The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-11-03
HISTORY OF RAILROADS.
The Mar Who First Imagined n LOcomc
tive Wa Put I'm u Inc

HiS tORY Of
h Man Who First Imagined n LOcomo.
tive Wa Put In II MadhOuse.
The man who first thought of apply
ing steam to traction, poor Solomon dc
Caus, n Frenchman, was shut up in the
Bicetrc as u mailman. When Maron
Deorme and the marquisc of Worces-
ter went through the institution in
1641, they saw a frightful face behind
the bars, and heard n hoarse voice cry
ing, IL am not mad! | have made a dis
covery that would enrich the country"
''What has he discovercd?" they asked
the keeper. Oh said the man with
a shrug, you would never guess it. 1t
is the use of the steam of boiling wa
ter"
Long after that, when the thing had
become a reality, old Lord Eaton took
up his parable against it. II am sorry"
he said, ito find the intelligent people
of the north country gone mad on the
subject of railways. What could be
more palpably absurd and ridiculous
than the prospects held out of ocomo-
tives travelling twice Is fast as stage
coaches?" Some said that the railways
would prevent cows grazing and hens
laying, and that the poisoned air from
the engines would kill birds in fight,
and render the preservation of pleas
ants and foxes no longer possible. A
rash man in Liverpool, whose name has
not been preserved, declared that If
anyone could make a locomotive go ten
miles an hour he would afterward eat
the wheel in a stew.
The next stage to incredibility was
wonder and awe. Such was its veloc-
ity," says one writer, describing a run
of one of the first trains, "that in some
parts the speed was frequently twelve
miles an hour" Another writer re-
marked that even at the tremendous
speed of twenty-five miles ar hour, the
passengers, and even the ladies among
them, "were talking to one another
with the utmost sangfroid."
But the speed Of twenty-five miles
was not attained all at once. One OF
Stephenson's earliest creations, Puff
hng Billy" travelled with SO much diff
fculty that the driver, as it crawled
round an awkward curve near his cot
tage, used to call to his wife to come
out and give it a shove" Blind OBJ
struction took every possible form. The
surveyors often had to work by night
to save themselves from the wrath
Of the land owners and farmers.
One foolish parson in the north was SC
troublesome that they could only dc
their work while he was engaged in the
pulpit.
The railways have not justified any
Of the prophets of evil. They have not
even killed romance adventure or fun.
There are fascinating stories Of rail.
way incident, of desperate leaps from
trains-including that leap OF Charles
Peace, which must surely go down to
history with Turpin's jump over the
fve-barred gate on the ride to York.
Runaway trains are not unknown for
those who like that kind of excitement.
On an American railway there wal
once a mad driver, who, after pitching
the stokcr off the engine, turned
on all the steam he could un'
til the machine got red hot
and flew along at nearly q
hundred miles an hour The
terrified passengers did not leave of
talking even then, but they ohardly
talked with sangfroid. The guarc
crept along until he reached the en-
CINE, when he saw the excited creature
gesticulating wildly and putting OF
more Goals. But u well-aimed blow or
| the head laid him low, and the trair
was stopped.
There is a pretty story Of a porter.
trouble with a giraffe on one of oul
northern lines. He could not induce
the beast to get himself comfortably
packed in the truck. They calls hin
a jaraff, he said to the guard, but al
call him a l~ong-legged, chattering fool
and all reckon thaT have SOM
strugglin' wi him thisen wher
train gets. T. first bridge. i
tho doesn't tie his neck in q
knot he'll have his head knocked OFF,
The naturalist, auckland, who was
great practical locker, was fond of pro
ducing extraordinary animals from hi.
coat pocket and gravely asking the
booking clerk the cost of transit
What will that go for?" he asked
one day, as he produced q tortoise
They're nothing" said the man, with
scorn, after vainly looking through tn,
schedule, they're an insek." A county
court judge in South Wales once ad
journed a case from his W court to {
railway carriage, and, taking solicitor.
and witnesses along with him, gave hi
decision at the end of the run.-LondoI
News.