Omaha daily bee., 1910-07-05
RIDES a, RUNAWAY ENGINE
Thrilling Exparience of Crew on
Mountain Grade with Broken
Driving Rod.


With one of It's immense driving rods
broken off close to the wheel so that il
flew about like a great flail in the grasp OF
monster lashing itself to greater speed,
a locomotive tore down the steep declivity
Of Ptckerel mountain, near Somerville,
~. j., Saturday at sixty miles an hour.
with the driver sitting astride the hot
boiler like a Jockey and the fireman crouch
ing In the cab In momentary fear of being
cut in half by the whirling lash OF steel.
That neither man was killed is consld-
cred marvellous by the hundreds of persons
along the ten miles OF track over which
the great locomotive sped, like a horse
which has thrown its rider and rushes on
until wearied- by its pace.
With every revolution OF the broken rod
there was crash and the flying Of smaller
steel parts and woodwork within the cab
In which the fireman lay PROSTATE, and
when the LOGON otive drew up of it's own
accord at the end of the run to level rails
one side of II had been sheared off as II
with some immense blade.
Apart from q severe scorchlng the driver
Joseph Lutz OF Easton, Pa, was unnjured
by his thrilling ride, and the fireman suf-
fered only minor bruises from the flying
debris. q
The locomotive was hauling the Easton
express on the Central railroad of New
Jersey and had Just begun the descent of
! Pickerel mountain when Lutz heard some
thing snap, and a moment later saw the
immense rod of steel lashing the air. After
| 1t had gone on perhaps a hundred yards
the broken end hit the ground beside the
rail and a mass of earth and stone ballast
was hurled against the window of the cab,
| the glass raining In on Lutz and his COM
| panion.
| Meanwhile they had reached a sleeper
! grade and were approaching a sharp turn
in the track, and Lutz decided on a des-
perate means of stopping the steel machine.
The spinning rod had smashed the cab and
disarranged the controlling mechanism so
that to stop the train by the ordinary
means were impossible. The throttle arm
had been bent SO 1t could not be moved.
Going to the opposite side of the loco
motive Lutz climbed through the little
window and out on the back of his run
away in an effort to reach some of the
controlling apparatus from the outside. He
sat astride the scorohing boiler until it
was no longer bearable, and as he felt
himself sliding iRyoluntarily to the unin-
jured side of his charge, he grasped the
bell rope and rangitt wildly for he had re-
tanned his presence of mind and knew he
must sound a warning for several grade
crossings soon to be reached. His hold
on the rope also saved him from falling.
The sharp curve was reached in another
moment and the heavy train took the turn
at its terrific speed with swish like the
crack Of a whip and continued its head
long flight. In the meantime the spinning
rod had done all the damage possible t.
the cab, and the fireman made his way or
hands and knees to the tender, where he
was safe from further bombardment.
At last Lutz was able to reach a vita
spot in the locomotive, from which he could
open one of the principal steam valves
and the white vapor rushed from the bis
machine with a roar that was heard &
mile away. But still the locomotive was
. going down the steep grade, and ever
when robbed of It's power, its speed scarcely
slackened perceptfbly until long stretch
of level track was covered. Then it drew
!, up slowly, with convulsive movements, as 4
It were a horse chatting under curb bit
! A few seconds more and 1t stood painting
about three miles from the foot of thu
mountain.
No one aboard the train was aware o
what had happened until word was sen
to High Bridge for another locomotive L
take the train to Its destination.-Nev
j