The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-10-28

did yery
All right" answered. "all you have to
do is to stay where you are few minutes
and there'u be another train along. linen
maybe you won't have the same story 10
tell
lone day 1t seemed to me that I must
really have hit a group consisting of a
woman and four children. There they
were, right in the center OF the rails. ana
the train was rushing ahead az TOP speed.
You can imagine how / hustled TO slow
down and stop, shutting OF steam, applying
the air-brakes; sanding the rails ana sounu-
ing the whistle IL I'd had SIX hands 4
could have had use for them all, so nucn
was there to be done, and IL all had TO De
done so quickly
First the woman dragged a couple of the
children on to one side of the rails ana then
getting the last one out OF danger the otn-
ers started back again. But in some man
ner all eventually escaped Would you De-
heve IT. That woman gave me the severest
tongue-lashing ever delivered by woman S
lips-because had whistled too much she
said had confused the little ones by dow
ing the whistle SO long"
The highest speed he had ever attained
was a mile in forty seconds, on the news
paper train going east. On this occasion
sixty-two miles were made In .nfty-Iour
minutes.
THE first person killed by my engine
was woman twenty-one years of age. L
have never entirely recovered from the
shock II gave me. 1t was learned from a
THE second fatal accident was to :. a
drunken man. This case was exceptionally
distressing from the fact that the locomo-
tive was brought TO a standstill before il
body
MIR. Potter told number of amusing
incidents, among them the question or a
sea captain who had ri 4. the bowsprit OF
his vessel across a closed drawbridge and
when the engine was brought to a stop
by 1t called out gruffiy TO the engineer:
ing TOP WELL" Mr.. Potter answered.
Its hard to say, just as things look now.
but started for Hartford"
Once bull was encountered on the track,
head down, tail erect, evidently ready Tor
business. The train had to be stopped.
Then the question was who would go out
and drive the animal off. No one, neither
conductor fireman nor brakeman, coveted
the undertaking, which finally was accom-
plished by jet Of steam.
Mr.. Potter cautioned his hearers from
taking risks in crossing before moving
trains. The foolhardiness of doing so be-
fore a limited express, he said. would be
readily perceived when ii is considered
that a train travelling at the rate of n
mile minute covers lightweight feet
second.
'It seems absurd to speak of being kicked
by a dead horse. Yet i came within an
ace of having that experience. 1t hap
pened at crossing where my engine
struck and killed pair OF horses attached
to a wagon. The vehicle, except the pole,
was uninjured, and the driver received no
bodily harm. The animals were cut In
pieces almost, and part of the hind leg
Of one of them with the iron-shod hoof
shot through the cab window and lew
within inch of my head
II found the driver and owner of the
dead horses In daze seated in the wagon.
Terrible thing, wasn't it,? he said TO me.
i agreed with him. Sure enough it proved
TO be a terrible thing, as l understood
that he went insane not long time after
ward"