The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1893-10-20
JUMPING FROM A TRAIN.
A Locomotive Engineer Relates His Varied
Experiences.

Locomotive Engineer Relates His Varied
-, Experiences.
did you ever jump from your cab
while the train was going at full
speed?" asked of locomotive engi-
neer the other day.
Eyes, three or four times" he an
swered.
whats the sensation?'
That's according to how you land.
One night three years ago the train
dispatcher got two of us headed for
each other on a single track at gait
of forty miles an hour. The first thing
l saw was the headlight of the other
locomotive rounding curve thirty rods
away. I shut FER off, threw over the
lever and set the air-brakes, and then
made a jump. I'd no time to pick for
! spot, and as jumped realized that
I'd have a bad time of it, as knew
every foot of the ground. It was on
level covered with a thistle-patch.
There was strip of them forty rods
long growing up like corn-stalks- l
expect they broke my fall somewhat,
but don't know that 1 ever hit the
L
seemed to me that just swept through
that patch about knee-high from the
ground, and when there were no more
thistles to knock down landed 'ker-
chugv against an old stump and up
rooted it. 1 broke leg and an arm,
but that wasn't the worst of it. The
doctor estimated the number of thistle
points sticking into my body at one
billion. My wife and have been pick
ing 'em out ever since they got me
home, and we've only finished one side
of me-"
Landing in mud-puddle would be
soft thing" suggested.
I've been there" he replied, with a
aeeting smile. "While was running
freight they built side-track to a
gravel pit at a certain point. In ex-
cavating at the main line they dug a
hole about twenty feet long by ten
wide and four deep. AS rule this
hole was always full of water, and as
it was on my side of the engine and
always came under my eye, got to
thinking what snap ia have if had
to make jump right there"
But you never had to-
Didn't 1? There was a little station
just mile above this hole, and it was
sharp upgrade. One day, while we
were humping along to make the sta
ton, dozen cars broke loose from a
freight side-tracking at that station.
and down they came, like SO many
roaring lions after their prey. By the
time had whistled for brakes and re.
versed my engine, it was time to jump,
and bless my soul! if 1 wasn't just
where l wanted to be-right at the
pond. 1 waited to pass the mile-post
and then shut my eyes and took a
header, feeling sorry at the same in
slant for my fireman, who'd got to
Jump among the stumps. Well,
struck.
elm the water?" asked, as he paused
nd worked a finger in his ear.
"Oh, no! There had been a long
spell of hot, dry weather, and every
pint of water had evaporated out o.
that pond. The mud was left behind
though. There was three feet of il
waiting to catch some sucker, and il
caught me. 1 went head first to the
bottom. Then l rolled over and
foundered around for five minutes
and could never have pulled myself out
unassisted. didn't break any bones,
but-ugh!'
"What?"
mud! 1 took twenty-seven baths
before 1 got down SO l could see my
hide, and it was hours before mud quit
washing out of my ears, eyes, nose and
mouth. l tasted mud. l felt mud
crawling up and down my back.
snuffed mud. found mud in my peck
cts and combed it out of my hair until
1 got tired and let the balance go. I'm
running on the road yet, but I'm not
spotting off any mud-holes to land in.
On the contrary, if things turn out as
have figured, my next jump will be into
a patch of blackberry bushes, with an
old dead tree in the center, and l conf
IDENTIFY expect to NOW down everything
in my path. Detroit Free Press.