Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-05-14
AvERTED A wreck
Thrilling Railroad Experience on
Horseshoe Curve.

Once upon a time If any man had
asked ME if two locomotives rushing
toward one another head on and with
no human agency between could avoid
a collision l would have replied. Not
by any earthly power" Since l have
had my fling at railroading as Grand
Trunk brakeman in Canada. however.
do not feel SO cocksure about impos-
sibilities. ! venture to say that any
man who passed through that affair at
Sandy curve. in western Ontario. find
ing himself as suddenly rescued as he
was suddenly in peril. would not be
too glib in future regarding what can
and what cannot happen.
On one section of my run lay what
was probably one of the most danger
/ Gus curves on any railroad route in
/ America outside the Rocky mountains.
They called it by many unnecessarily
/ curve, the Horseshoe. the Devils ell
/ bow and the Switchback-but Of all
/ descriptions none fitted it so well as
/ the Horseshoe, for the track formed
| exactly that shape. In order to save
| the cost of a tunnel the construction
engineers had taken the road around
the head of a mountainous cliff that
jutted out into the lake and then back
100 yards to the mainland. Between
the points of the curve doomed an ugly
wall of granite 300 feet in height. a
barrier absolutely impenetrable to
light and sound. The curved roadbeds
forming the two sides of this curious
piece of pioneer construction had their
point of contact. OF course. ut the toe
Of the shoe. beneath which lay the
glistening waters Of the lake. The
Horseshoe curve was notorious for a
long series of nasty accidents.
1t was the Ith OF November and mis-
erably dark and foggy. Five miles
from the curve l was passing across
an open platform between two coaches
when [ heard our whistle shrieking.
In the forest OF spruces and those ugly
galleries of granite the sound echoed
and throbbed until it fell to murmur.
At that moment it seemed 70 me that
! caught the blare of another whistle.
a trifle louder than our last echo. A
Shudder ran down my spine. and
leaned far out on the steps. but moth
ing could be seen. and the sound was
not repeated. | mentioned the Incl
dent TO the conductor. but he only
laughed at me. That did not make
me forget the blast had heard sitting
out of the spruce trees. and ! knew in
MY heart that it did not come from
our locomotive.
To keep my mind off my fears went
- 10 hot rod
with the "newsy." Then ! fell asleep
On a bench.
Crunch. click" and then final Sc
rieS Of crunches.
| knew that meant the air brakes.
and jumped on to the limit In an in
slant was up and. grabbing my Ian
tern. tumbled through the door after
the news agent. The long train was
swinging far out on the Horseshoe
curve. The lprching and grinding of
the brakes were like the torture of Il
nightmare With Il last painful grit
ting of the buffers the train came TO
standStill Passengers. conductor
and train crew were coming forward
in great alarm. but before we could
reach the locomotive the engineer
doomed out of the darkness. his face
glowing with IA fearful excitement.
Did yOu see?'' he cried vaguely. and
never saw railroad man more over
come. Look yonder,''
We all stared where lie pointed. Above
the dismal lake. about Il hundred yards
from shore. there hung suspended a
ball of brilliant. snow white fire. as if
| The moon had lost her hearings and
had tumbled toward the earth. We
were deathly silent at the sight. No
one volunteered an explanation.
! Don't you understands yelled the
!, | engineer. Don't you people under
stand: There is a train on the oppo-
= site side of the Horseshoe. and it was
t coming up to meet us at twenty miles
e an hour. We missed each other by an
q net OF Cod"
: Then ] saw what he meant. That
/ strange ball of light suspended out
there in the darkness was the focus OF
t the two headlights, and both engineers