News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-10-18
AN AWFUL RIDE.
CHASED BY A FEARFUL. AVALANCHE
OF FLAME
Engineer Browns Dash Down the NIOun-
tain Side in Front of Blazing Oil
Train,
From the New York Sun.I


The track between Prospect or Mayvllle
Summit and BrOcton Junction is so
crooked that, while the distance is only
ten miles, the curves make it by rail
fourteen. The grade for the whole dis
lance Is over seventy feet to the mile.
"AbOut nine o'clock on the night of
Aug. II, 1869, we reached the Summit
with a train of two passenger cars, six
oil cars, and a box car. The latter con-
tanned two valuable trOtting horses, and
their keepers with them, on their way, l
believe, to the Cleveland meeting. There
were fifty or sixty passengers in the two
cars. | got the signal from the conductor
to start, and pulled out. We had got
under considerable Roadway, when, look
ing back, [ saw that an oil car in the
middle of the train was on fire. | re
versed my engine and whistled for
brakes. The conductor and brakemen
jumped off They uncOupled the pas
senger cars and set the brakes on them,
bringing them to a stop. Surprising
that the brakes on the burning oil cars
would also he put on, called toa brake
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, in
the box car and locomotive. As [ ran
on down the hill, after the pin had been
drawn. what was my horror to see that
the burning cars were following me at a
speed that was rapidly Increasing. The
men had not succeeded in putting on
the brakes. / saw that the only thing
to be done was to run for it to BrOctOn,
and the chances were that we would
never reach there ut the speed which we
would be obliged to make around those
sharp reverse curves, where we had never
run over twenty miles an hour.
"When l saw the flaming cars-for
the whole six We're on fire by this time
-plunging after me, and only a few feet
away, pulled the throttle open. The
oil cars caught me, though, before l got
away. They came with full force against
the rear of the box car, smashing i'll one
end and knocking the horses and their
keepers fiat on the floor. The heat was
almost unbearable, and, do my best, [
couldn't place more than thirty feet be-
tween the pursuing column of fire and
ourselves. By the light from the fur
mace, as my fireman opened the door to
pile III the coal, l caught sight of the
face Of one of the hOrsemen in the box
car, he having climbed up to the grated
opening in the end. 1t was as pale as
death, and he begged me for Gods sake
to give her more steam. | was giving
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 | never could understand.
She seemed to know that it was race
of life and death, and worked as if she
were alive.
''The night was dark, and the road
ran through woods, deep rock cuts, and
along high entertainments. There we
We're, laundering along at lightning
speed, and, only a few PAGES behind us,
that fiery demon in full pursuit There
were fifty thousand gallons of oil in
| those tanks, ut least, and it was all IN
| flame, making flying avalanche of fire
five hundred feet long. The flames
| leaped into the air nearly a hundred
feet. Their roar was like that of some
| great cataract Now and then tank
]
non, when q column of flame and pitchy
smoke would mount high above the body
of the flames, and showers of burning
oil would be scattered about in the
woods. The whole country was lighted
up for miles around.
"WelI, it wasn't long, going Mt the
rate We made, before the lights of Broc-
ton came III sight down in the valley.
The relief felt when these came in view
was short lived, for [ remembered that
train No. s, on the Lake Shore, would
be due at the Junction Just about the
time We would reach it. No. s was the
Cincinnati express. Our only hope, all
along during the race, had been that the
switchman at the Junction would think
far enough to open the switch there,
connecting the crOss-cut track with the
Lake Shore track, and let us run III on
the latter, where the grade would be
against us, if anything, and where we
| could soon get out of the way of the oil
| cars. The switch, 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 it.
! While we were thinking of this we saw
| the express tearing along toward the
Junction. Could we reach the Junction
| get the switch, and the switch be SCI
! back for the express before the latter
| got there If not, there would be al
| inevitable crash, in which not only We
! but probably scores of others would be
crushed to death All this coniecturing
did not occupy two seconds, but in thai
two seconds / lived years.
Good Godr | said to my fireman
what are we to do now?'
''The fireman promptly replied
he was a brave little fcIlow-that
should whistle for the switch and tak'
the chances. / did so. That whist,
was one prolonged yell of agony. l
was shrek that seemed to tell us tina
our brave old engine knew our DANCE
and had her fears. Neither the fireman
nor myself spoke another word.
"Thanks be to God The enginee
on the express train, seeing us tearing
down that mountain with an eighth of
mile of solid fire in close pursuit of us
knew III a moment that only one thin;
could save Us. He Whistled for brakes
and got his train to a stand not ten fee
away from the switch. The switchmal
now answered our signal, and we shot il
on the Shore track and whizzcd on NJ
by the depot and through the place likO
a rocket. The burning cars followed IL
III, Of course, but their race was run
They had no propeling power now, anC
after chasing us for a mile they gave NJ
the pursuit, and in three hours there wa
nothing left of them but smoking ruins
My fireman and | were so weak whel
we brought our locomotive to a top tina
we could not get ont of the cab Tn
; two hOrsemCn We're unconscious in tn
box car. The horses were ruined. An,
how long do you think we were in max
ing that sixteen miles We ran tw
miles up the Lake Shore track. Jus
twelve minutes from the Summit to tn
spot where we stopped plumb eight
miles an hour, not counting the tim
lost getting under Roadway and stopping
beyond BrOCtOn."
City Of Mexico.
Newcomers in the city of Mexico ar
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