The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-06-04

During the recent convention of To-
connective engineers in this city, mum
Der Of them were invited to the house
OF local railrosder to meet gentlemen
from the various other branches of rail
reading. As the evening wore on, the
grizzled old throttle-pullers and their
friends fell to relating anecdotes and
experiences, from which the following
are taken:
Locomotive engineers are very su.
perstitious,' remarked the first speak.
er. "One of the aueerest cases that
know of illustrative of this tendency,
he continued, "was that of old Adam
Brown, who ran an engine on the North
ern Pacific for many years. Adam,
who was German, was quite an &C.
centric person any way, and had q habit
of approaching the climax of his yarns,
of which he was an industrious spinner,
by the Introductory announcement that
we was yoost a goin' around the cor
ner, about forruty miles an hour
under such circumstances n cows tail
would be discovered waving danger
signal, or some other emergency would
present itself, calling forth display OF
the ingenious Adams presence of mind
and dexterity.
"Well, on the night in question, Adam
was pulling mixed train-that is, one
composed Of both passenger and freight
cars-out of Duluth, the village made
famous by Proctor Knott's allusion to
it as the Zenith City of the unsalted
seas / was train-dispatcher for the
Northern Pacific, whose trains ran over
joint stretch of road from Duluth to
Northern Pacific junction, and were
not under our immediate control until
after passing the Junction.
Adams train left Duluth on time,
but arrived at the Junction late. We
could obtain no satisfactory answers to
our inquiries regarding the time lost,
the conductor reporting everything all
right as far as he was concerned. The
train continued to lose time, however,
and reached Brainerd, the end of the
division, where / was stationed, five
hours late. / tackled the conductor
for an explanation when he came in,
and what do you suppose he told me :?
Why, that Adam dreamed the day pre-
vious that huge tie had been strapped
across the track by train-wreckers.
The whole surroundings were wildly
impressed on his mind, and he had
awakened just as the engine touched
the tie. SO firmly did he believe in the
'premonition' thet he could not be in
duced to run along at the ordinary rate
of speed, but crept along all night.
"The engineers appear to have o
strong belief in the strange fatality that
seems to attach to some engines, and
not altogether without cause. The old
No. AZ, which used to run on the Da-
kota Division of the Northern Pacific
years ago, was one of these cases. She
was wrecked at least half a dozen times
within few months from various
causes, and We never felt confident
when she was on the road.
Recently 1 boarded an engine on a
train coming west from Sacramento, I"
said another, "the engineer of which
was an old friend of NINE. Noticing a
horseshoe hanging in his cab, asked
him why he carried it. 'Ill tell you,
Tom,' said he. For q month | was
never able to make our time; if it
wasn't breakdown the engine would
not steam, or we'd be troubled with
hot boxes, or perhaps go into the ditch.
At last 1 got the horseshoe, and, on
my oath, I've not had bit of trouble
since. We haven't been ditched once !;
have had no trouble in getting up
steam; the boxes have run perfectly
cool, and the machine hasn't so much
as slipped an eccentric or blown out a
soft plug"