El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-21

J Pecos lines as well as the Amarillo
! branch of the Santa Fe.
At any rate the Santa Fe officials
have gone to the Pecos Valley coun-
try on business and that probably con-
nected with the Pecos Valley road IL
is alleged that the Pecos Valley road
Is on the market and that either the
Choctaw. Oklahoma and Gulf or the
Santa Fe will get it. and the odds are
on the Santa Fe.
The officers of the Santa F'e have
not gone to Roswell for nothing" said
a local official today. "and | predict
they are after the Pecos Valley road.
IMPRESSIONS OF A PIANO FROM A
RAILROAD MANS STANDPOINT.
/ Il was lettering around the streets
last night" said Jim Nelson. one OF the
old locomotive engineers running into
| New Orleans to a TimeS-DemOcrat
man. And as | had nothing to do l
dropped into a concert and. heard
sleek looking Frenchman play a piano
in way that made me feel all over in
spots As soon as he sat down on the
stool | knew he understood the ma
chine he was running. He tapped the
keys away to one end as If they were
| guages. and he wanted to- see IL he had
| water enough. Then he looked up as
| IL he wanted to- know how much steam
| he was carrying. and the next moment
he pulled open the throttle and sailed
on to- the main line as If he were half
an hour late You could hear her
| thunder over culverts and bridges. and
getting faster and faster. until the fell
low rocked about in his seat like
cradle Somehow I thought it was old
| SO pulling a passenger train and get
| ting out of the way OF special. The
old fellow worked a few keys on the
middle division like lightning. and then
he flew along the north end of the line
until the drivers went around like
buzz saw. and I got excited.
About the time | was fixing to tell
him to cut her off a little he kicked the
hampers under the machine wide open
pulled the throttle way back in the
fender and how he did run, / couldn't
stand IL any longer. and yelled 10 MN
that he was pounding on the left side,
and III he wasn't careful he'd drop his
ash pan. But he didn't hear. No one
heard me- Everything was flying and
whizzing. Telegraph poles on the side
of the track looked like row OF corn
stalks. the trees appeared to- be mud
bank. and all the time the exhaust OF
the old machine sounded like the hum
of bumblebee. I tried to yell out.
hut nv tongue wouldn't move. He
went around curves like a bullet. slip
ped an eccentric blew out his soft
plug went down grades at fifty feet to
the mile and not a controlling brake
set. She went by the meeting point at
a mile and half a minute. and calling
for more steam NY hair stood up
straight because I knew the game was
up. Sure enough. dead ahead of us was
the special In a daze | heard the
crash as they struck. and | saw cars
shivered into atoms. people smashed
and mangled and bleeding and gasping
for water. | heard another crash as
the rench professor struck the deep
KEYS away down on the lower end OF
the southern division and then / came
to nv senses. There he was at dead
StandstiI1. with the door of the fire box
of the machine open. wiping the per-
spiration off his face and bowling to
the people before him. If / live to be
a thousand years old I'll never forget
the ride that Frenchman gave me on
n piano"
SPARKS FROM THE ENGINE.
G. A. LaRocque. a fireman OF the G..
/, H.. deadheaded in from Valentine this
morning. He is sick and not able to
work.
Mr.. Uren. an employee of the South
ern Pacific at Sacramento. returned
west this morning after short visit
in FL Paso.
I'D III =
this morning having in charge a dozen |
Mexican laborers for the work of wide |
ming the gauge of the A. & y. NJ. rail- |
road.
Passenger traffic on the Santa Fe is |
said to be so heavy at the present time |
that il cannot be conveniently hand |
led with the motive power the COM
pany has on hand.
A buggy whip drummer's case was |
put on the west bound passenger train
on the S. p. this morning. 1t is cone
shaped leather case about seven feet |
long AS il was being taken to the |
baggage car on "A truck a bystander /
bawled ont Gosh. what a Mexican |
hat.
Sam Galladay. yard foreman OF the |
G. H.. has already put in his claim for |
a day OF on Thanksgiving day and has /
had il granted. Sam no wgoes about |
lbs work smacking his lips over that |
vouring on that day. not to mention |
what will accompany il.
w II. Watson. switchman of the |
G.. H.. received yesterday about noon |
a telegram announcing that his wife |
was dying in Los Angeles. He left for |
that place this morning. Los Angeles |
is their home and he has only been |
here about ten days.
w. G.. Crush and his wife and moth |
er came in from Dallas last night on |
the +. * +. and left over the $. p. this |
morning for St. Helena. California. Mr.. |
Crush is general passenger and ticket |
agent for the VI. X. & T. in Texas and |