The Washington herald., 1911-08-13

|OH HE engineer of train that runs be-
tween Buffalo and Rochester hal
thrilling experience on a recent trip.
The train had clear track, as was
~ supposed, and was running at a high
rate of speed. The night was as
dark pitch. and the rain beat INCREASINGLY
against the car windows. The headlight was
OF little use. and the engineer couH see but
u few yards in advance. Suddenly flash
OF lightning, followed by a terrific peal Of
thunder, lit up the track half mile ahead,
the blood from his cheeks a hundred yards
ahead four freight cars were standing on
the track. Grasping the reverse lever, he
pulled it back to the last notch and shout
while he himself set the emergency brakes.
The great engine creaked and groaned, while
the, fireman and engineer stood looking in
each others faces, with the cold perspira.
tottered and stopped with a shock 80 sud.
den that the passengers in the coaches were
thrown from their seats, the chandeliers
swung from the ceiling and two of them
fell to the floor. After the excitement had
subsbied the engineer and conductor inves.
tigated the situation and found the pilot of
the engine showed foot beneath the ca
boose of the freight train ahead: The flash
OF lightning was all that saved the lives
OF two hundred passengers.
During the recent strike in the coal
regions a Hooking Valley coal train was stop
ped by the strikers about quarter OF
the strikers told the engineer that he must
not pull that train through and the engineer
declared that he would. Come down, Jm!"
cried one of the strikers. eve know you
powder pow on that bridge, ani when % the esf boys
see you coming they are going to light the
fuse" "All right" replied the engineer,
grimly, 'Tye promised to pull this train
through, and through she goes" With these
dashed on. The strikers saw the train com
ing AMI lit the fuse. On and over the bridge
the train went; as the last car cleared the
structure bang went the powder, and the
bridge was blown to splinters. The fuse was
quartcr-inch too long.
"About three years ago." said railroad
superintendent, 81 received an engine of a
new pattern on my division and ] took it
out myself on a special trip, to see if the
new Iieas were practical. i picked out a
frst-class engineer and fireman to accompany
me, and we were whizzing along at sixty.
single track bridge ahead As the shril
shrek of the whistle reached her ears she
started to run, and then, realizing the i'm
possibility of escape by fight, she sprang
to the side Of the structure, and, with a
cry. Of fear, leaped into the water, twenty
feet below. As the little girls form struck
the water the figure of the fireman whirlel
through the air, and after her. The stream
had been swollen by recent rains, and the
current was swift, so that the fireman had
a vigorous struggle before he caught her
dress, and when he reached the shore he
was almost exhausted. AS he came up the
bank with the girl in his arms (the train,
of course, had been stopped) we gave him
three cheers AMI a tiger and he only re-
piled to it with the remark. Christopher
Columbus o,1H1 US but that water =. i cold! The
when l got to nv office ! made him an en-.
gineer. l think he deserved the promotion"