St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-11-11
On a Runaway Engine.
Disastrous Result Of the Test OF
the First Big Locomotive
Out of Boston.

TT WAS proud day for Reuben Finch
when he was selected as engineer OF
sthesbig reight-vheelad freighter, Massa-
chusetts. Back in the forties, when
railroading was young and innovations
were regarded with an interest not
iaded with the many inventions and
contrivances of modern science, the
news that the Western railroad, which
now forms part of the Boston d. AL
bany system, had put on mammoth
freight engine, larger than any yet
tried, excited widespread curiosity,
not limited to the circle of railroad
men, which was then much smaller
than it is now. Among the engineers
and firemen, however, the curiosity had
something of excitement mingled with
it, born of the desire 10 be put in
charge of the great engine. And so
Finch was an envied man the day his
appointment was made known. Not
less fortunate than Finch, in the esti-
nation of his brotherhood, was James
Marcy, who was selected to run with
him as fireman on the Massachusetts.
IT was something to be placed in charge
of mighty monster, which made all
the other engines on the road look like
children's toys.
Early in December the Massachu-
setts was brought up from the shops at
Lowell, and was sent up and down the
road, while Finch adjusted every little
part till she was in good working trim.
The test of the engine was awaited with
great interest, as fabulous tales were
told of the number of cars she could
haul, The test was to be severe one,
but there was one thing that inter
fered; there were not cars enough
around to make it interesting. In those
days the freight traffic was very limit
ed. Each road kept its own cars on its
own road, as the railroad men say, and
the variety from every road in the coun-
try could not be seen on each track, as
it is to-day. So, to get enough cars, a
tribute was levied on each passing
freight train. 1t delayed the traffic a
few days, but goods sent by freight in
The forties were not perishable.
The test was to be made over the
and on December is, 1870, 35 cars had
been collected, enough, it was thought,
to give the engine a most thorough test,
for 35 cars made tremendous load, as
loads were then. In the afternoon
Finch and Marcy oiled up the parts
anew and made everything ready for
the triumphal trip to Springfield.
A couple of toots on the whistle, a
changing of the bell and Finch, OPEN
ing the throttle, felt the great engine
roll out on the main track with SEEM
ingly as little effort as though there
were not string of freight cars be-
hind her nearly a quarter of a mile
long. There were two or three men in
the cab with Finch and Marcy, among
them Wilson Eddy, known the country
over in later years as the veteran mas
ter mechanic of the Boston G. Albany
railroad, Majestically the Massachu-
setts swung along and there was moth
ing to mar the smoothness OF the ma-
chinery's motion. 1t was a brisk winter
day and the rails were covered with
frost, but the great wheels did not
slip. Railroad accidents were new
things then, and il was as yet an un-
discovered fact that an engine could
run away, with its engineer powerless
to control If. There were but two brakes
on the train, but this caused no uneasi-
ness, particularly as there was that
great engine to depend upon.
In those days the railroad had not