Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-03-31
MAKES FAST run
Engineer Billiard Establishes Re-
cord Breaker With No. 1890.
HAULS NO. 13 At lightning SPEED

Left chicoga Forty-seven Minutes
Late and Pulled into Burlington One
Minute Ahead of Time-Burlngto
Engineman Well Known in Ottumwa.
Engineer Frank Billiard, employed
on the Burlington east of the Missis-
sippi and well known by a large num-
Der of railroad men in this city, has re-
Gently made two record breaking runs
from Chicago to Burlington with pas
senger train No. Is that have aroused
considerable interest among railroad
men. Concerning the two runs made
on March Is and March II, the Bur
lington Hawk-Eye says:
Each time it was engine No. 1890,
on train No. Is. The engine is detest-
ed by all the men on the Burlington
except two. These two are f. A. De-
lano. the general manager of the c..
B. & G., and Engineer Frank Billiard,
who made the tremendous runs on
that very engine. 1t is true that a
great many accidents have occurred to
No 1890 and that some men have been
killed on her. But the fatal thirteen"
and the supposed unlucky locomotive
have always been managed by Billiard,
and at last have won him an interna-
tional reputation. Billiard has run on
No.1590 almost ever since she came out
of the shops. And he has never had
any accident with her. Whereas, the
other men found the locomotive unreli-
able. saying that II was constantly
breaking down. The night before the
death of Engineer John E. Kelly, Bull
lard came into THE Hawk-Eye" Office
and was asked if he We're not going
out on his regular run with engine No.
1890. He said no, that he guessed he
would lay off. He had no reason par
ticularly for not going. But ii was up
on that run that Kelly was killed in
frightful accident.
Thus the magnificent runs made by
Billiard are all the more surprising
to railroad men who know the paltic-
ular engine upon which Billiard ac-
complished these feats. The runs will
remain in the history of the railroad
world for long time as high water
mark of fast runs And it is interest
ing to note, that for the first time in
the history of the c. B. & O., a written
official notice Of the runs was handed
to the engineer who made them, from
General Manager F. A. Delano OF the
general Offices at Chicago. But Bull
ard took his we'll earned praise as
quietly and unaffectediy as any OF the
men who do the worlds greatest work
He noticed that in the official accounts
of the runs, the names Of the firemen
were omitted both times Accordingly
when showing the papers to a friend
of his, he remarked. Put their names
in too. They did as much as ,did.eI
tell you they worked hard"
1t was a man like this who received
last Thursday an official recognition
of his services. The account in de-
tail records some magnificent bursts
of speed. Both times he broke the
worlds record for the actual running
time of trains. And both times he had
to make up lost time. The first run
was made on March Is, when Billiard
left Chicago 40 minutes late and arriv-
ed here only 3 minutes late. The Lake
Shore mail was what detained him at
the start both times at the White City.
In the first run he made an average
rate of actual running time of SCI
miles Der hour and in the second tr,n
his AVERAGE roto IF .o+,,.1 ,,,r,;,,s
time was 5S.7 miles per hour. The
nlgnest speed reached was that of 66.4
average miles per hour On the second
run fro Aurora to Mendoza These
rms wore made both timee undo,. a.,
ootu,I .,,r,;,,. s;t;s nv 'lo
ns .onui'iohs VI the runs
iHdue heretofore. IN no sense OF the
term was the trip prepared for. On the
other hand, Billiard was compe,led TO
make I'm lost time Tho official reoordr
of tho trins ae. ~. ~ -; " ~ ,l' us
- - r 20 90 sInl " 1ISiiieeI Dull
siu ny ueherdi Manager +. A. Delano
las thursday are as follows:
nun on warren 10.
Engineer Frank Rullord E,reman r
Fuller Conductor w II Ii,rna't .,;, -.
No. 1890. two baggage cars. two chair
ea 70, one rr, nune, car
~, ~. a. H. ~ minutes iate.