San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-06-26
HARMLESS ACCIDENTS
WHICH ARE NOTABLY INTERESTING
TO RAILROAD PATRONS.

Narrow Escapes and Unaccountabie Mis-
haps Never Before Reported-Lost Driv-
ing wheels-wrecked Locomotive-A
switchman's Mistake.
Curious accidents happen on railroads
Because they are not attended with loss Of
life the public never hears of them, and yet
they are so strange that most people will be
inclined to believe they never happened or
could happen.
Some time last summer one Of these hap
pened on the Rock Island road within 100
miles of Chicago. A passenger train was
running at full speed across rather level
piece of country. The train was probably
making sixty miles an hour when, without
any premonition whatever, all four Of the
went spinning off across the fences into the
adjoining fields. Why they did it nobody
knows to the present day; but they did it,
and the strangest part of it all is that nobody
was hurt, and but little damage was done to
the road or the train. OF course the train
was brought to a rather sudden standstill.
Being left without its main support, the en-
CINE dropped down until the frebox scraped
along on the ties and rails for a short dis
lance, but it was so well held up by the pilot
wheels, and the strong couplings of the
tender that it did no serious damage, and not
a wheel. except those that went spinning off
across the fields, like so many school boys
hoops, left the tracks. Of course the train
was delayed until word could be sent to the
nearest station and another engine secured,
but that was the only inconvenience that
ANYBODY suffered from this very strange
happening.
A WRECKED LOCOMOTIVE.
Something over a year ago passenger
train on the Northwestern road was pulling
up toward a station in a northern Wisconsin
town. The baggageman and one of the other
trainmen We're standing in the door of the
baggage car looking out, as such men often
do, at village as they pass throughit Just
before they reached the station they were
surprised to see alongside of the track a
wrecked locomotive. 1t had been going in
the same direction they were going, and they
saw at once the wreck had been very recent.
1t was not, however, until they pulled up at
the station that they discovered the engine
was the one that had been pulling their own
train. 1t seems it had exploded, jumped the
track and fallen in the ditch a complete
wreck, without disturbing the remainder of
the train, and it all happened so silently that,
while they were only the second car from
the engine, they had not heard the explosion
or the crash it made when it left the track
A very strange accident occurred on the
Chesapeake and Ohio road. The train was
running down grade at rapid rate Of speed
in the West Virginia coal district, when it
plunged into a mass of soft earth and rocks
that had fallen down the mountain side on
to the track The conclusion, while not so
abrupt was sufficient to throw the locomo-
tive from the rails, and it rolled over into
the river. The rebound snapped the pin con-
Meeting the tender and the baggage car, and
the former shot forward, jumped clear over
the debris, landed safely on the rails, and was
found at the foot of the grade, three miles
from the wrecked engine. The automatic
brakes held the remainder of the train, not
a wheel of which left the track. Another
engine was telegraphed for, and the train
went into Louisville on time. None of the
passengers was any the wiser for their mirac-
ulous escape The engineer and fireman went
down with the engine, and both swan ashore.
Barring little shaking up and cod bath,
they were none the worse for their nights
adventure, and proceeded westward with the
train.
President Strong, of the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe railroad, had close call once
on the Atlantic and Pacific railroad He
was en- route to San Francisco and was trav
cling in a private car. A small single span
deck bridge had burned out during the night,
leaving the rails suspended They were
pinioned at either end by the ordinary bolts
and splice bars. and the heat had warped
them until they resembled the phonetic
alphabet in shape. The train was running
in the neighborhood of a mile minute when
it struck the warped rails, and heaven only
knows what held it up but they passed over
all right, with only slight damage to the
car. Probably the terrific rate Of speed at
which the train was flying saved the lives Of
all on board.
TWO NARROW ESCAPES.
Two very narrow escapes from smash up
have recently happened to the limited trains
running east from Chicago and both &C.
Cured not very long ago. The first happened
within the first 100 miles out from this city
to the train going east. 1t was to meet a
freight at long siding out on prairie, mid
way between stations. The freight ran into
the siding in ample time to be out Of the way
of the flying ''limited," and one of the brake
men got off and went forward to the switch
to be ready to open it as soon as the train
had gone by. He was very tired and sleepy
from some cause, and sat down on the
switch beam, and almost Immediately feel
asleep. He was almost as quickly awak-
ened by the laundering of the approaching
train. Why he did it he does not know
to this day, but in his confusion he
reached for the switch and turned it,
Both engineers had their ewes fixed on the