Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1869 — A Race For Life. [ARTICLE]

A Race For Life.

CorrcmomloncaofJUorpravdtßnpkls (Mirt.) Ea'dan * * 7 ,<rh!Aiiike^«rt%teilfeiblc niMUffitatlib tfNudttf, let>nto Suy.tliati The -AttioA'tdT t*(<’ r|unaU4tr <is mlfaeib C haimwiia laki (a IHstan'dd' of only tots •mit oGibift fixity tin* chile,) by four miles. If is over this road that immense: quantities of hreT •brmiglil. ; On Tuesday even in a airy t 9 o’clock, a train, consisting olfal f>» cars and two passenger cars, miclßitLthe summit, on its way U<Jle,.’ib* SonA siwuie at on<Wloct«H4di hikt >th«LhriM££ stOpport the lWffi(SvPt(tftdrT and atiot (at’ciim taming twTmOtld !»**# nWJlnitStfrfT paasqadown the road, the engineer snpposing that the brakemen owuhe oil cars would arrest but what was his horror, pn looking back, to see the six e»f*Pß Jtorsutrwf iM i nfttowa [the'grtnA car : 1 tm g iiniffMUß the o: i ouncdiTWAi# IMO% soldi frdn^tfij spixi tides That a rtntn lifetime, A sheet of intcnsely bflgjit floaty QQ fe*t bijjh, was wea owning flown that

southern slope, apparently with the speed of a meteor,' and renlly very nearly the speed of a hurricane (80 miles an hour); for pursued and pursuer flew over the course, or rather down it, and around the curves, at the rate of ihoro than 70 mtlfes an hour, ns the engineer declares; and as Qverybody can believe jvlio witnessed the spectacle,. Tire whole .heavens were 1 Hum mated, and the landscape was lit up or£by the noon day light. Onward and downward flew tbo engine, and behind it flew and thundered the Huge "fiery demon. Twice Its prodigious weight was driven against the fugitive; as if instinct with a purpose to drive it from the track. It seemed ns If to the heroic engineer and fireman there .was a perfect environnn-nt. of periL The speed of the i*ohjjftne was. such that it ceased to pump; then again, the Cincinnati express was due at the junction at tl)ia time. The engineer of the oil train whistled “open switch,” and slmkiutr hands with the fireman they bade each other farewell, knowing that their lives.depeafted on the opening of the Lake Shore swftch by their friends below, and this was to imperil the express train coming down tYom the west. With Its l!ting human freight. The engineer on this train saw the fire when it first broke out at the summit, and supposing ho could clear the junction before the flaming terror reached it, he too, put Ills engine to its utmost ’ speed bn a level grade. A mile short of the’ Junction he saw the effort was ft vftln one, for the flying conflagration had rushefl up opt on the Lake Shore track, and was roariug onward ■in the direction of Dunkirk. He checked the headlong rush of his train and brought it to a stand-still. It did not proceed until 3‘dVlbcK In the fnorriing.. The case took in another danger, and it_ was imminent, A heavy froight train was’ coming up the Lake Shore road. All I will say of the escape of this is that it did escape to the si(}o-track, and only escaped by the last minute of possibility. Hunning on to a safe distance ir»m £he depwj, the Anglucer of the oft train tle’tached his fiftgine, and left the six'Cars' to' consume. He sajfajMa situation was fully realized by him, Jl£ .expcctea to lose bis 'life. At every moment he expected the ' engine to leave the track, He saw he was .going at a perilous rate of speed, but there was no help for it. The demon was behind him, and he' declares that It. looked like n demon. With that fondness, or real ‘'affection, for ft is. engine which these men display, he said, “I thought everything of my engine, and was determined to stay by it to the last.’ 1 The fireman made one attempt to escape by jumping from the tender, but the engineer restrained him. Altogether, the occurrence was a remitribtble ohc, nnd in part remarkable for this, no' lives were lost. The brakemftn on the oil cars had gone bttek to the passenger carA when'the oil yars started. It was weir tffejr did. * Unless those rear cars had b#en'iMacho(l and stoppM, tlibir jnma'tes woyld have been burnt tyffeath inevitably. ---<>---