The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-12-26

An old engineer gave his expert
enGc the other day with an cnSInc.whilc
hu was working on the Southern Pat
CiilC railroad, which Is Of more thnn or
mnry Interest says 4 dispatch dated
Bcllalre. Ills name Is llarman 2 But
Ter, and hc Il well known throughout
the west. lie said: II will tell you about
one OF the sttangest freaks OF a loco
motive that ever occurred In my e%-
pericnce and have had Il good many
OF them. It was In the summer OF 1881,
when l was pulling freight from Tue
son. Arizona, to Los Angeles. and l
have never come across any one who
could give an explnnatiOn for my c%.
pcricnCe and hive never been able 70
geo through itself. You can draw your
own conclusions.
The night was dark and stormy. II
was the period OF the peculiar Storms
and ClOudbursts in Arizona, ! was or
dcred from Tucson for the overland
express that left there at midnight
Somehow everything seemed TO go
wrong that night. The fireman was
slower than usual. and he had great
time getting his coal placed In the
tender. The locomotive hostlers at the
roundhouse had forgotten 10 fix the oil
valves, and the boiler never made
steam so glow. TO make matters worse
the train dispatcher kept us In the sta
ton II plumb hour after tho regular
leaving dine, and Just before we did
start, the conductor came TO me and
said the general superintendent was on
h.n.l F1 k.. fFnIE aVtl ~
through with us. ought 10 shy hero,
even II II does sound eEotistical, that
had ut that time made the best time
known over the Southern Pncific. and
was generally dcputed 10 haul the big
bugs from the east over the road when
ever they came In a special car and
wanted extra consideration. This was
the first time the superintendent had
ever been on my train, and or course.
was anxious 10 sustain my reputation
But the fate was against me-an hour
late, the night dark and stormy. Wen,
We pulled up to reach our destin1-
ton on time II the wheels would stay
under her.
As soon as we were out OF Tucson l
opened the valve ind let her 20. But
she didn't seem 10 move at hnlt her
usual speed. and | began to be impa-
doing good work with the fire. He
seemed 10 do his best. but II was no
good. she would not steam well In spite
OF his efforts. Then the pumps began
10 be Troublesome. One OF them stop
ped working altogether, and the other
became more disabled every minute.
II began 10 dawn upon me that making
up the time was impossible.
You imagine nv feeling. for 1t
seemed to me as Il my who'll reputa-
ton was stnked OIL this trip. ! Profess
to know my business pretty well. and
can get speed out OF an engine, If any
man can. and my heart was down be-
low Zero when we began TO drop behind
our regular running time. But L was
no use Everything was against me.
was mad clear through. When we left
MaEicopa we were one hour and ten
minutes late. and the conductor had
Just made u remark which nett!ed Inc
quite little. ! asked him * there
were any orders ut Maricopa. and he
answered, None. except 10 Try TO get
10 Yuma In time for dinner" which
was pure sarcasm, Tor II we made our
running time We would be there in time
for breakfast Well, my heart was clear
down in my boots and when | shut on
the steam going into Big Wells found
the water so low In the boiler that
something had 10 be done for the
pumps before we could leave TINT sta
ton. rs there was heavy grade
10 climb for several miles.
l Informed the conductor that we
would be delayed fifteen or twenty
minutes with the work OF taking down
one OF the pumps and then proceeded
with the work. We were just about
"cndy to start again when heard the
sharp whistle OF an engine, and, look
ing up. ! saw Il special excursion train
from Southern California approaching
from the direction in which we were
going. When the train pulled into the
station, we found that she telegraph
operator at Mu.'ic0pa had neglected 20
ulve us meeting orders for this truin.
Had II not been for the pumps I'VE
would have dashed into what would
probably have been one OF the most
terrible collisions In the history or the
road. Now comes the remarkable part
OF the story. From the time we LEFT Big
Wells both pumps worked like ii
charm. Bear IN mind had found moth
Ing whutever the matter with the
pumps that ] had taken down and
there waI. apparently. no reason for
Its not working. The old engine SEEM
ell to dIrt Along with twice her usual
speed. She began to pick up ;he time
again. There was tust nineteen min
ut.s 20 make up IN The laSt twenty
miles. and | need not say that we pull
ed into our destination on time. Here.
indeed, was an Instance OF II cranky
engine saving a collision that would
probably have resulted III great loss Of
human lie and property.
RailroadinS Is full or Just such eN-