Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-11
RAILROADING IN A GALE.
A Train Tipped from a Track by tn
Wind in Colorado

The Denver lCOl.) Tribune, in a recent
issue, says: Yesterday a reporter for the
Tribune met Mr.. W. B. Meyenesch. a well
known typo, who was among the passen.
gers on the Denver and South Park train.
| blown on the track near Como last week,
On asking for the particulars of the affairs.
he responded as follows:
sit was what YOU might call a luckv
accident; lucky for the reason that il han
! pened just when it did as it did. because
no one was hurt to amount TO ANYTHING
/ The wind was first noticed as being high
/ when the train reached Buena Vista. 1t
| kept on increasing in fury, and when the
! train reached Gerands, in the South
Park, there was regular hurricane blow
| ing. got on the train at Gerands.
/ From there to Como is only short RIM
| through the park, but it was three hours
| before we got through. The wind was
blowing In squalls. At times it would
slack up, AND the train would iump ahead
as If something had pushed il. Again
! the wind would strike us, and the train
would tremble and almost stop. 1t WAS
just as If some giant hand had taken hold
of 1t and was pulling back. The wind
made dull, hollow sound as il beat
against the cars, but above that YOU could
hear the shrill whistling through the tele-
graph wires. 1t was a very odd sensa-
ton. Every one could feel the resistance
to the train. The engineer said he felt all
the time as though he were pulling dozen
trains at once. For fifteen minutes before
the accident Conductor Patton was very
nervous. We asked him if there was anv
danger of the train blowing over. He said
he thought not, but he was afraid il would
force wheel off or break it. He stood in
the smoker with his hand on the bell rope,
ready If anything happened. The brake
man was sent back into the coach with
instructions to do the same. The passen.
gers in the smoker were all young fellows.
We were chatting about what we would
doif the train blew over. Mr. Egbert was
i'll the rear coach. He asked the chief
engineer what he should do if the train
blew over. The engineer said that he
should stand by the closet, so that nothing
would fall ON him, and he took that posi-
tiOn. Mr.. Egbert warned him that the
stove would catch him, and he had lust
moved from the place when the train
went over
The smoker went first. 1t tipped in
the easiest way imaginable. The con-
ductor yelled, Here we go' every one
caught hold of the seats, and the ear lust
naturally lay down on its side. The strain
twisted the draw bar off between the
smoker and the baggage car. The engi-
neer reversed his engine and stopped
within two car lengths. BY that time the
mail car and coach were both over. AS
soon as we lit | looked around and saw
everyone hanging to the seats. 1 looked
for the fire, and saw that the rear stove
had emptied into the closet opposite.
Then L climbed out the window. i went
to the door, and by the time | cot
there the conductor had got it open.
The fire was put out at once. We then
went to the coach to see if any one was
injured, and found that the only damage
was that a little boy had got his lip cut
on a broken pane of glass. The coach had
struck on a tie and broken in two. We
then started forward. The first man who
tried to cross to the baggage car was
knocked down by the wind. We got
across as best we could. When we
reached the baggage car we thought some
one had been killed, as there was blood
running from a tie under one of the win
dOws. We soon learned that it came from
the baggage masters nose. He had been
sitting with his feet cooked. up on the
stove on the upper side of the car. and
when it went over his nose lit on the
window sill on the other side.
las soon as we found that5nO one was
hurt we got the two ladies and the chill
dren who were in the coach over to the en-
gine, and it ran down to Como with them.
1t took three men to get one lady from the
coach to the engine. When they were gone
VIC SOt pelCh IHCO lue cars ana enjoyed our |
selves. The peanut boys box furnished
the refreshments for the happy occasion,
and when the engine got back there was |
nothing left in it but his basket and life
Of Jesse James. They were afraid to bring
down coach. or bOX-car for us, so they
brought down two engines and a fat-car.
We rode up to Como and lay there for |
twenty-slX hours before going on. 1t was |
lucky that Mr.. Egbert was on board as |
he saw the danger of the situation and |
stopped everything on the road at once. |
If the accident had happened 200 feet back |
of where it did, the train would have gone |
down thirty-fOOt embankment. We had |
got oyer it and come to a nice level place |
just in the nick of time"