The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-30

ming away. A train under control is
noisy enough, but had worked about
the hill long enough to recognize the
horrible thunder of a runaway train.
There was No. s, just ahead, and
on the same track as the meat train.
There was Bill Morris coming up on
the other track, and 1 calculated he
would be just about alongside when
the crash would come. 1 could see
Nellies white bib fiuttering at the
cab window, where she perched on Sid
Bechman's seat while he shoveled
coal When the runaway struck No.
s / knew they might as well all be on
one track, for they would all be in it.
For a minute 1 was paralyZed.
turned COLI, and my heart seemed to
stop beating. 1 saw, in imagination,
the awful scene when the runaway
should dash into the rear Of No. s; 1
saw wrecbage piled up; I saw Mel
lie mangIed and her Aunt Ellen buried
under the broken engine, coaches and
Pullmans with a hundred other help
less men, women and children! II was
minute Of agony, and every second the
awful roar came louder and nearer!
cid Thompson, who runs one turn
on No 8 now, was my fireman, and he
DIOhG the SQEll LlldL UOulu luE~ III
gasped: Ny God! Percy, first S6!'
"Then the blood surged through me
scalding hot 'Gidr fairly screamed,
get down and open that switch. Run,
run; for Gods sake, rum Gid dropped
off as 1 spoke and ran with the speed
and energy of a mad man. But 1
thought he never would cover the
rod or so to the switch. I pulled the
whistle cord madly and that pony en-
CINE Shrieked as though il knew the
danger. Again and again l pulled,
and the pony responded with weird
notes that said it saw terrible death
staring it in the face. The wild echoes
hurtled back at me from the mountain
sides.
mo answered with hoarse bel
/ low and began to pull forward. Bill
| Morris pony shrieked reply and quit
| splitting fire on the grade. The engine
| of the runaway IS gave voice, too, to
a death wall beyond the cut, so knew
/ her driver was sticking to her, and
! knew he was coming nearer the end.
And then Gid got the switch open.
I pulled the throttle wide and flew
up on the main line still pulling that
whistle so the man ahead would
know 1 was coming. Tom Jarvis was
driving Sc that day. and for every
| shrek of the pony he sent one back
from the runaway hog. He under
stood me perfectly; that l had gone
/ in between him and No. S and was
rushing to meet him. Both of us were
down on the step when We came in
sight, each on the inside Of the curve,
ready to jump at the moment of contact
and trust to the law Of momentum
that the stuff would pile on the outer
side.
The wreckage did pile up against
that side of the cut, but there wasn't
room for all of it there 1t piled uu
everywhere. My pony was reduced to
a heap Of scrap iron, and Toms hog
mingled brasses and valves with it,
I ran across to the up track before !
was hit, and lost no trace of the pro-
ceedings. The next thing I knew Gid
was holding my head in his lap while
some one was chopping a tree as
had heard my father do when I was
a boy on the farm. I learned a little
later the wOodman was cutting a box
car beam that held me down.
They got me out alive, with
broken leg, a broken arm, three ribs
stove in and so many cuts and bruise.
/ couldn't count them, but poor Ton
was dead, The wreck piled over him
1t took fire, too and they had hare
work to save his body.
No" said Gray, replying to a ques
ton from a young brakeman a mo
ment later, Il never regretted takiu,
that chance for the lives of No. 81
passengers depended on it, Tom Jarvis
had a better chance against the pom
than he would going into No. 8. Jack
over there, had TO do a little extr,
work on account of my stiff leg, Will
he fired for me few years later, but
believe he is glad of it."
Yes, I am, daddy" Jack fIankl.
confessed, for if you hadn't I woulc
not have been the happiest man on tn
! division, and Nellie wouldn't be wait
ing for me tomorrow at the other ent
OF the run