Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1895-07-26
A oAPRICIoUs LOCOMOTIVE.
From New York Sun.

From New York Sun.
Los ANeELEs.--rI will tell you
9bout one OF the strangest freaks of a
locomotive that ever occurred 10 my
experience on tho road, said Harmon
P. Butler, the best known Southern
Pacific engineer in California, the
other day. "It happened in the sum
tner Of 1884, when l was pulling
freight from Tucson, Ariz., to Los
Angeles, and / have never come
across anybody who could give an ex-
explanation Of my very peculiar ex-
perience, and have never been able to
see through it myself You may draw
your own conclusions The night l
had my experience was dark and
stormy. 1t was in the period OF pc
culiar storms and cloudbursts down in
Arizona. l was ordered from Tucson
for the overland express that left
at midnight. Somehow everything
seemed to go wrong that night.
The fireman seemed to be slower
than uSsual, and he had a great time
getting his coal placed in the tender.
the locomotive hostler at the round
house had forgotten to fix the oil
valves, and the boiler never made
steam so slowly. To make matters
woke, the train dispatcher kept us in
the station plump hour past regular
leaving time, and just before we
started the conductor came to me and
said the general superintendent was
on board the train and would 20 way
through with us.
3" ought to say here, even if it
does sound egotistical, that had at
that time made the best time known
over the Southern Pacific, and was
generally deputed to haul the big
bugs from the East over the road
whenever they came in a special car
and wanted extra consideration.
''This was the first tlme the supeu-
intendent had ever been on my train
and Of course l was anxious to sustain
my good reputation. But the fates
were against mean hodr late, the
night dark and stormy. Well, we
pulled out of the station with my
mind made up to reach our destina-
tiun on time If the wheels would stay
under aer. As soon as we were out of
Tucson put on all the steam and let
her so. But She didn't seem to move
at half her usual speed, and then she
didn't make steam well, either. l be
gan to he impatient, and scolded the
fireman for uut doing good work with
his fire. ieseemed to try his best,
but it was no go. She would not
steam WELL in spite Of his exertions.
Then the pumps began to be trouble
some. One CT them stopped working
altogether, and the other seemed more
Ineffective every minute. 1t began to
dawn on lue that making up time was
out of the question.
"You may imagine my feelings, for
it seemed to me as if my whole repu.
tation was staked on this trip. l pre-
fess to know my business pretty well,
and can get speed out Of an engine if
any man can, but my heart was down
below zero when we began to drop he
hind our regular running time. But
twas no use. Everything was against
me- | was mad clear through.
"When we left Maricopa we were
one hour and ten minutes late, and
the conductor had just made a remark
that nettled me quite little. l had
asked him if there were any orders at
Maricopa. He answered: None ex-
cept to try to get to Yuma In time for
dinner which was pure sarcasm, for
If we made our running time we
would be there in time for breakfast.
Well my heart was clean down in my
boots, and when | shut off the steam
going into Big Wells l found the
water so low 10 the boiler that N,Jme-
thing had to be done for the pump be-
fore we could leave that station, as
there was then a heavy grade to
climb for several miles. l informed
the conductor that we would be de-
layed fifteen or twenty minutes with
the work OF taking down one of the
pumps, and then proceeded with the
work.
"We were just about ready to start
again when heard the sharp whistle
of an engine, and, looking up, saw a
special tourist excursion train from
Southern California approaching from
the very direction we were going.
When the train pulled into the sta
tion we found that the telegraph op-
orator at Maricopa had neglected to
Poor Digestion
Leads to nervousness, fretfulness,
peeyishness, chronic dyspepsia aud
great misery. Hoods Sarsaparllla is