Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-04-25
A QUEER COLLISION.
1T. THREW A VIGOROUS SCARE INToI
THE FAT ENGINEER.

He Didn't Know Until the Next Day
What Kind of a Clinging Game He
and His Fast Freight Train Had
Butted Into During the Foggy
Night.
zone pitchy dark night early last
summer" said the fat engineer, wiping
his long necked oil can with a piece Of
waste, 81 was coming east with a fast
freight. AS we were approaching the
top Of .Pecano hill 1 noticed some kind
of a light moving way up in the sky.
First thought it was a new star, but
as the sky was all beclouded and I
could see no other stars 1 concluded
that l was mistaken. The light SEEM
ed to be descending, but as we pitched
over the top of he hill l dismissed the
matter from my mind, having more i'm
portant matters to attend to.
THE farther along we got the dark
ness and fog seemed to thicken. 1
was a little bit skittish about going
down the hill with that heavy train
such a night, and as the train dropped
Yer the top of the decline 1 soaked
the air on a little to ease 'em off. Then
l thought it vas no use slowing up.
If l didn't make time with the fast
freight. they'd take me off and put me
on the pick up again. So l put the air.
brake handle back in running posi-
ton again and let the cars behind me
set the pace.
After we got about a mile down
the grade we We're going a clip that
would make the Empire State express
look like a dingy old stagecoach in
comparison. Then l got cold feet
once more and thought it was up to
me to jack 'em up again. According
ly | put the air over in the service
position; but, by thunder, it had no
more effect on those flying cars thar
a thimble of whisky on a Kentucky
colonel. They just kept on coming
and showing my Mother Hubbard en-
CINE along ahead of 'em at about a 70
mile an hour pace. 1 reached up for
the Whistle rope to pass a tip to the
train crew in the doghouse that they'd
better get out and twist up a few
brake wheels, when ca-smash we went
into something.
Some darned kind Of q rubbery
blanket enveloped my cheese box cab
n came down over the windows, lust
as If some one had lassoed us with a
big rubber bag. l made a frantic Jerk
at the whistle valve, but instead Of
the sonorous sound it usually handed
OF the noise it gave out her was like
the shrek Of a penny horn. You
couldn't hear it for a car length. I
slammed the air over into the emer-
gency notch, but l had kept it on so
long for a service application that the
pressure was all out of the train pipe,
and 1t was like throwing straws under
the car wheels. There was nothing
doing with the air.
i was getting mighty scared because
l didn't know what kind Of a game
we'd butted into. The rubber covering
had settled down over the cab windows
and was shutting off the outside atmos-
phere from me so that I could hardly
breathe, and l surely thought I would
suffocate unless l got relief somehow.
NO one on the train, not even nv fire
man, knew what dire straits | was in.
made several Intellectual attempts to
get out of the cab, but the rubber blan-
ket had ME completely cut off.
II tried the whistle again, but it was
smothered so by it's covering that it
hardly gave forth any sound at all.
mad about given up hope when l heard
tho NON va ~, t1~ H..
to blow off steam. At first this added
greatly to my discomfort, but 1 realized
that my only hope would be in having
the safety valve blow off steam with
sufficient pressure to lift the rubber
covering.
After two or three minutes had
elapsed, during which time steam had
been blowing off steadily with a heavy
pressure, the rubber bag began to lift
and finally tore itself away, although it
took with it a large section Of the cab
roof. l was pretty nearly exhausted,
but | managed to reverse the engine
and call for brakes. With the assist
ance of the brakemen the train was
brought speedily under control and
stopped. We made an investigation,
but it was so dark we could not find
out what had hit the cab and chung so
tightly to it.
In reading the newspaper advertise
ments the next morning l saw an adj
vertisement which stated that the pro-
prietors of a big wagon circus would
pay a liberal reward for information
concerning their balloon, which had
been lost, strayed or stolen from a lit
tie village in the vicinity of which l
had my queer experience the night be-
fore. Their swell parachute jumper
had let the balloon get away from him.
1t flashed through by mind right away
that it must have been the descending
balloon | had u into, and on my next
trip out | saw the battered remains of
a big balloon lying at the foot Of the
embankment where it had been loosen
ed from the cab."-New York Sun.
NV