Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-02-06
AT THE CROSSING.
The Fearful Sacrifice Made by a Noble En-
gineer.


gineer.
Where two railroad tracks cross each
other tho state law demands that certain
precautions shall be taken before trains
cross over. In all cases, if the law is
| obeyed, all trains come to a full stop be-
| fore crossing. At the crossing of the P.
and J road with the W. and L. there was
a sharp grade on the latter line. This
| grade began just outside of Donaldsville,
three miles away, and continued for an
other mile south of the crossing, which
was out in the country, with only a single
| farmhouse near by. When we were run
ming north or up grade, it was easy
enough to come to Il standstill, but in run
ming south, especially with a wet track,
the airbrakes had to be set hard and some
times let us slide clear over in defiance of
the law. You could see train on the
other road two miles away, but the two
| schedules were so arranged that regular
trains never sighted each other there I'M
less one or the other was behind time.
On that April day when we left Cincin-
natl with the eastern express the engineer
was ''Our Dave as the boys used to call
him. They called him this because he
was Il good hearted, whole souled fellow
a favorite with the officers as well as the
men. In November of the previous year
''Our Dave lost his wife. Their only
child was a boy years old, and after a
bit the father brought him down to live
with his grandparents, who were farmers
and lived in the house near the crossing.
The child would not only be well cared
for there, but the father could get sight
of him every trip. We always passed there
by daylight, and the boy always stood at
the gate to swing his hat and hurrah as
the engine passed. 1t was rare that he was
not rewarded with an orange, a package
of candy or a toy of some sort. After the
wife had been laid away the boy was still
more precious in the fathers eyes, and
many and many time he used to tell me
of his future plans and how his little Tom
figured in them. All our trainhands knew
the boy, and now and then the conductor
gave tip to the passengers, and score of
them would be looking for little Tom as
we came to the crossing.
They say that persons are generally
warned of impending calamities, but there
was no warming in this case. We reached
Donaldsonvillc IL minutes behind time,
and it was rainy day and the rails very
slippery, but had no special trouble with
the fire, and "Our Dave" had remarked
that old No. IS was pulling her load with
out complaint. He took from his box a
big orange which was to be tossed to little
Tom, and his face had Il happy look as he
opened the throttle and climbed to his
seat. The law said we must come to a
full stop 200 feet from the crossing. AS a
matter of fact, we never did so. We'd slow
down, see that the coast was clear and
then drive ahead at full speed. "Our Dave"
meant to do the same thing on this trip,
as he calculated to pick up our lost time
"a |, e., 1rv
started on the down grade, we seemed to
fly, but | was busy with the fire until we
were within. IL mile of the crossing. Then |
looked up to see a special on the p. and j.
road, coming from the west. 1t was only a
two car train, having an opera troop
aboard | believe. Dave sighted the train
at the same instant, and we both figured
alike. At the speed we were going his air
brakes could not stop the train short of
the crossing and the special had the right
of way and would not check her speed. We
must have been making so miles an hour,
but Dave had to put 10 on top of that to
get his train over first. We had seven
coaches, a baggage car and smoker, and
as he gave her more steam the whole train
seemed to lift from the track.
| looked at Dave as he increased the
speed. His face was as white as death, and
in his eyes was such IA look as | hope never
to see again. He did not utter n word, but
gave me Il sign to look out of the window.
Standing in the middle of the track, face
toward us, but apparently seeing only the
special on the other road, was Dawes boy.
just there WAS II pond of water alongside
the track. and he had Il stick in his hand
with string tied to it for Il tshline. Dave
had seen the boy and the special at the
same instant. If he slowed up, the special
would crash into us If he got over the
crossing first and the boy did not take the
alarm, lie would be run down. | rang the
bell, and he blew the whistle. They did the
same OH the special, and for that reason
little Tom kept his eyes fixed that way. |
waved my cap from the cab window. |
shouted at the top of my voice. | started
to climb ont and run down on the pilot,
but Dave pulled me back and was out of
sight i'll five seconds. | did not look at the
special. but at the boy on the track. He
had turned sideways to us, and up to the
last second he did not know his danger. |
knew to the fraction of a second when his
father would reach out in advance of the
pilot and seek to lift him up, and l gasped
for breath as if some ones fingers were at
my throat. | tried to look, but my eyes
were blinded. Then felt a lifting of the
wheels, n crunching and grinding, and
shut off steam, put on the air and fell
down in a heap. Dave had reached out
and picked up his boy, but his hold was
not secure, and both rolled off against the
bank and were thrown back under the
wheels to be mangled to death.
1t was horrible thing. ''Our Dave" had
realized that it was either a collision or he
must kill his own child, and he had made
the sacrifice. AS the special passed it
shearcd off the platform of the last car,
but no one was hurt. NJ. QUAD.