The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-15
CHASED FLYING DYNAMITE.
A LOCOMOTIVES THRILLING rim
DOM a MOUNTAIN.

Two Runaway Cars Were Ahead and Were
Threatening Destruction to an Excur-
sion Train - An Engineers Careless.
ness That NJ ldo n Hero of Him.
sLLrIDeE- Jan. i1.-John 8. Hinton made his
Iart trip rs an en- Gineer last week. after more
than forty years service on a half dozen rail-
Ways Of the East aud West. The last trip was
made at the th,rottle OF a locomotive pulling
the through fly er between New York. Chicago,
Denver. salt Lake and San francisco, and
when the ems inc was run into the roundhouse
Hinton @ 3mr leted one OF the most remarkable
records yer made by an engineer In theUnited
states-fort y.three years In a locomotive cab
without having been In a railway wreck that
cost y lf'.
What was my most thrilling experience
during he forty-three years 1 have been on
the gCa d3' reueatcd Hinton us the question
was a ~ ed him. We'll. that Is not a hard uues.
ton e, answer. as the experience resulted In
g.yirP me possession of the snug little ranch
W Nsar Greeley where l intend TO spend the
RESI- Of my DAYS"
Ae told the story. bat suppressed the nUme
Of the railroad. saying that the company had
sE ~ by him many years and he did not wish
~ give It a black eye.
In the '7O's.' said Hinton. Il was running
IAN engine on the old Southern Minnesota road.
now a part o; tho Chicago. Milwaukee and 81.
Paul system. The line had been built from La
Crosse, Wis. west 10 miles through the Souih-
ern tier OF counties in Minnesota by the late
Col. c. W. Thompson us a land-grant road. Az
ter Col Thompson had received several hun
drad thousand acres of the finest landsin the
West for the construction OF the line. the COM
pany passed into the receivership stage. the
receiver being W. c.. McIlrath of st. Paul. Nc
Ilrath undertook to meet the requirements OF
the court In the payment of claims. and in ex-
ercisinG the necessary economy failed to pay
the wages OF employees for four or five months. |
The result was an agreement to strike. and
one morning not ar engine was run out of a
rouudhouse the entire length of the line. l
was at ramsey Junction when a message came |
signed by the receiver. asking where my en- |
CINE was. 1 was pert in those DAYS. and sent
what | thought was a funny answers: In the
roundhouse waiting for back pay McIlrath
did not appreciate the humor OF the answer.
and the next day when he had scrared to-
gether money enough to pay Off the boys my
envelo pe contained the amount due me to date, |
and another man went out on my run. But
that is another story. and this is only intended |
70 how show 1 happened to come West and get
TANGLED up with running on these Western
roads.
when l came West I go: a Job Of firing on
the II. L. and X. road. and II you know any
thing about mountain roads you know that 1t I
Is the toughest road in the country-not t1y,
rods OF straight track in the whole 900 rifles
OF right Of way. and not a foot that has not n
grade and a stiff one at that. Well. ! Gent an
old fashioned camelback warm on that road
for three years. and then got a frei xht run.
held this down until transferred. to pusher
on Big Hill. Big Hill is onl.s twelve miles
long, but 1t has a grade aver . ging 40 feet to
the mlIe' ana the principal part OF the grade is
IN spots. Six loaded ca r., made a train IN
this hill and this train = ,-.I-,
and pushed up the r,ade by two engines.
My engine was stat oaed permanently on the
hill and its duty W A., to couple to the back end
OF one OF these tr Ans and helm 1t up the grade.
ABOUT three ro ard trips made a days work.
DO y3u ,5 5ee ION ~ V as a COED deal Of a snap.
toned ther . At the foot Of the grade was
hlg side' track system used for breaking mp
trails b fore sending them up the grade in
aS % ned mining, town, named .Campton;
mere SnS a set Of side tracks and switches and
me G.sused telegraph office was occupied BY a
n mi legged pensioner OF the COMPANY. q flag
n .hes further down the line was Mountain
: Frings. now one of the foremost summer re-
Sorts in the mountains, and even twenty years
,srs; explain all, this so that you will readily
underst9nd what happened.
! mad been showing trains qp Big Hill two
'ence that turned my hair white in zen min
utes and gave me a life Job and the best run
'9h me road. And it came about through a
'dla@6edienre Of orders, too.
The management Of the road was always
AFRAID OF an. accident on the hill through a
tram becoming unmanaReable. and in my
chb directly over the steam gauge. hung this
waning in big black type:
:.'.''''."."..".....
wARSISG.
Engineers of Pishors Are Warned That
Ihhrl 30 Conditions Must an Engine BE
L.ncolplod from a Train That Is Not in
Motion. Disregard of this order means
INSTANT ntsCIARGE.