Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-04-07
SOME CLOSE CALLS.
INSTANCES OF NARROW ESCAPES
TOLD BY RAILWAY MEN.

INSTANCES OF NARROW ESCAPES
TOLD BY RAILWAY MEN.
Locomotives Remarkable Jump-The
Sleeping Car Passenger on a Rough
Road-Trains That Left the Track and
Returned Running at Full Speed.
There is no question that well au-
thenticated cases are on record where
disastrous wrecks of railroad trains
have been averted by almost seeming
miracles. James E. White. general su-
perintendent Of the railway mail service
at Washington, relates the particulars
Of remarkable jump Of 20 feet made
by locomotive. AS Mr.. White tells
the story, it was Oh the LIST of Septem-
Der, 1892, when New York and Chi
cago mail train on the New York Cen
trail, which was behind time and run
ming at a very high rate of speed,
reached New Hamburg, where % foot
draw of bridge was open, which open
space it is claimed the engine cleared
and landed safely on the main portion
of the bridge, the rest of the train 60
ing down through the opening. While
the engine, it is said, made the leap Of
2S feet in safety, the engineer and fire.
men, not having time to jump, were
both killed. John H. Cain, a postal
clerk, was killed, and M. e. Towney,
clerk in charge, was seriously injured,
the other postal clerks escaping unhurt
While none of the local railroad men
knows of any locomotives that are as
good jumpers as Whites or that do the
bounding jockey act, some of them
know of miraculous and hairbreadth es
capes. Carlton Paris of the old Ohio and
Mississippi for many years and more
recently with the B. and o. S. w. tells
that he and Ed Swift a number Of years
ago were riding on a train over the
Ohio and Big Sandy road when an &C.
cident was narrowly averted. But let
Paris tell the story:
1.-THE road was about the toughest at
that time had ever ridden over. There
were only few passengers on the train.
Swift and were in the forward coach
tary sleeping car passenger came stag
gering in and said: Mr. Conductor,
your road is so rough can't sleep in
my berth. l have been pitched out of
my berth twice in the last quarter Of
an hour. There must be something the
matter.
1.-The conductor picked up his lantern
old nd T,1I hoo
with you and see what's wrong Swift
and ! sat where we were talking, and
very soon we saw that the bellcord
was being very violently pulled and the
engineer was whistling for brakes. The
train finally came to standstill, and
Swift and kept our seats and kept on
talking AS, after five minutes or more,
there were no signs Of the train going
ahead, we concluded to go back and see
what was the cause of the delay.
1.-THE conductor and trainmen were
grouped about the sleeper with their
lanterns. and we soon found out that
the sleeper had left the track and had
been running over the ties for how far
we never knew The night was pitch
dark and it was raining very hard. It
took the men at least three hours to get
the sleeper en- the rails again. The
wheels were very near the end Of the
ties and had the train gone 100 yards
farther the sleeper would have been off
the ties and over high embankment.
Frank Martin of the Missouri, Kan
sas and Texas said:
II remember of disastrous wreck
being almost miraculously averted on
the Memphis and Little Rock road
along about 1883. A passenger train
was travelling at a high rate of speed
when the engine threw piece Of rail
about three feet long out of the track.
This piece Of rail was thrown at least
20 feet from the track. Strange as it
secms tie tender, baggage car, coaches
and slcerurs went over this place where
the rail was out and gained the rail
again withoat one Of the cars leaving
the track excGnt when the wheels went
Down Gu tA1ls ll lsss-att 0neT end of the
bfoken rail. only to mount the rail
again at the other end of the track
About al the Inconvenience the pas
sengers experienced was slight shak
Ing
Assistant Cv::eral Passenger Agent
Ryan said:
81 remem Der two instances when the
lives Of engineers and tremen were
saved by a seeming intervention Of
Providence. A number of years ago a
new trestle was being put i'll, and false
works had been erected to permit Of the
temporary passage OF trains. The work
men had failed to put in some necessary
bolts. The first train that came along
was a freight. AS soon as the engine
struck the false work it gave way, and
down went the engine. The fall was
one of 30 feet, and in falling the engine
made complete revolution and alight-
ed on the ground upon its wheels right
side up, and the engineer and fireman
both escaped injury, although they
were probably pretty badly Jared by
the fall
''The other case know Of is that Of
train running at a good speed when
the engine ran into large rock that
had fallen OH the track just at the
mouth of tunnel. The impact caused
the tender to bend up from the rear end
and form protecting hood over the en-
gineer and fireman in the locomotive
cab. and they were uninjured. Had this
not occurred, they would either have
been badly injtre or had their lives
crushed out -
Another passenger man said yesterday:
when | was a sleeping car conductor
on the old Bee line. about 30 years ago,
the train was late, and we were going
along at pretty lively gait We were
within about five miles of indianapolis
when the engine and four cars jumped
the track, and we thought there would
be smash up, but before the train