The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-04-17
/ BREAKING A RECORD.
BY ROBERT BARR.

an invitation marked private" say
, that he was bound to beat the rec
i made by the Lake Shore & Michigan
uthern railroad now that they had
nae out in print about it. He added
at he thought record breaking in the
ght time all right enough, if the
lord breaker did not say anything
but it in public, but if newspaper ac-
unts were to be written then the
be should be open to outside parties
10 might wish to know the time with
1 asking q policeman. He added that
ZEN the New York Central broke the
Igiish record they did so with their
npire State express, which anyone
bid have Travelled on who had the
)ney to pay his fare. This, he
Iimed, was the right way of breaking
.ecord if you are going to write about
Nevertheless he was 60
to follow the Lake Shore & Michi-
u Southern fashion, just to see what
s RAILROAD could do, and he invited me,
3 person owning an American watch,
come upon the trip, but begged me
Say nothing whatever about it, for,
said, instead of breaking the rec
q, we might perhaps break our necl1s.
added that he regretted that he
ned only an old silver turnip Of
Itch himself which wouldn't split the
nutes, let alone the seconds, and 50
would like to have q really good
|tch with which to keep the time.
Vas TO meet him at the London ter
nus Of the London q Glasgow air
3 at exactly IL, midnight, three
els ago. There was some little risk
going out at that hour, for it is we'll
OWN that one of the most obnoxious
i oppressive laws made by Queen Vic
Ia herself is that every man in Lon
4 must be in his own house at $40
aoek, and have lights out and be in
at nine. Anyone out after that
"a is liable to arrest, so stole up anA
IN through by streets and lodged
B policemen until | came to the ter
nus. Here l was amazed to find an
mepse locomotive and one fiat car,
IA two camp stools on it.
What's this for?" l said to Swipes.
We're going to break the record
th this train" he replied. 81 want TO
re it as light as possible, for an ordi-
Iy carriage meets with such resist
70 in passing SO quickly through the
that | concluded to take a
ight car. and il we have a smash-up
Non't be so expensive"
'But you don't expect me to sit on
B "a those stools in the open air from
1e to Glasgow" | cried, aghast.
90, that's all right" he said. "The
ols are fastened to the floor of the
!. md have shawl straps with which
q can fasten yourself to the stool.
ere won't be any trouble on that
lra.'
'Where are the other fellowsP"
'ihere aren't any," he answered.
hen you are going to break a rec
/ the fewer you have on board the
lfer; watches differ, and it would be
& Il there was a quarrel about time;
~ watch shall be the only official
PC piece in the company; mine, as
AiNk told you in the letter, general
l4<es two hours out of the "a, so
I'VE had better not trust to it,
strapped myself to one stool and
'Ees strapped himself to the other
& 81 1915 we pulled out of Maryle-
He ferminus. It was agreed that we
POI TO begin the record until we
pass Il Ilighgate, and were thus
't|x put of the influence Of London.
AH distance from London to Clas-
y 81 4C1.5 miles. We had for engineer
teH NcGump, who was a Scotchman,
q heiefore knew the road to Glas-
" Vel, and Billy Jones, of White
opel did the firing. We had no
akEman, because, as Swipes said, it
S 20 on the brakes we were going 20
aNHq for breaking the record.
- engine was known as the Mary
az| and familiar to all the operators
{ae road as ''Her Golden Hair Is
N&'h' Down 'er Back" She gets this
'|<E#ne from her great speed, and
'Ha ne fact that the smoke with the
AE'.H in it trails out behind like a
e#1 amer.
tk'tf leaving Highgate Peter gave
IS steam, and the speed began to
ss|aething appalling.
.3N rs nothing to what well have
H py,' said sSwipes, as he watched
Ing an Intellectual grab at my
4eh disappeared in the darkness.
eounted the mile-stones while
oif the seconds on my watch,
& fe long we were going 20 miles
f We had the advantage over
e #erican road IN the fact that
eye AKe rarely any level road cross
SIS ga England, and that one rail-
~ ~ ever allowed to cross another
E0e |evel. BY the time we passed
itthe-fIole we were doing SIS
Nn hour, but as the Lake Shore
Nas attained a speed of 92.3
yelled to Peter as well as he
~ give her more speed, because
#ldn't put in her best liclls now
nld we expect when we came to
& a grounds and the stiff grades
midlands? This shouting OF
were going so fast that his
yer reached Peter, who stood
hand on the lever, watching
Re track in front. AS Swipes
to shout out the mile posts