Los Angeles herald., 1892-11-29
ON THE ALEGAZAM.
A GRAPHIC STORY OF A THRILLING
RAILROAD WRECK.

Line Might Have Made Better Time.
but the Speed Of Its Trains Was Appre-
oiated in Ono Case Anyway-Here IL Ia.
I'VE were sitting in the smoking car
OF the sleeper and the conversation un-
Pleasantly enough, drifted into the ques-
ton OF railroad wrecks. 1t was strange,
too, that this should be, for we were all
old hands at travelling. That sort of
people seldom talk about wrecks, but we
were soon in the thick Of it, every man
OF us telling his experiences" So spoke
james A. Hart, to whose mind this story
was brought by the occurrence of sew
eral bad wrecks in the east. "We were
travelling from one town to another--l
won't say where-on a road will call
the Alegazam, because don't want to
make bad friends Of the railroad people,
But the experience is worth telling, for
I'll never forget it if live to be thou
sand years and day old. There was
one big fellow in the smoker-a drum
mer who evidently was kicker. At all
events he did not like the Alegazam
road. Why said he, it wouldn't sur
prise me bit il we were to go smash
before the night is over. | never ride
on this road without buying ten dollars
worth of accident policy. Oh, this Ale
gazam Is beauty. II there was a
horse car line alongside of it | would
take that The big drummer was get
ting to be a nuisance in the converse
ton.
"At the end Of every horrible tale he
would brighten up and say: That isn't
a marker to what will happen some day
on the Alegazam. Mark my words
This road Is hoodoo if there ever was
one Our cigars were smoked out as
cigars will be smoked out, and we re-
tired for the night. The drummer's
berth was only few numbers from
mine, and as he got into bed he poked
his head out between the curtains and
said in a hoarse whisper, Let your body
hang half out the window so you'll be
on hand when it strikes' and then turned
in, and, don't doubt, went sound to
sleep, never looking for an accident, not
withstanding all his talk.
"Now, railroad wreck Is funny
thing" continued Mr.. Hart. EVERY
body thinks he's the last man out and
the last to hear the shock, and conse.
quently thinks there's no hope for him.
People don't stop to consider that in
ninety-nine out of hundred wrecks the
damage is all done at once or not ut all.
And this case is a good exemplar. ]
sleep soundly but lightly when travel,
nd I o6vyv 1yov. xryho L.,
any unusual noise-that is, noise not
caused by the travel of the train over
the rails. This night l turned in
with smile at my drummer's fears and
was fast asleep in ten minutes. The
rub-adub-dub OF the wheels sung me
into . sound slumber. and I'm sure l
don't know how long it lasted until i
was awakened by combination of three
things, and pretty thoroughly awakened
at that. First, the train had stopped
and there was no rattle. Then heard
a voice cry ont in the night outside:
"'For Gods sake stop that enginer
.And then following that up almost
instantaf& &ously there was great crash
.Sqg sound of breaking glass. That was
alE Following this there was silence
so IN ofound that could hear my watch
ticking under my pillow. What did it
meanf a thousand questions rushed
into my head In the second Of time that
followed the breaking Of the glass. But
before had tine to get out of the berth
a voice rang through the car in a tone
the like Of which I never heard before
"a Lo-o ~,oxyax %o hoor anoir
Jump Tor your lives!
II have heard and seen some queer
things in my day, but before I heard
that voice / never knew what horror
meant. The feeling Of mans whole
life was concentrated into that voice,
and it struck into my nerves as might
streak Of lightning that had no power to
kill.
..As I jumped to the ground and
rushed up the track saw approaching
our train on the same track, coming to
meet our engine, the headlight of an
other locomotive. That headlight and
the dark outlines Of the engine behind
it looked to me like some horrible mon
ster from another world. 1t was more
than simple piece of machinery. The
thing was alive, and seemed to be about
ten times as large as it really was. The
impression had of it then was the most
]. Ngular feeling I ever knew, and I can't
le Scribeit. Everything had been done
% a Vicltly, and was SO terribly excited
hat " was not for some seconds that l
notice. was the first man In the train
hat ha y got out. The strange engine
lid alon, Z the rails until it was within a
lew feet o. ours and stopped. Then the
people bega u coming out.
"Why, in Ms interval that elapsed be-
;ween the CT Z Of Jump for your ivesp
ind the time theNpassengers were alarmed
and had begun ITO ,come out, thou
and trains might have been wrecked.
Nearly all the pas. vengeTs were now out
side inquiring intcA the cause OF the
trouble. In my Inquiries discovered
he cause Of the crushing glass. The
man In the berth next. mine bad heard
the brakes pnt on, hadS heard the first
outcry and, thinking chat trouble was
ahead, simply bolted through his win
aow, carrying the glass with him. He
was not even scratched. We learned
that, through an error in vswitching at
. station up the road, the strange engine
had slid down our track JUSTIN time to
see our headlight and for both >engines
10 stop twenty feet short Of o collision.
"But the funniest part Is to come
-, r, oPto,. <ho Brct r1,cb vyo ouo,. O win.