Montgomery County sentinel., 1890-10-31

ON A RUNAWAY ENGINE.

n
Congressman Crane, of Texas, was
in high good glec spinning yarns to a
cotere of members.
In my young days" said the con-
gresham, 81 was an engineer on the
Sante Fc railroad. Do you fellows know
what trying thing it is to be loco
motive engineer Well, | can tell you
that it will do mans nerves more harm
than anything else. Alcohol and to-
bacco are mere trifes in compar ison,
even if they be used to excess. I didn't
stay long in the business. like excite
ment, but running n cannon ball ex-
press whose schedule time was sixty
miles an hour is n little too much even
for me- But the three months time
that ran No. 70 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 careless
ness or viciousness one of the engines,
known as mountain climber, got away
with full steam on and started down the
road on message of death and destruc-
ton. had just finished long run
and was preparing to go 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 stop 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 building and the locomotive
were ruined
II had plenty Of nerve then, and
suppose by your laughing you think I
have lost none Of IT, but | am free to
confess that would not dare to UNDER
take the task successfully accomplished
that day. Perhaps it was the excite
ment and enthusiasm of the moment
which led inc to volunteer to lasso
that locomotive. always smile when
recall the look of incrodulity that met
my confident assertion that could catch
and arrest the mad fight OF the run
away, but was 30 confident that they
gave me hearing, and finally Sc
cured the services of sturdy Irish lad
as fireman. In less than three minutes
after the dispatch had been received |
was on my engine, with steam slowly
coming up again, and pulling out as
rapidly as possible to meet the oncom :
ing terror.
ut 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 rs miles up the
road some ten minutes before, moving al
the rate of about 80 miles an hour. A
few minutes more and with steam up
had my engine moving at the rate of GO
miles an hour and going straight at the
runaway on the same track. | ran this
way for about twenty minutes when,
as near as | could calculate, the run.
away had done 37I miles and had
covered 25 If my calculations were
correct there were still some 12b 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 VIC
settled down to u comfortable 80 miles
an hour, the Irish lad meanwhile keep
ing on terrific pressure Of steam.
1--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
away. 1t might have been ten minutes,
more or less-it seemed like years to me.
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. For the first time, | confess,
| lost my nerve. 1t was only nomen-
tary, however, and then opened my
throttle andIaway wo went. There was a
good mile Of straight track between US
when first caught sight of her; then
we turned curve and she was out Of
sight, if not out Of hearing. When she
did come she had gained on as pretty
nearly half mile
"I shut of steam a triae, and when
we struck level piece of track but a
quarter Of mile separated US. | told
Irish TO keep up pressure, and the way
be did it its wonder the boiler of 76
didn't burst. She kept getting nearer
and nearer, and it was all ! could do to
keep from throwing widO the throttle
and speeding away from her. But |
kept my nerves as steady as though they
were Of iron. Nearer aud nearer she
came, until could actually imagine she
was blowing her way through US. Final
Iy she closed in upon US. and assure
you that so yearly equal had succeeded
10 making the speed that the shock va: