The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-07-13

VINO went over the hill with the new
man took his life I'm his hands, owing
TO MS Ignorance OF the machine in his
charge.
We went 10 Blossburg all right, and
there cut loose from the passenger
tram and followed them down the
mountain. Nothing seemed wrong with
,ne way he handled the engine except
| MS apparent unfamiliarity with the air
| brake, a device never so important as
on such Hill as this. on reaching Ell
liston we were ordered to turn back
| with thirty-two loads. double headed
| with another mountain engine TO Bloss-
| burg. and with the 4s1 alone bring the
|, train through from that point 10 Hell
ena.
The new man had worked the engine
very hard in the short run TO BIoss-
burg, taking fully two-thirds OF the
weight OF the train, and every now
and then as l looked back TO get a
breath my amiability was NOT in
creased to see the fireman OF our help
er hanging out OF his cab wtndov
Laughing at me while he watched the
Dlack smoke roll from the 4sl's stack.
Inc crest of the hill was al the east
sWstch or Blossburg side track and
aiter the helper engine cut off we
pseched down into the inky blackness
pi pe .ie tunnel with nothing TO do but to
a - Ia a.
emerged into daylight again / climbed
Ddreneadcd from the cab window 20 the
INNING Doard ready 10 begin my regu-
Idr Wiping on. Hardly had / made "a
pass over the boiler jacket when n
sr, ayetneu Hhe old girl had gone crazy.
nfre was no checking OF speed but in
s., tne whistle bell beside me vi
pilcation of hand brakes i'm response 10
'.n' .ne engineers nervous jerks OF the
whlstlecord. Evidently the man had
lost MS air, which had been turned
from automatic" 10 straight" on All |
.ne ~ lars before leaving Blossburg that |
possiole leakage might not set the |
brakes. and Ii seened that my period of |
rest IN common with that of tho ,,sst |
OF the train crew would ONLY he dis |
turbed by Gabrie's trumpet ON eihe |
Judgment day. A few seconds of delhi |
Grafton served TO convince me I would |
: STAND as much chance for my life Where |
= was as inside the cab. and. acting on |
snns , uecislon, j hung doggedly To the
'iahu ran with one hand while with the
other l passed the waste mechanicaIlv
over the shiverlng sides OF an engine |
whose momenEary transformation from !
u powerful mechanism To "A heap ~ |
useless !, scrap iron seemed imminent.
Wy nina was busy footing up NV
great and small. and ad-
"l1tsu ~ no thought OF physical fatigue.
dlu not dread what seemed To he tho
Inevitable result. the novelty OF the stt-
iation throwing ME I'm a sort OF trance. |
looking into the cab | could sae tho |
engineer sitting pale ana inert with
apparently no idea or what he should |
~. ~ was roo late for me to render
lsslslaiice, and looked back at the |
RAIN Ihere | saw the three brake
nen stretched out on the TONS ~ as
many cars holding To the running doars1
'lun death grip. The conductor was
edteu IN the cupola of the cab strain
nS AT the brake IN n useless attenpt
. check the speed. His prophecy of
isaster voiced when he saw the man
hat was 10 pull the train was about
D be fulfilled.
a swing and lurch and we struck ,,
hyilne bridge. a Tong reverse curve | ,
Testle over zoo feet in length The
-ructure Swayed until IL seemed MANY |
lcnes out or line. ami how II stood the !
lormous strain Of the engine held the
ach no theory could ever make plan ;
me. we passed safely over and with
creased speed roarei past the rock J.
IL on the other side OF the guIrh. III :
ould De useless 10 attempt To de- =
'ffDe the details of that ride: IL was =
e fuSh on an avalanche holding i'm It's | y
nbrace half "A dozen lives Half a
zen! Aye more, for we had orders =,
meet another freight at Builder amd II
Hess they left Helena long before orr U
'parture from Blosburg our terrific v
IN would bring us to the meeting =
mt long before the opposing train a.
as on the side track. and If the opep ~
or Az Butler had neglected to SET tho -
fety switch that crew as well might N
s. INTO eternity. Eagerly ! watched ~
ead Tor the Butlcr seTna phore AMI 81
len IT came in sight little distance 'e
wh the mountain / felt IL was all up
IN US without question. as the warn,
arm stood al danger and I could ~
train pulling slowly toward the
lcon. Seeing the safety switch was
set, l frantically motioned the en-
leer 10 renew his whistle signals r.,
Al the operator might still turp u
? bar which would at least save the
rs OF those innocently running into
niger. Our eng neer could see Rhc
II ana the train crew also under 4.
od from the whistles what was I'm -
re Tor them. AS one man-,pa- all b-.- &c
scanning the rocky slopes OF the ro
OK, endeaNoring TO find some snot TO
I enough To warrant n nying lean a.
n an accompaniment of broken Wv
les we struck a straight line a few
ldred yards west OF Butler with an
Iy man still at his post the nature ed
ne ground not being sufficiently in u.
HS ior IoIty tumbling. AMI coukj =
n see the other train was "in ia fal
lr on the side track with nothing sti
)bstruct our progress the crew Of NJ,
side-tracked train scuttling ont ~ an
right-of-way To avoid possible Nv m,
fragments. Smoke and flame eyas tu,
ring from dozen axle boxes along
train, lending the added danger ~ rio
'oken journal and derailment 10 the 90,
a1y existing probability of iunp tiv,
the track. The guides OF the lSi. I'm ,ha
n view from my perch on the run- NO,
: board were blue from friction has
the air was filled with the odor OF m
ling oil from thu various overheat- :.
bearings The next point where fan
ble awaited us was the crossing OF nar
Montana Central Railroad whore ,as
e. laws ana the rules OF the road nub
PEELED all trains to stop before ar
uring over the other tracks. ann
x all had become hardened 10 dam ~ !
by this time. and were sprculating
ur chances FOR cutting the train of
'al road I'm two.
re enough. a train was about To
over I'm our face and eyes, when it's
a..