Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-08-01


behlhd MIN was No. l. the fast east
bound Colorado express, running IN
time and due in Kansas City at dawn.
she had left Topeka 90 minutes after
Sanders and his stock train. The pas
senger was chasing the freight.
! Il had just begun to loZe again. after
recalling all these things, when ID. A.
was sounded. That was the Lawrence
call and answered at once. / got an
order for the extra freight. pulled by
| engine &c, Sanders engineer, and Gray
conductor, To sidetrack at Lawrence
and wait for No. to pass. Just as
repeated the order and got the 20 X
from the dispatcher, l heard the
whistle Of &c. about mile away.
We had sidetrack a mile long.
The west switch was a few yards from
the Office, and it was the custom for the
night operators to go out and throw
the switch in such cases as the present.
The engineers could see the red light
as soon as they came around the curve
and knew that they were to be side
tracked. l set the switch and went
back into the office. Old Sanders
slowed down as he came into the long
siding and as the engine passed he
swung off. leaving the fireman at the
tDrntf la int Ia,
gave him his copy Of the order and out
he ran again, catching his slow
moving engine not far down the track.
| heard him taking out the slack as
he pulled the train into the clear
Then the conductor came in for his
copy Of the order I gave it to him ami
set the board in its proper position TO
tell the passenger engineer that l had
nothing for him.
Il reported the extra in, and then
leaned back to wait for the passenger
train. In a fcw seconds | heard her
shril whistle. Then l looked out 20
see what had happened to the extra,
for | heard the slack being taken out
of the train again. as if the engineer
was in a hurry either to back or go
ahead.
What saw scared me. The red
tail lights of that train were swing
ing around the eastern curve and out
of sight. as the crazy engineer pulled |
out. in direct defiance of his orders and |
to the peril of himself and every man
on the train.
Quick as a flash l told the Dispatch
er what had happened. l knew he was |
excited from the way he told me tina. !
luckily nothing was going West on tho |
line. The crazy engineer would have
a clear track
THE passenger train had stopped by |
this time. for | had swung the order |
board. Cursing his luck, the engineer |
came into the office, and was wonder
ing what the IDIOTS at Armourdale had |
in mind now. Here he was. on time.
and he supposed he was going to he
laid out He did n lot of such talking |
as engineers indulge in at such periods. |
Meantime | had told the dispatcher |
all that was going on. All he could |
do was to tell the passenger engineer |
to look out for the train ahead. And |
so the orders were given in regulation |
style, and the passenger train pulled |
out. the crew vowing vengeance on
old man Sanders.
well, to make it short. the crazy en-
gineer actually beat the running time |
OF the passenger train into the yards |
at Armourdale. and the passenger train
that had been following arrived only |
four minutes late.
"They discharged Sanders and his |
crew. 1t turned out that the old man
had made his fireman open the switch
and had defied all protests He wasn't
going to let any passenger train side
track him, and so he gave them a
record rum"