Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-12-18
FORTY MINUTES LATE.
How and Where an Engineer Lost
 His Left Ear.

"The most fearful accident that ever happened on locomotive?" echoed the engineer, looking round at me. The brave man was member of my parish, and was sitting at his tea-table. After a moments thought, he pushed back his chair, for the frugal meal was fin- ished, and looked hard at his wife. It was a curious gaze of his honest eyes, and the lady met his glances with an almost pathetic entreaty: "Do not tell ltr" written on her kind face.
 ''She don't like to think of it, he re- stunned. laughing; at the same time he shook back the long hair that fell in waves over the left side of his brow, un- covering a b1ushing scar and revealing that he had been dismembered of an ear. ''But am not so bad looking fellow, after all,'' he said. In fact. he was singularly fine-looking.
 'tIt is one of those memories" his wife interrupted, rising, ''that one fears to recall But, thank God, 1t will be no more likely to occur again for the tell ing of it, and he may tell it while put the boy to bed, upstairs"
 ''It was one of those accidents that nothing can prevent" resumed the en- gineer. ''No foresight can guard against tho hidden flaw which the best of steel sometimes hides in it's own false heart. The best crank or shaft ever forged will sometimes break on steamer in mid ocean. So of a connecting-rod on pair of drivers. Now think the thing am going to tell you is the most ter rife accident that can happen on a loco- motive, because it is the worst l ever experienced. It worked the most havoc and scared me more than any other I ever went through. I can not get over the dread of it even now, and probably never shall. Still another man might single out another as the worst"
 My friend still runs, as he did that almost fatal day, the fastest train that speeds between two large cities. At one end of it's flight the train is obliged to traverse long tunnel. Millions of people pass through that tunnel yearly in safety. But if they knew the hair breadth escapes of the first few years, and especially during its construction, even now they might not always sit so comfortably; but the best of appliances have some what lessened the dangers. "When we were ready to leave the depot at -, the new general manager of the division came along down the platform with the agent, and was intro duced to me. I pulled off my greasy cap, and was about to get down, when he said: Never mind;' that he was going to run in with us. Of course, I offered him his choice of seats, as you wouldn't to your own father; for who- ever rides in the cab, he must take a stand up or the f1reman's box, if the fellow is good-natured enough to offer it. A big officer, like the manager. was different, however, and gave him any thing. To tell the truth, I was relieved to know his errand was only to ride; for this English gentleman, kinsman of our big owner. had been turning up lots of good men. He seemed to think we Americans couldn't make fast time, and he forgot that our machines and cars are heavier, our roads not so straight as the English.
 "'We are forty minutes late,' he said. as he straddled in front of his fire-box and consulted his watch. This occurs about every day, my man, more or less, and it's about time the blamed practice was stopped
 "'Traf1c is heavy in October, sir,' said, trying to smile my prettiest.
 "'Can you drive this machine in on time?' he kind O growled at me.
 'T gave him real Yankee stare back for moment, and then my blood was up. That was ten years ago, before had any wife and babies. It is wife babies, ten years and ditch or two that takes the daredevil out of 9 locomotive engineer. At first a man knows nC fear, but any of the aforementioned things kind O tempers him down. Ht can't keep his pluck up as at first, dt what he will. My wife, by the way, wal expecting me to come round with th'
 minister to be spliced @ week from tha
 very day. She had sent out some wed diug cards--rather showy for humble folks to do. The wedding had to be de
 ferred," and he tried to smile as he re
 ferred to that incident, though it wa
 evident that the remembered traged!
 was beginning to overshadow his owl
 manly face, as it had his ,wife's befor
 she left us. "Well. pastor,> I jus drowned on the Englishman, and said
 If you'll choose which seat you'll take and let my fireman get in some of hi
 work, we'll show you what the Saga
 more can do when she is mad.'
 ''I will take the stoKer's box,' h. said; that's English for fireman yo |. know. And he climbed up. rolling ] cigarette and ligh ting 1t with funu kind of foreign machine in his hand. "I started her easy, felt my cars al get hold. It was before the days c , solid trains and couplers. We pulle ten cars. We had run of seventy-fou milea- schedule time two hours. wa l to run 1t in one hour and twenty mir , utes. There were to be three slow-up and one dead halt at Q drawer. Ths would give me most of the miles 1 about sixty seconds often go tha
 for mile or so; every fast train doe