St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-16
PULLED HER WIDE OPEN.
How John Burns by Presence Of
Mind Saved a Hundred Lives.


Mind Saved Hundred Lives.
Chicago Press.
Let me tell you an instance of hero
ism of a railroad engineer" said c. X.
WILDER. Western passenger agent of the
Lake Shore Il Michigan Southern rail-
road
Il forget the precise date. but it was
somewhere about the beginning of the
year when John Burns showed what he
was made of. lie was then in charge of
Engine No. 81, weighing about 100 tons,
and drawing eight passenger coaches,
a baggage and an express car.
Inc traiu was No. 5, the fast New
/ l ork and Chicago express, westward
bound. 1t was miserable railrOading
! weather that day, almost a continuous
/ light snow fail of frosty driZzIe, a state
| OF things much dreaded by engineers,
as it almost ObScutes their view ahead.
! Mainly on account of the wretched
weather No. 5 was behind time.
Between Buffalo and Irving station
there is long-grade stretch, and here
the engineer attempted to catch up to
schedule by running at about a fifty
five mile all hour rate.
ION the other track was a fast and
heavily laden cattle train out of Chi
; cagO for New York. About a mile east
OF Irving the cattle train was badly
wrecked. number of the cars
splintered up into kindIing, most of the
| cattle were killed, and worst of all, two
of the least injured cars were thrown
| across the track of No. 5, then rapidly
approaching at tremendous speed. The
engineer and brakeSmen of the cattle
train were either killed or too severely
tn hC
! were looking pretty black for No. 5, and
the occupants of its eight crowded pas
Senger coaches.
John Burns and Engine No. 81 were
within hundred feet of the wreck be-
lore 1t was possible to see that anything
was wrong. Then he took i'll the situa-
| ton at one swift glance. AS he told me
/ afterward, Just two courses were open.
He could reverse. put OH the brakes and
Jump oil just before his engine crashed
INTO the cattle cars, and thus in all like
llhOOd save his own life. But the train
could by no possibility be stopped in
time to prevent terrible wreck of the
passenger coaches. There must inevi-
taOy be a frightful collision and great
loss of life. The other course was to
throw open the valve and try to drive
! the lotion engine at lightning speed
clean through the wreck. There was
about one chance in ten that Nc. 81
could tear the cattle cars in halves
and bring the passenger coaches through
with nothing worse than terrible Shak-
Ing up. But where would John Burns
be even If the maneuver succeeded?
Probably scalded to death or ground to
atoms by the collision.
POSSIBLY it did not take John a thou
sandth part as long to size up the situ-
Of ion 0- hnr, fol-f N,1f =
! thrilling fraction of a second he weighed
the lives of all those passengers against
his own, and. shouting to his fireman.
'tare her wide open he sent No. 81 with
all her thunderOus force square into the
cattle cars. The locomotive went right
through like a knife and carried the
train with her. No sOOner was the
wreck cleared than Burns reversed and
stopped the train.
Happily, in the car behind the en-
CINE there was a baggageman Il cannot
recall his name) who possessed that
rare. but valuable quaiity-presence of
mind. lie took in the situation at a
glance and ran into the rear cars. shout
ing loudly to the passengers to rush to
the outer side, the one opposite the
great mass of the wreck. He was able
to run swiftly through two coaches be-
fore the crash came. The sides of these
two coaches next the wreck were almost
entirely torn out, bat none Of the pas
Sengers were killed, although a number
of them were more or less injured.
Thus, through the daring herOism OF an
engineer and the presence of mind of a
baggageman, not Il life was lost, when
several hundreds of them We're in dead
~ peril.
"rhe engine, tender, and baggage car
were entirely demolished. | am happy
to say. however, that brave john Burns
was not killed. though one of his arms
was terribly Scalded and he was bruised
and cut. After a short time on the sick
list he went back to his cab. and is on
his regular run now. Despite the as
serted lngratitude of corporations, you
: may be sure that as long as the Lake
Shore turns wheel John Burns will be
taken care Of