Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-06-13
JIM FOOTE'S GREAT RACE.
he Put His Train in Ahead, Though
It Took Nerve to Do 1t.

Jim Foote's name among engineers
occupies about the same position as
McLaughlin's does among jockeys. The
people along the line of the New York
Central hold their breath even now i'll
retrospect when they think of the way
IN which he used to come tearing down
the tracks ON his old iron horse, making
sixty-fiye to seventy miles an hour, with
300 scared passengers hanging on their
seats and expecting every moment to be
dashed into perdition.
Those were the old days when the
West Shore and the Central were willing
to decorate their engineers with the
Order OF the Garter, or grant them n
weeks pay for beating each other by a
second or two down the race course
which ends at Schenectady. At this
point the close of the race was rendered
additionally exciting by the fact that
the Central passed under the bridge
which carries the West Shore over its
track, and as the under engine plunges
out of sight into the darkness, the other
screaming over its head, the exit made
moment too slow lose the race.
The engineers on the West Shore
always stood little in awe of Jim. He
was the patriarch of the region and a
man who handled his engine with all
the skill that an Arab handles his horse.
They weren't to be beaten out by n
reputation, however, and old engine 10
used to have some pretty hard scram-
bles Notwithstanding the fact that Jim S
hand was Mt the throttle.
One day Jim's train started on the
ten-mile stretch down, nip and tuck
with the West Shore train, with an en-
gineer named RantZler on the engine.
They came down at fearful gait. jim
did his very best, for he had heard that
this very engineer had made boast
that he would rub it into the invincible
Central man. The passengers on either
train caught the spirit of the thing and
leaned dangerously far out of the win
dows, yelling defiance ut each other and
shrieking like demons when the one
engine or the other gained the slightest
advantage. They were coming down
the homestretch, and Jim, for once in
his life was losing ground He kept
his eyes steadily and despairingly on
the other train which was gaining with
dreadful certainty upon him. They
were apout three hundred yards from
the bridge, when what was the Disguised
engineers amazemcnt TO see n head
which he recognized MS Supt. Dayton
of his own road, reach far out of the
window in the opposite train and yell
like lost soul:
''Jim, if you let this sticlS-in-the mud
clean you out I'll discharge you.
Jim knew he would. He wasn't so
ratified by the unexpected turn of affairs
but that he remembered the superintcnd-
ent never went back on his word, how
ever rashly given. He gave great
groan and played his last card. The
engine quivered like leaf with the
terrible head of steam, gave dash for
ward like tiger on its prey, and as it
came out with dart from the black hole
under the bridge it was length ahead,
and the passengers shook hands with
tears in their eyes. The superintendent
walked over and in the presence of the
jubilant crowd took off the watch which
he was wearing and presented it to Jim
amid delighted cheers.
Rantzler was discharged. Il Denver
Col News.