The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-29
Dared Death In the Cab
MANY CASES OF HEROIC ENGINEERS FACING FEARFUL DEATH
TO SAVE THEIR TRAINS
They were only three-quarters of O

They were only three-quarters of a
mile away.
AS their speed was Increasing with
every turn Of the wheels, Marsh had
less thar sixty seconds in which to
comprehend the situation and act.
With n hand he closed the throt-
tie. With the other he jerked the lev.
err Of the brake valve to emergency
position. The heavy train quickly
came to a stop,
Siezing the reverse lever with both
hands. Marsh pulled it over into the
with his right hand. he opened the
throttle with his left. giving the en-
CINE all the steam 1t would take
without slipping the drivers. The
raj almost leaped from the rails In
the suddenness of the start down hill.
The space that separated the trains
became less every second, but the
speed OF the re%treating train gradually
increased. Soon it was backing down
the mountain at fifty miles an hour
with the runaways pursuing 1t at fifty
siX miles an hour. The two came
together without violent impact after
the train had backed $500 feet
Again Marsh applied the brakes to
the limit Of their power. None too
soon. for the speed on that tortuous
road was becoming dangerous. Grad
ually. the speed slackened. but not until
the bottom of the grade was reached
did the thrilling race end.
Wildly excited passengers clambered
from the cars. hurting questions at tho
tratnmen and curious to view the re.
suits OF the collision. The damage
was slight.
The incident came to the notice of
he trustees Of the Carnegie hero
fund and Marsh was awarded a silver
medal and $1,000 in cash.
Quick wit in an emergency saved a
trainioad of passengers on the Cen
tral railroad of New Jersey on April
"a. 1903. Percy R. Wooley was fir
ing a Mother Hubbard, a type of loco
motive on which the engineers cab
IN perched owe the center Of the
boiler. while the fireman's is at the
rear Of the sprawling Wootten fire.
box. This arrangement places the n
gtneer at the middle of the locomo-
tive and the fireman at the end. A
running board barely six inches wide
Is their only means of communica.
ton.
The train was approaching Hamil-
ton. N. J.. at sixty miles an hour when
Wooley heard a terrific clatter on
n right side OF the engine.
Peertng around the edge of his wind
shield he saw a cloud of dust, steam
n splinters. In the midst Of it was
Fred DeGrof. the engineer. pale and
evidently fainting. clinging t the rear
door frame of the cab in a position
which indicated that his legs were
useless. As Wooley looked the side
Of the cab fell from the engine, car
rying DeGroff with 1t.
Wooley knew that the side rod had
broken. The side rod Is the steel
beam connecting the front and real
drivers. through which power applied
from the piston through the main
rod to the wrist pin on the forward
driver is transmitted to the rear.
This steel beam had snapped in two
and the loose ends. whirling like steel
fails. were smashing everything with
which they came in contact. Not only
was h locomotive stripping herself
but Wooley knew that the stripping
process was likely at any instant to
plunge h train into the ditch. Some
thing had to be done quickly.
1t was impossible to reach the
throttle and brake valve for the right
! of the cab was gone. The lev
left side because the boiler extended
to the cab roof. The locomotive was
n or the largest used on the road.
The crash of swapping steel and a
roar OF escaping steam told him that
an injector check valve had been bat
tered away and spurred him to greater
efforts as he climbed over the coal in
the tender. Down the ladder on the
back of the tank he climbed to a
little step a few inches above the rail
with which all Jersey Central loco
are equipped.
Grasping the hand hold with his
hand he reached down with his
left and seized the air brake hose,
All hose couplings are SO made that
the two ends can be parted by a INT
and twist with both hands. Some
times a brakeman will part the coupl-
with his foot by throwing his
weight pom 1t. This is not difficult
when cars arc standing in the wards.
out to uncouple n hose with one hand
while a train in running sixty miles
hour Is q precarious task.
Wooley threw every ounce of
strength into the effort and the hose
parted. The end he held Strengthened
go suddenly as the air escaped at a
pressure Of II 0pounds t o the SQUARE
inch that 1t almost threw him un-
der the wheels. The flight of air in
the train pipe set every brake and in a
few seconds the train came to a stand.
still.
Men hurried back to look for the
engineer. He was found in a dying
condition. A messenger was hurried to
the nearest telegraph station for as
sistance.
Wooley. who Is now an engineer.
wears a costly gold watch, which was
presented to him by the general man.
ager as an appreciation Of his presence
OF mind n quick action.
Devotion to duty under different CIR
cumstances was shown by Ed Irish. an
engineer on the Wabash.
lrish's engine was hauling the Con-
tinental limited on the night of jan
uary ~, 1903. The temperature was
several degrees below zero. AZ La
fayette. Ind. something went wrong
with h engine and Irish was Obliged
to under 1t to make repairs. He
crouched for a long time on the icy
track and worked with bare hands.
When he came out both hands and
feet were frozen.
In that condition he ran his engine
20 Danville. ILL.,, and overcame thirty
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