Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-04-12
wild Enrine Behind.

/ y
and several things eonspired to bring
about the incident / am about to re-
iate. had passenger run of niLe
hours, beginning at z o'clock p. NJ.
| For nearly three years | had loco
motive named after railroad official,
"Ben Davis" and | got to know that
| piece of machinery better than any
man ever knew his horse. You may
buy two watches of the same make OF
the same jeweler, az the same time,
and while one will keep excellent time
andgive good satisfaction, the other
will have offspells. 1t the same with
/ two locomotives. While ''Ben Davis"
would make regular trips day after
| day for months without giving me the
least troublear wanting cent s worth
| OF repairs, other locomotives from the
! same shop were in the hands of the
| repairsrs as often as on the road.
One of our freight engineers was q
man named George Roby. He came
to our road from some line in New
| England, and gave good satisfaction
| for about three months. Then whis-
ky got the better of him and he went
to the dogs. One day, after his fire.
man had brought the train into Co.
lumbus, with ROby drunk and asleep
on the floor of the cab, he got his blue
envelope. The idea somehow lodged
IN his head that the officials were
down on him, and he swore h3 would
have revenge for being discharged.
One afternoon he turned up down the
road and was noticed to he drinking
| heavily and to have the bearing of a
| man bent on some desperate deed
This was at a station eighteen miles
| from Columbus and on gloomy
April evening. Twas due there at 1928,
and it was two-minute stop. A mix
ed freight always side-tracksd there
for us to pass and then followed us
! down the line.
Well, | was there on this special
evening on time, as usual, having bag
gage, express and three coaches. 1t
| began to driZzle Just before we reached
the station, and / saw that we were
in for a dark night and slippery
| track. / did not see Roby, nor did
any one tell me that he had shown up
| there. Noticed that the freight train
was unusually long and that it was
! pulled by one of the biggest engines on
| the road. Three or four people got
| of, and perhaps as many got on, and
we were of on the second. 1t was a
| run of seven miles to the next stop,
| and my schedule was thirty-seven
miles an hour. We had not yet come
| to a standstill at the next stop when
| the telegraph operator, whose face
was white as snow, ran alongside and
| called to me:
There's a wild engine behind you
| for heav--"
He ran back to the conductor, and
in ten seconds that official rushed up
and shouted to me:
"It's runa"''y cagiue-pull out at
oncel"
He yelled, "All aboard" sprang for
| the steps Of car, and away we went,
some OF the people getting off or on be-
ing flung down as they iost!ed each 9th
er. After we left hesitation where the
| freight was side tracked brakeman
ran down the track to open the switch.
As he did so Roby mounted the en-.
| CINE with cooked revolver in hand, and
| drove the engineer and fireman OFF
He had previously unco Ipled her
from the train without being detected.
| He ran the engine out on the main
line and half a mile beyond. Then
| he filled up the fire box, and saw that
she had plenty OF water, pulled the
throttle wide open, and jumped off.
! That was how we came to have a
runaway engine behind us. As soon
| as the engineer was driven from the
cab he ran into the station and in
| formed the operator, and about the
| time the runaway started of we got
the news. We were about six miles
ahead of her. That meant six minutes.
When / pulled out | supposed the
| programme was for some ofthe station
folks to run down and open the switch,
so that the runaway would be ditch
ed, but it appeared that the agent was
so dreadfully ratified that he did not
attempt this step until too late. The
switch was forty rods from the sta
ton, and just as an employee reached
it the runaway came roaring past.
My next stop was ten miles distant. l
| reasoned it out in about a minute
that if the runaway was ditched the
fact would be telegraphed ahead. II
she wasn't, that fact would also be
| clicked over the wires, and lwouid get
some sign or signal as We passed. II
she was following us there would be
no time to switch in. and my hair
| stood up at the idea of trying to out
run her. | made the ten miles IN
| twelve minutes and half. A mile
away began footing the whistle, and
| as we neared the station, still flying
| / leaned out to look for the agent. He
was on the platform. If he held UP
his hand / would stop. But he did
not. On the contrary, he waved his
arm down the line for me to keep on,
and knew that we were in forit. The
| runaway could not be over three
minutes behind, and there would not
| be time to turn her in on the siding
here.
The next stop was eleven miles
away, and it was a good piece of track.
Little by little gave her more steam,
and after the first mile knew that we
were Keeling off mile every minute.
There was train enough to hold us
| steady, and the track was straight,
and but for the awful roar it would
| have been easy to imagine we were fly
HlS. l. ne agent illcdu WOtiu IoG llio
know by signal, as the other had done.
He was on the platform, with a great
crowd behind, and he motioned me
on. The runaway was still after us.
She must have gained some, but how
much / could not say. 1t was eight
miles and half to the next station,
and could not do better than forty
five or eight miles an hour on the up
grade. The runaway must catch us
| in the next six or seven miles. We
had gone about five miles when ! got
the signal on the bell-ropeto stop,
as soon as had slowed down little
a brakeman came over the tender with
instructions to stop at the station.
The conductor, knowing that We
could not outrun the wild engine, and
| that there was no show to ditch her,
could think of but one plan to save
| the train. He called the passengers
nom the rear coach ana cast 1t on.
This was on the eieven-mile run, and
the coach had about two minutes to
lose its momentum before the run
away struck it. The pilot ran under
the platform, the end of the coach was
| lifted up, and the next moment engine
and car were in a ditch. Neither one
of them was ever repaired, the wreck
being too complete; nor did the Off
GERS OF the law ever succeed in laying