Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-12-07
CHASED sr A suRnlmc raAln.
Thrilling Experience OF an old Loco
motive Engineer.
on. 7. sun.l

II don't expect to live much longer.
.nc after ain dead want you to put
q ,ne papers the story Of that ride I
faG from Prospect to Brocton, In 1859. /"
Inc speaker was Duff Brown. nm old
locomotive engineer, who was iyiuo Al
pis home in Portland, this cohuty. diving
'ritn consumption. This was several
veeks ago. On the 7,h Of this n,ontn
Pe died. He was nearly s.xtv wears old
" h1ory of the awful ride is this:
IN isog l was running a mixod train
~ tne Buffalo, Cory and Erie Railway.
ne TRACK between Prospect or Msyviils
summit and Broeton Junction l. SO
rocked that while the dlst ance il actu.
uy only ten miles, the curves make it
n Tu fourteen. The grade for the
he mile.
About Q o'clock on the pirht Of
august II, 1889, we reached the Sum-
ny with q train Of two passenger cars,
X o.! cars and box car. The latter
onSained two valuable trotting horses,
{ad their keepers with them, on their
Gay. 1 believe, to the Cleveland meet
FL There were fifty or sixty passen-
srs 10 the two cars. 1 got the signal
om the conductor to start, and l pulled
We had got under consider
PIE hea 1way, when looking bick saw
lAt au oil car In the middle Of the train
4. on FIRE. I reversed my engine and
atled for brakes. The conductor aud
<man jumped of. They uncoupled
ssenger cars and set the brakes on
Nxinging them to stop. Suppos.
lnfthe brakes on the burning oil
va also be put on, called to
n on the box car to draw the
a .lag piu between that car and the
"a oil tauk, backing so that he could
Il, intending to run Tar enough away
save the box car and locomotive. As
AN on down the hill, after the pin had
en- drawn. what was my horror TO see
at the burning cars were following me
= speed tnat was rapidly increasing.
le men hai not succeeded in putting
the brakes. ! saw that the enly
ling to be done was to run for 1t to
octon, and the chan % were that we
bold never roach there at the speed
itch We would bs obliged to make
Dund those sharp reverse curves. where
had never run over twenty miles
hour.
"When l saw the flaming can--fer
y whole six we're on FIRE by this time
inging after me and only few feet
ray. pu led the throttle open. The
cara caught me. though. before / got
ray. They eaRe with full ioics
sinst the rear Of the box car. smashing
one end and knocking the horses and
eir keepers fist on the a,or. The
at was almost unbearsble. and, do my
II, l couldu't place more thAs
rty fe.t bstweea the pursuing ool-
10 Of FIRE and ourselves. BY the
ht from the fnrnace, as my fireman
ened the door to pile on coal, l caught
ht Of the face Of one Of she horse euen
the box car. he having clinsd up to
grated opening in the end. II was
pale as death siashe begged me for
as sake to give hef more steam. I
y giving her then all the steam she
i'd carry, and tLs grade itself was
.ugh 70 carry u down at the rate Of
, miles % hour. We went % fast
y the engine couidn't pump. Every
,s We strqft one Of those curves the
girl wov.4 almost mn On enc sst OF
heels, and why In the world she didn't
Pple over is something I never could
derstand. She seemed TO know that
was . race OF life snd death, and
brked - II she were alive.
The night was crk. and the road ran
It wood deep sck onts. and along
embaukmsnts. %rhsrs we were,
Ihdering along at lightning specd,and,
b few psces behind as. thai fiery
moa in full pursuit. Thsrs were ffty
oassnd gallons Of oil IL those tanks,
least, and IL was sll ia Aans. making
iying ay.l Anchs Of hre Ave hundred
4 long. The AsmeS Ieaped into the
nearly hundred fsst. Their roar
ks he that Of some great csfaract.
BE- snd then q tank would explode
~ noise like cannon. when 3 column
Same and pitchy smoke would mount
Is shove the body Of the flames. and
owers Of barning oil would be scst-
ed about in the woods. The whole
lutry was lii up for miles around.
ssWell, II wasn't iong. going Il the
N We made. before the lights Il Broc-
b came In sight down In the valley.
y relief I felt when these came In
w wAs short lived, for I remembered
|ak train No. 8, on the Lake Shore
3pid be dne st the Junction just about
B time We ssohed il. No. 5 was the
scinnaii express. Our only h-.pe, all
r bag during the rsce, had been that the
kikeh man 1t the Junction would think
d enough TO opsn the switch there,
k{0nectinS the cross-cut track with the
IKE Shore track, and let as run Ia on
; latter, where the grade would be
eiust as, II anything, and where we
qld soon get out Of the way Of The oil
n, The switch Of course would he
b1ed now for the express, and our last
ipe was gone; unless the express was
b, or sonebody had sense enought 10
AG II. While we were thinking d this
3 saw the express tearing along toward
- junction. Could we reach the
snotioa. get the switch, and the switch
, set back for the express before the
tier got there, II not, there would
m inevitable crash, in which not only
. but probably scores Of others woud
crashed to death. ALI this conjec-
iyiQg did not occupy two second, but
that two seconds ! lived years.
z 9ood Godl" r said 70 the fireman,
what are we TO do now?'
'fThe fireman promptly replied and
} was a brave little fellow--shat /
fouid whistle for the switch, and take