The Portland daily press., 1898-01-28
"TEXAS JACK"
And How He Poked the Nose of the Snow
Piow Int o the Lost Engine-AWild
Ride ON the Bar Harbor Railroad.
Bangor WhiQ.)

Bangor Whig)
| Whoever Of the boys that used to hang
around the Maine Central railroadsstation
Fin Brewer, when Agent Hall was alive
and running things, cannot forget
g Texas Jack, - the most daring engineer
that railroad company ever employed.
| In those days "Texas jack was ad-
mired by every boy that ever heard his
name spoken, just because he was such a
daring engineer and because of the many
| thrilling stories they had heard railroad
men tell about him, and, whenever he
drove his old iron horse into the Brewer
station they all fooked about to get
enough to hold bit of conversation with
him was the biggest feeling boy in the
crowd.
$ 1t was just such day as last Sunday,
only it was in March, and had been snow
! ing steadily for four days with no signs
OF a let up. The snow was nearly four
feet. deep on level, the wind was blowing
% gale and in fact it was one of the worst
storms ever known in this section of the
country.
Down on the Bucksport track, near
O'Brien's brick yard, there was a passen-
ger train with three engines, buried up in
the snow, unable to move one way or the
other. Out on the Bar Harbor track near
Whiting Hill grade was the morning east
bound train buried so deep that not an
inch of it could be seen. and it Looked
| like one enormous drift.
Two engines had been sent out to pull
the train out of the drift but had proved
unsuccessful and were buried smokestack
deep in the snow about fifty or hundred
yards this side of the train.
1t was finally decided to send "Texas
jack to the rescue for he was man who
took pride in sending his engine into
snow-drift with fall the pow ers it had
and he seldom failed to reach the place he
wanted to, snow or no snow.
! All the railroad men said he couldn't
reach the place, but "'Texas Jack" said
that he could 'tfetch 'em'' if the company
would only give him q chance to try.
| He was given one of the biggest sand
strongest engines the company owned and
he steamed her over the bridge 80 try his
| luck.
| What excitement there was around
Brewer station when the news tioked over
| the wire that "Texas jack was on the
way to break out the road, and when he
steamed into the depot with a snow ..plow
ahead and a "caboose' behind every bow
of us piled into the ca5oose, each
shouldering snow shovel and were ready
to go with Texas jack and where he
wanted to go andajust as fast as he wished
to carry u.s.
edo you think you can reach them?''
asked Agent Hall when he slowed up to
get his orders togo ahead.
s'Reach EN-, !" he replied, "I'll poke the
nose Of this plow into that:lost engine or
I'll ditch my old horse.
He jumped onto the engine and backed
| up to the river, then he reversed the lever
and pulled the throttle wide open and the
way we went through the town and by
the station was caution, every boy of
us holding on to each other for dear life
to keep on our feet.
Up the Brewer grade we went like
mad, that old plow throwing the snow
top of the grade there is sharp curve
and then the grade goes the other way
| down.
We all took look out of the "caboose
window as we rounded the curve to see
what was ahead. There was what looked
mense drift towering up right in the mid
die of the track.
''Gee boys l'' said rone of our number,
"if we get through that drift we'll do
well, and I'm thinking We'll 90 into the
ditch when we strike her too
Just then "Texas jack gave the old
engine more steam and we started ahead
at more rapid pace and how we did fly
down that long grade!
| Nearer and nearer we were coming to
the big drift but how near we were un-
able to tell as we could not see ahead
now.
Every one OF us stood punched up in
the centre of the car holding ON to each
other, for we expected every minute to
strike the drift and be hurled into the
ditch with the whole business.
ItIwasn't t quite SO bad as.that, however,
but in another instant the nose of the
plow went into the drift and the. whole
gang of us was piled into the forward
end of the Car in a heap.
We had slowed up considerably but did
not stop. The old engine was putting
and blowing for all she was worth snd
the way FTexas Jack" pushed her
through that long, deep column of snow
was wonder to us all.
All OF sudden we struck something
solid and stopped and the shock sent us
all into the end of the car again and with
more violence than the first time. we
jumped out and made our way through
the snow to where the plow had brought
up and to our great surprise Flexas
Jack" had done just what he said be
would do-"poke. the nose of that plow
in the lost engine'-and in less than an
hour he had pulled the two engines and
the cast bound train back to the Brewer
station where he was greeted with much
enthusiasm by the large crowd that had
collected and as he steamed back to Ban
gor we gave him three cheers.
1t was one of the worst blockades the
Maine Central ever experienced and one
of the widest rides US fellows ever had
or ever expect to have again.