The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-09-12

on its .fty miles Of length, but IFS mosi
extraordinary incident was that il
which George Powers took part.
Ii was in the "dry season" when the
banana plants were weighted with
their bunches Of green fruit, ready fol
cutting
lone day"-as Powers tells the story
1.-The fruit steamer Breakwater an
chored unexpectedly In the Ofiing of
our Caribbean Sea harbor Of Porto
Cortez. Soon, at her agents orders,
there was hoisted at her masthead the
signal indicating, Fruit, ready for a
quick cargo" And when the ship had
reached the dock a fruit train was
being made up
"Then we learned that the Break
water was expected 10 sail for New Or
leans with n cargo Of bananas early
the next morning. Extraordinary ef-
forts must be made TO load her with a
suitable shipment in less than n days
time. To hurry was decidedly untrop-
ical but the bonus given by the rail
road officials was as oil to lubricate the
machinery Of the transportation de
partment,' and was handed these or
ders:
Engineer Powers will take Engine
No. 13, with eighteen platform cars,
and proceed with best speed 10 La Pi-
mienta, load cargo of bananas return
to San Pedro, load fruit there. Report
q h.
later than 10 p. m. today.
'Colville, Supt. of Trans
"Such an order meant hurry My
fireman oiled 13, the only locomotive
available, and the yardmen made up
the train. BY noon We were started
There was work enough ahead 10 keep
us all out of mischief for the next ten
hours To cover a round trip of 100
miles, load eighteen cars with bananas
and pull them into Porto Cortcz 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 roadbed
TO La Pimienta at an unaCCustOmed
busy, and when we ran past San Pc
dro the OK cars were already unloading
their nine and ten hand punches along
side the track in readiness for our re
turn. Between and 3 o'clock we
whistled for La Pimicnta, the ter
minus.
There the station agent had n gang
of loaders' ready, and before the train
had quite stopped the green lunches
were being passed to the leaders in the
rars. 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 good load of steam TO get back
10 San Pedro in season. The agent sar-
castically asked me, is the engine
good for the heavy pull without
breakdown and replied. Number 13
Is about to surprise everybody 10y rec
ord trip And so we did. both because
of and in spite of an Unprecedented ad-
venture.
AT g o'clock we had loaded all the
fruit in sight, and whistling for open
brakes we started for San Pedro.
The down grade helped us materially.
In less than an hour we had covered
the distance and were taking the fruit
aboard from our last stop.
Delay 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 tarantula crawling
among the bananas. But at s o'clock
the train was loaded, the pitch-pine
headlight was lighted, the throttle
opened and the whistle shrickcd its
farewell to San Pedro.
Two hours only were left in which
TO make the run in schedule time over
thirty-tive miles Of rolling country and
with weight of eighteen heavily load
ed cars. The passenger with her
light 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 head
light was shaken into a mere sputter-
ing, and at lurch went out. The
front of the engine became the limit OF
my vision.
The white mile-markers were passed
soquickly that my fireman lost his count
and we could not tell where we were.
But No. 13 was doing her best. Not a
valve had blown out nor rod broken.
Our Gathering over the track was va.
ried only by the frantic squealings of "A
fine, fat pig, sent by the agent at La
Pimienta to the captain OF the Break.
water rs delicacy for his table Piggy
continually squealed from its berth in
an open fruit car.
"ln one place a large limb extended
from n tree out over the track. Just
high enough TO clear the stacks of the
passing engines. The pig seemed to
scream more loudly than before. and
we heard n new sound
What was thatT asked my startled
fireman. Did you hear that crashy
Ob. Gever mind. give me NOR,
steam ] replied. for | knew we must
be nearing a steep grade blew the
signals to release the brakes. but with
out avail.
in minute we struck the hin. II
was a hard one to climb. and the en-
gine puffed so loudly that did not no
tice the cessation Of the pigs squeals
Slowly but surely we were coming &,
a staEdstiIl. The brakes still scenes