Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-03-14
Truth Stronger Than Fiction.

Truth Stronger Than Fiction
! The methods of warfare reso1ted to
| by the New York Central & Hudson
/ River Railroad Company in securing the
/ publication and circulation of articles de-
! signed to injure its great rival, the New
! York, West Shore & Buffalo Railway.
/ would seem to justify the West Shore In
| reproducing the following "unVarnished
/ tale" from a disinterested source. It
/ fully demonstrates that the landlords of
| glass houses should not assail more sub
stantial structures. Truth is ever unsa-
worry when it exposes corporate IS well
| as personal faults, just as fiction is ever
weak when employed to diminish the
popularity of rival.
Midnight Scene on the New York Central
Railroad
n. Y. Christian Advocate, Feb'y u, 1885.
On Thursday evening, Feb. 5, the
through train was two hours late at Buff
falo. Some time after midnight, when
the train was between Batavia and
Rochester, a wheel broke off a sleeper"
This was an old condemned sleeper, put
on at st. Louis instead Of some disabled
car. So doubtful was it's condition that
the porter was in terror all the way, and
staid but little time on the car. When
the wheel broke the car was thrown
from the track. The train was safely
stopped.
While the difficulty was being attended
to, and the train had been at q stand
still for twenty minutes, a number of the
passengers, with the engineer, sleeping
car and train conductors, with others,
stood looking at the car. Suddenly a fu-
rlOu5 whistle was heard from q lOcOmO-
tive. A passenger said to the conductor,
There comes a train on this very track !
Where are your hagmen?" 81 sent them
back some time ago." In an instant the
engineer, conductor and one or two pas
sengers started to warn the people in the
ordinary cars, and above the rest the
voice of the train conductor rang out,
Get out, quick every one of you'll Quick
quick! every man, woman, and childp
Those who were awake in the sleeping
cars sprang out Of their berths. In an
instant Crash! went the engine of
freight train into the rear car. The Jolt
was very severe. As the ladies were
leaping out confidence was restored by a
passenger saying, "All the damage, what
ever it is, has been DONE"
The next minute the porter came in;
saying aloud: Get to bed, gentlemen,
everything is all right now" but whis-
pered, ''Ihe fact Is, q train ran into us from
behind" The writer went out and walked
to the end of the train, and there, in the
clearest light, objects a mile and half
distant being seen with perfect distinct
ness, freight train about a sixteenth of
mile long had run into the express.
The rear sleeper was lifted from the
track, the platform smashed, the king
bolt broken, and the hind wheels driven
forward The engine was much dam
aged, and those of the passengers in the
rear car who did not get out were badly
shaken and bumped.
How was thiS2D said tho vv.iFar N on
employee. "Where no men sent back,
and no signals displayed?" 90, yes; but
1t was down grade, and after the freight
train began to slow up 1t could not stop
IN tlme" Porter, why did you not
wake up the passengers in the sleeper ?"
Well, what could you do in getting peo-
pie out of bed in a minute and a half
You could get them out of the common
cars, for they were up, you know" (The
fact is, the said porter had jumped of
the car, and did not get on till he had
seen the colisiOnD 1t was stated that
IN one Wagner car everybody had got
ten out before the shock, except q man
woman, and child.
1t was also said that there were no other
passengers in it, which means that the
conductor and porter got, not acre got,
out. If the express had been three cars
longer, or had stood a hundred yards
further west, the damage would have
been indiscribable.
We hear a great deal about "the de-
Velopment of rhe American railway sys-
tenn" On the New York Central there
appears to have been developed no GER
tain means Of stopping a freight train,
on clear night and a straight track,
so as to prevent it from running into
a passenger train that is standing still.
No doubt the lessening the number of
men to save expenses, and employing
boys Of sixteen years and under as brake /
men on freight trains, had something to /
do with it. As for the inmates of ''sleep-
ers,' they can, at least, hope that after
the accident those who are not killed or
wounded will be told to Ego to bed; all is
now right"
When great disasters, the result ofmis-
are barely escaped, they |
should be made as public as if the dam |
age had been done. In the interest of !
travellers we publish the facts.