Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-17
CHAsED BY BLAzlNG CANS.
Mad Race for Life in a Locom0tive-Es-
Gaping from Burning Oil at Eighty
MILES an lsOur.
From the Neao York Tri6une.

N@N ANASS AVr LILO IN LOcOmOtiVe-Es-
Gaping from Burning Oil at Eighty
Miles an HOur.
Prom the Keao York Tti6une.
DUNKIRK, April 14.-Dud Brown, one
of the oldest locomotive engineers in the
United States, died at Portland, N. Y, on
! April 7. On his death-bed he told the fol.
/ lowing story Of his ride from Prospect to
/ Brocton, with the request that it be pub.
/ lished:
In 1859 l was running train on the
/ buAalo, CORY and Erie Railroad. The
! track from Prospect, Or MayVille. Summit
/ to BroctOn Junction is so crooked that
/ "hlle the distance is actually only ten
! miles, the curves make il bY rail fourteen.
/ Inc grade for the whole distance is over
/ seventy feet to the mile. About 9 O'Clock
/ on the night Of Aug. Z, 1869, we reached
/ the summit with train Of two passenger
/ cars, six oil cars and a box car. The lat
4 ter contained two valuable trottiug horses
! and their keepers, on their way, believe.
to Chicago. There were fifty or sixtVpas-
4 sengers In the two cars. ] cot the
/ signal 70 start from the conductor.
/ and pulled out. We had got under con.
siderable Roadway, when, looking back. /
saw that an oil car in the middle of the
/ tram was on fire. ] reversed the engine
/ and Whistled for brakes. The conductor
ana Drakemen jumped of, uncoupled the
/ passenger cars, set the brakes on them
and brought them to a stop. Supposing
/ that the brakes on the burning oil cars
/ would also he put on, / called to a brake
man on the box Car to draw the coupling
/ PIN between that car and the head oil
/ tank, backing so thai he could do it. in
/ tending to run far enough to save the box
/ car and the locomotive. AS / ran down
/ the hill, after the pin had been withdrawn,
I ha my Rs- Al
/ ing cars were following me at aspeed that
[ was rapidly increasing. The men had not
/ succeeded in putting on the brakes. |
saw that the only thing that was to be
/ done was to run tor it to Brocton. and the
( chances were that we would never reach
/ there at the speed which we would be
/ obliged to make around those sharp, re-
I verse curves where we had never run
1 over twenty miles an hour. When saw
/ the flaming cars-for the whole six were
1 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
1 with full force against the rear Of the box.
/ car, smashing in one end and knocking
/ the horses and their keepers fiat on the
/ floor.
/ The heat was almost uncomfortable, and
/ to do my best ! couldn't put more than
~
( ourselves. By the light from the-furuace.
/ as the fireman opened the door to pile in
/ coal, l caught sight Of the face Of one Of
1 the hOrsemen, he having craWled ND to
the grated opening in the end. 1t was as
pale as death, and he begged me for Gods
/ sake to give the engine more steam. !
was giving her all the steam she could
carry, and the grade itself was sufficient
! to carry us down at the rate of fifty miles
ha IN
I CINE refused to pump. Every time we
struck one of those curves the old girl
/ would run on almost one set of wheels,
! and why ia the world she didn't tOpple
over Is something | never could under
stand. 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
| the woods, deep rock cuts, and along high
/ entertainments. There we were thunder
ing along at lightning speed, and, only a
( few PAGES behind us, that fiery demon in
full pursuit. There were 30, 600 gallons of
oil in those tanks. at least, and it was all
flame, making a flying avalanche 500 feet
I long. The flames leaped into the air
nearly 100 feet Their roar was like that
of some great cataract. Now and then a
! tank would explode with a noise like a
cannon, when column OF fame and
pitcby smoke would rise high above the
body of fame, and showers Of burning oil
would be scattered about in the woods.
| The whole country was lighted up for
/ miles around. Well, it wasn't long, going
| at the rate we made, before the lights of
| BractOn came in sight down the valley.
The relief l felt was short lived, for /
| remembered that train No. s on the Lake
/ Shore Road would be at the junction about
! the time we would reach it. No. was
! the Cincinnati express. Our only hope
! all along the race had been that the
/ switchman at the junction would think to
! open the switch there, connecting the
4 cross-cut track with the Lake Shore track,
and let us run in on the latter, where the
/ grade would be against us, if anything,
and where we would soon get out OF the
way of the oil cars. The switch would be
I closed now for the express, and our last
/ hope was gone, unless the express was
! late, or some one had sense enough to flag
! it. While we were thinking of this we
/ saw the train tearing along toward the
junction. Could we reach the junction,
/ get the switch and the switch be set back
! for the express before the latter got there?
/ If not, there would be an inevitable crash,
/ in which not only we, but scores OF others
would be crushed to death. All this con-
! occurring did not occupy two seconds, but
/ in these two seconds | lived years. Good
/ Godp l said to my fireman, "what
are we to dOY' The fireman promptly
/ replied-and he was a brave little
/ feiow-that | should whistle for the
switch and take the chances. | did so.
/ That whistle was one prolonged yell of
/ agony. II was a shrek that seemed TO
! tell us that our brave old engine knew our
/ danger and had its fears. Neither the
/ fireman nor myself spoke another word.
/ Thanks be to God, the engineer on the
/ express train, seeing us tearing down
/ that mountain within an eighth OF mile
/ of fire in close pursuit Of us, knew in
moment that only one thing could save us.
/ He whisted for brakes and got his train
/ at a standstll not ten feet from the switch.
/ The switchman answered our signal, and
/ we shot on the Shore track and whizzed
/ on by the depot and through the place
/ like a rocket The burning ears followed
/ us in. OF course, but their race WAS run.
| They had no propelling power now, and,
! after chasing us for a mile, they gave up
/ the pursuit and in three hours there was
nothing left OF them but smoking ruins.
NV fireman and / were 80 weak when
we brought our locomotive 10 a stop that
we couldn't get out of our cab. The two
| horsemen were unconscious ~ the box
! car. The horses were ruined. And how
long do YOU think we were m making that
sixteen milesg We ran two miles up the
Lake Shore track. Just twelve minutes
from the summit TO the place where we
stopped! A plumb eighty miles an hour,
NOT counting the time lostin getting under
t.,..a..-... =. al gtouufut haVnul RrOptOu.