Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-05-04
HARML Ess RAILROAD ACCIDENTS.

The Details of Which Are Notably
observation-disclosures Escapes and
Unaccountabie Mishaps Never Be-
fore Reported.
Curious accidents happen on railroads Be
cause they are not attended with loss Of life
the public never hears Of them, aud yet they
are so strange that most people will be inclin'
ed 10 believe they never happened or could
happen.
Sometime last summer one OF these happen
ed on the Rock Island road within one humid
red miles of Chicago, says The Times. A pas
senger train was running at full speed across
a rather level piece of country. The train
was probably making sixty miles an hour
when, without any premonitlon whatever, all
four Of the driving-wheels suddenly left the
engine and went spinning of across the fences
into the adjoining fields. Why they did 1t
nobody knows to the present day; but they
did 1t, and the strangest part Of it all is that
nobody was hurt and but little damage was
done 10 the road or the train. OF course
the train was brought to rather sudden
standstl. Being left without it's main sup
port, the engine dropped down until the fire.
box scraped along on the ties and rails for
short distance, but 1t was so well held up by
the tender that II did no serious damage, and
not wheel, except those that went spinning
of across the fields, like so mauy 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 any
body suffered from this very strange happen.
ing.
Something over a year ago passenger train
on the Northwestern road was pulling up to-
ward a station In a northern Wisconsin town.
The baggageman and one OF the other train
men were standing in the door OF the baggage
Car looking out, as such men often do, at q
village as they pass through II. just before
they reached the station they were surprised
TO see alongside OF the track wrecked loco
motive. 1t had been going In the same dir
ection 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. IL
seems 1t had exploded, jumped the track, and
fallen in the ditch a complete wreck without
disturbing the remainder of the train, and 1t
all happened SO silently that, while they were
only the second car from the engine, they had
not heard the explosion or the crash 1t made
when II left the track.
! very strange accident occurred on the
Chesapeake and Ohio raid The train was
running down grade at rapid rate of speed
! In the West Virginia coal district when 1t
! plunged into a mass of soft earth and rocks
that had fallen down the mountain side onto
| the track. The concussion, while not SO
! abrupt, was sufficient 10 throw the locomotive
! from the rails and 1t rolled over into the
river The rebound snapped the pin connect
| ing the tender and the baggage car, and the
former shot forward, jumped clear over the
! debris, landed safely on the rails, and was
/ found ut 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 en-
/ gne was teleglaphed for, and the train went
/ INTO Louisville on time, None of the passengers
/ were any the wiser for their miraculous
! escape The engineer and the fireman went
down with the engine, and both swan ashore.
Barring a little shaking up and a cold bath
/ they were uone the worse for their nights al
venture, and proceeded westward with the
train.
President Strong, OF the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe railroad, had close call once
oo the Atlantic and Pacific railroad. He was
en- route TO San Francisco and WAS travelling
IN private car. A small single span deck
bridge had burned out during the night leay-
/ ing the rails suspended. They were pinionei
bars, and the heat had wrapped them until
| they resembled the phonetic alphabet In sha pc.
| The train Was running In the ighborhool OF
/ a mile a minute when IL struck the wrapped
rails, and heaven only knows what held IL up,
but they passed over all right with only a
! slight damage TO the car. Probably the ter
rife rate OF speed at which the train was fly ing
saved the lives of all on board.
People who travel In sleeping cars take life
| very easy aud comfortable, but they some-
| Va
are sleeping sweetly or lounging laZily on the
| cushions that they know nothing about Two
! very narrow escapes from smash-up have
recently happened TO the limited trains run.
ming east from Chicago, and both occurred
not very long ago. The first happened within
the first hundred miles out from this city 70
the train going east II Was to meet freight
at a long siding out on prairie, midway be
tween stations The freight ran into the sid
ing In ample time TO be out OF the way OF the
flying ''imited,h and one of the brakemen
got of and went forward 10 the switch TO be
ready TO open it as soon as the train has gone
by, He was very tired and sleepy from some
/ cause, and sat down on the switch beam, and
almost Immediately fell asleep. lie was al
most as quickly awakened by the laundering
OF the approaching train. Why he did il he
does not know TO this day, but in his con.
fusion he reached for the switch and turned
IL. Both engineers had their eyes fixed on
the switch, as their custom is and both in an
instant saw the danger that tire atened them.
The one on the iying 'lmited" quickly re-
versed his engine and set his brakes, while
the one on the freight turned on a fun head
Of steam TO force his train backward. The
brakeman also saw the danger as quickly as
they did, but not quickly enough TO correct
his terrible mistake, and he had only time "a
Jump 10 one side, TO fall rather than scramble
out OF the way, when the passenger passed
the switch and turned into the siding iull on
the freight. When the switchman recovered
he found that the two engines had gone to
gether, but with force enough to only
slightly damage their pilots One of the
engineers had jumped from his train after
doing all he could to save it, and was slightly
injured, but was able 10 take his position in
the cab and proceed on his journey. The
passengers probably do not know to this day
I why the train was stopped so suddenly and
backed up for fresh start.
The other narrow escape also occurred on
: one OF the eastern roads, and not much
further away from Chicago 1t happened one
foggy night when the fog was so thick thai
engineers could scarcely see that their eng ines
carried headlights. The fast train from the
east was ordered TO make its best time 20
certain station, where IT would meet another
train from the west, which WAS TO be OF
! the side-trac The western train was