Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-04-29
THE BOSS BEAR STORY
A BEAST THAT STARTED A LOCOMO-
TIVE AND BLEW THE WHISTLE.

Read the Thrilling Details.
When the c. f. and W. w. railroad was
built, years ago, four miles of the track
Jasscd through an unbroken piece of for
ist known locally as the Bear Den woods
The name was due to the fact that Il
scanned and rocky ledge, extending dag
onaliy across the wild stretch, was Il favor.
lite lodging place for bears, which were
numerous in that region then, and in fact
still hold their own there in numbers sulli
cicnt to be n source of much annoyance to
the farmers who strive for living on the
borders of the woods. The road connected
Chiffon Forks with the settlements at
Wigton's Willows, Il distance of twenty.
eight miles, and was built to develop the
timber and coal resources of the region. |
was the engineer of the construction train
during the building of the road, and it was
a common sight to see bears come out of
the woods at frequent points along the
line and inspect with ludicrous curiosity
the strange work that was going on in
their domain. We got SO we didn't mind
them any more than we might so many
pigs grunting along the track.
The railroad was completed toward the
end of the summer, and day was set for
running the first train over it from Chiffon
Forks to the Willows. There was long
trestle a mile west of Gravely's station
which carried the road over a ravine that
was more than hundred feet deep. The
track went onto the trestle from a very
sharp curve, and the trestle was not en-
tirely finished, so that no train or engine
could yet be run over it with safety, ex
cept with very slow and careful motion.
The day the train was to be run the sec
ton foreman discovered that a piece of
track near the eastern extremity of the
Bear Den woods could be bettered consid
erably by a little more filling in and bal
lasting, and as everybody on the work had
to be a sort of general utility man, he sent
my fireman and me with carload of
gravel to bolster up the weak spot. The
job was a bigger one than it was thought,
and when we had finished the work it was
almost time for the excursion train to be
coming along.
In fact we had heard the locomotive
whistlng at Cherry Run, two miles east of
us. We had also heard the mutterings of
one of those fierce storms that were COM
mon in the region. BY the time we had
got on the engine and were preparing to
pull out for Gravely's the storm came
bowling down worse than any had seen
since had been on the road. We could
hear the trees crashing down before it, and
as | jumped in the cab big limb from a
hemlock came swoopinp square on the en-
CINE. and pinned me down between the
tender and the cab and held me there as if
| were in a wise. The fireman had stepped
up on the coal in the tender, and the same
fearful gust that bore the limb down on
me caught him and whipped him out of
the tender as if he had been bundle of
stra and heard him dron in the brI,sb
/
back and | supposed he was killed
There Law perfectlv helpless and knew
that the train with all the officers of the
road and their friends aboard was boom
inc along. and that i'm less than two min
utcs il must come dashinp mt full snced
upon my engine. The inevitable result of
such n cnto.trunhc WAS trrril,lp ia think
about. The Il orm WA, NOW rn,,iu,, fri,ht.
fully tbrou,h the woods Trres yvorn f,ll.
in,, ON every side and | could almost faal
my hair turniup gray As law thcre
strllg,rIino, To free myself a hear terror
stricken bv the awfui co,nmotion in the
woods and hurrvinu To escone from its
fury. came climbing into the cab. and
stumbling over the butt of the heavy limb
that pinned metothe floor. tumbled against
the furnace door The bear scrambled to
his feet and went nowing wildly abour in
| the cab. But | rave no thOnUht tn the
hear. for minplinp with the tumult of the
storm heard the rumble and tremor of
the annroachinp train ON the rails
| Suddenly heard a familiar click and
instantly the engine started forward with
a bound turned NV head and look ed at
the lever. The bear in his aimless cIutcb.
ing about in the cab. had caught it with
! his paws and had snuiled her vide omen
! The track was down grade all tho wav to
Gravelv's and ,reat heaven, how wa ae,vi
The excursion train was riobt behind ms
knew and i'm - few seconds mora ynnld
have crashed into NV enoine Rut tb.t
great horror was escaned and althonoh I
was mined down Inv the limb and lad a
bear for nilot I almost fointod With iov
Down that Grade we eew like tho Wind
that was boyylino all oround ne Tba
thumnino and roIling of the locomotive
seemed TO make tho he,r wild viii avcita-
mont and he nranced about in tho ooh lilo
a crazy nerson Then If n sudden the
sh,rn curva and rho dono.rors trestIe
hnvond Gravelv,s dashed across Mind
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