Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-11-19
CIV Il Lot OlhO1ITE,
The Thrilling Experience of n Travelling
Nan IIhile Riding IL, Front


salesman, modest man Of about IS
"that in the course of your
'areer MS travelling man you have
narrowly escaped instant death several
times"
No, sir, he continued, emphatically,
although l have been twenty years on
5he road, of serious accidents I have
known very few. had one rather
experience coming out of Chi
cago once in long train of fourteen
ears filled with sufferers after the sec
ond fire. We were sweeping across the
prairie at the rate of thirty-fve miles
an hour, when coupling broke be-
tween the second baggage car and the
smoker. The engineer felt the shock,
md, looking back, saw the trouble.
lie gave wild shrek on his whistle
FOR down brakes, threw wide open the
throttle. and sped away down the track
rs if the furies were after him. The
conductor happened to be sitting just in
front of me at the time. He opened
he window at the locomotives screech,
looked out, but instantly drew in his
head, and, dropping his lighted lantern
Git was at night, stood up in the aisle,
bracing himself between two opposite
seats. 1 tell you the chalky wilderness
OF his face was reflected in every
countenance in the car. There was no
cutlery, but everybody clutched some
thing and waited for the shock. It
never came. We ran along two or
three minutes, which seemed inter-
minable, and then the train began to
answer the steady pull on the brakes
and gradually came to halt. Every
man was out Of the car while the wheels
were still spinning at a lively gait. II
was bright moonlight, and we could see
the track stretching ahead in straight
line for long distance, but Of the en-
CINE and forward cars there was not
trace. They wero miles ahead, and
the engineer was in no hurry to slacken
speed. You see it was down grade, and
you can't blame man for wanting to
keep we'll out Of the way of dozen
loaded cars laundering after him. We
had time to see about all there was of
that particular moonlit prairie land
scape before our engine took us in tow
again, but nobody complained, you can
guess. That engineers quick judgment
and prompt action averted u big wreck.
"Another time when my hair refused
to retain its normal position and rose
at right angles with my scalp was an
occurrence on the Erie road 1 had
managed to get on the engine as q
novel experience. 1 first discovered
that the motion was really appalling.
The engine throbbed and trembled as
it ran rocking and plunging on the rails
as if every moment it would leave
them. The din, too, was frightful.
The fireman and engineer yelled at
each other whenever they attempted to
speak, which was not often, and / sim
ply could not gather my voice in sutfi-
Gent volume to overcome that pande-
monium OF sound. \
"It was dark, about o'clock Of u late
November evening. We were climbing
the mountain, and the grade was heavy
and the curves many. AS we thun-
dered along comparatively slow could
see huge rocks towering close to the
track on one side, while from the other
dark chasms, their depths hidden in
gloom, yawned away. 1t wasn't cheer
full, and the outlook forward wasn't
much better. The first time strained
my eyes ahead [ drew back with sud
den start and clutched the window
frame with both hands, expecting my
hour had come. To my uninitiated
eyes there lay apparently between the
rails huge bowlder OF whitish rock,
against which we must instantly crash,
but we didn't, and after waiting to dis
cover that we were only thrashine
around IN the usual way 1 took courage
to look again. The fireman was stolidly
feeding the insatiate furnace with tons
of coal! 1 looked at the engineer; he
was out on the engine with his oil-can,
stepping along as composedly and
easily as if he were walking country
turnpike: then I looked ahead. We
had just rounded curve, and at the
end Of the stretch of track before us
saw lot of lights, some on the track
and some moving alongside. The sight
startled me, and touched the fireman,
pc hitting through the window. He
looked quickly, then seized the rope
and blew a short, sharp blast on the
whistle. The engineer heard, glanced
down the track, then sprang inside tc
the lever, which he reversed with all
his might.
meantime the fireman on one side
and on the other were on the lowest
step ready to swing off at the last mo
ment. The engineer seized my shoulde,
and tried to pull me back, but jumped
lust as the engine crashed into the ca