Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-12-13
FROM RAILS OF STEEL.
An Old Engineer Tells of Some
 Marrow Escapes.

i
 . A Justice of the Supreme Court is not more taciturn than the average railroad engineer. And, not unlike the eminent iurists, when once his habitual reserve Is cast aside he is veritable mine of i anecdote and wit. ] A Washington Star Reporter one afternoon during the past week ran : across one of these "Knights of the Throttle" in the neighborhood of the round house" on Virginia avenue, and, Gs luck would have it, the Salvation car,' as the pay car is designated in the railroader's parlance, had just arrived and he was in good humor and talka- tive.
 Come, John, you won't go out on your , run for two hours yet. Tell me about | some of the tight places you've been in since becoming an engineer"
 i Well, young man, we don't like to talk about these things. but, as you appear to be anxious for story, don't, mind telling you one"
 Hell mo about that long red scar there under your chin. That must have been quite a wound"
 ; That was rather 8 hard one, but
 when received it it was smaller af- [
 and bruises As you know, I have
 pulled throttle on the Baltimore G Potomac road ever since the first rail was laid. Railroading to-day is child's play to what it was then. Now our
 greatest risk is broken rail or axle; then it was dozen different things to
 keep us alert, chief among them being
 washouts, insecure trestles and mis-
 takes in telegraph orders incidental to
 8 single-track road. Overwork always
 played prominent part, and it was
 owing to the latter fact that this scar
 adorns my meat-chopper.
 ''It was during the busy days of the
 inauguration of Garfield, and all the
 sleep the boys had secured for week
 was only cat-naps. I was coming north,
 out of Washington, on the evening of
 inauguration day, and ex-President
 Hayes occupied private car on the rear
 of my train. The cars were crowded to
 their fullest capacity, and with this re-
 spousibility upon me I believe 1 could
 have done without sleep for a month.
 All the cars were in Washington or
 bound north, the engines coming south
 generally being empty-that is, without
 cars. The engineers of these empty en-
 zines would unomentarily relax their
 vigilance, owing to tho lesser responsi-
 bility, and it was during one of these
 moments that got into the tightest
 place and received the closest call of
 my life. I received orders to pass two
 empty engines coming south at Severn,
 a small telegraph station about thirty
 miles north of Washington, and that
 they would take tho siding for me. My
 engine was doing nicely and we were
 inly 11-,r 3@
 when, just as turned the Severn curve, flip bang came the two engines into me,
 and when woke up two weeks h ad passed, an engineer and baggage-master had been buried, three locomotives and half-dozen cars smashed into splin ters, , and lay on my back in the hospital with a leg, an arm and three ribs
 broken and my under jaw almost torn ) of. The engineer of one of the south ! bound engines had relaxed his vigil lance for hardly moro than a minute, , ran by his siding, and his life paid the forfeit.
 , "Why didn't I jump2 Holy smoke, , young fellow, that never entered my ? mind. Ireversed my engine. put on the
 air. and by that time we were piled up and was unconscious The good Lord only knows why my railroading days
 didn't end there, but they didn't, and . fatter myself that can make time F with any of the boys"
 . "How about that little accident out al McGruder's curve; weren't you mixed - up in that affair? It occurred good while ago, but I never heard the par i ticulars."
 f Well, should say I was mixed up IF t that affair. In all my days of railroad 3 ing that was the luckiest accident witt } the queerest trimmings have evel . known. The little details that am go ing to tell you in connection with tho affair came to me some time after theil
 occurrence.
 Q "This time was coming south on the l New York express, and was due il
 Washington at 11:30 at night l ha( f about twelve cars filled with passengers e behind me. At that time there was ; telegraph station about quarter of 1 mile north of the curve called 'Wil Il son's.' The express generally had ; :: clear track, and orders were nevel . given it only when of great importance e Owing to this fact it made very fas l. time, and at that point usually raI e about forty or forty-five miles an hour As swung in sight of this little lonely
 watcn-box saw that the red signal wal 2 down, and after 8 fierce pull at thu z whistle I reversed the lever and put or 2. the air. We came to a stop in hurry a and. thinking orders wore awaiting me e l made break foT>the office to secur' d them without losing any more time thai il | neceasarv