The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-13
OLD PARTAR'O LAST RUN.

stranger do you believe In miraciesF
Hooked up from my newspaper, the COL
umns of which l had been llstlessiy scan
ming. and encountered the gaze OF the
sneatar saw before me man about 20
wears of ace. lie had bluff open race
and his hair was streaked with gray. lie
wore the regulation uniform Of tue railway,
and I recognized in him the ticket agent,
,eleoranb operator, etc, Of the station In
which was waiting for my train.
had finished my business In the town,
some two miles away, and, as had nothing
TO do untail the train arrived, was not at
all ayerse to chatting with him.
That depends entirely upon what you
consider & miracle" I replied, throwing
aside my paper.
81 don't know that I can exactly explain
what / mean, but l believe that the event
am thinking of might be called one.
OF course I expressed a desire 10 know
what he referred 10, imagining that he had
a story TO relate to NE.
DWELL" he remarked by way Of an intro
duction. 1T isn't often l tell this story, but
tonight I feel just Ike it. Perhaps the fact
that the events occurred exactly seven years
ago NAV account for the inclination.
''It WAS just such day as this; the air
was cold enough TO make IRE seem conf
at all disagree3ble out of doors.
cat the same time was employed at the
same JOB l am now. There was OF course
less work TO do in those days; this region
has rapidly increased in population during
the last few years.
but this does not interest you; so I will
fire up and start on my run with full head
Of steam.
six miles west of here lies the town of
BaFtsOn; ten miles to the east, Dawson.
This is the only station between the two.
at was exactly this time Of day, $3.50,
when my sOunder commenced clicking away
at my call. For some reason did not re-
spond at once; when / did, L received the
following startling message:
Wild engine headed your way-0ld Tartar
Ditch her.
'The message was from the operator at
Bartson, and ia plain English meant that
the engine known as Old Tartar had by
some means or other started off without
any one on board aud was headed IN tins d.
Tection. To ditch an engine IS to open
switch. thus allowing 1t TO run On to sid
ing, where It at last leaves the track and
probably goes over on its side. OF course
the engine is badly smashed, if not COM
pletely ruined, but it IS the only sale course
10 adopt.
the purpose. the others having more or less
cars on them. The switch was about 100
yards down the track, Ia the direction OF
Barts0n
at was evident to me that the Old Tartar
must have passed Bartsou when they COM
menced calling me- and as wild engines gen
orally travel pretty fast. l fuTesaw that
had not any too much time IN which to carry
out my instructions.
Il viii mention one more fact: an accom-
mOdation-train was due from the East inside
OF half an hour.
you may believe I did not lose much
time in leaving the depot and heading for
the switch. | had not taken half dozen
steps when / heard dull roar or but mo-
mentaTy duration. That told me as well as
words could that the Old Tartar had crossed
Mud River bridge, less than quarter Of
mile away.
I can get over the ground at fair rate
Of speed when necessary, and considered
that one Of the occasions. | had Travelled
considerably more than half Of the distance
when, giancing up, 1 saw the Old Tartar
shoot around the curve at the top Of the
grade which ends at this station. 1t was
race between myself and that engine, with
the switch as the objective point.
Apparently | was sure OF winning, but
l realized that l had 20 time to spare.
had nearly reached the switch when l
stumbled and fell. Not more than five sec
ends were lost, vet / failed l was in the
act of scrambling to my feet when the Ola
Tartar rushed past me Ike Fl WhlTiwlnd.
I realized that l had missed her, but did
not bemoan my luck. There was not time
warned Immediately.
81 rushed back to the station and called
him up. he responded Immediately, and l
forwarded to him the message l had received
but moment before. Back came the reply:
Too late; the accommodation left i've minutes
ago.
perhaps you can imagine what my feel
ings we're when | received that answeTi A
collision which would surely result 10 the
loss of life seemed inevitable! Nothing
TT al 4
myself for the whole thing. Ii | had an
swered the call Immediately should have
succeeded in ditching the Old Tartar. /
seemed 70 be standing on the verge o a
pTecipice over which feared every moment
10 fall l only came TO myself when l heard
a rumble. and, looking down the track to-
ward Dawson, saw the headlight Of an
engine. a moment afterward the acc0mmo-
dalton pulled up at the station.
II lost no time in approaching the con-
ductOr for the purpose Of learning how the
collision had been averted. To my surprise
he had no knowledge of the Old Tartar'5
being wild he considered me a fit sub
Jeet for an insane asylum. and id not hest
tate TO tell me so. Ieven began to doubt
my own sanity.
"a message of inquiry was forwarded to
Bartson and the following reply received:
Hines was ordered to ditch the Old Tartar.
Did be do Up
mo one Of Us could offer any explanation
until suddenly the conductor exclaimed:
She must have jumped the trackP
"Such proved TO be the case. The Old
Tartar was found at the foot Of a steep
embankment about a mile AMI a half east
Of this station. Near by were found seV-
eral ties, most Of them pretty well smashed
up.
you doubtless wonder how this extra
ordinary thing happened. 1t was explained
about year later by Pete Seully, men,
Der of notorious gang of outlaws who had
infested this region. 1t seems that they had
planned to hold up the accommodation
train. They had lanterns, ct cetera, with
which to signal the train; but fearful that
the engineer would recognize them they
placed several ties on the track so that II be
failed to heed the signal his train would be
derailed.
''They had just finished operations when
the Old Tartar appeared on the scene. She
knocked the ties a-flying, but they did their
work, for she jumped the track and rolled
down the embankment. Fifteen minutes
later the accommodation passed that very
spot unmolested. The gang had decided
that under the circumstances it would be
best not to hold up train.
THAT was the Old Iartar's last run
And now. stranger, that you have heard
the story, / want you to answer the ques-
ton: Was 1t miracle?"
Alta ParIor No. 3.
Tomorrow evening the Strathmore Min
sfrpI ComOanV will tandar c0mnIima tarv