The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-03-06
STORIES OF TIE RAIL.

Two Fearful Wrecks.
PROM the Chicago Herald.
John c. TAYLOR, for many years n loco
motive engineer ON the roads OF the mid,
die West, has forsworn the duties ana
dangers nj his former career and confines
himself i'm his 9rixzled age tn the task OF
manipulating an engine I'm one al Chi-
caGo's larger Office buildings. He OWNS a
comfortable home on the West SIDE nut
frankly confcsses IL was with
savings from his present modest salary.
as his moro generous pay when ON the
road was never more than enough Tor
current needs. But he Is full OF rcmin-
iscences as an egg is of meat. and one can
scarcely mention a town i'm the corn Delt
of states which does not y To this
veteran some incident of pathos or
bumor.
ever Oh "a wrecked ~train"' he asked.
"No" Then you don't know what you
have missed. But the man who rides
along comfortably till the shock comes Is
a good deal better off than IL he saw IL
some minutes ahead and couldn't get
away. One time i was tInnin the fast
express ON the Pittsburg road. and pulled
into wanatah, Ind. just after dark with
while the exposition was running here in
Chicago. and every ear was crowded.
There was u freight ON the New Albany
and il was due to pass 10 minutes ahead
of my time. l couldn't see il. and the tar.
get lights gave me the track, so pulled
QUIZ aIlt wuS ttV ~ ~ SSfh hsssh
Il saw the man at the target run up
the Albany track swinging a red lantern
..Jmst then I saw that freight train conn
ing down grade at full tilt, and, whistlinR
for brakes, 1 let on all the steam ! had,but
blest u my drive Wheels heels M Mnn sip r Thd
little Roadway / had gathered pushed ls
forward, and the engine was just on tho
crossing, II the wheels would have taken
hold / could have cleared il before the
freight came but ] saw IL was no use. They
would strike us sure. So ! had my choice.
them hit the coaches orsI could stop where
/ was and let the engine take Il. "Hu-
man life before dollars" / said to my
took hold strangely enough. and stopped
the train stock still. let on n little more
steam and tried To back hut they flew again
and my partner and jumped just in time
to see that laundering freight crash into
my Baldwin engine. They made an aw-
full wreck. The whole freight train piled
cars. The two engines were all drove to-
pcthcr and ruined, but We got the track
Valparaiso and pulled my train into Chi
cago. But. sir, not half the passengers
ON my train knew there was a wreck.
ing nearly still when the shock came, they
were not joltcd "a bit. The
cussed u little when l told them l lost the
the would rather havc il that way. Suits
for damages. when "a lot of people are
killed. are always II pcnsive. But the strain
of those minutes on me, when l knew my
train must bc struck. and had to choose
where. was enough To make my black hair
turn gray.
Alton road one time, and fetching "a train
load of cattle up from st. Louis. II was
along about morning. ana Just tins side OF
little bridge on fire. Ii was over n dry,
shallow creek bed. and wasn't over 10
feet wide. l couldn't possibly stop, and I
believed the fire had not yet weakened il
much. SO 1 put on "a full head and let her
go. About five cars back from the en-
cattle. and he saw the fire almost as soon
as l did. He danced and yelled and
swung his arms, but let go and watched
the smoke something broke loose behind.
and I'll bc shot IL that engine of mine
.i1Sm. Jump q, iT1 r;i feet .m into III, the , air. she
bullet. shut of the steam and looked
around. There was only two cars with me-.
in his own hands and climbed down on
the bumpers when he saw / was going To
take the bridge; he ~uncoupled the third
eiimbca up again and Sc, the orW a.i
brake till he just about split it.. Then he
ran to the next. and his hired man helped
one along like a pair of skates till IL stood
right OH the bridge. There il stopped,
and when all the slack was taken up the
weight of 10 cars of cattle just showed the
head of his train into the creek bed tipped
seven ears over on their sides and de-
rallied the rest. was so mad | could
have hammered him. The bridge
would have held the cars running, but
when the dead weight rested on il. with
all that train banging up behind, il went
down. We had Ia open the cars and let
nearly 100 head of fat Kansas steers out
on the prairie, and il took n wrecking
train four days To fix up the bridge and
track and take the rubbish away. And
then that Jayhawkcr had the nerve To sue
the for damages. Get il? Well,
nc.
"kind of a funny thing happened one
time when ] was running IA passenger on
the indianapolis & Peru road, now "a
branch of the wabasl I, was midnight
and we were running through the buckle
berry swamp country i'm Ia Porte county
Ind. i SAW a man wall ing ahead ON the
track and whistied again and again fou
him. hut he didn't seem to hear or else
he thought he had plenty of time. n.
was in the middle of the track ut first
and as we got nearer he stepped across
the rail and walked along on the ends oI
the ties. Still I kept whistling and ths
fireman rang the he'll. hut that old fellow
paid no attention. l tried to stop. al
course, but couldn't Ito that. and WI
struck him. He rolled up on the pilot ans
then rolled of again and was ragged al
most to death before I could stop. Their
was a physician on the train and he trics
to do the traveller some good. but the mar
was too badly hurt and died in about fiv.
minutes. We carried him to- La Paz ans
went on. Next day my fireman was wip
Ing around the engine. when Ill be sho