Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1914-12-18

was working with DoH Eastman en-
+, the western trains. Don was not a!
good all-around man, but he was d
clever player and an artist at the rip
i. shuttle and pass. He claimed he had
=; Invented that but you can search me-
q showed you the trick, shuttle
4 where one-half the cards is passed
! through the rest Of the deck and the
! pack comes back just as it was hand
| ed out. 1t was new then, and with
/ Don sitting next me, we made a lot
! of, money out OF it. "a
'Cne trip Towles was on the train
traffic was heasy and that Babcock
, the engineer. had all the cars he could
! handle On the slippery rails. But he
| rode well forward that night knowing
that the frozen ground, thawing In
the rain, made the road-beo soft, and
that if it were possible for Il land slip
! to occur the conditions were just right
for it.
Something did happen. 1t was just
as the train was starting, after having
stopped for water at tank 80 miles
from their starting point. Simply
stood on the third car back of the en-
CINE. A sudden jolt and lurch threw
him to the ground between the tracks,
He knew that something was wrong
as he fell. and he heard the cutting
! hiss Of escaping steam. Babcock was
too careful man to stop his train SO,
without first giving warning with his
whistle. Simply" was dazed and half
stunned by his fall, but he jumped to
his feet instantly.
J. His first impulse was to find the
cause Of the trouble. The coupling
ahead of the car on which he stood
was broken, and the two cars between
it and the engine were Off the track.
The engine moved forward slowly,
dragging the two cars over the ties.
He knew now that a rock had fallen
in the cut as the engine passed. Bah.
cock and his fireman we're evidently
injured. or the engine would have
stopped. Fifty yards ahead was a
bridge-an old fashioned wooden af
fair, over small stream. The east
bound express was due on the other
track
Simply" knew all of this and more.
The same knowledge or intuition that
had told him what had happened told
him also what would happen should
the engine pulling the derailed cars
reach the bridge. The car bodies. be-
ing so far from the center line of the
track, would strike the upper works
of the bridge and perhaps cause the
collapse of the whole structure. At
any rate it would block both tracks.
And the east-bound express? No,
"Snippy' had not forgotten that.
either. He caught the CLINT of her
headlight rounding the curve at Hick.
DRY Grove, only two miles away.
Railroad men think quickly in an
emergency. Simply" did. He knew
that the others were coming up from
the caboose, $500 feet away. as fast
as they could. The express would
ffeach the bridge in half the time II
- would take them to reach him. The
derailed cars would reach it before
any of them. unless the engine was
stopped.
Simply" paused to consider and
weigh these things long time under
the circumstances, possibly fraction
over two seconds-long enough for the
express to travel 200 feet nearer to
the bridge.
1t may have taken "Snippy" half a
minute to reach the engine, while the
express covered half mile He knew
, the state of things in the cab of the
engine without stopping to investigate
Rabcock and his fireman were help
less on the fioor-injured. but no,
fatally
The cab was fun of live steam es
Gaping from q broken injector moi
merely vapor such as comes from the
spout of boiling teakettle but super
heated steam from a boiler under
pressure of 100 pounds to the square
inch
The higher the pressure the create,
the heat. and this was steam thai
would scar the flesh like molten dead
: more fatal to breathe than direct
fame
Simply" may not have known the
, theory of superheated steam or waite,
:. boiling under pressure. but he die
know the facts and did not hesitate
He had already calculated the chances
during the two seconds that he
stopped to think. He climbed to the
6 cab, dived into the kissing cloud, and
showed in the throttle as he sDrang
, The engine stopped two car lengths
from the bridge.
score of seconds later the east
bound express with hundreds of pas
sengers passed safely. When the res,
of the crew came up from behind and
dragged Simply" out of the cab he
was dead
The next day, ir the city, these
same n4SSPnpprS