Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-02
CRAZY ON THE CAB.
An Experience Which shows What II
May BE TO he Fireman.

Speaking of experiences" remarked an
old engineer to Star reporter, have
your permission to narrate a little one
that happened to me during ny first year
On an engineer"
Not only my permission" responded the
generous reporter, but my imperative
command and an invitation to take some
thing while you are about it,"
The preliminaries being satisfactorily ar
ranged the engineer proceeded with his
story.
and i was a fireman on a road in New
York state. The engineer / fired for was
or rather had been, one of the best on the
road. but he had been turned over and
steamed under a locomotive boiler In a
wreck and after that he was given a less
important train. Not so much because he
was any the less good as an engineer, but
because officials have an idea that Il takes
a mans nerve away when a serious ac-
cident happens to him. We had a run of
ABOUT seYenty-iiVe miles, each way and on
sundays IN summer we carried excursions.
we had never had any trouble but for
month before the experience | am tell
Ing my engineer had been in a bad temper
and acted as ugly as the mischief / re-
ported the matter to the division super-
intendent and he told me to stick Il out for
a month or so longer as they proposed to
relieve the old man and put him at work
in the shops. Two Sundays after that we
o'clock behind time, owing to delays occa-
stoned by washouts causing us to run slow
and cautious. We had twenty miles to go
and II was over the worst part of the road
and was watching out Of the cab. when
all at once the engineer gave a shout and
made a grab at me. His eyes were blaz-
ing, and / could rec in a second that he
was either drunk crazy.
How got away from him don't know
Tor he did his best to throw me off the
cab. but got away and climbed up on the
wood piled up on the tender He didn't
follow, but turned at once to the throttle
and threw it wide open. 1 knew what that
meant with six coaches full of people be-
hind us and a bad track, and the first
thing l did was to try TO knock him out
with stick of wood. l missed my throw
and he came after me with a heavy iron
bar, and L went over the rear of the ten
der on to the platform of the car next to
US. By this time We were fairly jumping
over the track, and / was so ratified that
l didn't know what to do
In a second, though, / gathered myself
and uncoupled the train from the locomo-
tive, which was not so hard 10 do, as we
were on down grade, and the engine was
bouncing so that the coupling pin swung
loose at intervals. Then / slapped on the
brake there and went through the train as
fast as l could, telling brakemen and con-
ductor to slow up, and do IT quick Our
part of the train being stepped we got ont
TO see where the engine had gone, but we
could see nothing. Putting a man with n
light on the track mile behind us TO stop
the next train, the conductor and / went
ahead to find what had become of the rum
away.
Two miles away, or two minutes at tn.
rate he was going, we found the engine in
the ditch and the engineer buried under IL
The engine had struck a soft place and
spread the rails-anybody knows what
that means, and think what the result
would have been TO a train load Of pas.
sengers going after that engine at sixty
miles an hour. 1t almost made my hair
gray to think about il, and when the PEG,
pie on the train heard the story, they
made up purse for me that almost mads
1t curl. and concluded that it was an III
wind indeed which blew no good"