The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-04-12

/ our train straight through 10 balli-
more, where We would give 1t up to a
Philadelphia division engine, We ran
sroand the ~
s'WhiIe / was oiIing around, stand
on the ~ / noticed freight train
pull out Of the yard and start toward
Baltimore.
To this I attached no importance.
We were virtually in the class with n
fast limited passenger train when run
ming as and sll freight and extra
trains were required to clear US without
any orsiers being issued to Us that they
were iu existence. This feature all
rsilroad men understand "a freight
train has absolutely no rights against a
passenger train. So he went out
ahead Of me and 1 thought no more
about il.
Il was delayed again leaving Wash
ington by the breaking of an air hose
and lost in the yard the time l had
made up. Naturally was put cat by
this occurrence, and nlade up my mind
to whip the old mill S35 from the Capt.
tai to Locust Point, Baltimore, a. miles
in % minutes or better, despite the
raging Of the elements. In the mean
time the freight ahead Of me had
reached HyattsvilIe. six miles from
Washington, ard her conductor, think
ing that It was as far as he could get,
backed off on the siding there, with at
least twenty minutes to spare before |
could reasonably be expected to heavs
in sight. But he forgot to change those
caboose lights which L told you about
after getting safe in on the switch and
locking it free again for the main liue.
81 got my signal to pull out at l0.i3
p. IN. As the conductor got oil The
engine he said: An right, Bill, make
her cut her ashes, there is nothing
ahead of US Running slow out Of
Washington, as the regulations call for,
did not get the heavy train going on
the wet rails until we had passed Ivy
City, three miles out. At Langdon,
two miles further, We were going fifty
miles an hour and when we turned
over the hill on the down grade lead
ing to Hyattsville she was laundering
through the inky blaekness the night
at a speed which as near as can judge
must have been seventy miles an hour.
After leaving Langdon, the next sig
nal tower was TO pass was Hyattsvilie,
where ! would see the red or white
light which would determine whether
was 70 proceed or stop.
"As we spun down the grade to
Hayattsvile caught sight ofthe target
showing the white light that all was
clear, and as we shot around a sharp
reverse curve to the let there cleaned
upon me at tie same moment those
terrible binding red lights showing
the hind end Of train into which We
must crash with no prospect other
than a,horrible death staring Us in the
face.
"Bob Rogers was my fireman. He
saw the terrible danger at the same
moment that I did, and l can hear now
his frenzied shout above the rattle Of
the engine over the rails; Ny God,
Bill, look, it Is all overv Impelled by
the instinct Of all engineers in less
time that il takes to tell it, although /
was sitting down l threw the reverse
lever in the extreme back notch Of the
quadrant, and threw on the airbrake
to the emergency stop with all the en-
ergy born Of frantic despair. But
there was no stopping that train in the
short distance intervening between it
and that dread hind end / can see
now those terrible lights, each one
seemingly as big as a cart wheel, and [
can feel again those horrible sensations
of the events of life time gliding
through the brain in an instant.