Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-04-14
ONE ENGINEERS EXPERIENCES.
He Has Killed Twenty-Five Persons, but Is
Regarded a Safe Man.


He Has Killed Twenty-Five Persons. but Is
Regarded a Safe Man.
Lafayette Truman, engineer of the
Erie train that ran into the eastern
Illinois train, has killed % men, said
G. r. Mccullough, a brother engineer
of the Chicago and Erie road, at the
Clifton, but" he continued, in no
case was he to blame, and in every
case he has been exonerated by the
jury. Most of these killings were at
railroad crossings and in other similar
accidents where the engineer could
not be held responsible He is only
a young man, but 1 want to relate
two experiences of his which show
him to be possessed of a marvellous
presence of mind.
In October, 1890, he was engineer
of a train that was dashing through
burning forests near Lima o.. at the
rate of 60 miles an hour. That night
the sky was concealed by black storm
clouds, and before the burning dis
trict was reached the darkness from
the window of the cars seemed i'm
penetrable. Then, as the train pro
ceeded, the horizon became hazily
red. AS the train sped on nearer, the
blood red clouds appeared to be tum
bling about unanimously, as if it were
a sea 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 continuing for seven miles. As
the train dashed along the fire sprang
up i'll sheets from cracking, falling
trees on either side, and above was a
canopy of shifting, eddying red smoke.
Down the track, beyond the reach of
the headlight, there was only a red
blur. A bridge spanning deep river
was ahead somewhere. Suddenly,
Immediately in front, Truman saw a
shower of big sparks fly upward. In
an instant he was reversing his en-
CINE, and the train was brought to a
StandStill just on the edge of the
river It had flashed over him when
he saw the sparks that the bridge
was burning, and that a spar had
fallen, sending UP as it went down
show of light. He saved the train
and the lives of 300 passengers. There
is not one engineer in a thousand who
would have arrived at the conclusion
SO quickly that the additional transi-
tory light was from the bridge burn
ing They would have supposed it
was an incOnsequential part of the
phenomena and plunged on to de
struction.
THE other incident, while not sur
rounded by the popular herolike
aspect lent by the forest fire and the
run through 1t, was no less heroic
and showed n far greater presence Of
mind This was in Ohio, too, near
Hepburn. His train this time was
running at about the same rate, 60
miles an hour, when the rods on each
side of the engine broke, instantly
killing the fireman and wrecking
the cab. ] ruman. to save himself,
jumped into the tender And there
he was isolated, as it were, the broken
rods flying madly and beating deafen-
ingly, and it 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 APP
plying the automatic brake, and sue
ceeded in stopping the train. would
rather ride behind that man" con
Guided Mr. Mccullough, than any
engineer in the United States Chi
cago Inter Ocean.