The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-06-11
STEALING AN ENGINE
The Wild Ride of Three
Foolf1ardy Boys.
"It can't be donel''
@We'd be caught!n

err, who stood facing his two companions,
boys Of about his WI age, stepped a
little nearer as he spoke.
He was a bright, alert boy of 10, Harry
Denton by name, the only son of a trusted
engineer on the w. and A. railroad. A
born mechanic and mathematician, he
was easily the best scholar in our school,
while his open, generous nature and fear
~lessness made him the leader of the vii
lage boys.
His companions were Willis Balyn, a
quiet, studious boy, the only child of a
widow whose slender income barely suf-
feed to provide for the two, and, with
careful management to give the boy such
an education as she wished him to have.
The last of the trio, and the narrator of
this escapade, was called NED Havi-
land. His special attributes were a love
for mechanics and an aptitude for get
ting into scrapes. z
1t was the evening of Fast day, 1868, a
time when that day meant far more than
it does in these times of peace. A Sun
day quiet was upon the busy village, and
only the music of the church bells could
be heard where we boys stood.
Before the civil war began, Steventon
was as dull a place as could be found in
New England, save for the small repair
shops of the W. and A. railroad, which
were located at that place, as it was mid
way between the termini. There were
excellent water privileges. but the water
power of Mill river was utilized by but
one small concern, a wooden mill that
stood close to the railroad shops.
The war changed all this. The rail-
road became a great transportation line,
and the rolling stock and machine shops
were more than trebled within two years.
A new company bought the mill, added
buildings of brick and stone, and began
the manufacture Of army cloth.
Its contract necessitated running the
mills night and day, and a speedy inno-
walton of the progressive management
was a small gas works attached to the
mills. AS the railroad repair shops were
often forced to run over time, arrange
ments were made to supply them with
gas from the mill plant. At this time
many roads lighted their passenger cars
with gas, which was stored in iron reser-
voirs beneath the cars. In the station
platform were pits furnished with hose
for filling these holders.
At Steventon the road curves slightly
to the south, and at this point a branch
running northwest connects the main
line with another village about eight
miles up the river. Near its intersection
with the w. and A. road this branch
crosses the tail race from the mill and
then the river.
An ingenious mechanic in the railroad
machine shops had built for the directors
a dispatch car propelled by a gas engine.
1t resembled an ordinary platform car,
was about eighteen feet in length, and
geared to one of its journals was an
adaptation of the Lenoir gas motor. In
this engine a mixture of gas and atmos-
pheric air is admitted to each side of the
piston head alternately, and the COM
pound exploded at the right moment by
an electric spark from a Ruhmkorff coil.
A two bar railing of gas pipe surrounded
the platform, with an opening on one
side for ingress and egress. Near n
end, over the forward OF driving wheels,
were the throttle and reversing levers.
The brake was a steel collar, surrounding
a cylinder on the main journal, and by
means of a screw could be frightened by
turning an ordinary brake wheel.
The car, though unfinished as yet, had
made several trial trips and had worked
perfectly, though the builder was not
yet quite satisfied with some of its fea-
lures.
Now the proposition which had so
startled Willis and me was that we get
this car out, fill its gas holder, and take
a ride up the branch. Harry had been
on it several times and knew that he
could handle ii.
"Tn tell you how" he said, land no
one will be caught, either. My key I'M
locks the shed where it is kept. We
will lay strips of board on the rails so
the wheels viii, make no sound, fill the
holder, push the car up the branch line
to the bridge, and away we go! We can
easily get back before the special, with
the two regiments for Greenville, is due
here
Our objections were quickly overruled,
and with one. eye upon the watchman's
lantern, which occasionally shone here
and there, as that official went his
rounds in the railroad yard, we pro-
ceeded to carry out our plan. All went
smoothly, and In fifteen minutes we had
filed the holder, pushed the car to the
t,estle over the race, and were ready to
set out.
We took our places on the platform,
and when the watchman's lantern again
disappeared, Harry opened the throttle.
The steady but almost noiseless beat of
the engine followed, and we moved
smoothly forward across the trestle span
ming the race, along the embankment
beyond, and then over the trestle that
crosses Mill river. Two miles further
we passed a c~ulvert, and, about the same
distance beyond, a bridge over the high
way. After crossing this Harry closed
the valve, and allowed the a to come
to a standstill.
"Now for a spin back" he said, and
quickly reversing the engine, he opened
the throttle again. There was a peculiar
jumping motion as we started, and Harry
in some way lost his balance, fell for
ward aud sideways, and, carrying the