The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-11-02
AN ENGINEER HERO.
He Risks His Life and Wades Through
Fire to save Passengers.


He Risks His Life and wades Through
Fire to Save Passengers.
New ork Tribune. October p.
The train on the Pennsylvania rail-
road which LETT Jersey City at 1 rs p. m.
yesterday was made up of ten passen-
ger coaches, all of which were, as is
usual on Sundays, crowded with people.
It is computed that there were not
less than six hundred passengers on the
train. Conductor Whelpley had charge,
and the engineer was Joseph 4. Seig, u
married man of middle age, who lives
in Jersey City. By the time that the
train reached the Bergen cut its speed
was about thIrty-fve miles an hour.
The smoking Car, which was next TO the
tender of the engine, was crowded with
men, many of whom stood up in the
aisle,
Suddenly through the front door of
the car, which was open and let in u
strong current OF air, came a Whit of
smoke, Immediately followed by dense
volume of smoke and tongue of flame.
The passengers who were seated sprang
up IN alarm, and those who stood near
| the front door shrank back as the smoke
and flame increased. One man grasped
the door and slammed it shut. The next
instant it was dashed open again, and
two men threw themselves into the cab.
One of these was Seig, the engineer,
and the other was the fireman.
Through the binding smoke that
poured directly over the iron tender the
passengers could see that the cab of the
engine was IN flames, while the open
| door of the engine furnace was 4 mass
of fire. The smoking car passengers
were filed with CONSERVATION. Those
nearest the door crowded out upon the
platform, Only to meet another excited
crowd issuing from the front door of the
second car, the passengers of which had
by this time become alarmed by the
commotion and the illumination from
the blazing cab. The other passengers
raised windows and looked out, only 10
see that the train was dashIng along at
a great speed and that il would be fatal
to jump.
Engineer Seig stood near the front
door for an instant, and looked back at
his engine, which now was without con-
troll. He realized that upon him de.
pended the lives of six hundred passen-
gers. What had occurred had occupied
only few seconds of time. He turned
TO his fireman and babe him go 10 the
closet in the rear of the car and use
the lever of the air brake which is there
| which would have checked the speed OF
| the train The fireman started to obey
the order, but he found his way blocked
by an impenetrable mass of excited
| men, jammed together in the aisle
| What took place then Theodore Reeves
| of Newark, who was in the second seat
| of the smoking car, described as fol-
lows: THE passengers were all eX.
cited and it was impossible for the fire
man TO force his way through them Il
I L Al
standing near me 'What is 10 be done p
He made no answer, but turned his
| face To the engine and setting his teeth
together he sprang through the door
and l saw him indistinctly through the
smoke climb upon the tender. Then he
disappeared in the flames beyond. The
| excitement IN the car continued. We
felt how helpless we were then, packed
in like cattle. The only hope, appar.
emily, lay in the desperate act of the
| engineer. l was revolving over IN my
mind the feasibility of dropping from
the car window near me into the Hack
ensack river when the train should
cross the bridge.
| presently we felt that the speed oil
the train was being lessened, and finally
| with lurch and a bump it came to d
| full stop. We hastily ciambered out and
/
ensack bridge. The flames from the cab
released from the strong pressure of ali
caused by the speed OF the train, now
mounted upward. About two hundred
people were on the ties OF the bridge
and heads protruded from the windows
| of the rear coaches, in some of which
| the passengers were ignorant of the
cause of the sudden stOppage.
1.-THE passengers nearest the engine
now saw the head and shoulders of 9
| man Hppearing.abOvc the water tank on
the tender. Several men sprang on the
tender and drew him out. II was En-
gIneer Seig. He was weak and hal
unconscious. The clothes were com.
pletely burned from him. His face wa:
disfigured and his hands shOckingly
burned. His body was blistered 81
badly that some of the flesh was strip
ped off in moving him. In the mean
time, ready hands supplied with pals
drew water from the river aud dashed i
over the burning cab, soon putting on
the flames.
THE engineer was placed temporarily
in q forward car and Conductor WtRlp
ley, who was in the third passenge
coach when the fire occurred, and WHIT
had employed himself in quieting tn
fears of the passengers, ordered up al
engine anu freight cur winch wa
standing on the opposite track on tn
meadows near the bridge. Seig wa
placed on the freight car and taken 4
Jersey City, where he was conveyed Il
st. Francis's hospital. A Tribune report
or visited the hospital last evening t. in
quire about his condition. The sister il
charge expressed her belief that he wuul'
live. although his injuries were very sc
riOus.
Meantime the fireman of the engin
mounted the charred cab and ran tn
train TO Newark. The passengers in tn
smoking car who had witnessed the he
ruic return of the engineer to his pos
were loud in their expressions of graft
tudc and praise OF his act II was til
universal sentiment that by his drawer
he u Il saved the train and prevented
, irightfui accident.
The fire is said to have been caused b
flames from the open furnace door com
municatIng with the wood work of tn
cab. Favored by the rush OF wind the
r soon envelOped the cab in fire, forcin
+ the engineer and his assistant from thei
I posts.