Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-10
ON THE ELEVATED.

tiff ran q limited express from New York to Chicago" said the elevated road engineer sarcasticaIiy, I suppose the experience picked up on the way would be worth recording; but simply because slide up and down town on q small engine most people think there is nothing lively in my doings. We'll, if you think so, let me tell you about a few narrow escapes that the public never knew about. It is only the ac- cidents that get in the papers. The disasters ayerted is seldom heard of, and of course the railroad company isn't going to advertise it.
 Some little time ago I was running one of the morning expresses on the Ninth avenue line; it had been a cold snap, and the tracks were slippery with ice, but about daylight fog swept in from the ocean and envel- oped the whole lower part of the city in a thick blanket of white. My train ran into it just below Fifty ninth street. Now a dense fog is the worst thing an elevated engineer can encoun- ter, and when ran into this one re- duced the speed of the engine, but 1 was going down grade, and the head way of the train was sufficient to carry me along at a lively clip in spite of brakes. I hadn't been in that fog two minutes when I saw that something was wrong. What it was I couldn't imagine; rather divined 1t than saw it. I simply brought my train to a fa y7 1T too soon, either. When the engine came to full stop her nose was poked right up against the last car of the express that had preceded me ten minutes before.
 ssWhy wasn't I signa1ed to stop? I. do not know. The man at the switch house said he did try to stop my train, and had nearly gone crazy when he found that he had failed. He expected every minute to hear of q frightful collision and the loss of scores of lives. Of course the passengers knew nothing about it. They thought had stopped on signal, and contentedIy read their papers until the express ahead was re- paired and ready to move again.
 The curves are always source of danger, and yet, strange to say, not an engine or train has ever leaped the track at any of these sharp turns. In fact, everybody goes around these curves twice a day, and never thinks of the danger. Well, I have been around those curves when 1 held my breath. Once, in coming down with m express found the track below Fifty-ninth street blocked with signals and was supposed to stop. When attempted to put on the brakes found they wouldn't work. 1 whistled for the hand-brakes. But the grade is quite sharp there, and the track was slippery. I felt that we would be pushed around the curve or off on q switch ill spite of all we could do. There was little time to think or act. whistled loudly to the signal-tower ahead, but the stupid switchman could not get it into his head that 1 was in trouble. We simply slid down the grade, and when the engine struck the curve it bounded and bumped until I thought q, dozen times We were off the track The first car struck the switch with such force that she nearly broke the chains which strengthen the springs. Then she isqueaked and rush. ed around the curve without harm; but that time knew everything was safe except the last car. That always whips around curve like the tail end of q string of youngsters playing the game of snap-the-whip. From the en- zine window watched it lurch for ward, lean far over on one side, and then right itself and go on the other way. But it finally landed all right on the trucks. and followed the rest of the train obediently. That experience, I say, was as thrilling as any that your engineers on an overland express ever had.-New York Sun.