Barre evening enterprise. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-1898, 1898-04-20
SOME CLOSE CALLS.
INSTANCES OF NARROW ESCAPES
TOLD BY RAILWAY MEN.
Locomotives Remarkable Jump-The
Sleeping Car Passenger on q Rough
Road-Trains That Left the Track and
Returned Running at Full Speed.

Road-Trains That Left the Track an
q. Returned Running at Full Speed.
q There is no question that we'll au
thenticated cases are on record wher
! disastrous wrecks Of railroad train
f have been averted by almost seeming
miracles. James L. White, general su
perintendent Of the railway mail service
, at Washington, relates the particular
Of remarkable jump of 2S feet made
by locomotive AS Mr.. White tell!
the story, it was Oh the lst of Septem
her, 1892, when New York and Chi
cago mail train on the New York Cen.
trial, which was behind time and run
ming at very high Nte of speed,
reached New Ham burg, where 20 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
rs 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 NJ. 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 Z. and O. S. W. tells
that he and Ed Swift number of years
ago were riding on a train over the
Ohio and Big Sandy road when an &C.
cldent was narrowly averted. But let
Paris tell the story:
1.-The road was about the toughest at
hat time had ever ridden over. There
we're only few passengers on the train.
swift and l were in the forward coach
alklnS to tie conductor when the soli-
AIRY sleeping car passenger came stag.
'ering in and said: Mr.. Conductor,
our road is so rough l can't sleep in
ny berth. l have been pitched out of
ny berth twice in the last quarter of
Il hour. There must be something the
latter
The conductor picked up his lantern
nd said, Come on, and III 90 back
lth you and see what's wrong Swift
ld sat where we were talking, and {
1ry soon we saw that the bellcord
as beng very violently pulled and the
lglneer was whistling for brakes. The S
am hnally came to a standstill, and s
WIT and l kept our seats and kept Oh t
lklhg. AS, after five minutes or more. a
ere were no signs of the train going
ead, we concluded to 60 back and see Il
nat was the cause of the delay Il
He conductor and traiumen yyere II
ouped about the sleeper with their o.
lterns, and we soon found out that 81
sleeper had left the track and had d
III running over the ties for how far IL
never knew. The night was mitch n;
TX and it was raining very hard. It i,
TX the men at least three hours to get 81
sleeper on the rails again. The ht
eels We're very near the end Of the ar
> ana had the train gone 100 yards or
Their the sleeper would have been off pa
ties and over a high embankment. " pr
rank Martin of the Missouri, Kan. to
and Texas said: I'm
L remember of disastrous wrecl, sci
n8 almost miraculously averted on ty
Memphis and Little Rock road of
1g about 1883 a passenger train bic
travelling at high rate of speed ho,
N the engine threw piece of rail or
ut three feet long out of the track. oft
S piece OF rail was thrown at least enc
eet from the track. Strange as il off.
MS, the tender, baggage car, coaches to
sleepers went over this place where put
rail was out and gained the rail If +
II without one Of the cars leaving res,
track except when the wheels Went 30
IL Oh 10 the ties at one end of the tim
'eh rail, only to mount the rail wit
II at the other end of the track wit
Qt all the inconvenience the mas. on I
ers experienced was slight shall tho,
.a: rub
'slstant General Passenger Agent tina,
n said: ,,a.
ielllempor two Instances when the r.
Oh engineers and freneu were yate
seeming intervention of thar
loehce. A number of years ago q and
tfestle was being put in, and false scril
> had been erected to permit of the a seI
orary passage Of trains. The work. like
mad failed to put in some necossorr n ~,
:. tae;. hls' tram that came along mid'
a freight. AS soon as the enpine nriv.
X the false work it gave way, and mon
. Went the engine. The fall was er III
oo feet, and in falling the engine en- q
a complete revolution and alipbt. the
the ground upon its wheels right wonl
'p' ana the engineer and fireman usna
escaped injury, although thew horse
! lfooaply pretty badly Jared by Tn
no other case l know of is that of riage
~ running at a good speed when accor
lsiho ran into a large rock that than
AMEN Oh the track Just at the the ,
OF tunnel. The impact cousod whiol
nder to bend up from the rear end be- ~,
I'm protecting hood over the en-. to mo
ana fireman in the locomotive miob,
10 they were uninjured. Had this worl,
CURED, they would either have for a
9adly lnjure or had their lives
d out" 'e'
.her passenger man said yesterday.