Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-01-20
RAILROAD ESCAPES.

t4A1AltOAD LOO1l1 1IkJs
81 was,n said the man with the wooden leg
"station agent on the B. and r. railroad fol
good many years, and several things oc-
CURED there which were the talk of the line
and which you may find interesting enough
to publish. My station was both insignificant
and important. While it was only a. hamlet
in population, it was RAILROAD crossing
While every train seemed to be in hurry TIC
Get away as fast as possible, all engines had
to take water or coal, and various trains had
to pull in on the long siding to let various
other trains pass.
"The policy of our road was niggardly.
The object was to get everything cheap, and
to work every man to the limit Ny station
building was little better than shed, and it
was impossible to get any repairs or improve
ments. l was required to act as telegraph
operator, ticket seller, freight agent, switch
man, chore boy, and all else, and did not
have an hour could call my own. had a
cot in the Office, and was on call during the
night. Let 'em sound my call while was in
the deepest sleep and inside of twenty seconds
was ready to answer. should have had a
first class assistant at my station, but the
company would not permit it, l must either
do the work alone or get out for some one
who could and would, and SO I kept hanging
on month after month and year after year,
always thinking about going, but never
making up my mind to it. The situation
was grave enough to keep my nerves under
a constant strain. Train dispatching was
not the art it is now, and if a regular got be-
hind her time it caused confusion all along
the line
''One of the queer incidents occurred after
I had had the station about two years. 1t
was i'll the fall of the year, with great deal
of nasty weather, and trains We're contin-
ually late. The last passenger train on our
road passed me, according to schedule, at
1880 p. m. The next one passed at 7.20
a. M. and it was supposed that the interven-
ing time belonged to me. If the night
freight was on time and if l did not get
call on the instrument, and if there was no
special on the line, and if a dozen other
things did not occur, | could sleep from IL
to 6. 1t may have occurred that my sleep
was unbroken five nights in year. On all
other nights was turned out from one to
three or four times. The night freight
should reach me at 12:05-five minutes after
midnight. She never left or took UP a car
at my station, leaving that for the day
freight, but made stop of seven or eight
minutes for coal and water. If there was a
special ON the line, or if there had been an
accident, the freight might have to side
track and wait, but such a thing was rare.
Gas a rule was always asleep when the
freight came in, but somehow or other
knew of her arrival. l knew of it without
waking up, and next morning could have
told whether she was late or on time.
Twenty-eight minutes after her time pas
senger train on the other road made the
crossing This crossing was eighty rods
above the station, and, while l had nothing
to do with the trains on the other road, /
naturally kept track of them, and knew
whether they were late or on time. On this
particular night went to bed at 10:45, and
was asleep before II o'clock. At 1920 sud-
denly awoke. The night freight had not
come in. I had been sound asleep, but
knew she had not. She was fifteen minutes
overdue, and yet my call had not been
sounded. This to me meant some sort of ac-
cident between me and the next station
north, which was eleven miles away. / at
once called for the station, but the operator
had gone. l ran to the door and looked out.
There was fine rain and dense fog.
t'Freight trains are seldom on schedule
time, and had known those ON our line to be
an hour late without worrying over the fact.
However, on this night was all worry The
rain and the fog, the crossing, the fact of my
waking up as had, the failure to raise the
agent at the station above, these things made
mo terribly uneasy, and at 1925 lighted my
lantern, put on my rubber coat, and started
UP the line ON a run. 1 had not gone forty
rods when heard g Kissing of steam, and
two or three minutes later could see the
glare of a headlight through the fog, In a
couple of minutes more found our midnight
freight-twenty-t loaded cars and big
locomotive-and she was standing directly on
the crossing of tie roads l began to shout
rs soon as had ri.ade out the locomotive, but
no one answered me. pushed along to the
cab, climbed up, and found the engineer and
fireman OH the floor Of the tender, arms
around each other, and fast asleep or dead
Al the same moment the passenger train or
tho other road whistled for the crossing
~ am telling you, sir, that | lived veal
| for every minute in the next five or six. !
knew very little about an engine, though
| had seen how they We're reversed and how tn.
throttle was worked If anything was done
must do it, and do it quickly. Why did
not pull ahead l do not know. 1t struck me
| that must back up, and I flung over the
| bar, gave her steam, and she began to move.
| The steam had run down, and we moved at a
snail's pace and even when pulled her wide
| open the engine scarcely had power to back
| the heavy train. We did move, however, al
though it was foot by foot. l could hear the
roar of the passenger train, and l knew that
every second was Fastening terrible calanl.
| ity, but did not leave the engine. Back
back! back! we crawied. and Of sudden g
| great light flashed in my eyes, there was 6
crash, and saw cars moving in front of me
| and disappearing into the dar$less. What
had happened? Well, | had backed the
freight until the locomotive of the passenger
train only carried away the pilot as it crossed
our line. That was all the damage done, anc
no passenger had suspicion of his narrow
| escape from an awful smash up,
''AVhcn the train had disappeared and
| could realize the situation, began to inves
| rate. l ran back to the eabooSe, but no one
was to be found. l shouted and screamed
but soon found that l was all alone. Then
climbing back into the cab, | sought to arouse
the engineer and his fireman Dead? No
Drunk as two lordsl Yes, sir. They were
| drinking men, though the company did not
know it, They had been taken off another
run two weeks before, and coming down The
| line on this trip had brought bottle witt
them. At the station above they had reached
| the limit, and in their drunken deviltry hac
suddenly pulled out and left the all the trair
crew behind. The conductor could not read
lily find tho station agent, and when he die
rout him out and get him to the Office was
out OF mine, and did NOT answer his call
The two men had let the steam go down, ano
the train had crawled down to the crossing
and been stopped where found it. The mer
wero by that time too drunk to stand up, anc
had grabbed each other and rolled on the
floor to sleep. was yet in the cab, trying t.
kick some sense into them, when the con
Guctor and his two brakemep arrived on q