The daily Republican., 1902-12-23
The Jaguar
Special
BY PAUL r. BULLApD.

CTRANGE affairs happen rpon the
y solitary railroad Of Spanish Hon.
puras. H"ld-ups, collisions and run
renee on its 50 miles Of length but its
most extraordinary incident was that
in which George Powers took part
1t was in the dry season. when the
banana plants were weighted with
| their lunches Of green fruit, ready for
cutting.
zone day'-as Powers tells the st tory
| the fruit steamer Ereakwater an
| chored Unexpectedly in the Ollpg OF
our Caribbean sea harbor of Porto
there WAS hoisted at her masthead the
signal inGicatn Fruit ready for a
quick cargo And when the ship had
reached the dock fruit train was be-
ing made up,
"Then We learned that the Break
water was expected TO sail for New
Orleans with cargo Of bananas early
the next morning. Extraordinary ef-
forts must be made to load her with
suitable shipment in less than a
days time TO hurry was decidedly
untropical bnt the bonus given by the
railroad officials was as oil to lubricate
the machinery of the transportation
Department. and / was handed these
orders:
Engineer Powers Will take engine No 1S,
Y..tf ,1r tTp, 4 mi
best speed TO La PimieEta; load cargo Of
bananas; return to San Pedro. load fruit
there. Report at this office after the run.
ard not later than ten p. m. to-day.
(SigneD COLVlLI.E (Supt. of Trans).
"Such an order meant hurry My
fireman oiled 10. the only locomotive
availab BILE, and the yardmen made up
the train. BY noon we were started
There was work enough ahead to keep
us all out of mischief for the next ten
hours. TO cover round trip of 100
miles. load IS cars with bananas and
pull them into Porto Cortez within
ten hours would be the record for
speed upon the Honduras railroad.
$50 old 13, with throttle wide open.
was soon putting up the rough road
bed to La pimicnta at an unaccus-
toned pace. The telegraph line was
equally busy, and when we ran past
San Pedro the ox-cars were already
unloading their nine and tcn-hand
punches alongside the track in readi-
ness for our return. Between four and
five o'clock we whistled for La Pimi-
enta. the terminus.
'hTbcre the station agent had gang
of 'loaders' ready, and before the
train had quite stopped the green
punches wrpc being passed to the load
ers III the cars. In an incredibly short
space Of time the bananas rose. tier
upon tier, to a heavy load; and all the
time my fireman fed the sticks of soft
pine to our roaring fire box. for we
should need n good head Of steam to
get back to San Pedro in season. The
agent sarcasticalIy asked me: is the
engine good for the heavy pull with
out a breakdown" and | replied:
"Numbcr IS is about to surprise every
body by a record trip And So we did,
both because of and in spite Of an un-
precedcptcd adventure.
''At six o'clock we had loaded all the
fruit in sight and Whi>tling for open
brakes we started frr San Pedro.
The down grade helped IL, materially.
Tn less than an hour we had covered
the distance and were taking the fruit
aboard from our last stop.
"Dclay began here. There were few
men to load the fruit and the handling
of ii was slow: every bunch was thor
oughly inspected by the leaders lest
they should grasp tarantuIaNGr ling
among the bananas. Bat at eight
o'clock the train was loaded. the
pitchpinC headlight was lighted, the
throttle opened aud the whistle
shrieliad It's farewell to San Pedro.
1.-TWO hours only were left in which
10 make the run in schedule time over
35 mios of rolling country nld with a
weight Of Is heavily loaded ears. The
'passcngcr.' with her Iiolt freight
was allowed four hours for the same
run. The darkness waS intense. and
the vibration of The train soon became
so great that the headlight was shak-
en- into a mere Sputtcring. and at
lurch went cut. The front uf the en-
Gine became the limit Of my vision.
"rhr white mile markers were
passed 50 quickly that my fireman
lost his count. and we could not tell
where we were. But No. 12 was doing
her best. Net valve had blown out
nor Il rod broken. oar clattcriug over
the track was varied only by the
frantic >qn"aIin@" Of - fine, fat pig,
sent by lie agcr' al La Pimicnta tot
captain Of the l.reHlWairr as a deli
cacy for his table. Piggy continually
squraled from is berth in an open
fruit car.
''In one place a large limb extended
from tree ont over the track. just
high "nongh TO clear the stacks of
the passing engines. The pig seemed
to scream more loudly than before and
we heard new sound
"'What was that?' asked INV
startled fireman, Did you hear that
cra>lI?'
"'Oh. never mind, Give me mcre
steam replied, for kncw we must
be nearing u steep grade. | blew tho
signals TO release the brakes. bat
without avail.
"ln minute we struck She hiI'. 1t
wa II hard ono to climb. and the en-
einr puiIed 50 louGly that did not ne
ticc the cessation Of the pigs .uucals.
Slowly but surely W. were coming to
q standstill. The brakes still seemed
set. again blew the ienal for their
release. but the trajn came suddenly
TO an irrc%onet top. although making
hcrcnlcan efforts to keep going.
"The ~incItnc had but begun. To
start the trNiN Mas inuns Aihle