The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-03-08
Rather Rapid Travelling.

lMlWaukee sun.
Hail. dozen railroad men were standing
by the Union depot lunch counter the other
night, waiting for train, drinking coffee
and telling stories about their experiences
in rallroading An engineer was making
camel tracks in half pie, and between
swallows was entertaining the boys about a
fast run he made one day between Milwau-
kee and La Crosse, when the cold man.
was in hurry to get up there to see about
the bridge that was being built there. AS
he was describing how the engine and two
cars fairly blistered the rails between Portage
and Camp Douglass, a frightened looking
man stepped up and asked for cup of cof-
fee and some doughuuts, and while he was
soaking doughnut in the coffee, he said
they didn't know anything about fast run
ming unless they had been on the Pennsyl-
vania road. The men asked him what he
knew about fast running, and he turned out
some coffee in a saucer, blew on it to cool it,
swallowed it and said:
swell, just got here from the east and
have witnessed railroading that knocks the
socks off of anything that ever was. We
started out of Jersey City one night at
o'clock and up this side of Philadelphia
there was wreck ahead of us, and we side
tracked ftr six hours, and when the track
was clear we started. Well sir, we few,
fairly flew. We didn't realize in the car
that we was going fast, by any jar, for it
was just as smooth as a pair of skates on
ice, but If a man went out on the platform
he could not breathe The niger started
to bring lunch from the hotel cal
into the car was in, and while
he crossed the platform the coffee froz'
as if as ice cream, and man al,
1t with spoon. The niger wa
afraid to go back into the car and waited til
the train stopped at a coal place. The con
ductor told me the train was going faster
than bullet. He said the engineer otter
shot his revolver up the track ahead and tn,
engine would overtake the bullet and flatter
it against the smoke stack. Did you eve
see passenger train jump right over
freight train when both were in motion?,
asked the doughnut man as he filled hi
empty coffee cup up with milk.
''Oh, what are you giving us?' said th,
engineer, as he loosened the leather bel
around his greasy overalls and looked at thu
man with disgust
swell, you don't have to believe it if you
don't want to, but pledge YOU my word oul
train jumped right over freight train ahead
OF US. We came up to it ON straight track
and our engineer signalled to the freight en-
gineer to slow up little, and the conductor
told us to keep our seats. We had seen thu
freight train ahead on curve, and won
dered why our train did not stop. When th,
conductor told us to keep our seats l asked
him what was the matter, and he said We
were going to jump a freight, and if We
moved around we would jar the cars so they
wouldn be so liable to hit the track ahead
when we came down. Just then could fee
the train go into the air, and hear the wheel
turn with no track under them, and in les
than ten seconds we began to descend, ant
/ could hear the wheels on the track again
and looked back and the freight enginee
vas waving his hat at us. Why, there wa
DO more jar than there is in this room now
OF course they wouldn't attempt to jump
freight train on a curve or in tunnel" AMI
the man scratched a match on his pants anC
lis cigar stump he had been keeping