Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-30

thought sO-but IN heat her up
you bet: IN heat her up and he
commenced TO throw shoveIful after
shoyeiful Of fuel upon the live Goals
beneath the boiler: then. presently
he turned. and glaneing upon me-
said: Didn't I tell you 10 heat her
upe-she IL freezing 10 death. man.
can't o see? Heat her mp. high.
or. BY the living God. will throw
you In there
My worst fears were realized
the man waa a raving maniac~~a
crazy nan ut the throttle. and over
100 lives depended ON him To take
them safely TO their destination. A
few miles ahead was a freight train.
and toward that With lightning speed
rushed the fast mail train.
Il reached out involuntaFily to
blow the whistle. but my crazed 81
perior struck down my hand. Our
conductor saw that something was
% and rung the bell violently.
nj which my superior laughed and
said: I see what Is robbing her OF
heat. but IN fix that! and he dashed
from the cab.
How he ever reached the bell
cord | cannot tell. but he did II. not
withstanding the fact that the en-
CINE was swaying so that a man
could scarcely retain his footing In
the cab. The next instant he lore
the bell down and flung II away.
Terrified as l was. ! possessed enough
presence Of mind to await myself ot
the opportunity to blow the whistle
for brakes, but | had scarcely done
80 when the maniac rushed In the
cab and sprang upon me. graspea
Il wrench and struck him on the
head. The blow only served TO
heighten his fury and he made an
other rush.
This time. however, tho heavy
wrench descended upon the maniacs
head and he fell back into the coal box
insensible.
Il turned ON the air brakes n
reversed the lever so quickly that,
doubtless, half of the passengers were
thrown from their seats.
The engine was just turning a
sharp curve, when I caught sight of
the freight train again. which seem
ed whiting touching distance, I turn
ed TO jump from the cab. but before
| had reached the door I had swooned'
The pilot of the engine. as | as
certained later. was but three inches
from the caboose of the freight train
when Il stopped. and ! was found On
the floor OF the cab In an unconscious
condition. The engineers body could
not be found Up the coal BOX. and a
search was instituted which resulted
In his being found lying by the side
Of the track about a half mile from
where the engine stopped. He seem
ed TO be as rational as anybody. but
could not remember a single incident
of that occurrence when he endanger'
ed the lives of over 100 people. He
came further east and obtained en-
ployment on the Consolidated road.
but was moved to the state insane
asylum Of an eastern state. | have
paid several visits to my old super
Tor since his incarceration. but he
recognizes no one.
The four parallel Pennsylvania
tracks run on the second floor level
and split the Wilmington station into
two parts, one being called the north
bound and the other the southbound
station. The accommodation trains
m the outer and the express trains
on the inner tracks. The center. or
island" platform, is between the
express tracks.
The tracks are being elevated all
the way through Wilmington, in ac.
cordance with the Pennsylvania an.
nounced policy Of abolishing. grade
crossings. The elevation of tracks
has already been accomplished i'm
Newark and elsewhere on the line
and eventually, grade crossings WIN
be done away with altogether. The
results will be a possible shortening
Of the running time between New
York and Washington. as street eros
sings make 1t necessary for trains to
s,acken speed considerably
with the tracks on the second floor
level of the Wilmington station, he
platforms are reached by broad STAIR
ways coming up from the ground