Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-28
ONE ENGINEERS EXPERIENCES.


He Has Killed Twenty Two Persons, but d
| Regarded n . Safe Man.
/ From the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean
| Lafayette Truman, engineer of the Fri.
train that ran into the Eastern Illinois train Fri
day night. has killed twenty-five men," said c
R Mccullough, brother engineer of the Chi
cago and Erie road, ct the Clifton last night
"But," he continued, "in no case was he Il
blame, and in every case he has been e1oner.
ated by the jury. Most Of these killings vert
at railroad crossings and in other sirniI or acci
dents where the engineer could not be held re
sponsible. He is only young man, but wan,
to relate two experiences of his which show him
to be possessed Of q marvellous presence o,
mind.
"In October, 1890, he was engineer of train
that was dashing through burning forests near
Lima, O., at the rate of sixty miles an hour.
That night the sky was concealed BY black
storm clouds. and before the burning district
was reached the darkness from the windows Of
the cars seemed impenetrable. Then, as the
train proceeded, the horizon became hazily
red. As the train sped on neares, the blood-red
clouds appeared to be turnbling about tu-
multuously, as if it were a Of fire buffeted
by angry winds. At length the train seemingly
plunged into the heart Of this forest of fire.
There was a straight stretch Of track con-
tinuing for seven miles As the train dashed
along the fire sprang up in sheets from crack
ling, falling trees on either side and above was
canopy Of shifting, eddying. red smoke. Down
the track, beyond the reach Of the headlight
there was only a red blur. A bridge, spanning
q deep river, was ahead somewhere. Suddenly
immediate ly in front, Truman saw q shower Of
big sparks fly upward. In an instant he was
reversing his engine and the train was brought
TO standstill just on the edes q the river. It
had flashed over him when he saw the sparks
that the bridge was burning and that spar
had fallen, sending up as it went down show
OF light. He saved the train and the lives of
800 passengers. There is not one engineer in q
thousand who would have arrived at the con-
clusion so quickly that the additional transit
tory light was from the bridge burning. They
would have supposed it was an inconsequen-
tal part Of the phenomena and plunged on to
destruction.
1.-The other incident while not surrounded
BY the popular hero-like aspect lent by the
forest fire and the run through it, was no less
heroic, and showed far greater presence Of
mind. This was in Ohio. too, near Hepburn
His train this time was running at about the
same rate, sixty miles an hour, when the rods
on each side OF the engine broke, instantly
Killing the fireman and wrecking the cab. Tru-
man, to save himself. jumped into the tender
And there he was isolated. as it were, for the
train was going sixty miles an hour. and the
broken rods were flying madiy and beating
deafeningly, and 1t was impossible for him to
reach an airbrake with the train going at that
speed. He is only Young man, but he did
something then that many old engineers have
since told me they would never have thought
OF. He got out his pocket knife and cut the
hose, thereby applying the automatic brake,
and succeeded in stopping the train. would
rather ride behind that man." concluded Mr..
Mccullough, than any engineer in the United
States"