Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1897-04-17
POWER FROM OYSTER SOUP.


Bow an Inxenioas Locomotive Engineer
Saved His Train and Passengers
He was more than an ordinarily ac-
complishcd liar for an amateur, and /
they all knew IL when they asked hmm |
for story.
st can tell you how 1 once ran an en- /
CINE and saved = trainlOad of people !
with an oyster stew if you want to /
know, but I don't think OF any ching /
more exciting than that" he said apollo
getically.
That's good enough" they all de-
clared. ''Give Us that F"
"AlI right, then, here goes, >" he said !
as he settled back in his chair. 4 was
once engineer on n road that ran for a
long distance through the forests of
northern Wisconsin, and we we've fire.
uuently bothered by forest fires. They
were particularly bad at the time l
speak OF. One day l had run through
one big blaze. only TO find that there
was q bigger one ahead. The worst of
} it was we were low ON water, and there
was no chauce to I'LL the tank without
dasbing through the fire ahead of us. 1
: sent the fireman cut TO see if we had
J enough to make the run, but he came
4 back and told me the boiler was almost
I dry.
81 was puzzled for awhile. 1t was
S death TO all OF Us knew to stay there,
I but how to get ont was the question.
D Suddenly happy thought struck me.
d There was a milk car just behind the
> first baggage, and made for it. How
much milk have ycu got?' / says to the
o fellow in charge. About 40 cans,
q guess. he answered why do you askf'
i Never mind, says l. What's that in
g those cans in the corner?' Oysters, he
!, answered. But why do you want to
It know Never you mind, told him,
It and then ordered the other train hands
10 who had come up to see why we had
ie stopped to tote that milk and those oys
It ters up to the engine.
I, "They did it in spite Of the kicking
is of the milkman, and when they haC
c, brought them up 1 ordered them al
er chucked into the tank. The conducto
G. came up. too, and declared it was
by funny notion to be making oyster stew
er IN an engine boiler, when we we've il
<. danger of being burned alive, but
Is soon convinced him that it was neCcs
III sary if we did not want to stay ther
K and rCaSt.
10 wen, we uDally uumptu IN al II
milk and all the oysters and starte
ahead. Ycu ought TO have smelled th
steam that came back into that engiu
&c cab. 1t would have made you think {
he an old tlme church festival Whev
1d How that soup did SMELL 1t made I'll
ed engine jump, though, and that was a
ter we wanted. We got up great head {
he steam in 10 time, and the way W
he plunged through that next fire belt WI
if, a caution. AS we pulled up at the ST
csc ton just beyond l opened up and boga
be TO whistle. a great cloud of oyster sou
di- or vapor shot into the sky, OF cOurs
ity and didn't come down till we were f
the out of sight Then it settled like
1ve thick foS-cysters, soup and all. Ever
the body noticed it, Of course, and the
ard was a country scientist in the TOW
wn who was sure il was the greatest ph
md nomcnon Of the age. 1t was rainil
inn oyster soup up there he was sure, al
ing the next issue Of the weekly papers we
ind full Of it-Dot the soup, but the news
rid it. After the residents up that way b
let all swallowed it-not the soup, but t
;sor story-we told them about it, and I'll
AIDE was the silliost looking scientist eI
ime saw. '-Chicago Times Herald.