Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-09

& @@M M1@& ~ @~
wAo IL foolish enough to EaaaaAR On
Al engine u there h any ehansa In
jumping when a collision IL ia sight
What Is = mans life compared 10
q heap u Old scrap iTOn. especially
wAea yOu cant stop the thing they
&sk- And nobody baames them for
not wanting 10 die n hexO." IN cir
eumss2nces Of that kind.
Tom n. Williams. a fireman on
the NJ. X. and r, whose hnaae h I'm
Denison. Texas. arrived home a few
days ago from the hospital. where he
had been confined ON account II In
jurles received In a freight tFain
wreck near Crowder City. L. r.. Jan
uary -. He was apparently q we'll
As ever but be- carried two large
| sears ON his head which he received
In one Of the worst head0n freight
wrecks on the n. X. l. r. for years
The engineers Of both engines. one q
the firemen and two brakemen are
still In the hospital suffering from
the injuries received In the smash
up
Williams was u fireman on q
freight train of twenty cars % Texas
cattle being sent to the Kansas City
stock yards. which collided With an
engine and caooose. head-on. Botn
engines were completely demolished.
the light engine" blowing It's way
into the boiler u the heavy cattle
train engine. The collision occurred
on "A REVERSE or double curve, and
the train crews had just three sec
0nGs To jump before the engines meL
at d combined rate OF fifty miles an
hour. The crew Of the light engine
weEe knocked of their tram by the
Impact and Laus escaped prooaOle IN
sUaAL a. at4.
naA ..st i4nlsned loading aer w
ior a siauc ID i4a44 lmIIe a aeau. hu,
l4aA.s saIu ala telIng vi The accident.
aid ciIuIDeu mac ANY seal ~Aem g..
"eatd my engineer ding Uat Looh
AT ionI. thee d aA engage, / poAed
I'D saw what was cOmlAg. fine neat
s-,Unu / %as tAIuugn IuU saIg Mas
o. Tie steps, aud lad jumped peiore
1 reaIlZea ~Aat 4 MAS uoIhg. IA! en-
slnetr Was ga VA tne U4ncr slue Lle
urAt Instant linen Cne CRASH came.
ue lieR,aI pIctuIe VI III! u SUCK
lug 10 nef, wnicn | a made ga
Previous occasions as bounded
Alons, never canae 10 ME then.
4 Was stanalng On my head when
the engines cauIe together, aud tAe
ruar OIL The escaping steam and tne
Noise VI the ca,,ie underneath TIE
wreck was something llerce. A big
A@Aao OWL was va 81 w.
feet Of me asdinst "a telegraph pole.
Another went over ON top OF the en-
gines. and "a third big COW. pinned
underneath the car, made a frantic
EFFORT to loose herself, and bawled
down at INT Cattle were being
thrown In every direction around me
and | could see the forms of the Ell,
CINE crews lying on the ground fur.
tner up the track. The engineer Of
the light train picked himself of
the ground hear the track and stag.
gered toward a pool Of water near by.
With all this suddenly thrown be.
fore my eyes three seconds after We
had been bounding along with no
thought OF danger, the impulse enter.
ed my brain 10 run away from 1t all.
then and | soon realized that | was
cut on the head somewhere for tne
blood was running down my face and
into my eyes, binding me.
The crash of the engines must
have been plainly heard in Crowden
City. three-quarters of a mile away,
for in a few minutes nearly two hun
dred people had run to the wreck
and were looking for the rev For.
~tunately nobody was killed. but II
was a miracle In that mix-up.
The boys were taken to the hos
pital and nine hours afterward
trains were running past the wreck
at the rate of forty miles an hour as
usual
Il have often sat in my seat In
the engine cab as our train pounded
along at a lively clip over the prair-
les of Kan sas and Oklahoma, and
thought that II ever | saw a collision
coming, | would stick to my post to
the last, but when the thing did act
ually loom up, it took me about two
seconds to jump of that engine !
didn't know at the time what | was
doing until I randad On my head In