The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-10-09
LASSOING AN ENGINE.
A Congressman Recalls o Thrilling
Time In His Career.
How He Prevented Runaway Loco
motive from Destroying Many Lives
and Much Valuable Property
In q Texas Town.

In q Texas Town.
Congressman Grain, of Texas, was in
high good humor, recently, says the
Press, spinning yarns to
coterie of brother members.
elm my young days" said the Congress-
man, 'T was an engineer on the Santa
Fe railroad. had only been on about
three months when by some carelessness
or viciousness one of the engines known
as mountain-climbers got away with
full steam on and started down the |
road on message of death and de-
struction. I had just finished long
run and was preparing to go home, when
the train-dispatcher rushed wildly out
of the office and told mo the news.
The track had been cleared, he said,
and there was nothing to stop the mad
rush Of the runaway locomotive until it
should dash into the station at Calves
ton and plow its way through bricks and
mortar until both the building and loco
motive were ruined.
81 had plenty of nerve then, and l
suppose by your laughing you think /
have lost none of it, but 1 am free to
confess that would not now dare to
undertake the task that successfully
accomplished that day. Perhaps it was
the excitement and enthusiasm of the
moment which led me to volunteer to
lasso that locomotive. l always smile
when I recall the look Of incredullty
that met my confident assertion that
could catch and arrest the mad fight Of
the runaway, butI was so confident that
they gave me hearing, and l finally
secured the services of sturdy Irish lad
as fireman.
"In less than three minutes after the
dispatch had been received was on my
engine, with steam slowly coming up
again, and pulling out as rapidly as pos
sible to meet the on-coming terror. 1t
was impossible for the train-dispatcher
to give me any accurate idea as to where
the runaway was. The best he could
do was to say that it had passed small
station about seventy-five miles up the
road some ten minutes before, moving
at the rate of about ninety miles an
hour. A few minutes more, and with
steam up 1 had my engine moving at
the rate of sixty miles an hour, and 60
ing straight at the runaway on the same
track.
81 ran this way for about twenty-five
minutes, when, as near as could calcu-
late, the runaway had done thirty-seven
and half miles and l had covered
twenty-five. If my calculations were cor
rect there were still some twelve and q
half miles between us, but you can i'm.
agine that the last flve miles l covered
running direct at the oncoming monster
were any thing but pleasant. Well,
reversed my engine and started running
away, gradually increasing my speed un-
| til we settled down to o comfortable
| thirty miles an hour, the Irish lad mean
! while keeping on . terrific amount oi
steam. We might have run into almost
any thing, for did not look ahead al
all. Ny eyes were strained until they
| panied mo looking up the track for the
runaway. 1t might have been ten
minutes, more or less-it seemed like
years to me.
"Finally we heard the rumble and
roar of the monster. It didn't tal1e hel
long to heave in sight, and she was com
ing humming. For the first time
confess lost my nerve. It was only
momentary, however, and then opened
my throttle and away we went There
was good mile Of straight track be
tween US when I first caught sight oi
her; then we turned a curve and she was
out of sight, If not out of hearing
When she did come she had gaind on u.
pretty nearly half mile. l shut of
steam trife, and when we struck @
level piece of track but quarter Of &
mile separated rs. I told Irish. to keer
up pressure, and the way he did 1t it's {
wonder the boiler Of seventy-six didn'
burst. She kept getting nearer and
nearer, and 1t vss all could do to keep
from throwing wide the throttle and
speeding away.
Finally she closed in upon US, and ]
assure you that 80 nearly equal had
succeeded in making the speed that the
shock was little II any greater thar
that felt upon the coupling of two
cars. did mot hesitate ar
instant, but anmed down the
steam valve tight-a difficult task
even for an athlete. as then was,
and from there swung myself upon the
runaway. 1t was the work of scarcely
half minute to CHAMBER In the cab and
iab down the steam valve there. We
ran possibly mile before we came to q
standstill, and by that time was al
limp as rag and shaking like man
with the ague. A good drink of whisky
fetched me around in few minutes
We coupled the engines, and in half an
hour had them both safely housed in
Galveston"
| Lunacy from Tobacco.
A queer case Of lunacy resulting from
the tobacco habit is reported from Wa.
pello, Ia. "Uncle Jimmy" Blanchard,
an old and respected citizen, suddenly
became deranged and developed an
abnormal craving for the weed, which
he devours voraciously and with the
same gusto with which most people eat
fruit and other toothsome articles oi
L 4 =