News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-06-17
STORIES OF THE RAIL
i In n Locomotive Cab With n Mad Engineer
Struggle to the Death.

I was in the second year of my appren
ticeship as a fireman on No. 63 of the
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Road
when l got such set back one night as
few firemen ever lived through. The in
cident happenend about fifteen years ago,
but every feature of it comes to my mino
as clear as if the affair occurred last
night. My engineer was named Bob Rip
ley. He was iovial, whole souled fell
low, never going behind glass of beer,
and was known all along the line as 6
sober and trusty man.
Well, all of a sudden, bad luck struck
him. He had little home, which was
taken away by land shark. He left
Cincinnati one night for Toledo on his
usual run, and returned to find his wife
dead. She had the heart trouble, and
| died without a moments warning.
Within fortnight his boy baby sickened
and died, and that left Bob without
home or family. l tell you it made an
awful change in him He was off fol
| two or three weeks, and when he came
back to the cab l could scarcely recOg-
nize him. He had a wild, queer, look
| to his eyes, strange sound to his voice,
and he was so sullen and morose that
almost feared to speak to him on mat
tiers of business. l made two or three
trips with him, and but for the fear of
hurting his feelings should have made
application to be changed
1t was the third or fourth trip after he
returned to the road when we left Gin
cinnati one November night for the
north. 1t was wild, stormy night, and
as we got out into the country l caught
Bob smiling and chuckling. The wild
ness of the night seemed to strike re-
sponsive chord In his soul. Old '63
seemed to be in uncommon spirits, too,
for she was sliding right along with a
heavy train, and making no fuss over it.
| made some remarks about it but Bob
made no reply. Indeed, he acted as if
he was alone in the cab. didn't like
the situation bit, for 1 had suspicion
that he wasn't quite right in his head,
and he was also squirting her beyond
schedule time We were to pass side
tracked accommodation about thirty
miles out of Cincinnati. She ought to
be eight minutes ahead of our time, but
So was overreaching schedule time so
fast that l feared a collision. The con-
ductor had his eyes open, and at a stop
about twenty miles out he came forward
and cautioned Bob to slow her down
We had overreached five minutes in that
short run. Bob answered surly enough,
but as we pulled out again he obeyed
orders and checked her down to lose the
extra minutes gained.
We had passed the siding all right
when l noticed that his nervousness IN
creased. He would whistle for crossings
where none existed, and he would toot
supposititious cattle off the track Once,
seeming to ignore my presence alto
gether, he opened the furnace door and
piled in the fuel, although we were car
rying more steam than l had ever seen
on.
At Hamilton was fully resolved to
speak to the conductor If he came for
ward and gave me an opportunity, but
he did not. 1t was when | returned to
the cab after oiling up that Bob looked
up at me with start, as if surprised to
see me, and said:
Jim, Pm thinking of them"
eyes, Bob, but they are better off, " I
soothingly said. "You must bear up
like man. It's sad enough. God
knows, but you must meet it bravely.'
''Did you see--P
"What 2" I asked as he suddenly
checked himself
He did not answer. He looked at his
watch, signalled me to ring the bell,
and in moment more we were off.
The night was growing wilder, and we
were not ten minutes out of Hamilton
when l made up my mind that there
was trouble close at hand Bob turned
to look at me now and then in a way to
prove that he meditated evil, and from
the way he kept the whistles going the
passengers behind must have supposed
the track to be swarming with living
Instructions. We were about half way
to Dayton and l had just replenished
the fire, when Bob suddenly gave her
all steam. 1t seemed to me as if old 60
took clean jump of ten feet as she felt
the extra steam, and / shouted my
alarm. The words were hardly uttered
before he was upon me.
''You've got to die with me?" he
screamed as he clutched my arms, and
I'm not exaggerating a bit when 1 tell
you his eyes looked like Goals of fire.
| was by far the stronger man of the
two, but in his first rush he dashed me
about in dreadful way, and had almost
pulled me to the steps before l called
up my muscle. Then | did my best to
save him. He was bound to go off, and
l was bound to prevent, and, as we
pulled and tugged at each other, the
train was running so close to a mile
minute that none of the passengers
cared to reduce the fraction. | think
our struggle lasted about five minutes.
was gradually drawing him back into
the tender, and was wondering how l
could secure him, when he suddenly
shut his teeth on my right wrist, and
bit and tore like dog. l had to let go
my clutch, and as | did so he turned
and leaped off, uttering a cry which
rang in my ears for weeks after.
1t was high time the steam was shut
off AS I afterward learned, every
passenger was hanging on and praying
to heaven, for the dullest of them knew
that something had happened on the
locomotive. l brought her to stand
still as soon as possible, and when the
conductor reached the cab we backed
up to look for poor Bob's body. We
found it about two miles back, and it
was a shocking sight. He had struck
stump head first, and head and face
were simply bloody mass of flesh.
ran the train into Dayton, and we
had scarcely come to standstill before
was seized with chill, and had to be
helped to the hotel. l was just clean
broken down under the mental strain,
and it was plump six weeks before I
crept out of my bed. was determined
never to step foot on an engine, but
when health came back got my nerve
again, and the result was that I finished
my apprenticeship, and took the other
side of the cab.