Los Angeles herald., 1890-12-20
PROVIDENCE GAVE THE SIGNAL.
Mysterious Ringing of Bell That Pre-
vented u Railroad Accident.


Mysterious Ringing of Bell That Pre-
vented u Railroad Accident.
A dozen railroad engineers and con-
ductors met by chance the other day
and an old gray haired veteran of the
cab told story. He had been an engi-
neer with a big reputation as 'run-
ner' in the days gone by, but on account
of failing nerves and eyesight was now
enjoying an easy berth around the
shops. He said:
''It was when the old Y. M. and B.
was first opened up" he began. 81 was
pullin' passenger, and took the first coach
over the road. got good run-all day
work-and was holdin' her down as
good thing. Bout year after we'd got
to doin' good business had some ex-
ira runnin' and lost my turn for while,
and run nights all of the time. 1t was
my last trip before I'd get back to my
own run, and 1 was feelin' glad to get
on to the day trick again.
"We'd had some mighty bad weather
and lots of water fell. Our track was
in pretty good shape, though, and we
didn't much fear washouts, so we kept
up with the card pretty well. On the
night spoke about was on No. 2. We
had a heavy train, but the machine
had was able to get there, and was
on time till we struck freight that
couldn't take the siding. They swung
us down. and we side tracked until the
freight got away. Twas pretty warm
over losing the time, and when we Lit
out of there pulled her right up to the
notch and she went for all she was
worth.
"We were making about forty five
miles an hour, and when we reached the
fill east of Wildcat I worked steam all
the way down. We were bout half
way to the creek when the bell rang
worked mighty quick, but it was down
hill and the rails were wet and / didn't
get stopped until the pilot was almost
over the bridge-or where the bridge
ought to be-'cause when stopped the
headlight was shining over a chasm.
The bridge was washed away. Cad!
You can tell just bout how felt. My
fireman nearly tainted, and | wasn't far
behind him. Well, after we stopped the
conductor, smart chap with a fancy
lamp and rubber collar, came arunnin'
up wantin' to know why I stopped.
"''Cause the bell rang. What did
you pull the rope for?' 1 says.
8" 4 didn't says he.
"'Well, who did?
No one,' says he, hot like.
"'Well, some one pulled it or
wouldn't a stopped says 1.
''The CON looked at me minute, and
just then the brakeman came up.
"'Did you pull the rope, JoeT said the
con-
No. says Joe.
"Just of a sudden a thought struck
me. and l told the 'brakey' to ask the
porter. The coon hadn't pulled the
bell, and the passengers in his car were
all asleep until l jerked them endways
with the air l took the conductor
around to the front end and showed him
the bridge. He was scared to death, and
we went back together through the
train to see who pulled the bell rope, but
every mothers son of them swore it
wasn't touched. began to get scared
again and told them about the bridge,
and everybody came out to look at it.
1--WE couldn't find any one who gave the
signal and after we'd tagged back to
the station l got to thinkin' more and
more, and I came to the opinion that the
bell was rung by Providence. There
was $50 people on the train, and if that
bell hadn't rung I'd took them all over
into the Wildcat, and dropped them
about one hundred feet into the water.
There wouldn't be anybody left to tell
about it, either.
''The superintendent looked into the
thing after reported, and had me and
Joe up 'on the carpet twice, but we
both heard the bell, and swore to it.
Some chap got out long explanation
that the bell rope was tight stretched,
and we struck low joint coming down
the hill, when one end of the coach
sagged, and the rope being tight it rang
the bell, but I don't believe it. 1t was
Providence that did it, and I know it,
and I've never swore an oath since, and
never will. kansas City Star.