The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-18
NARROW ESCAPES ON THE RAIL
Some Remarkable Instances Narrated
by Railro8d Men.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

by Railro8d Men.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
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 T.. White, general su-
perintendent of the railway mail SER
vice at Washington, relates the PAR
ticulars of remarkable jump of twen-
| ty-eight feet made by locomotive.
As Mr.. White tells the story, II was
on the 1st of September, 1892, when n
New York and Chicago mail train on
the New York Central which was be-
hind time and running at very high
rate of speed, reached New Hamburg,
| where a twenty-eight foot draw of
| bridge was open, which open space it
| is claimed the engine cleared and
! landed safely on the main portion or
| the bridge, the rest of the train going
! down through the opening While the
engine, 1t is said made the leap of
twenty-eight feet in safety, the ergi-
neer and firemen, not having time to
jump, were both killed. John II. Cain,
postal clerk, was killed. and M. T..
Towney, clerk in charge, was seriously
injured, the other postal clerks escap-
ing unhurt.
While none of the local railroad men
know of any locomotives that are as
good jumpers as Whites or that do the
bounding jockey act, some of them
know of miraculous and hair breadth
escapes. Carlton Paris, of the old Ohio
and Mississippi for many years and
more recently with the Il. and .. 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 accident was narrowly
averted. But let Paris tell the story:
THE road was about the toughest at
that time had ever ridden over. There
were only a few passengers on the
train. Swift and / were in the forward
coach talking to the conductor when
the solitary sleeping car passenger
came staggering 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 o9 an hour. There must
be something the matter.
THE conductor picked up his lantern
and said: Come on and I'll go lack
with you and see what's wrong Swift
and l sat where we were talking and
very soon we saw that the bell cord
was being very violently pulled and
the engineer was whistling for brakes
The train finally came to a standstill
and Swift and 1 kept our seats and
kept on talking. AS. after five min
utes or more, there We're no signs of
the train going ahead, we concluded TO
60 back and see what vas the cause of
the delay.
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.
1t took the men at least three hours
to get the sleeper on the rails again.
The wheels We're very near the end
of the ties and had the train gone 100
yards further the sleeper would have
been off the ties and over high EN-
bankment."
Frank Martin of the Missouri, Kan
sas and Texas said: II remember Of a
; disastrous wreck being almost mirac-
ulously averted on the Memphis and
,, Little Rock road along about 1888. A
passenger train 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
feet from the track, Strange as it
seems. the tender, baggage car coaches
and sleepers went over this place where
the rail was out and gained the rail
again without one of the cars leaving
: the track except when the wheels went
down onto the ties at one end of the
broken rail, only to mount the rail
, again at the other end of the track
About all the inconvenience the pas
sengers experienced was a slight shali-
ing"
1 Assistant General Passenger Agent
L Ryan said: 81 remember two instances
:, when the lives of engineers and fire.
= men We're saved by a seeming inter-
vention of Providence. A number OF
years ago a new treStle was being put
4 in, and false works had been erected
to permit of the temporary passage
= of trains. The workmen had failed
5 to put in some necessary bolts. The
first train that came along was q
freight. AS soon as the engine struck
1 the false works it gave way and dowr
e went the engine. The fall was one Of
e fifty feet, and in falling the engine
= made a complete revolution and alight
t ed on the ground upon it's wheels righ
{ side up, and the engineer and fireman
e both escaped injury, although they
e were probably pretty badly Jared by
the fall
1.-THE other case / know of is that o
a train running at a good speed, wheI
e the engine ran into a large rock tina
had fallen on the track just at th'
), mouth of a tunnel. The impact caused
the tender to bend up from the real
q end and form a protecting hood owe
a the engineer and fireman in the 10
comotive cab, and they were unin
~ jured Had this not occurred, they
y would either have been badly injured
or had their lives crushed out"
Another passenger man said yester
! day: when was a sleeping car con
ductor on the old Bee Line, about thir
., ty years ago, the train was late, ant
-, we We're going along at a pretty live
y ly gait. We were within about fiv
y miles OF Indianapolis when the engin
e and four cars jumped the track, AM
. we thought there would be smash
up but before the train could b
stopped every wheel was again on tn
= rails without the least damage beinl
done to any part of the train or an
u of the passengers, barring the frigh
q we all had. "