Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-02-28
SOME ENGINEER YARNS.
TOLD BY A VETERAN CHICAC(
KNIGHT OF THE FOOTBOARD.
Watching an Impending Collision of Train
Is Not Very Funny-Hayoc Wrought b,
a Stubborn Stock Shipper-A Desperate
Woman at the Throttle.

| tive engineer on the roads of the middle west
is full OF "reminiscences as an egg is Of meat
Ever on wrecked trainf" he asked
"Nos Then you don't know what you missed
But the man who rides along comfortably
till the shock comes is good deal better of
| than if he saw it some minutes ahead and
couldn't get away. One time l was run
! ming the fast express on the Pittsburg road
and pulled into Wenatah, Ind, Just after
| dark with eight loaded cars. 1t was Friday
night while the exposition was running here
| in Chicago, and every car was crowded
| There was a freight on the New Albany
| road, which crosses the Pittsburg there, and
| 1t was due to pass some ten minutes ahead OF
my time. l couldn't see it and the target
lights gave NE tue track, so pulled out and
was almost to the crossing when | saw the
| man at the target run up the Albany track
swinging red lantern like mad. Just then
saw that freight coming down grade at full
| tilt, and whistling for brakes let on all the
steam l had, but best if my drive wheels
didn't slip and just go whirlng around there
like tops. The little Roadway had gathered
| pushed US forward, and the engine was Just
on the crossing. If the wheels would have
taken hold could have cleared it before the
!
would strike us sure SO l had nv choice:
l could pull the engine across and let them
hit the coaches, or l could stop where l was
and let the engine take it.
Human life before dollars / said to my
| fireman, and reversed the engine. She tool,
hold, strangely enough. and stopped the train
stock still. let on a little more steam and
tried to back, but they flew again, and my
partner and jumped, just in time to see that
laundering freight crash into my Baldwin
engine They made an awful wreck The
whole freight train piled up along the track
and smashed half the cars. The two engines
was all drove together and ruined, but We
got the track clear and a new engine came
down from Valparaiso and pulled nv train
into Chicago. But, sir, not half the passen-
gers on my train knew there was a wreck.
They were comfortable, and their cars being
nearly still when the shock came they were
not jolted bit. The company cussed little
when told them l lost the engine to save the
passengers, but l guess they would rather
have it that way. Suits for damages, when
a lot of people are killed, are always expen-
sive But the strain of those few minutes on
me, when | knew my train must be struck.
and had to choose where, was enough to make
my black hat turn gray
Il was running through freight on the
Alton road one time and fetching train load
of cattle up from St Louis. 1t was along
about morning. and just this side of Lincoln
as we rounded a curve | saw a little bridge
on fire. 1t was over a dry, shallow creek
bed and wasn't over twenty feet wide |
couldn't possibly stop, and believed the fire
had not yet weakened it much, so | put on
full head and let her 90. About five cars
back from the engine was the man that own
ed most Of the cattle, and he saw the fire al
most as soon as did. He danced and yelled
and swung his arms, but | let him 90 and
watched the bridge Just as the pilot pushed
into the smoke something broke loose behind,
and FIJI be shot If that engine of mine didn't
jump two feet il the air. She came down all
right and just few like bullet / shut off
the steam and looked around There was
only two cars with me- That Internal
old man had taken the train in his own
hands and climbed down to the bumpers
when he saw | was going to take the
bridge; he uncoupled the third car
and the rest of the train, climbed up again
and set the forward brake till he Just about
split it. Then he ran to the next, and his
hired man helped him. His cars came on,
showing that first one along like a pair of
skates till it stood right on the bridge. There
it stopped, and when all the slack was taken
UP the weight of twenty cars of cattle just
showed the head of his train into the creek
bed, tipped seven over on their sides and de-
rallied the rest. l was so mad | could have
hammered him. The bridge would have held
the cars running, but when the dead weight
rod oil
behind, it went down. We had to open the
cars and let nearly two hundred head of fat
Kansas steers out on the prairie, and it took
q WrecklnS train four days to fix up the
bridge and track and take the rubbish away.
And then that jayhaw2er had the nerve TO sue
the company for damages. Get its Well, no.
II ran across woman engineer once Her
father used to own q big sawmill, and, being
an engineer himself, he taught the trade to his
daughter. She was little wild, guess. and
ran away from home to take an engine on a
little narrow gauge track in the Arkansas
woods, dressing ike man and wearing her
hair short Then she got freight train on
the Iron Mountain road from Poplar Bluff to
ST. Louis. She held that until she went to
sleep one night and ran plump into freight
on crossing. Then she skipped, and turned
up afterward on the % road at the time of
the big strike / knew her father well, and
he often asked me if saw her Finally one
morning when l was pulling out Of Chicago
on a Rock Island train | saw her backing a
@ engine down TO the yards. / called her
by name, and when ! started out next morn
ing she came to my cab, got on and rode out
a ways
Il never saw her again till Just before I
quit the road. She came to me at Council
Bluffs one night and wanted to ride to Chi
cago. She had no money and was discour-
aged, and l let her ride. although it was
against the rules She sat before me and ran
my engine half the night. she seemed to be
watching for something, and didn't talk
much. At last, just before midnight, while
We were passing through q stretch OF woods,
she threw over the lever set the air brakes
and fetched the train up with bump inside
of hundred yards.
Nv hats the matterF l asked.
Man on the track; don't you see hinr
she said, and jumped to the ground. There
was a man on the track, but l hadn't seen
him before, and didn't believe she saw him
when she stopped. Just then | beard shot
fired, and looking back saw group Of fell
lows trying TO smash IN the side door OF the
express car.
" Go ahead If you can. John yelled the !
conductor. Go ahead, for God sake came (
from the express messenger, and let on the s
steam again. The men who had been lying |
on the rails wss gone. We gathered bead |
way rapidly and the fellows who had been /
pounding the door tried to get on the cars. /
But as tue train went faster they jumped 70 I
the ground and escaped. The woman is in /
with gang CT train robbers, and Is doing
good work for them. / shouldn't wonder Il /
she made her scheme yTc-l, sorae night and /
her pals viii get big haul. Bat tl.ey didn't 1
take anything out of my train, and Il / ever