The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-07
A HOOsIER HERO.
to n Yardmaster Whose
Prompt Action Saved Many Lives.
lafayette Courier.


Lafayette Courier.
Harry J. Brightly, night yardmaster of
the Big Four railroad, has we'll earned a
place in the galaxy of heroes. To him is
the lives of a score and perhaps a hundred
passengers last night. At the same place
and under similar circumstances an acct
Gent occurred a little more than q year ago
that resulted in the death of several per-
sons. In that instance, as in this. a run
away train was the cause of the horror.
destructive as was the frightful wreck in
May, 1888, 1t is apparent to every one ia
mlliar with the circumstances that it would
nave been rendered Insignificant in COM
parison with that of last night but for
the thoughtfulness and promptness of one
man. The stiffness of the night was sud-
denly disturbed by a roar that may be
likened to the approach of a raging cv-
clone. From the southeast it approached
with almost li~ghtning-like rapidity, the om-
inous rumble filling the sleeping valley
with tumult and awakening thunderous re-
verberationS on the owning bluffs beyond.
The grim men with lanterns fitting about
the yard were not slow at divining the
cause. The human night SUPPLEMENTARY
policemen and hotel runnerS-Were quick 10
grasp the ominous significance of the roar
that was awakening the echoes and increas-
ing in fury as it came nearer and nearer.
like a mighty monster mad and bent on de-
struet1on: They appreciated the fact that
the horrible rumble was the warning OF a
runaway train. Most of them had passed
through one experience of the kind, and
they were quick to recall the fate of com
panions whose lives had been crushed ont
on the self-same spot where they then
stood. A monster locomotive stood Just
outside the station building, the glare Of
its headlight penetrating the gloom to the
south from whence came the laundering
noise. Behind the painting and impatient
engine was a long train of coaches in which
peacefully sleeping, unconscious that
they were even then almost in
night owls. keenly sensitive of their dan
ger, fed in Wild confusion, all but one es-
Gaping. The situation at that moment was
awful 10 contemplate. But one man stood
between. the hundreds OF sleeping passen-
gers and eternity. They were in a veritable
death trap. But a few PAGES to the rear
gerously near was the runaway train,
rushing on with the velocity of a whirlwind
and gathering momentum at every rail
length as il sped down from the hilltops.
No human agency was powerful enough TO
check the velocity Of the swiftly turning
wheels. The men about the station who
appreciated the situation were almost PAL
sled with fear. The passenger train seemed
TO be inevitably doomed to destruction.
But there was one man there with a cool
head and with nerves OF steel. That man
was Harry Brightly. There was not a mo-
the intricate system of tracks in the yards.
he rushed to a switch. Before a watch
could have licked a dozen times the run
sengers. That would have meant death to
all OF them. In his anxiety to reach the
switch, Harry Brightly fell. The accident
and almost frenzied, he threw the switch
just in the nick of time. A second later
roar. A high embankment of earth at the
end of the switch offered but little resist
ance. The heavily laden cars sped on, cut
ting through the stone and brick walls
OF the station building, passing through and
through and across the street, leaving a
passage way through the masonry from
roof TO foundation, cut as with a knife.
a most disastrous wreck 1t was, but IL is
almost proy1dentiai that II was not worse.
and promptness the death trap would have
been converted into a veritable slaughter
house. sAll honor TO the brave and modest
man who saved so many lives, and all
honor TO every brave knight Of the lamp
and the rail who keeps his head clear and
his heart strong in the performance OF
duty.