The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-12

| The fearful novelty of the method he Sc
| !ected for ending his life was a sufficient
| indication Of the frenzy to which brooding
| over his troubles had driven him. l was
! running on the western division of the Bal
/ tmore & Ohio then, and at the time men
uoned was clearing Cincinnati at q forty
| mile minute gait.
THE would-be suicide went out on the
treefnan-avenue bridge in that city where
| 1T crosses the Baltimore & Ohio tracks.
1 AFTER waiting some time my train swung
| into sight. and he quickly mounted the
| bridge railing. / saw the fellow, but there
| are so many curious antics going on about
a railroad that he but slightly interested
| me and l let my train speed ahead. Just
| as we were dashing under the bridge the
| poor fellow threw himself head first toward
the the tracks below AS l saw him take the
| know, boys, 1t takes tough man to kill
| human being without CULVER Of remorse.
THE poor devil intended to throw himself
| in front of the engine, but waited just a
| Traction of a second too long. Instead of
! meeting the horrible fate he had planned
| for himself. his body struck the convex side
| or the engine boiler, glanced off and rolled
into the mud at the side of the track. Sew
eral passengers VINO had seen the man take
| the terrible leap rushed to the spot. expect
ing, of course, to find him crushed and
bleeding mass. They found, instead that,
though he was badly bruised and his nose
and face badly lacerated, ne had few bones
broken, and in few weeks was fully re-
covered
He came to see me afterward at the
station in Cincinnati, and after telling me
his troubles said his experience with my
cidal intentions and that he was going to
brace up and be q man. That was a lucky
jump for him, for, besides not killing him,
as it should have done. it knocked some
sense into his foolish head"
THAT escape was almost as lucky as
Jim Walterss" chimed in another one of
the group. "At the time l speak of Jim
was firing on through Pennsylvania pas
senger run and, on account of the heavy
traffic, had been working about twenty
hours straight. OF course. he could steal
little maps off and on throughout the run
between this city and Philadelphia, but the
finally worked himself into a half-con-
SciouS condition.
HE was coming south on a run that
reaches Washington near midnight and
about an hour earlier than that pulled out
of Union station, Baltimore. You all know
up there with a heavy train, and Jim
worked like pole horse to keep up full
head of steam; After they cleared the tun-
mel Jim nursed his fire nicely, so as to get
little rest down to the grades near Sew
ern.
''He had finished trimming up the Goals
and was turning to creep up into the little
resting nook opposite the engineer, when he
lost consciousness. Jim told me afterward
that he imagined he was home in his little
sitting room and was about going upstairs
to bed. At the time he was imagining HIM
self opening his bedroom door and was
stepping therein he stepped off the. side of
the engine, which was running fully forty
miles an hour, and had reached about the
worst spot on the Pennsylvania road-the
stock yards
AT that time the gully sides were COW
cred with small trees, and down Jim went
crashing through these like so much pa
per to the bottom, distance of one hum
dred feet or more. He was picked up UNI
conscious and with hardly stitch of cloth
ing on his back, but not a bone broke He
regained consciousness in the hospital:
opened his eyes heaved deep sigh, turned
over on his side, and slept for ten hours
straight away. He missed two runs, and
then took his old place, none the worse for
his experience"
A CLOSE CALL.
"Well, that was a lucky escape of Jim's
sure enough" spoke up an intelligent-look-
ing engineer who had just come in off his
run from Philadelphia, but Jerry O'Neill
the travelling engineer. told me of ex-
perience he had last September while on
his way East from Chicago that will make
you hold your breath, and make you all
more positive in your belief in luck.
Jerry said he was coming to Washington
on train No. 6, the daily flyer between Chi
cage and Pittsburg on the Pittsburg &
Western road. The train consisted of a
baggage car, five Pullman sleepers and
dining car, and was crowded with pas
sengers. Numerous little delays threw the
train behind time, and when the accident
happened that l am telling of the engine
trotte was wide open, and the train was
running at fully sixty miles an hour
ding the engine, and from what 1 knew he
wasn't guessing at the speed. The engine
had just crossed the Pine creek bridge
when Charley, jerry and the fireman were
almost thrown from their seats by a violent
jolt. To say that the trio was startled is
putting it mildly.
balancing back toward the train, they
discovered the cause of the jolt. The ten
der and three cars had jumped the track
on the curve and were bounding about be-
tween the engine and the rear cars in
frightful manner. Charley at once threw
back the lever, but the speed of the heavy
train was so great that a sudden stoppage
was impossible.
This state of things continued for about
fifty yards when, with mighty lurch, that
stopped the breath of the three badly fright
ened men in the engine, the cars plunged
on to the rails again. making the trucks
tremble and creak as they struck the track
of steel. The danger was over, but no one,
except the men in the engine, knew, or ever
will know, what terrible catastrophe was
aVerted.
Jerry said he went back to examine the
| rails and roadbed after the train was finally
| stopped while Parks and the trainmen
| looked the cars over. lie found that the
tender and cars had left the rails just at
the end Of the bridge, and, striking the ties,
yards, where two deep dents in another tie
| showed where they had alghted. Some ten
yards further on there IS mill railroad
| crossing. The wheels of the tender had
| struck the cross rails and had actually split
| two of them in pieces. the cars then
! landed more than a foot outside of the
| main track, where they ground through the
ends of the ties, reducing them to kindling
| wood
| Sat second crossing a short distance
| beyond the wheels struck the guard plank
and made the wonderful leap that landed
| them again on the rails
| HAD the slightest flaw developed in any
| one of the derailed cars, or tender, a
splinter wreck would have occurred, and
! the loss of life would have been something
| terrible Jerry told me he didn't believe
| there was a person on that train who was
| born in the sign Of the crab"