Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-09-12
CRANE AT THE THROTTLE.
THE CONGRESSMAN RECALLS A
THRILLING EPISODE OF HIS
CAREER AS AN ENGINEER.

WIZ ldu oOOuO thO OoP'NA
other day in a seersucker coat and
a profuse perspiration, swearing in
well chosen Texan that he would
kill an obnoxious correspondent,
was today in high good humor,
spinning yarns to a coterle OF
brother members.
"It my young days." said the
Congressman, 81 was an engineer
on the Sante Fe railroad. Do you
fellows know what a trying thing
it is to be a locomotive engineer !
Well, 1 can tell you that it will do
a mans nerves more harm than
anything else in the world. Alco-
hol and tobacco are mere trihes IN
comparison, even if they be used to
excess. Ididn't stay very long in
the business. 1 like excitement,
but running a cannon ball express
whose scheduled time was sixty
miles an hour is a little too much
even for me. But the three months
time that ran No. 76 was not snffi.
Gent for me to realize the injury it
was doing my nervous system. So
that was not the real reason that
led to my abandonment of the
throttle forever.
81 had ouly been on, as | have
said, about three months, when by
some carelessness or yiclousness
one of the angines known as a
mountain climber got away with
full steam on and started down the
road on a message of death and
destruction. I had just finished a
long run and was preparing to 60
home when the tram dispatcher
rushed wildly out of the Office and
told me the news. The track had
been cleared, he said, and there
was nothing to stop the mad rush
of the runaway locomitlve until it
should dash into the station at
Gal 7eston and plough its way
through bricks and mortar until
both the building and locomotive
we're ruined. / bad plenty of nerve
then, and | suppose by your laugh
ing you think have lost none OF
if. but I am free to confess that /
would not now dare to undertake
the task that l successfully accom-
pisbed that day. Perhaps 1t was
the excitement and enthuiasm oil
the moment v hich led me to yoluD'
teer to lasso that locomotive.
always smile when | recall the
look of iGcrednlity that met my
confident assertion that l could
catch and arrest the mad flight ol
the Runaway, but | was 80 confident
that they gave me hearing, and
finally secured the services of a
sturdy Irish lad as fireman.
"In less than three minutes aftel
the dispatch had been received
was on my engine, with steam
slowly coming up again, and pull
ing out as rapidly as possible t.
meet the On.comIng terror. 1t wa
Impossible for the dispatcher t.
give me any accurate idea as t
where the runaway was. The beS
he could do WAS that it had passed
a small station about seventy-nv
miles up the road some ten minute
before, moving at the rate of abou
ninety miles an hour. A fey
. minutes more, aud with steam q
. | had my engine moving at tn
rate of sixty miles an hour and &c
t ing straight at the runaway on th
, same track. / ran this way fo
about twenty-five minutes, wheI
=, as near as | could calculate, th
Y runaway had done thirty seven an
s a half miles and | had covGre
r twenty-five. If my calculation
D were correct there were still sou
@ twelve and a half miles bet8ee
p us, but you can imagine that Il
e last five miles | covered runnlr
e direct at the on coming monst
d were anything but pleasant. We
g l reversed my engine and start'
10 running away, gradually increa
le ing 10Y speed until we settled dow
N to a comfortable thirty miles
vs. hour, the Irish lad meanwhile kee
le ing on a terrific amount OF stea
D. We might have run into almC
r. anything, for did not look abe
On at all. NV eyes were strained q
ed til they panied me looking up I
vn track for the runaway. 1t mig
On have been ten minures, more
k. less-it seemed like years to me
Dd Finally we heard the run
he and the roar of the monster.
is didn't take her long to heave
las sight, aud she was coming hu
'ds ming. For the first time, | conl'
1 lost my nerve. 1t was only :
mentary, however, and then op