Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-03
THE ENGINEERS STORY
How Train Load sof Passengers We're
snh Saved From Humiliation
A Thrilling Experience In the Cab of
Id 5'B:
"a u Passenger z,Locomotive-lAct of
"a Plucky,T Fireman.

There was a bgoad, red scar above his
temple that aus5theIsoot of a thousand
runs could never cover rupflThe edges Of
it were. ragged ard angry looking, and
there were light streaks in the center that
showed the bone beneath was but skin
film covered He raised a blackened and
brawny hand to his head when he saw a
reporter for The Star looking at it.
That was a crack from a mail crane"
he said simply. Il was running I07 that
night and there were ten cars behind me-
Six of 'em were coaches packed to the
DOORS"
He stopped for moment and looked over
| toward the round house with something
! Hike asshudder. ar2w5a r-i.S.!e. 5u.
Il hate to think of that night. Not on
account Of this crack" he added hastily;
''of course; it was pretty bad, but got
| over it all right, and 1t don't bother me
much except in bad weather. Then it aches
and Jumps like-well, like itself; there's
nothing else to compare 1t with that
that I hate to think, of that night be-
cause of the half hairs breadth that
saved three hundred souls from eternity.
l left Pittsburg half hour behind. There
between freight and a hand car, and a
couple of rails had been knocked loose. We
had to walt till they were fixed, and that
made us late. AZ
to tear the ground up to make connections
ahead for the southeast and south. 7O7 was
one Of our great big engines. The boiler
stood up high and the engine cab roof was
pretty near down on top Of it. There was
only room to stick my arm over If / want
ed to get light for my pipe from Jack,
my fireman, and my side Of the cab was
that narrow and crowded that when 1 was
inside and the weather was cold and I'd
shut the door nobody on the outside could
open 1t unless l squeezed up toward the
front.
well sir, as I was saying. we had a
heavy train and the passengers We're most
ly well-of People, going south for the win
ter. That's why we had two extra bag
gage cars on besides the mail and regu-
lar. When we pulled out the depot master
said to me that he hoped we'd make the
southern limited connection, because there
were lot of Florida-bound folks aboard
who'd have to lay over and lose whole
day, and this would give our road black
eye. l told him I'd try my level best, but
the train was heavy and 707 was hardly
| equal to the business because her fiues
weren't drawing half right and she ought
to be at the shops.
Then a sharp voice rang out in the
dark, saying: Don't kick about your en-
gine; it's pretty near too good for you to
run l knew it was the division superin-
tendent who spoke, mean, overbear-
Ing, sour man, and l made up my mind to
make the southern If I had to run the
drivers OFF and get there on the steam
Chests
THE night was dark as nights can well
get. There was ne moon, and If there had
been the clouds were too thick to give it a
show. 1t wasn't raining and the rails were
| dry, and the cold that had gotten right
sharp. made EN- 5ust right for quick run
! Jack would say to me over the boiler,
when he came Up into the cab after
firing up. that the f1ues were work.
ing bully and that we were just tearing
down that last time. Pretty soon it be-
gan to get chiller and shut the door. We
ran on for a long time this way, stopping
once for water ard three or four times for
| instructions. and when We reached the
curve near Ruggles Bend, forty miles from
the southern Junction, l saw we just had
forty-seven minutes to make that.
II thought to myself I'd show that hound
me to run, and telling Jack to pile in the
coal I pulled her wide open, and picked up
the air brake wire, letting the throttle
| alone. 1t was nearly straight road to the
junction, but there was sharp curve on q
high embankment just before you got there.
glass was down in front. 1t had got lit
tie smoky. SO I opened the side window to
look out"
The engineer paused a moment ana sig
nificantly touched the red scar.
II never knew anything after pOking my
| head out. A mail crane that had been left
swinging out after the train in front Of
US had passed just fetched me clip where
you see that mark. I heard about what
happened afterward, though, and it makes
it to you? Oh, yes, sir; that's all there is
to the story. When that crane struck me
it knocked me back into the cab. senseless,
OF course. AS told you, the door was shut,
and when Jack saw me fall and jumped
up to get in he couldn't open the door, be-