The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-28
NEw HAVEN TRAINS ESCAPE.

Narrowly Escaped a Collision With Stalled
 Cars-A Tramp Wanted to Dle-The
 Engineer of II. k. Road Train stops His
 Train and Saves Ills Life-Nsw Haven
 Express Train Comes whizzIng By,
 New York, Aug. 27.--A few moments after the northbound local train on the Hudson River railroad left Morris Heights at S2O this morning. the pass engers were startled by a shriek of the whistle, the changing of the engine bell and the grinding noise of the brakes being set hard down. The train came to standstill with jerk, and threw half the passengers out of their seats. Heads went out of the windows, and many of the more excitable of the pass engers, thinking a collision imminent, crowded out of the cars. There was no other train in sight, but just is front of the engine was an excited group. The cause of the stop was only a ragged tramp who refused to get out of
 the way of the engine, and who was
 being roughly hustled away by the engineer and 8 policeman.
 Switchman George Taylor saw the tramp come out of the bushes and take his stand in the middle of the track, as the train approached. Taylor shout ed, but the man did not even look up. He paced slowly up and down.
 Policeman Pierson of the High Bridge police station, who was riding in Je-
 rome avenue, saw the tramp also, and putting spurs to his horse shouted, Get l off the track. The train is coming,' l The tramp made no motion to obey. | The rumble of the train grew louder, and when Pierson reached the track
 it was too late for him to attempt to l force the man away. Switchman Tay- Tor saw only one chance to save the | tramp's life, and he shouted to Pierson, l 'Pll switch her off"
 I Up went the signal for the engineer
 to slow up, and he answered with a Shriek of the whistle and put on the brakes At the same moment Taylor sprang to his lever and closed the | switch so the train would run into l the switchboard track, which 1t did,
 coming to stop within twenty feet of where the tramp stood.
 l The danger signals for two miles north were set, and southbound local was stopped half mile ahead of the l blocked train. There was good deal of swearing by the policeman and railroad
 men and the passengers, and the tramp l was dragged from the track to the l switch tower, where he was kept until | the patrol wagon arrived. There was a | delay of five minutes before the local
 could be backed off and the switch could l be opened and just as it was accom-
 plished a southbound New Haven ex- press whizzed by.
 Had there been five minutes more de ] lay there might have been collision
 and a score of lives sacrificed to save a tramp who wanted to die. The coo
 nerve of a switchman and an engineer averted the impending danger.
 | Tn the Morrisania court the tramp presented a pitiable sight. His clothes were only a pair of worn shoes and | pants, a coat full of holes and straw hat He said his name was Patrick
 Haggerty, thirty years old, and that
 he once worked in "The White Ele. phant..' He said he had been livine in the woods for month on whatever he could get to eat. The instinct o1
 self preservation, strong even in his extremity, prompted him to deny the
 charge made by the policeman, but 1T spite of it he was committed to tho island.