Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-01-21
An Awful Railroad Race,

An Awful Railroad Race.
From Mayvile Summit to Brocton
junction on the Lake Shore road the
distance is ten miles, but owing to the
numerous sweeping curves in the railroad
the distance by rail is fourteen miles. The
grade for that distance is nearly eighty
feet to the mile. The Cory road extends
into the Pennsylvania oil regions, and ten
years ago carried large quantities of pc.
troleum. On the night of August II, 1859,
John Davidson's engine was at the Sum
NIT with a train OF one box Car, six loaded
oil cars and two passenger cars. The
box car was next to the locomotive, and
the passenger cars were at The rear of the
train. The engineer had started the train.
and it had attained good headwav, when he
discovered flames issuing from one of the
oil cars. lie whistled down brakes, and
the coaohes were cut loose from the oil
cars, which were quickly uncoupled from
the box car. The eng ginecr then pulled
on clown The hill, to get out of the reach of
the burning cars, in order to save the
lomocotive and the other car, in which
were two valuable trottng horses and
their keepers on their way TO Cleveland.
lie supposed the brakemen would put the
brakes on the oil cars, but in the excite
ment this was not done, and they followed
the locomotive, gaining hcadway every
moment, Before the engineer had taken
in the situation the oil cars, every one of
them now ablazc, came dIshing upon him
around u curve. They crashed into the
box car, knocking in one end of it, but
singularly enough, neither that nor any of
the moving cars was thrown from the
track by the collision The engineer and
fireman could have escaped all danger by
abandoning the locomotive but AS Dawson
said when asked afterward why he did not
pursue that course, they had twenty thou
sand dollars worth of the comp panv's
property in their charge, and they were
determined to save it if possible. Accord |
ing to the engineers story of the incident,
he saw that there was to be Il race for life
between him, with his engine, and the
flaming cars under no control. The heat
was unbearable. Dawson pulled the
throttevalve wide open. and he declared
that they flew down the eighty foot grade
SO tast that the engine could not pump
The keepers in the car next the oil cars
climbed up to the opening a the end of
the car, and, with faces as pale as death, |
begged the engineer to give her more
steam They could see the haz,n oil
C ,rs through the broken end of tEer car,
and it seemed TO them that they gained at
every turn of the wheels. The engineer
said that when he struck the sharp curves
at the lightning speed at which he was
going he, expected that his engine would
leave the track and be hurled down the
Z n1nnptnip SiIp I'bn pifrbt .l,,,
The engine thundered along flster than
any engine ever ran in this country before
or since, through woods and deep rock
cuts, and on the edge of high precpices
The horses were stamping and neighing
with terror in tue box car, and only few
feet in the rear was the flying mass of
flame rushing down the mountain like
tremendous meteor. The blaze from the
thousands of gallons of burning oil was
more than sixty feet in height. and lighted
up the woods and rocks and crooked road
for miles. The whole heavens were
! illuminated, and from Brocton the sight
of the great contlagra'ion, apparently
flying through the air, now hidden for
second by a cut or Il piece of woods, and
then leaping ont again and up toward the
sky like great fountain of fire, is describ-
ed as having been awful in its grandeur.
The idea Of Engineer Dawson was to
call for the opening of the switch for him
at Brocton Junction, SO that be could run
on to the Lake Shore track, where the
grade was ascending, end where he could
soon get out of the way of the burning
cars through their having lost the propel-
ling power of the decline of the Summit
grade. 1t happened however, that the
Cincinnati express on the Lake Shore road
would he due at the Junction when Da-
vison engine reached there. To add 10
the terror of the situation, a west bound
Lake Shore freight train was at that mo-
ment running TO pass the junction before
the arrival of the express. There was
only one thing to do, and that was to
whistle for the switch, and take the chances
o. the freight getting out of the way, and
express being tagged or late. The en-
gineer knew that he must have been seen
from Brocton Junction, by the light of
the burning oil, in his life or deaih race
down the mountain. and that the railroad
men there understood the peril of the
situation and would be prompt to act.
He whstled for open switch. He and his
fireman then bade each other good bye
!
gained the siding ont of their way. The
switch was opened, and they tore on up
the Lake Shore track, past the depot and
through the village, and were soon out of
the way of the burning cars. The latter
gradually came to Il stop. The engine
and box car were stopped within hun
dred yards of the Lake Shore express,
which was both late and signalled. When
Dawson and his fireman found that they
were out of danger, they both tainted on
their engine. The oil tanks burned for
three hours after they were stopped.
The most fortunate circumstance OF the
whole affair was the uncoupling of the
passenger cars from the oil cars at the
Summit. They were filei with passen-
gers and if they had remained with the
burning tanks would have been wrapped
in fumes in very short time. and there
would have been no escape for the passen-
gers from most horrible fate. 1t was
just nine O'Clock when Dawson pulled out
from Mayvile Summit. When he was
taken from his engine, sixteen miles from
the starting point, it was not yet twelve
minutes past the hour. James Keenan,,
! Davison's fireman, was killed about three
years ago. He was on his engine, when
he saw II child playing on the track some
distance ahead. He ran out to the pilot
and reaching over caught the child and
tossed it to one side of the track. He lost
his balance, however, and fell in front of
the locomotive, and was crushed to. death.
In disinfecting Memphis, the National