The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-12
SECOND SIGHT.
A Locomotive Engineer Able to ForeteIl
and Escape Disaster.

A Locomotive Engineer Able to Foreten
and Escape Disaster.
For a third of a century Horace L. Sea-
YER has run a locomotive IN the Illinois
Central railroad. During his service he
has travelled over 1, 600, 900 miles and nev-
er met with an accident.
Late the night before the Fourth of July,
1890, Mr.. Seayer started from Springfield
to Chicago with a passenger train OF
which there were 800 persors. An hour
or usore after midnight he dropped into a
sta.vsof semiconsciousness as he sat straight
up in his cab. Suddenly something re-
sembling the voice of a person whispered
to him: "Stopl The bridge is ID burned
the bridge is burnedl' In an instant the
engineer was wide awake and leaning out
of his cab window. In less than 90 min
utes after he had received the warning he
saw far ahead at the side of the track a
glow such as is ordinarily cast by the dy-
ing fires which tramps leave at the sides
of tho roadbed. Two or three hundred
yards from the fire Engineer Seaver stop
ped the train, n running forward dis
covered that q bridge which had spanned
a 35 foot stream had been burned, having
been set on fire by an engine which had
passed over it five hours before.
About eight years ago Mr.. Seaver start
ed from his home in Chicago down to the
depot to take out his train to Springfield.
Even before he climbed in his cab he felt
a premonition that a certain bridge a few
miles from the town of Buckley was down.
There had been heavy rains and ice was
coming down many of the streams in. the
country in great quantities, and his vision
showed that ice had carried away the sup
ports of the bridge. The engineer said
nothing about it to any one, lest it should
turn out that the bridge was all right. So,
pulling his train out into the dark, rainy
night, without mentioning his fears, he
began the run to Springfield. About mid
night the train neared the bridge. Aquar-
ter of a mile this side of it the engineer
stopped the train. The conductor ran for
ward to see what was the matter. Sewer
told the conductor that he was sure there
was something wrong ahead at the bridge.
The conductor laughed at him and told
him to pull ahead. Seayer insisted that
they should go ahead together and exam
inc it. The two men went forwardsthrough
the rain and found the bridge almost ready
to drop into the stream. The ice had car
ried away~the pillars n the bridge was
sunken, broken and twisted until it would
have been unsafe for a dog to cross.
An even more startling instance occur
red once when the engineer was taking q
train out of Cairo. Near Cairo is a great
bridge nearly half a mile in length. just
as Mr.. Seayer was starting from town
with the train it seemed to him hat he
could sec cross ties sticking up between
the ties a few feet from the far end Of the
bridge. The night was dark and the en-
gineer could only see ahead as far asSthe
light was thrown by the headlight of the
locomotive. As he drew near the end of
the bridge he slowed down until the head
light threw it's glare within a few yards of
the end of the bridge. Half a dozen cross
ties protruded above the bridge IA or 3
feet. Train wreckers had placed the ends
of the vertical ties between those of the
bridge SO that their ends rested on the
ground. AS soon as the ties came into
view Seavers stopped the train and the crew
went forward and removed the obstruc-
tions.