Evening star., 1895-03-23

sion indulged in, terminating with vote
| OF thanks for the passage of the bill.
Then the talk drifted toward story tell
ing, In which dynamite and ordinary gun
| powder figured as important parts.
1.-The one feature in the bill that 1 OBJ
| ject to" veteran of the throttle said, ''is
| that which declares car loads Of powder or
| other explosives must be separated by
three cars not loaded with explosives. Now,
suppose there are five car loads to be ship
ped. That will make up a train of seven
teen cars; as now transported over the
railroads the five cars would be hauled on
the rear of a train coupled together. 1t has
been demonstrated that three-fourths Of the
explosions on railroads Of this kind of
frelght nave been caused by concuss1on.
The smashing of cars will produce friction
resulting in sparks flying as from flint, and
the disaster follows.
I'm cases like these the trainmen know
where to look for trouble and govern them
selves accordingly. In the event OF five
cars, loaded with high explosives being on
one train under the new law, there will
be no telling at what point the fun Will be-
gin. 1 have seen cars ten lengths back
from run-in smashed as badly as those
directly at the point of collision. Imagine,
fellows. crew trying to get away from
nVe cars OF powder scattered all along the
train. 1t would be case of roofing under
ground or being distributed around the
neighborhood in bits"
A Strike Episode.
THE late horrible blow up out in Seattle
was the cause, no doubt, of the bill coming
out" spoke up snart-lookng brakeman.
Had the cars been properly marked out
there, about half the lives would have
been sacrificed. That is one good thing the
bill insists on. carrying black flag with
every car of powder"
m - O
panion brakeman, "it9 will insure careful
handling of trains, and the Internal push
ers' will couple up Behind leetle more
gently"
How about that car of powder you fell
lows tried to steaT1nsIT, Boh?" called out
little gray-hairi4i engineer, back in
corner of the rooh. SYon were with the
dull one either" s.
so were you, yal lfte throttle jerker."
replied ..sph the many designated as Bob"
Tco bashfui. EN-? HnNght. old pal III do
my BEST althoughA makes me shiver when
1 go over that advSnt Qfe.ss az
We'll, boys, Jfm says. the trip wasn't
We went into the fstflke in II everybody
became excited, and / must admit we mix
ed things up for the companies and the
Knew 'ha. ou e you and al
being hot headed, wes thought We would
fight. But our arms We're few and the am
munition less
"One Of the boys, bad luck to him. just
in off the line the day the militia was or
dered out, said there was car load or
two of gunpowder among the cars side
tracked about ten miles this side of Cum
berland. Six of us stole an engine, which
wasn't very hard to do. as the 'hostlers at
the round house helped us, and We set out
to steal car of ammunition. Well, We
knew the road and soon found car. One
was enough for US. After getting it out
no ha in fr1 uvn Cfa tod or al
more, and on the way there concocted a
scheme to whirl it into Camden station
and blow things to pieces in case the mill
tia was found in charge.
An Ominous Sign.
I'VE were young and tough then. and
fighting against tougher odds. A bottle of
whisky was passed around, and we all be-
came jolly over our great plot. Then the
man at the throttle became reckless and
over the rails we were soon spinning like
mad. Then came q down grade for about
a mile, and our speed increased. The car
behind us rocked like a cradle, and we all
sang songs in reckless bravado
I'm rounding a sharp curve the coupling
link or pin broke between the tender of the
engine and car, and in a second we were
twenty feet apart The man that was at
the throttle lost his head, and instead of
gently picking the car up again, ran away
from it, and on it came, gaining speed with
every jump.
Remember, boys, we were on an old
'dinky' engine that was hardly good for
tnirty-mile- -an-hour gait. Then, to add to
our trouble, one of the men in looking back
discovered on the rear off side a strip of
muslin about a yard long tackled to the car,
upon which were about dozen big black
letters. This streamer had been overlooked
by US in the hurry of switching the car out
from the siding. The man that made the
discovery only pointed with his finger and
or1 q oil cd hoa IL
at the same time, as the car shot into sight
around bend, end from the light of our
engine fire box spelled out the word 'dyna-
mite
1--WE were sobered in second. but then
it was too late and we had to fly for our
lives We knew we dare not risk the small
est shock to the car as 1T was an old one
and sure to smash at the least resistance.
And then-well, it was Kitty, bar the
door,
Big Hole in the Ground.
"Jim, over there. didn't have the throttle
at first, but he was soon in charge, and you
should have seen US busting. But the car
behind us was not losing any time, but to
our strained nerves seemed to be gaining
on us. When Jim first grabbed the throt-
tie he thought Of picking the car up not
withstandng the risk, but when he dis
covered that it was dynamite behind US
he turned to the old engine and set about
making her do the best time she ever did
in her existence.
'sWhiIe we yerS rhnning like lightning
down the road we got blow between the
eyes that added to our. misery. The sparks
which our engine was throwing out a
bushel at a time, set fire to the top of
the car, and theI Wild soon had quite a
flame darting up, Jntosthe air.
ION a level STRETCH we would seem to
gain on the carr butt on a down grade,
heavens, how that car crept up on u.s.
Then we rounded a sharp curve, then an
other, and the car was lost to sight Just
as we began to swonder at its disappear
ance noise like thunder shook the ground
and engine under as, and then we knew the
cause. The car had left the rails at the
first curve, went over and down the high
embankment, and the conclusion and fire
had done the rest.
But we kept on home, all the fight and
whisky knocked out of us. and it was a
month afterward before I saw the spot
where the explosion occurred. The wheels
and axles were there yet, but that was
about all, and deep hole in the side of
the hill left no doubt in my mind that it
was our stolen car of dynamite that did
the digging resolved after that trip
to steal no more cars"
Ride of Peril.