Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-05
THREE MEN BATTLE WITH
y EAGLE ON A LOCOMOTIVE
BIRD o. FREEDOM FLIES INTO
CAB OF LIMITED
Train Is Running Fifty Miles an Hour
and Crew of Engine Have Lively
Battle Before Subduing the Eagle.
Is Taken Alive
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald
DENVER, Feb. 4.-Fighting desper-
ately not only for themselves, but for
the lives and safety of over a hundred
passengers, Frank Barlow, engineer,
and William Brewington, fireman, bat
tied for half an hour Sunday night in
a swaying locomotive cab with a great
eagle.
The hand to-talon combat started
when the Rocky Mountain limited on
the Rock Island road was three miles
west of Agate, and the two men were
unable to subdue the ferocious bird un-
til the train pulled into Limon. 1t was
q running fight for twenty miles.
Frank Barlow, who lives in Denver
at South Ninth and West Colfax ave-
rue, has been connected with the Rock
Island for thirty-five years, and he says
that this is the first time that such an
adventure has ever been encountered
on a moving train In the history of
railroading.
Two big eagles have made their nest
near Agate for the past ten years and
they appeared fearless Of man or rush
ing trains. Sunday night the Rocky
passed Agate, Colo, when one of the
eagles raced with the train. The bird
became Infatuated and flew into the
open window Of the engine cab. The
other eagle followed, and although the
train was speeding across the prairies
at over fifty miles an hour, it circled
time and again over the cab scream
ing weirdly, while its mate engaged in
its terrible fight for life with the train
men.
The eagle struck Engineer Barlow a
terrific blow on the chest as it flew
down through the front window of the
cab and he fell from his seat.
The throttle was wide open and the
engines pounded out the miles, endang-
ering the lives of all on the train, while
Barlow and Fireman Brewington strug-
gled with the ferocious bird.
Fireman Yells for Help
Barlow started back to his levers,
when Brewington called out for help,
as he could not fight the bird off alone.
The roar of the train drowned their
cries, but John Snyder, the brakeman,
noticed that something was wrong and
went ahead. AS Snyder crept down
over the coal in the tender, the eagle
left Barlow and Brewington and at
tackled him savagely. Snyder carries
his left arm in a sling as a result. The
eagle fastened it's talons in his biceps
and, bracing itself against the sides of
the cab with its WINGS tore Viciously at
Snyder's arm.
By combined efforts the other two
men finally pulled the talons out of the
flesh, leaving very dangerous wound.
The eagle was finally beaten down,
but still fought fiercely, lying on the
floor and striking up into the air.
This dramatic battle was lighted only
by the Iurid flames shining through
the furnace door.
"The screams of the eagle, we three
men fighting and cursing like fiends,
with the ghostly light under the boiler
Pickering us with red, made that en-
CINE cab. rocking and reeling, seem like
a section of some strange hell" said
Barlow.
The eagle was bound with leather
thongs and brought to Denver, where
1t will be placed on exhibition in the
window of the Rock Island ticket Office.
1t is a magnificent bird, and measures
seven feet and eleven inches from tip
TO tip of it's wings.
1t is one Of the largest eagles ever
captured alive in the world.