The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1885-09-26
TWO CLOSE CALLS.
A Travelling Grocerymans Notos
of Adventures.
hRunaway Railroad Track and its sIngu'
lar Aniics-rho Idlosyncrnsies Of y
Dlslocaiod .wheei-sls
Minutes Of Genuine
Excitement.

"Iye had some narrow escapes dur
Ing my twenty years knocking around
the country" said John Gilbert, tho
travelling groccryman, "but | think
about the closest call was the time the
quartcr-milc Of railroad track ran away
with itself In OIL City. ! don't know,
though, after all, whether had nearer
glimpse Of tho Great Beyond on that
occasion than | did the day tho Dyer
lap-weld mill and portions Of the ma
chinery distributed themselves about
Pittsburgh In wonderfully promiscu-
Gus fashion. AS the two calls were only
two days apart, maybe ! can lump EN-
aud call 'em one.
"Maybe you think It's funny to say
that u railroad track ran away with
itself; but II You had been there when tho
runaway happened, the funny part Of Il
wouldn't have been very apparent 10
you. Oil City lies between ranges Of
lofty hills. and iis available building
sites. owing to the rapid growth Of tho
place, became very scarce aud costly
some years ago. A number Of specu.
latlye gentlemen, not satisfied with the
uncertainties ~ oil. conceived the bril-
liant idea Of utilizing the airy SUBMITS
Of the high hills on the west side Of tho
town for building lots, and purchased a
big track Of land on top Of the range.
There was no way 10 get 10 the pros.
pectiye new addition 10 the city. and ~
they built railroad from the base Of
the hills TO the summit, the car 10 be
run by stationary engines and cables,
after the manner of ihe gravity roads In
the coal regions. II was good scheme.
but Il didn't work. Nobody bought the
breezy lots. and the road was aban-
doncd. In the winter of 1880 some coal
operators Of Scbuylkill County bought
the railroad. aud the day ! struck Oil
City they were TO take up the rails aud
remove them to their mines. The road
was narrow gauge. and bad two
tracks. The rails were fastened 10.
gether nj each end, and formed foul
unbroken lines Of track from top 10 bot
tom Of The hill.
~ had friend living In oil City who
kept n good horse. Ills barn was about
one hundred yards from The foot of the
railroad. aud bis house was nearly In .
line with the barn. He asked me d
take a sleigh ride with him. and wenl
over to bis barn to see him hitch up
I stood IN the stall on one side of the
horse. and my friend was on the othel
side In the act Of throwing the harnes,
over the horses back. when we heard I
rumbling noise something like that mad,
by heavy slide Of snow from the roof
and the next instant their came crasl
against the side Of the barn. and W,
were almost buried In shower Of splin
ters and broken boards. Following III,
crash black streak shot through tn
stall behind US and out at the open doc
about foot above our heads. | ran on
Of the door and saw that the streak wa
n string Of iron and II kept coming unti
Il was at least one thousand feet II
length. II sailed across my friend
garden. just grazed the corner Of hi
house, and made kindling wood Of a
clubhouse that stood In its path. III
iron string kept right on lie cours
like streak of lightning. and wa
headed straight for the kitchen Of IN
James House. whstever made that fiy
ing iron swerve IN IL course don
know. but Il curved around sufficient
10 bring Il In contact with high sion
fence not four feet from the kIsehe
door. When Il struck the wall the iru
string hew into half dozen ,iecss. an
they vent flying about In slI direcfionl
some of them shooting On for ahundre
feet before they fell 70 the ground
number ol girls were At work In the hf
vel Kitchen. and II the line Of iron he
kept straight on there would no dout
have been four OF live funerals from tbs
hauss. A Aporsion Of the broken line {
iron vas hurled high IN The sir sn
struck The cbimusY on The hotel. sea