Evening star., 1901-05-17
Engineer of "A Fast Freight Describes
the Queer Collision.

From the New York SUP.
"One pitchy dark night early last sum-
mer," said the fat engineer, wiping his
long-necked oil can with a piece of waste
i was coming east with a fast freight. AS
we were approaching the top OF Pecano
| Hill noticed some kind OF a light moving
way UP In the sky. First thought II was q
new star, but as the sky was all beclouded
and could see no other stars / concluded
that l was mistaken. The light seemed to
be descending, but as we pitched over the
top of the hill l dismissed the matter from
my mind. having more important matters
to attend to.
The further along We got the darkness
and fog seemed to thicken L was a little
bit skittish about going down the hill with
that heavy train such night, and as the
train dropped over the top of the decline
soaked the air on little. to ease em off.
Then / thought 1t was use slowing up;
If 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 position again and let the
cars behind ME set the pace.
After we got about mile down the
grade We were going clip that would
make the Empire State Express look like
a dingy old stage coach in comparison.
Then l got cold feet once more and
thought it was up to me to jack 'em up
again. Accordingly, ! put the air over In
the service position, but, b'thunder it had
d
thimble of whisky a kentucky colonel
They just kept on coming and showing my
Mother Hubbard engine along ahead OF
EN- at about seventy-mile-an-hour pace.
l reached up for the whistle rope TO pass
a tip to the train crew in the dog house
that they'd better get out and twist up @
few brake wheels, when, ca-smash! we
went into something.
Some darned kind Of rubbery blanket
enyeloped my cheese-boX cab and came
down over the windows, just as if some
one had lassoed us with a big rubber bag.
| made frantic jerk at the whistle valve
but, instead of the sonorous sound 1t
usually handed of. the noise it gave out
then was like the Shrek OF a penny horn.
You couldn't hear 1t for q car length. I
slammed the air over into the emergency
notch, but L had kept it on so long for a
service application that the pressure was
all out Of the train pipe, and it was like
throwing straws under the car wheels.
There was nothing doing with the air.
Il was getting mighty scared, because
didn't know what kind of a game we'd
butted into. The rubber covering had set
tied down over the cab windows and was
shutting off the outside atmosphere from
me that / could hardly breathe. and
surely thought / would suffocate unless
got relief somehow. No one on the train
not even my fireman. knew what dire
straits l was IN. I made several inefrec-
tual attempts to get out OF the cab, but the
rubber blanket had me completely cut of.
Il tried the whistle again, but IL was
smothered so by it's covering that it hardly
gave forth any sound at all. 1 had about
given up hope when heard the pop valve
on the dome commence to blow off steam.
At first this added greatly to my discom-
fort, but / realized that my only hope
would be in having the safety valve blow
or 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 1t took with Il q
large section Of the cab roof. 1 was pretty
nearly exhausted, but I MANAGED to re-
verse the engine and call for brakes With
the assistance OF the brakemen the train
was brought speedily under control and
stopped. We made an investigation, but
it was 50 dark we could not find out what
had hit the cab and clung so tightly to it.
I'm reading the newspaper advertise
ments the next morning I saw an adver-
tisement which stated that the proprietors
of a big wagon circus would pay a liberal
reward for information concerning their
balloon, which had been lost, strayed or
stolen from a little village In the vicinity
of which had my queer experience the
night before. Their swell parachute jumper
had let the balloon get away from him. 1t
flashed through my mind right away that
1t must have been the descending balloon
saw the battered remains Of a big balloon
lying at the foot OF the embankment where
1t had been loosened from the cab.'