The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-12-03
THE NEW EYE.
How an EngIishman Was Treated
to Some American Rapid
Transit.


happened on a locomotiveg' echoed the
engineer, looking round at me. The
brave man was q member Of my parish,
and l was sitting at his tea table. After
a moment 5 thought he pushed back his
chair, for the frugal meal was finished.
and looked hard at his wife. 1t was a
curious gaze Of his honest eyes, and the
lady met his glance with an almost
pathetic entreaty: do not tell itr' writ
ten on her kind face.
s'She don't like to think of it, he re-
turned, laughing at the anne time he
shook back the long hair that fell in
waves over the left side of his brow,
u~ncovering a blushing scar and reveal
ing that he had been dismembered of an
ear. But l am not SO bad a looking
fellow, after all" he said. In fact, he
was singularly fine looking.
at is one of those memories" his
wife interrupted, rising, that one fears
to recall. But, thank God, it win be
no more likely to occur again for the
telling of it, and he may tell it while |
put the boy to bed upstairs"
ut was one of those accidents that
nothing can prevent" resumed the n
gineer. mo foresight can guard against
the hidden flaw which the best Of steel
sometimes hides in its W false heart.
The best crank or shaft ever forged viii
sometimes break on a steamer in mid
ocean. So of a connecting rod on a pair
Of drivers. Now, / think the thing l am
going to tell you is the most terrible ac-
cident that can happen on a locomotive,
because it is the worst | ever expert
enced. 1t worked the most havoc and
scared me more than any other l ever
went through. I cannot get over the
dread of it even now, and probably
never shall. Still another man might
single out another as the worst"
My friend still runs, as he did that al
most fatal day, the fastest train that
speeds between two large cities. AT one
end of its flight the train is obliged to
traverse @ long tunnel. Millions Of peo-
pie pass through that tunnel yearly in
perfect safety. But if they knew the
hairbreadth escapes of the first few years,
and especially during its construction,
even now they might not always sit so
comfortably; but the best Of appliances
have somewhat lessened the dangers.
"When we were ready to leave the
depot at t. the new general manager
of the division came along down the
platform with the agent and was intro
daced to me. l pulled off my greasy
cap, and was about to get down, when
he said, Never mind, that he was going
to run with Us. OF course / offered
him his choice of seats, as You wouldn't
do to your own father; for whoever
rides in the cab he must take q stand
up or the freman's box, il the fellow is
good natured enough to offer it. A big
officer, like the manager, was different,
however, and l gave him anything. To
tell the truth, / was relieved to know
his errand was only to ride; for this
English gentleman, a kinsman of u
big owner, had been turning up lots Of
good men. He seemed TO think we
Americans couldn't make fast time, and
he forgot that our machines and cars
are heavier, our roads not so straight as
the English
1--WE are forty minutes late, he said,
as he straddled in front of the fire box
and consulted his watch. This occurs
about every day, my man, more or less,
and it's about time tho blamed practice
was stopped
".Trafhc is heavy in October, sir, l
said, trying to smile my prettiest.
Scan you drive this machine in on
timer he kind O. growled at me.
81 gave him a real Yankee stare back
for a moment, and then my blood was
MP. That was ten years ago, before l had
n wife and babies. 1t is wife. babies,
ten years and a ditch or two that takes
the dare devil out Of a locomotive engi-
neer. At first a man knows no fear, but
n of the aforementioned things kind O.
tempers him down. He can't keep his
pluck up Is at first, do what he win. My
wife, by the way, was expecting
me to come round with the minis
ter to be sphced o week from that
very day. She had sent out some we'd
ding cards-rather snowy for humble
folks to do. The wedding had to be de-
ferred," and he tried to smile as he re-
ferred to that incident, though it was
evident that the remembered tragedy was
beginning to overshadow his own manly
face, as it had his wife's before she left
US. well pastor, | just frowned on tine
Engiishman, and said, IL youn choose
which seat you'll take, and let my fire
man get in some of his work, Wen show
you what the Sycamore can do when she
Is mad
al will take the stoker's box, he said;
that's English for fireman. you know.
And he climbed up, rolling a cigarette
and lighting it with q funny kind Of for
eign machine in his hand
II started her easy. We paiied tex
cars. We had a run of seventy-fcur
miles, schedule time two hours. l was
to run it in one hour and twenty min
utes. There were TO be three slow ups,
and one dead stop at . drawer That
would give me most Of the miles to do
in sixty seconds. We often do that for
a mile or two. Every fast train docs
every day. But se~venty-four such miles