Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1896-10-29
70 DITCH THE TRAIN
A Narrow Escape for the
Passengers.
SOUTHERN PACIFIC BLOCKED

wreckers Evidently Miscalculated
Their Time and Were Interrupted by
Approaching ~Train-SIiGht Damage.
Portland, Or, Oct. GA dastardly
attempt, which, fortunately was I'M
successful, was made last night to
wreck the southbound passenger train,
No. 16, two miles south of Drain. The
attempt was we'll planned and intended
either for revenge or robbery, and had
it been successful, would no doubt have
cost many lives. AS yet there is. no
clew to the would.be train wreckers.
The train, hauled by engine No.
1925, left Portland at $50, and reach
ed Drain, 16l miles south of here,
about $40 the next morning. When
the engine rounded a curve two miles
south of the station, Engineer Robert
McCauley saw, by the glare of the
headlight on the track ahead, what ap.
peared to be a fallen tree lying length
wise between the rails. He at once
reversed the engine and threw on the
air brakes, but the momentum of the
train was so great that it could not be
stopped before it reached the obstruc-
ton, and the pilot struck it with a jolt
that woke up everybody on the train.
In spite of the reversed engine and
brakes, the train was carried nearly
three lengths ahead, pushing the OBJ
struction in front of it. The latter, as
1t caught the ties along the track, jolt
ed the whole train, so that everyone on
board thought the engine had jumped
the track, and the commotion caused
general CONSERVATION.
The engineer finally succeeded in
bringing the train to a standstill, and
climbing down from the cab, he ran
forward to see what he had struck.
He discovered that it was a stick of
timber a foot through, and eight or ten
feet long. Across the track ahead of
it was a heavy plank, which had evil
IDENTIFY been used to prop the larger
stick up in Il standing position, so that
it would better throw the train from
the track. This plank had also been
carried forward by the pilot.
The train first struck the obstruction
on a sharp curve, i'll a mountainous
and heavily wooded country. There is
a sharp declivity on one side of the
track, and had the pilot been broken
by the obstruction, a terrible wreck
must inevitably have followed.
The trainmen and such passengers as
were out of their belths, took lanterns
and searched the track for some dis
tance both ahead and behind the train,
but no sign of any one could be dis.
covered. There were a few planks and
timbers scattered about near the place
where the log lay at first, and the gen.
eral appearance of the track where the
distractions were placed, indicate that
the wreckers were at work ON a big OBJ.
structlon to ensure the ditching Of the
train, and having miscalculated their
time, were interrupted by the approach
ing train, and quickly abandoning
their devilish work, ran away.
The way i'll which the two timbers
found on the track were piled, and the
fact that they were placed on a curve
and at an unusually dangerous place in
the track, indicate that there could
have been no intention but to wreck
the train.
The tralnmen have been bothered .
great deal of late in that vicinity by
stuthbound hobos who jump brake
beams of freight trains at watering sta.
tons, day times, and ride on the blind
baggage of passenger trains at night.
The train men think it was some of
these who made the attempt to wreck
the train, while others think a general
robbery was intended.
The engine returned to Portland yes.
terday, and beyond ii little damage TO
the paint on the pilot, is all right.