heroes are unknown even to their
employers"
A CURIOUS INDUSTRY principal
industry Of the town of West Falmouth,
Mass, is tying business tags with bits OF
strings, by which the tags may be attached
to articles which require to be labeled. A
correspondent writing from that village
says: "These tags are cut elsewhere and
sent in bulk to West Falmouth. The string
is also sent in skeins. The business here is
to cut the string in suitable lengths, tie one
in each tag and return it to the manufac-