Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-11-13
the rattle of coal and Bob Duncan, the

His face was as white as q sheet.
shut her down-shut her down, for
heavens saker' he shoused. "a
freights broke loose and Is coming
down the grade two miles a minutew
Before you could snap your fingers
my face was as pale as Bobs.
Matt Irwin never lost his head and
with coolness that comes to few men
In time of danger he asi ed, How do
you know"
"Seen her by flash Of lightning.
O'Connor and Billy have jumped"
And then he swung out on the step
and disappeared
Jump If you want to, Harry" called
old Matt. I'm going to stick to her."
gave one look at the Egyptian dark
ness and concluded that | would stay
with old Matt.
Keep your eye peeled for her." he
cried, and commenced to let 67 out.
'There she isr' l shouted.
And there 1t was, sure enough. 1t
had just come out of a cut. One Of
he boxes was on fire, the flame stream
ing back half car length and cutting
through the air like a meteor.
shes four miles behind" said old
Matt, ''and coming four feet to our one.
If We can get around the curve there's
a show Of her jumping"
And then began that terrible ride.
He hooked 67 up to the first notch
and then opened the throttle.
With seven cars behind us we shot
down the grade of 175 feet to the mile.
Sixty-seven set low in her frame, but
every low joint rung her bell for an
eighth Of a mile. She jumped and sway
ed and threatened to leave the rails.
thousand demons, and the rain poured
against the windows In perfect
stream.
"Theres danger ahead and death be-
hind! shouted the old engineer. "If the
rain loosens a bowlder and drops it on
the track
1 shuddered. There was a blasted
pine that marked the curve. The next
second we reached 1t. For n moment l
thought 1t was all over. Then 81 right
ed. There was sharp jerk. We forg-
ed ahead faster, and our seven cars
cleared the roadbed and went down
the bluff with crash that was heard
high above the storm, leaving a clean
track for the runaway behind that was
coming as swift and sure as death.
If the runaway got around the curve.
the probabilities were that we would
be knocked from the track into the riv-
er.
We were very near to the bottom
now, where the roadbed followed the
river, and the engineers were cautioned
not to run over fifteen miles per hour.
But orders were not respected that
night. We were making thirty miles
per hour when a fash of lightning
showed me that dark string of cars
coming around the curve. The blazing
box was on the opposite side and invis-
ible.
Old Matt gave 67 the steam so sud-
denly she seemed to jump from under
US, but the runaway was not more
than half mile behind and was COM
ing with the speed Of tornado.
There was no getting out Of the way.
III iloiiieht IL Nouiu De oh uo. 4 I'LL
agined l could see the black mass COM
ing down on us In the darkness, when
heavy rumble was heard, followed
by tremendous crash.
The rain had loosened the rock and
dirt overhanging the track and it only
needed the jar of 67 to set It in motion.
Something like 1000 tons of debris
rolled on to the track directly behind
us, and into this those runaway cars
plunged.
But we did not find this out until aft
erward. Matt kept 81 up to what was
tremendous speed on that track.
She plunged and rolled and rang her
bell continuously. A dozen times l
thought we We're going into the river.
We pulled through all right, but that
was my last trip. When l got off the
engine, my hair was streaked with gray
and now II is white as snow.
For some time 1t was thought that
the runaway cars had broken loose, but
the company became suspicious and
had the case looked into, with the re-
suit of running down some tough char
acters, who finally confessed to cutting
them loose with the intention Of ditch
ing us between Haversack grade and
the bottom and securing the treasure.
Old Matt has retired from the road,
but 1 do not think that either he or l
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