Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-02-26
A 1RAmp,s RIDE OF TERROR.
III Clad and Forlorn, He Stole Place ON
a Concatnher in Zero Weather.

III Clad and Forlorn, He Stole Place on
a cowcatcher in Zero Weather.
A poor, half starved tramp stole ride
on the cowcatcher of a New York and New
England railroad locomotive last Christ
mas night, and he is not likely soon to for
get his trip. AS Engineer Potter, of the
limited express, drove his long train from
the west and halted his painting engine at
the station for a few minutes preparatory
TO beginning the long run to Boston, a
slight man, shabbily clad in short, thin
coat, light trousers, shoes and felt hat,
came timidly across the network Of iron
rails to his cab and asked if he might ride
on the engine TO Boston
''No,n said the engineer, "the rules Of the
road expressly forbid itp Then the tramp
wanted to get aboard the baggage car, but
Mr.. Potter was not at liberty to permit him
70 do so. He shivered and went away. Then
the locomotive bell changed, the passengers
(,ylo had ;tlighted and gone into the depot
restaurant for supper hurriedly got aboard,
and the train moved off, quickening its
speed rapidly. It was still night, with
the mercury almost ut zero, and the moon
WIS very bright. The engineer let his steel
horse 20 at the rate Of more than fiftymiles
an hour, and, though all the cab windows
were tightly shut, so cold was the air that
rushed into the engine that even the en-
gineer and fireman felt chilly.
AS Putnam was passed the fireman fan
cied he heard an unusual sound above the
roaring of flying wheels, and he hastily
drew aside one sash in a cab window He
glanced along the curved side of the great
boiler and Instantly uttered cry Of aston
ishment He saw the wretehed tramp,
who had begged for a ride at Willimantic,
clinging like fly to the front of the en-
CINE, and whose face, now turned toward
the fireman. was white with hopeless ter
ror He was shaking like a leaf with the
trembling of the locomotive, his clothes
huttering ia the hurricane like rush of the
engine, and il was evident to the fireman,
at his first glance, that the poor fellow
could retain his grip on the engine only
few moments longer.
The cry OF the fireman brought Engineer
Potter also to the side of the cab in an in
slant, and even as the two men stared at
the wretch, tossing on the cowcatcher the
latter made a desperate effort to climb
higher upon the pilot to the hot engine
front In doing so he grasped a live steam
pipe The pipe was blstering hot, but the
tramp dared not let 20, for he would have
fallen to the roadbed or been ground under
the great driving wheels. Still he uttered
no cry, though the look Of agony in his face
told what he suffered.
The train was still laundering on at fifty
miles an hour, and the engineer dare not
apply the brakes, for he knew the sudden
jar and jolG that would result from that
act would fling the wretch under the
wheels. There was only one way in which
the man could be saved. and Engineer Pot
ter saw it at once. So he went out on the
locomotive, the fireman following him,
crawled along its side, and yelled to the
man to hold up his hand. The engineer
then fairly pulled the tramp, with the aid
of the fireman, into the cab. The man fell
on the floor of the cab completely exhaust
ed He received kind treatment during
the rest of the ride TO Boston, in which city
he was provided with food and lodging and
medical attendance.-Cor. New York sun.