The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-05-09
BREAKING A RECORD.
BY ROBERT BARR.

Uae an invitation marked private say
inc. that he was bound to beat the rec
ord made by the Lake Shore d Michigan
southern railroad now that they had
come cut in print about it. He added
that he thought record breaking IN the
night time all right enough, il the
record breaker did not say anything
about it in public, but if newspaper ac-
counts were to be written then the
race should be open to outside parties
who might wish 10 know the time with
out asking policeman. He added thai
when the New York Central broke the
English record dhey did 50 with their
Empire State express, which anyone
could have travelled on who had the
money 70 pay his fare. This, he
claimed, was the right way Of breaking
a record if you are going to write about
it aftervard Nevertheless he was 90
ing to follow the Lake Shore & Afiehi-
gan Southern fashion, just to see what
His railroad could do, and be invited me,
as a person owning an American watch,
to say nothing whatever about it, for,
he said, instead of breaking the rec
ord, we might perhaps break our necks.
He added that he regretted that he
owned only an old silver turnip Of a
watch himself which wouldn't split the
minutes, let alone the seconds, and so
he would like to have a really good
watch with which to keep the time.
I was 10 meet him at the London ter
minus of the London u Glasgow air
line at exactly i, midnight, three
weeks ago. There was some little risk
in going out at that hour, for it is well
known that one Of the most obnoxious
and oppressive laws made by Queen Vic
toria herself Is that every man in Lon
don MIST be in his own house at $40
o'clocs and have lights out and be in
bed at nine. Anyone out after that
hour Is liable to arrest, so | stole up and
down through by streets and lodged
the policemen until l came to the ter
minus. Here 1 was amazed to find an
immense locomotive and one fat car.
with two camp stools on it.
whats this for?7 l said to swipes.
'We're going TO break the record
with this train" he replied. Il want to
have it as light as possible, for an ordi-
nary carriage meets with such resist
ance in passing so quickly through the
atmosphere that I concluded to take a
freight ear, and if we have a smash-up
it won't be so expensive"
But you don't expect me to sit on
one of those stools in the open air from
here to Glasgow" 1 cried, aghast.
"Oh, that's all right" he said. "The
stools are fastened TO the floor of the
car, and / have shawl straps with which
you can fasten yourself to the stool.
There won't be any trouble on that
score"
Where are the other fellows?" I
asked.
There aren't any, he answered.
when you are going to break rec
ord the fewer you have on board the
better: watches differ, and it would be
bad if there was a quarrel about time;
your watch shall be the only official
time piece in the company; mine. as
! think 1 told You in the letter. general
ly loses two hours out of the "a. so I
think we had better not trust to it,"
| strapped myself to one stool and
swipes strapped himself to the other
and at 1915 we pulled out of Marvle.
bone terminus. 1t was agreed that we
were not to begin the record until We
had passed Highgate, and were thus
safely out of the influence of London.
The distance from London TO Glas-
gov is 401.5 miles. We had for engineer
Peter McGump, who was a Scotchman.
and therefore knew the road to Glas-
gov well, and Billy Jones, of White
chapel, did the firing. We had no
brakeman, because, as Swipcs said. it
was not on the brakes we were going 20
depend for breaking the record.
The engine was known as the Mary
Jane, and familiar to all the operators
on the road as Her Golden Hair Is
Hangin Down 'er Back" She gets this
nickname from her great speed. and
from the fact that the smoke with the
sparks in it trails out behind like n
great banner.
After leaving Highgate Peter gave
her more steam, and the speed began to
be something appalling.
IT, ,crhfr,ar
by and by said swipes, as he watched
me making an Intellectual grab at my
hat, which disappeared in the darkness.
Swipes counted the mile-stones while
| licked off the Jeconds on my watch.
and before long He were going 10 miles
an hour. We had the advantage over
the American road in the fact that
there are rarely any level road cross
ings In England, and that one rail
way is never allowed 10 cross another
on the Level. By the time we passed
Ioad-in-thc-iI4le We were doing ~
miles an hour. but as the Lake Shore
train has attained speed of % q
owipes yelled to Peter as well rs be
could TO give her more speed. because
Il she Didn't put Y her best licks now
what coald sc expect when we came 70
the high grounds and the stiff grados
OF the midiands? This shouting -
sWipes, however, had no effect no
cause "o were going so fast that bis
WORDS pever reached Peter. who sto,5
with bis hand on the lever. gstobi1r
grimly the track in front. As sv',res
( sxied' '-'''' pOs'''