El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-29
ACROSS CONTINENT
So As 10 Reach the Transa,-
Iantic Steamer and Get
10 londen Janu-
ary Fifth.

NEW YORK, Dec. 29-At IL o'clock
this morning there ended in this city
one fthe fastest and most exciting
runs over the New York Central that
was ever made over any railroad in the
world,
The Boston and Chicago special. pull
ed by engine 999. was the train that
made the run. 1t is due to leave Chi
cago for the east at 10:30 a. M, but was
held in Chicago yesterday half an hour
in order to make connections with a
train from San Francisco, having On
boaro some important document which
the New Zealand government which
were being hurried through in order to
reach London on January 5th.,
N order that the document should
reach London at the time desired it
must be taken from New York to that
city on the Cunard line steamer Cam
pania, which was due to leave New
York at noon today. The Boston and
Chicago special was ordered upon re-
quest of the British ambassador. to
wait at Chicago for the mail from San
Francisco IN order to take on board the
New Zealand mail and then to make
every effort to reach New York by the
time the steamer started.
The special is due to arrive in this
city at 1.30 p. m, if it leaves Chicago
at 1O:30. 1t having been held at Chi
cago half an hour to take on the west
ern mail would make it due in New
York at 2 O'Clock. The Cunard people
agreed to hold the Campania half an
hour after starting time noon, and then
that if the train should arrive in a
few minutes after the departure of the
steamer a tug might take the import
ant documents on board and overtake
it.
To facilitate the transfer of the doc
uments at this city from the train to
the steamer the postal authorities ar
ranged to have a special cart with fast
est horses, at the Grand Central station
to receive The documents and dash
through Forty-second street to the foot
OF Fort1eth and there make connec-
tions with the steamer. 1t was thought
tnat the train could not possibly reach
the Grand Central station before IL
o'clock. and the surprise of the people
in this city interested in the affair may
Le imagined when the Boston and Chi
cago special pulled up to the station at
IL o'clock
Trainmen tell the story as follows:
When the western mail arrived in
Chicago the portion to be taken ON
east including the Ne wZealand docu-
ments. was hurriedly transferred,
the conductor shouted, "An aboard"
there was puff from the engine al
ready half an hour behind time, a
groaning of the axletrees, a slip of the
engine wheels, sanding of the track,
and away went the special on its spe-
cial order run. The conductor passed
through the cars and told the passen-
gers not to be excited if the telegraph
poles seemed to have been set thick
enough to make a garden rake, or if
the train jumped across the curves and
seemed to have left the rails and was
flying. as orders ha dbeen received to
deliver some of Her Majesty Queen
Vic's mail in New York at time about
two hours sooner than they would 9TH
erwise have arrived in the city, and the
engineer had said he was going to
please her majesty with the safe de-
livery of the mail she was so anxious
to get or "bust a ham string"
No stops were made except at the
largest cities. there was no waiting for
poke-easy travellers to check their bag
gage, no stopping to oil, to blow out,
or screw up loose nuts. but licketysplit
went the special, through country and
town, with orders ahead to
clear the track for the United States
Continued on Fourth Page.)