The herald., 1897-03-02
JUST IN TIME
An Humble Hero Saves Q Train From De-
struction

An Humble Hero Saves . Train Prom De.
struction
WASHINGTON, March 1.-What
might have been a terrible accident was
narrowly averted on the Baltimore and
Ohio train which brought Governor Tan
ner and his staff into Washington. On
the train, in addition to Governor Tan
ner and his staff, were Congressman
Belknap and Lorimer, Senator Idttler
of Springfield and a considerable num-
Der of other passengers on their way to
Washington. The governors train had
been late ever since it left Chicago, and
the engineer made all the time he could,
and the train, pulled by two engines,
was climbing mountains, swinging
around cliffs and dashing throu gh tun-
nels A little after 2 o'clock in tile morn
ing, beyond Moundsville, a little station
seven miles west of Benwood, while the
train was going forty miles an hour,
rounding sharp cliff, the engineer in
front saw small bonfire on the track
and in front of it man dan cling fran
tically for him to stop. He reversed
his engine and the train stopped with
nose of the first engine buried among q
lot of boulders, some of thefn weighing
tons, which had slipped down from tho
cliff above and completely covered the
track.
To the left the cliff lowered up hun
dred feet with hardly ROOM between it
and the tracks for the man who gavU
the warning to squeeze himself as the
train went by. To the right was a sheer
descent of one hundred feet or more into
a narrow gorge, at the bo tom of which
rushed mountain stream, swollen out
of it's banks by melting snow. When
the train was stopped the man who had
given the warning had q. strange story
to tell His name was ohm Fitzpatrick,
and he was the section hand whose duty
it was to patrol that stretch of track
While walking along the track thero
was a sudden noise UP the cliff to his
left and huge boulders came down. For
a moment he was too scared even to
think; then he awoke TO a realization OF
the fact that fast passenger train was
due at any moment Clambering back
over the boulders In the dark he built
| a fire on the track for a danger signal,
and yelled and danced like demon un-
| til the engineer saw him and stopped the
| train.
| When the passengers saw what had
| happened they gave their attention to
| the old track walker, and his thank
| you, sir" was punctuated by the Jingle
| of something that fell merrily into the
recesses of the blue overalls
| One of the train hands was sent away
| to Moundsville to secure aid In clearing
away the obstruction. In an hour he
returned, and in two hours thereafter
the earth and stone had been thrown
down the mountain side and the train
proceeded 1t was one of the narrowest
escapes ever recorded in railway his
tory.
Governor and Mrs. Tanner were
asleep in the rear coach and were not
apprised of their narrow escape until
morning They both expressed tho
greatest interest in the affair, and the
governor inquired particularly concern
ing old Fitzpatrick
Col John w. Gates. the magnate OF
the Illinois Steel company, knew nothing
of the accident until late this morning,
when he arose. When informed as to
how close he came to taking ride to
death down the mountain side, his
cheek blanched and his lip trembled
nervously- He. too. inquired into all the
details AS he is director of the Bal
timore and Ohio. there is little doubt
that old Fitzpatrick will hear more os
his heroism.