The Minneapolis journal., 1903-12-12

less speak. When we stopped at Mercede
old Harvey called across the cab to me:
Say, boy, that was a terrible close
call, wasn't it? Guess no one aboard the
cars knows what shave that was from a
Whopping big wreck. That's my first CALL.
1T was along in the winter of 1928
that Post got his second call. He was
then pulling the coast express from San
Jose to Frisco
HE was on the north-bound train one
day, and was two miles from Redwood
City. Heavy rains had loosened the earth
beneath the rails at this point, and as
Posts engine shot over the Soggy earth,
down they went.
"The sudden stop of the engine hurled
about two tons of coal and the baggage
and mail cars on top of Post and me, and
we were in imminent danger of being
burned or smothered to death, after we
had escaped being crushed to death. But
we got off with some severe injuries.
I'm two months Post was back on his
engine and as good as ever. In describing
his experiences he used to say he was
most surprised, when he found his engine
sinking beneath him, that he had not TAX
en- the precaution to jump out Of the cab
window. He said he knew it was his Sec
ond call, and he could, therefore, afford
to take some chances.
'I quit firing for Post after that acci-
dent at Redwood. Two calls inside Of two
years were too much for me.
t'Post thought it a great joke. He de-
clared a man could do anything he liked
with a locomotive and not die until fate
had so decreed Posts wife begged him
to give up engineering, or at least take a
yard locomotive, where the danger is less.
| Post replied:
"If I can't run first class I'll not run
at ALL
post said that his third call would be
1 his end, but he was dead sure that the
third call would not come until fate said
/ lcn fata la inn i'm al
| ter.
HE had been working overtime for sew
eral weeks, running between Frisco and
Santa Cruz. There were a lot of big sea-
/ shore excursions, and Post was making
money by extra work in hauling them.
'Ele went without sleep, and nodding
/ for moment while he was at the throt-
tie, he ran past a siding which the train
dispatcher had ordered him to take. A
few seconds later his locomotive crashed
! full into an engine pulling a fast north
bound freight.
1T was a horrible wreck. The freight
engineer was bruised and cut frightfully.
1 1t didn't seem as if he could live day,
/ but it was his first call. So he ultimately
got well.
Post was taken out of the wreck scald-
ed about the legs. He had been jamn1ed
I against the smokestack. Every one of the
railroad boys there knew it was the third
call. Death claimed him an hour later.''
comotive,'' said Dan B. Miller, reminds
1 me Of a time had when was pulling the
California overland over the Tucson and
Yuma division, down in Arizona. What I
am going to say proves that there is
something uncanny, something human like
about locomotive-that an engine can
be your hOodOo or your friend.
Zone evening got orders to take the
Sunset Limited westbound out of Tuscon
at midnight. Everything semed to go
wrong with the engine. The roundhouse
hostler had forgotten to set the oil valves
ii properly the fireman was slower than mo-
laSSeS, and the baggagemen were Woefully
I slow. Besides, the dispatcher kept us in
, the station half an hour past leaving time.
Just as we were about to pull away the
. conductor came and whispered in my ear
! that one Of the railroads vice presidents
: was back in a Pullman on the train That
. was enough to make any man in an engine
: cab want to do his level best for his repu-
:. tation.
: Notwithstanding the dark night, the
: danger of track Washouts, and the lateness
9 of our departure, 1 made up my mind to
;, make up time between Tucson and Mari
= :. copa if the wheels stayed on the tracks
q and the trucks and cars held together
y The fireman said he'd risk anything to
: make time So two miles out of Tucson
% put on all the speed the engine had.
"But she didn't seem to move much
e faster. The steam ran down. was per-
Il spring with anxiety. Right in the midst
= of it all the pumps begin to act wrong
y One quit work altogether.
e Il was beside myself. We began to droI
a even our running time. We left Maricopa
II little before daylight, an hour and q
half late.
e "At that station the conductor came tc
e the cab and said: Hope we will get tt
;; ;; Yuma in time for dinner and I was boil.
- ing at his sarcasm Yuma was a break
- fast station, you know.
- 'Things went worse. We lost time al
- along. Three miles east of Aztec Springs
=, I found the water was getting low in the
y boiler. Something had to be done fmme.
;s diately with the pumps, for there was 9
>, long, heavy grade to be climbed just
- ahead.
- 1.-THE conductor was well-nigh crazy and
: I was in despair. We pulled into a side
track and I began examining the pumps.
~ Suddenly there was locomotive
70 Shrek and special tourist train bount
- for New Orleans came rolling. at the rat,
IL of forty miles an hour, down the Ions
ie grade toward us. All my despair turnet
10 into amazement. We had miraculousl.
escaped a head-on- collision.
l. "The telegraph operator at Maricops
1e had neglected to give us meeting orde
w for the special. But for our balky engin!
ne we would have met that fast train full
tilt. AS frightful a wreck as ever wa!
1e known in the southwest would have re
q suited.
th Here is the strange part of this expert
,e ence. 1 found nothing wrong with th
of pumps. After the special had passed ant
ne we pulled back to the main track botl
re pumps worked like charm.
eff a magic wand had been waved owe
"a the engine it could not have done fine
FL work We quickly had all the steam w
I'd wanted and in half an hour we were max
of ing record breaking speed across the Ari
IN zona wastes. We reached Yuma on tn
ri very second of schedule time"
ct
lie Kilkenny castle is one of the oldest inhabite
houses In the world, many of the rooms bein
much as they 300 years ago.
y England has nine submarine war vessels buil