The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-11-20
AN INCIDENT ON
A RUNAWAY TRAIN
Thrilling Story Of an Accident
on a Mountain Road Of
Colorado.
BROKE LOOSE IN a PASS
Fireman Tells How His Train Got
From Under Control in a Defilo
and About What Happened
Afterward.
BROKE LOOSE IN A PASS

Colorado Springs Telegraph: How
1t feels to be ACE to face with death,
looking the grim monster in the eye
at such close range that rather thar
hold the gaZe one will take as an only
chance something that seems to put
h end Of things for his world only q
little further away, is not an easy
thing to describe.
A good many persons have wondered
how 1T feels to go out into space from
the cab of u locomotive going at a
rats anywhere from forty to fifty miles
up because of a conviction that the
chances of life are greater by taking
such a leap than by remaining on the
seat of the cab and taking chances
with the machine. To make such a
leap into a level or grass-grown right
of-way is something that would make
an ordinary man hesitate somewhat,
but a great many have made 1t and
made 1t successfully. To make such a
leap out of a runaway engine that Is
descending a stretch of track sue as
the Midland has down Ute Pass. how
ever, taking chances on landing against
Il grange boulder or the side of q
mountain, against a rock-ribbed tunnel
or over the side Of a %precipice over
which no one could go and live, 1t Is
a little more strenuous. but this
Is the eat thai Engineer Frank Watts
N Fireman James Brandebery per-
formed at S o'clock last Monday morn
Ing. and both men are still alive to tell
the tale.
The fact that the air brakes would
non stop the train dawned upon En-
E1naer Watts soon after crossing the
safety switch below Cascade. AS Is
known to persons familiar with the
of this road, every train
that down Ute Pass, regardless
Of how late it may be, stops at Cascade
Tor inspection. The running gear Of
the train is inspected. the brakes are
and tested, and four different
have to sign a book that says the
train is In shape to make the descent Of
the pass safely before the engineer is
allowed to pull the throttle to start his
on its downward journey.
Safeguard Against Runaways.
AS a further safeguard against run
Always the company has a safety
switch built on the side Of the mountain
about a half mile below Cascade, and
before any train can have the main line
to make the descent the engineer must
whistle for the track, when Uncle
Jimmy" Taggart. one OF the best
known characters Of the mountain
this vicinity, turns the switch
opens the main line. If the engi-
neer fails to whistle for this switch his
train runs up the side of the noun
tain and "see-saws" back and forth IN
tn 1t comes to a stop in the bottom Of
the sag"
Freight No. AZ last Monday evening
passed inspection at Cascade and Sc
cured h main track at the safest
switch. 1t was not long thereafter that
Engineer Watts, in recharging his air
brakes, hade the hair-raising discov-
cry that his train was beyond his con-
troll. His brakes were not Of suf-
power to wlthstand the powerful
weight Ct his sixteen cars Of gold ore
and lead and silver bullion, and there
was no reasonable expectation that the
{Ea1p would remain on the tracks
Through the first tunnel Of the eight
that lay between him and level track.
II 1t should by any miracle pass the
nrst tunnel, the next curve-and there
were curves everywhere down that
stretch Of ~track-would probably pre-
the train owe the side of the
.mbankment to destruction.
Fireman Brandeberry, as he tells the
story now, says: THE train was in
spected at Cascade by the regular in
.sEpectors and everything appeared to
be In perfect trim. The last safety
switch was passed with the train under
perfect control. stealing slowly and
down the mountain side. 1t ran
as usual until we had covered about
t~hree-fourths of q mile, when tie en-
gineer thought he'd better recharge his
air brakes. There is a certain amount
or loss of air In running the train, and
1t is necessary from time to time to re-
charge the brakes.
If this Is not done the brakes will
lose their grip on the wheels. This re-
charging process requires nearly three
minutes, and, with the terrible weight
or the train we were bringing down
time. gave us a terrific impetus,
When the brakes had been reoharged
the engineer applied them, but there
seemed to be little effect. He applied
them again and again, but it was OF no
perceptible effect whatever. You may
Imagine that were were feeling mighty
uncomfortable just then, and we had to
decide pretty quick what we were go
Ing to do. We simply sized up the sit
uation as best we might and decided
that we had a chance only by jumping
from the cab, and q small chance at
that. and that the rest Of the boys on
the train had only the same chance
that we had. When we made up our
minds to make the leap we stayed with
her for three.quarters of a. mile and
knew that she was wild and that ev-
cry second lessened our chances,
Watts made the leap ahead Of me.
When he jumped we were on a straight
stretch of track, and he was fortu-
enough to strike the ground on a
gravel slide. He went at least TWEEN.
t.y-fve feet fiat on his stomach. and
thought still less of my own chances
he had made the leap. I think
1t was about twenty seconds later that
I followed him. I hit a bank OF disin-
tegrated granite on the upper side Of
the track. / rolled over and over for
about thirty feet, and how my head
kept in connection with my body is
/ will never know. / real
lied that / was rolling farther down the
all the time, and that II
didn't stop was going under the
of the train sure. I grasped
and reached for something to stop me,
but caught nothing. When I realized
hat i had stopped sliding and rolling
head was swimming and every
hing was black as night before me.
After the Jump.
81 couldn't tell until after the whole
rain had passed whether I had been
round up beneath 1t or not, but I knew
hat / was not dead. In a few seconds. al
hough they seemed hours, / realized that
train had gone, and j sat up. There
Watts about sixty feet behind me,
lso sitting up and looking at me. I
ont think + cried, but 1t was not because
didn't want to. In a moment we re-
rendered that the engine that had helped
s down from Leadvtile WAS following. and
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