Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1890-09-11
ON A RUNAWAY ENGINE.
CONGRESSMAN CRANES PERlLoUS
FEAT AS AN ENGINEER.

high good glee, spinning yarns to
coterie Of members.
"In my young days" said the con
gresham, n was an engineer on the
Santa Fe railroad. Do you fellows know
what 4 trying thing it is to be loco
motive engineer? Well, can tell you
that it win do mans nerves more harm
than anything else. Alcohol and to-
bacco are mere trifes in comparison,
even if they be used to excess. | didn't
stay long in the business | like excite
ment, but running a cannon ball ex-
press whose schedule time was sixty
miles an hour is little too much even
for me But the three months time
that ran No. rs was not sufficient 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.
II had only been on, as | said, about
three months, when by some carelessness
or viciousness one of the engines, known
as mountain climber, got away with
full steam on and started down the road
on a message Of death and destruction.
had just finished a long run and was
preparing to 20 home, when the train
dispatcher rushed wildly out Of his office
and told the news. The track had been
cleared, he said, and there was nothing
to step the mad rush of the locomotive
until it should dash into the station at
Galveston and plow its way through
bricks and mortar until both the build
ing and tine locomotive were ruined.
HIS GREAT NERVE
Il had plenty of nerve then, and sup
pose by your laughing you think have
lost none of it, but am free to confess
that would not dare to undertake the
task successfully accomplished that
day Perhaps it was the excitement
and enthusiasm of the moment which
led me to volunteer to lasso that locomo-
tive always smile when recall the
look Of incredulity that met my conf
dent assertion that / could catch and ar
rest the mad flight Of the runaway, but
| was SO confident that they gave me Il
hearing, and finally secured the ser
vices Of a sturdy Irish lad as fireman
In less than three minutes after the dis
patch had been received l was on my en-
gine. with steam slowly coming up
again, and pulling out as rapidly as pos
sible to meet the oncoming terror.
1T was impossible for the train dis
patcher to give me any accurate idea as
to where the runaway was. The best
he could do was to say that it had passed
a small station about IS miles up the
road some ten minutes before moving at
the rate Of about 90 miles an hour. A
few minutes more and with steam up
had my engine moving at the rate of go
miles AR hour and going straight at the
runaway On the same track | ran this
way for abour twenty-five minutes
when, as near as | could calculate, the
runaway had done 371 miles and | had
covered 25. Ii my calculations were
correct there were still some 12t miles
between us, but you can imagine that
the last five miles covered running di-
rect at the oncoming monster were any
thing but pleasant. Well, | reversed
my engine and started running away,
gradually increasing my speed until we
settled down to a comfortable 80 miles
an hour, the Irish lad meanwhile keep.
ing on a terrific pressure of steam.
ON THE SAME TRACK.
"We might have run into almost any
thing, for | did not look ahead at all;
my eyes were strained until they panied
me looking up the track for the run
~, L.,
more OF less-it seemed like years to Inc.
Finally we heard the rumble and roar Of
the monster. 1t didn't take her long to
heave in sight, and she was coming a.
humming. Tor the first time, | confess,
| lost my nerve. 1t was only momentary,
however, and then | opened my throttle
and away we went. There was a good
mile OF straight track between us when
first caught sight of her: then we
turned a curve and she was out of sight
If not out Of hearing When she did
come she had gained ON us pretty nearly
half q mile.
II shut cEf steam a trife, and when
we struck level piece of track but a
quarter Of :. mile separated us. | told
Irish 20 keep up pressure, and the way
he did it It's wonder the boiler of rs
didn'C bust She kept getting nearer
and nearer. and it was all could do to
keep from throwing wide the throttle
and speeding away from her. But
kept my nerves as steady as though they
werc of iron. Nearer and nearer she
came, until ( could actually imagine she
was plowing her way through rs. Final
1y she closed i'll upon us, and | assure
yoa that 50 nearly equal had | succeeded
in making the speed that the shock was
little, il any. greater than that felt upon
the coupling OF two cars.
II did not hesitate an instant but
jammed down the steam valve tight,
sprang upon the tender of my engine-a
difficult task even for an athlete like |
tilen was-and from there swung myself
upon the engine It was the work of
scarcely half minute to Chamber in the
cab and ja5 down the steam valve there.
We ran possibly mile before we came
to Il standsull. and by that tii9e | was
as limp rs 4 fag and shaking Ike man
with the agpo Wecoupled the engines,
ail IN half IN hour had them both safely
housed ii Galveston.
THAT was my last experience A 4 To-
conotive engineer. You could never get
me to steer \ cab again Pittsburg
Press.
How Hc Happened to Fail.
Senator Stanford made his first dol
lar b. ceiling horseradish. remarked
Snively.
'sThat accounts for my poverty added
Snodgras;. Il don't know hos'seradish
wnen see i. Judge.
How stamps Are Distributed.
When postmaster wants stamps he
makes out blank requisition upon the
postoffice department here. But the de
partment does not send back the stamps
in return. 1t simply communicates will
the government stamp agent in New
York city, who has charge of the busi-
ness Of distributing Uncle Sans stamps
The stamp agent draws every day upon
the American Bank Note company fol
as many stamps as he requires to fill the
orders transmitted to him from Wash
ington. He receives the stamps-sc
many million two cent, SO many million
- - f,.-~-., AZ. l,a,,Iv ,,n+