Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-12-15
AR AWFUL RIOE.


From the New York Sun.
1T don't expect to live much
longer. and after / am dead want
YOU to put In the papers the story
of that ride / had from Prospect 70
Brocton In 1862"
The speaker was Duff Brown,
an old locomotive engineer, who
was living at home in Portland, dy-
ing with consumption. This was
some time ago. On the 9TH OF Sep
TENDER he died. He was nearly
sixty years old. His story Of the
awful ride is this:
"In 1869 | was running mixed
train on the Buffalo, Cory and Erie
Railway. The track between Pros
pect or Mayville Summit and Broc-
ton Junction is so crooked that,
while the distance Is only ten
miles, the curves make II by rail
fourteen. The grade for the whole
distance is over seventy feet to the
mile.
"About nine o'clock on Che night
of Aug. IL, 1869, we reached the
Summit with train OF two pas
senger cars, six oil cars, and box
car. The latter contained two val
liable trotting horses, and their
keepers with them on their way,
believe, to the Cleveland meeting.
There were fifty or sixty passengers
in the two cars. i got the signal
from the conductor TO start, and 1
pulled out. We had got under con-
siderable Roadway, when, looking
back, / saw that an oil car in the
middle of the train was on fire.
reversed my engine and whistled
for brakes. The conductor and
brakeman jumped off. They un-
coupled the passenger cars and set
the brakes on them, bringing them
to a stop. Surprising that the
brakes on the burning car would
also be put on, called to brakes
man on the box car to draw the
coupling pin between that car and
the head oil tank, backing so that
he could do it, intending 70 run far
enough away to save the box car
and locomotive. As / ran on down
the hill, after the pin had been
drawn, what was my horror 10 see
THAT the burning cars were follow
| ing me at q speed that was rapidly
increasing. The men had not sue
| ceeded in putting on the brakes.
saw that the only thing to be
done was to run for it to Br0ct0n,
| and the chances were that we would
never reach there at the speed
whichfwe would be obliged to make
around those sharp reverse curves,
where we had never run over TWEEN
| ty miles an hour.
"When j saw the flaming cars
for the whole six were on fire by
this time-plunging after me, and
only few feet away, pulled the
throttle open. The oil cars caught
me, though, before / got away.
They came with full force against
the rear of the box car, smashing
in one end and knocking the hor-
SEES and their keepers fiat on tho
floor. The heat was almost unbear-
| able, and, do my best, i couldn't
place more than thirty feet between
! the pursuing column of fire and
ourselves. BY the light from the
| furnace, as my fireman opened the
door to pile in the coal, caught
sight of the face of one of the horse
men in the box car, he having
climbed up to the grated opening
at the end. II was as pale az death,
and he begged me for Gods sake
to give her more steam. / was Civ
ing her then all the steam she could
carry, and the grade itself was
enough to carry us down at the
rate OF fifty miles an hour. We
went so fast that the engine couldn't
pump. Every time we struck one
Of those curves the old girl would
almost run on one set of wheels,
and why in the world she didn't
topple over is something i never
could understand. She seemed to
know that it was a race OF life and
death, and worked as IL she were
alive.
"The night was dark, and the
road ran through woods, deep rock
There we were, laundering along
at lightning speed, and, only few
PAGES behind us, that fiery demon
In full pursuit. There were fifty
thousand gallons OF oil In those
tanks, at least, and it was all in
flame, making a flying avalanche
of fire five hundred feet long. The
flames leaped into the air nearly
hundred feet. Their roar was like
that of some great cataract. New
and then tank would explode
with a noise like cannon, wher q
column of fame and pitchy smoke
would mount high above the body
of the flames, and showers OF burn
ing oil would be scattered about ia
the woods. The whole country
was lighted up for miles around.
"Well, IL wasn't long, going at
the rate we made, before the lights
of Brocton came In sidaht
down in the valley. The RELIEF
felt when these came in view was
short lived, for remembered that
train No. 8, on the Lake Shore.
would be due at the Junction lust
about the time we would reach IL.
No. was the Cincinnati express.
Our only hope, all along during the
race, had been the switchman at
the junction would think far
enough to open the switch there,
the cross-cut track with
the Lake Shore track and let ms run
in on the latter, where the grade
would be against us, II anything,
and where we could soon get out OF
IhO way va AhC OAA CkAAos 4nC GWAk1AAa
Of course, would be closed now for
the express, and our last hope was
gone, unless the express was late,
or somebody had sense TO flag IL.
While we were thinking OF this we
saw the express tearing along TO-
ward the Junction. Could we
reach the Junction, get the switch,
md the switch be set back for the
express before the latter got theFag
Il not, there would be an inevikth-
Die crash, in which not only we but
scores of others would ID
rushed to death. All this conine-
uring did not occupy two seconds,
)ut In that two seconds 4 lived
years.
"'Good God y / said to my Gre.
nan, what are we to do now Y
"The fireman promptly replIa
nd he was a brave little i6linM&.
hat / should whistle for the switch
nd take the chances. / did mos
hat whistle was one pr0lonn
ell OF agony. IL was SHREK THAT
eemed to tell us that our bravs ol4
ngine knew our danger and had
er fears. Neither the fireman nor
1VSpif smoke another word