The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-27
NARROW ESCAPES ON THE RAIL.
Some Remarkable Instances Narrated by Rail.
road Men.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
There Is no question that well authenti.
Gated cascs are on record where disastrous
wrecks of railroad trains have been averted by
almost seeming miracles. James f. White,
General Superintendent OF tho Railway Mail
Service at Washington, relates the particulars
Of a remarkable jump Of twenty-eight feet
story. 1t was on the LIST OF September, 1892,
when. n New. York and Chicago mail train on
the New York Central. which was behind time
and runninga at n very high rate OF speed, reached
New Hamburg. where n twenty-eight foot
draw of a 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 going down through, the opening. Whilo
the engine, it is said. made the leap OF twenty
eight feet in safety. the engineer and fircmen,
not having time to jump. ,wero both killed.
John Il. Cain. a postal clerk. was killed; and
NJ. +. Towncy, clerk in charge. was seriously in.
jured. the other postal clerks escaping unhurt.
While none Of the local railroad men know
Whites or, that do:the, bounding jockey act,
some of them know OF miraculous and hair.
6 SfhGads and G NisEissipr Gaf for many nsF Years Of an the m ols
recently with the b. and o.. 5 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 accident was narrowly averted.
But let Paris tell the story:
The, road was about the toughest at that
a few passengers on the train; Swift and l
were in the forward coach talking to the con-
came staggering in ana said: Mr.. Conductor.
your road is SO rough ! can't sleep in my berth.
] have been pitched out OF my berth twice in
the last quarter Of an hour. There must BIO
something the matter.
The conductor picked up his lantern and
sec what's wrong Swift and 7 sat where we
were talking and very foon wc saw that the
bell cord was being very. violently pulled and
the engineer was whisiling Tor brakes. Tho
train finally came to a standstill and Swift and
j kept our seats and kept on talking. AS, after
live minutes Dr'mOrp. there were no signs of the
train going ahead, we concluded to go BACH and
SEQ what was tho cause Of the delay. q,
The conductor and trainmen were grouped
about the sleeper with their lanterns and we
soon found out that tho sleeper had left the
how far we never knew. The night was pitch
dark and 1t was raining very hard; 1t took tho
then the rails ii 's again .nfi The eS Wheels is were seS we Very s'G nGar t Rs
end OF the ties and had the, train gone 100 yards
further the sleeper would have been of the ties
Frank Martin of tho Missouri. Kansas and
Texas said:
II remember OF a disastrous wreck being al.
most miraculously ayerted on tho Memphis and
Little Rock road along about 1883; A pas.
sengcr tram was travelling at a high rate OF
speed when the engine threw a piece OF rail
about three feet long out Of the track. This
piece OF rail was thrown at least twenty-five
tender. baggage car. coaches and sleepers went
over this place where the rail was out and
leaving the track except when the wheels went
down onto tho ties at one end of the broken rail,
only to mount the rail again at the other end OF
the track. About all tho Inconvenience the
passengers experienced WAS n slight shaking"
Assistant General Passenger Agent Ryan
said:
II remember two instances when the lives Of
intervention of Providence. A number OF years
ago a new t~restle was being put in, and false
works had been erected to permit OF the tenn
porary passage of trains. The workInen 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 1t gave
way and down went the engine. The fall was
one OF nifty feet, and In falling the engine made
a complete revolution, and alighted on the
ground upon its wi eos right sido up. and tho
engineer and fireman both escaped Injury, al.
though they were probably pretty badly Jared
by The fail.
1.-THE other case I know of is that Of a train
running AT a good speed, when the engine ran
into n large rock that had fallen on he track
Just at tho mouth of a tunnel. Tho impact
caused tho tender to bend up from the rear
end and form a protecting hood over the en-.
gineeT and fireman in the locomotive cab, and
they were uninjured. Had this not occurred,
thJy would either have been badly injured or
had their lives crushed out"
ANOTHER passenger man said yesterday:
when i was "a SleepinR car conductor on the
old Bee Line, about thirty years ago. the train
was, late, and we were going along at a pretty
lively gait. We were within about fvo miles
Jumped the track. and we thought there would
be u smash-up, but before the train could be
stopped avery wheel was again on the rails
without the least damage being done to any
part OF the train or any Of the passengers, bar.
ring the fright we all had"