The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-10-10
CHASED BY A BURNING
TRAIN:
Thrilling Experience of an OF

Thrilling Experience OF an Old
locomotive Engineer.
DUNKIRK, n. Y, Sept. 22.-"1
don't expect to live much lapger, an
after I am dead 1 want you put in
the papers the story of the ride | had
from Prospect to BrOcton in 1862"
The speaker was Duff Brown, an
old locomotive. engineer. VIII"
way lying at his home in Portland,
this county, dying with cnn>uunp.
tion, This was several weeks ago.
On the It'll Of this month he died.
He was nearly sixty years old. His
story of the awful ride is this:
"In 1869 I vas running a mixed
train on the Buffalo. Cory and Erie
railway. The track between pros
poet ar Mary vi IL Summit and Broc-
ton June ion is 80 crooked that, while
The distance is actually only ten
miles, the curves make il by rail tf-
teen. The grade for the whole dis
tance is over 20 feet to the mile.
"About 9 o'clock on the night of
August II. 1869. We reached the
| Summit with a train Of two pa>sen-
ger cars. six oil cars and a box car
"rhe latter contained tv o valuable
trOtting horses, and their keeper
with them, on t.eir way l believe, to
the Cleveland mt Getting. There were
fifty or sixty passengers on board the
cars. got tie signal ron the con
| duclor to start, and [ %pUlied."ut We
had got under considerable head
way, when looking back | saw that
an oil car in the middle Of the train
was on fire. l reversed my engine
and whistled for brakes. The con-
ductnr and brakeman jumped off.
They uncoupled the passenger ears
and set the brakes IN them, bringing
them to a stop. Surprising that the
brake s on the burning oil would
also be put on, I called to brake
man on the box car to draw the coup
ling pin between that Car and the
head oil tank, backing so that he
could do it, intending to run far
enough away to save the box car and
locomotive. AS | ran down the hill,
after the pin had been drawn, what
was my.hOrror to see that the burn-
ing cars were following Il a speed
that was rapidly increasing. The
men had not succeeded in putting on
the brakes, 1 saw that the only
thing to be done was to run for it to
Brocton, and the chances that
we would never reach there at the
speed with which we would be
obliged to make around those sharp
reverse curves, which we had never
run over twenty miles an hour.
"Wnen [ saw the flaming cars
for thc whole six were on fire by this
time-pIunging after me and only a
few feet away, I pulled the throttle
though, before I got away. They
came with full force against the ear
of the box car, smashing in one end
and knocking the horses and their
keeper flat on the floor. The heat
was almost unbearatle, and, do nay
best, 1 couldn't place more than 80
feet between the pursuing column of
fife and ourselves. BY the light from
the furnace, as fireman opened the
door to pile on coal, [ caught sight
of the face of one Of the h ,r>eman in
the box car, he having climbed up
to the CRATE opening in the end. 1t
was as pale as death and he begged
NE for Gods SAFE to give her more
steam. I was giving her then all tine
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 al
most run on u set OF wheels. and
why in the world she didn't topple
over Is somethining I never could
understand. She seemed to know
that it was a race for life and death,
and worked as if she were alive.
1.-THE night was dsrk, ana he read
a through the woods, deep rock
cuts, and along high entertainments.
There we We're, Numbering along at
lightning speed, and, only a few
PAGES behind lis, that frey demon in
full pursuit There were $4,000 gal
Ions IF oil in those tanls, at least.
and it was all in flame, making a
flying avalanch. of fire five hundr Il
feet long. The flames l-aped into the
air nearly one hundred feet. T cir
rnar was like that of some great cata-
ract. Now and then a tank would
explode with a noise like a cannon,
when a column of flame and pitchey
smoke would mount high above the
body OF the lanes, and showers Of
burning oil would be scattered about
the woods. The whole country was
lighted up for miles around.
We'll, it wasn't long. going at the
rate we made, before the lights of
BrOcton came in sight down in the
valley. The relief 1 telt when hese
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 Gin
cinnati express. Oar only hope, all
along during the race, had been that
the switch man at the Junction would
think far enough to open the switch
there, connecting the cut track
with the Lake Shore track. and let
us run in on the latter, where the
grade would be against us, if any
thing. and where we could so m get
out oftbe 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 lat,
or tomebody had sense enough to flag
it. While we we've thinking OF TINS
we saw the express train along toward
the Junction. Could we reach the
Junction, get the switch, aud the
switch be set back before the latter
got there? If not, there would be an
inevitable crash, in which not only
we but probably scores of others
would be crushed t. death. All this
ccjecturing did not occupy two sec
Onds, but in that two seconds l lived
years.
"'Good Goo! l said to the fire.
man, what are We to do now?'
1.-The fireman promptly replied
and he was a brave little fellow-that
l should whistle for the switch and
take the chances. l did so. The
whistle Was n prolonged yell of
agony. 1t was a shrek that seemed
to tell US that our brave old engine
knew u danger and had her fears. !