The sun., 1901-03-31
TRAIN HIT 4 BILLION.
The Fat Engineer OF Fast Frcigh. Describes
the Oueer Collision.

One pitchy. dark night enrly last summer q"
said th" fat engineer, wipng his long-necked
oil can with piece of waste Il was coming
east with n fast freight As W. were ap-
rroachine the top Of Pacano Hill noticed
some kind of a light moving wav uu in the
sky First thought II was new star. but
as the sky was all beclouded and colll see
no other stars, | concuiad That | was mis-
taken The light seemed 70 be descending
but nS we pitched over the top Of the nil
dismissed the matter from my mind, having
more important matters to attend -
The further along We got the darkness
and tog seemed to thickcn | was little
'it Skittish abou, going down IN" hill with
that heavy train such a night and a. the train
dropped over the top OF the decline | soaked
the air ON "A lt,l,. 10 ease 'cm on Then
thought is was no usr slowing up. If didn' I
make time with the fast freight rhey'd take
ne Of aud put m" on the pickup again SO
] put the mir brake handle back in running
position again and lot the cars behind me
set ihc pace
After "" got about a mile down the grad"
we were gong a clip that would make ~"
Empire stat" F press look Ike diug} Old
stage coach D. comparison Then ! GO
cold feet once more and thought . wa~
up to me 10 Jack EN- up agd,u. accordingly
| pu, the air over IA tie >"rviC" position, bu'
b'thund"r n had no more "fc.' o0 'hos"
fving cara than a thlmhl" of whiSkev on a
Kentucky Colonel They Iu~t kept on com
ing and showing my Mother Hubbard engine
along ahead Of en- at about '"v"nty-mIl"
A. hour pace / reached nr for the wh'stI"
rope 10 pas, . zip to the ira u crew in IN" dog
horse thal they q better g'' ou' and twist
Ep fcw brake wheels Nh"u 80 mash w"
went into % ncthng
some ddrned Find o.. a mulberry blanket
cnvrlopod my Chnasc-boN ,tb aud came
down over he Windows. luai Do. u some one
had lasSocd ~ wth b': rI bbcr has !
made a frap'.. Jerk az me wh.-'io valve np'
instead o' ihn splorou> -ouud h. III Ially
handed on, thc Lo>e i'-g1yr ou' then wa~ l'h
le Shrek pf penny horn Won rouldn' t
hear /, for A ear length I slammed the ar
over into the emergency notch, but mad
kept II on - long for service fnpIca'o.
that the pressure was all out Of the 'ran nip"
aud ;, wns Ike throwing straw under the car
whecs llrre wns nothing doing WITH
the air
/ was getting mighty rCared because
d.dnr know what kind Of "A game We buttcd
INTO Tho rubber covering had settled dow
over the cab windows aud Wa SGItti = Of
the ouf. 1f atirO, nero from me 80 that J
,ould hardly h-clilc .lud surely thought !
would sufuCutr ui.,,- ! sU' rei"f somehow
No one on the TRAN, not "N"l my fireman.
know what ulre straits ! va. mad" ~cy"rai
!. csrD'unl attempt, 'u get uI' of 'Le cat
hHr the ruhtor hlnuk"' htt ~" completely
.,ut oT
II tried the whistle again. but Il was smoth-
cred 50 l." It. covering thar IL hardly gnv"
forth any sound a, al ! had about gwen
rlp nope whom heard IN" pop valve on N"
dome commence to blow of steam Al first
this added greatly Ia my diScoWfori nut !
realized that my only hope would he ~ having
the safety valve blow - steam with sufilcieni
rre-slIra "a ~ the rubber covering
After Two or three wlultc- had elapsed
during which Vine steam hrG been blowing
IN stcHdilv with q heavy r's>u-e The rubber
Ior began tu ut and lnAiIN tore itself avaN
although II took with 10 q large section of the
.,ah root ! wa. pretty nearly exhausted
bui / n 1npRod to reverse IA" eugn" and
,al FOR brake, With m" a-slsiln'" ~ me
hrpFerIrr Mo triin wt~ brought speedily
1r,l.r control and -topped "" mHG" an
fu"psrIslti, n hut . vas 40 dark We 'nnld nol
Nui onr what had hir M" 'ab and clpng 80
tightly 80 T.
an reading Tho newspaper adyor' i,"n"ntS
'he ucy' morning ! saw an advert lS"Wrhl
which stated tEat he Ur"rrl"ior- ~ q tlS
vngon circus would pa" y liberal reward Tor
information concerning lh"ir balloon "hl,h
had been lost. ~lraNed or stolen from a ll'il"
,Ul,g. IN the yi,inliv ,f which ! had my
queer eyroriencc the night h"for" Their
swell uprachuin jumper had lc' The balloon
got away from him II dashed through
NV r,ind right AWAY that ~ must h"N" cen
thc descending balloon hru r'n mo, ana
d n nv nnNt triu ont saw i'c battered r..
r'oir. If lle balloon wing a. tho foot ot
,hn cmhnnkrreut who're It haG been l"o>cned
from tho rnh