Show the man Illan Rill rol 01 the tb South Park Prk I The 50 had been In trouble almost from the first day she ever eve turned a Wheel and her troubles ran the gamut of the In the locomotive dis disaster i aster line from the simple derailment I of or her ber pony truck at the yard limit switch when heD the passenger was due to the ther t yet never successful experiment of two speed i 1 opposite directions trying to pass mh other Ither on the same pair of rails The Innumerable failures of this experiment nt did not deter the 50 and whenever a collision occurred on m the South Park the usual tOlD was Who was as on the 50 aD and imd hov holy badly was as she ehe damaged For though thought It t always takes two engines to make a collision the record of the 50 was such that without Inquiries as to whether or not riot she was conceded beforehand as one of the two Through Throughout out the mountain roads of Colorado she ehe Bh w was as known as the South Park Hoodoo and the sobriquet was well earned if an engine struck a landslide It was the tho 50 SD anything standing on the track and cha hed into by the pas passenger passenger was sure to be the 50 O unless as aa occasionally happened Qed the 50 was w pulling the passenger pa genger and herself did the crashing She had a great reputation reputation reputation tion as a discoverer of broken rails ralls and Invariably followed the discovery with witha a plunge Into a bed of ot the mountain ravine raine along which the road ran But Butout Butout Butout out of ot all these scrapes she would emerge from the back shop with all traces of her recent disaster removed but still holding her reputation while hile her crew would yet be in the hospital or had been consigned to the scrap heap for tor all time Was a Sewing Machine She was one of the many Mason en engines engines engines gines purchased by the South Park and andus was us of the type t pe designated In the ver vernacular vernacular vernacular of the road as sewing machines machine r from having their eccentric gear gar out outside outside outside side the main and side rods An odd odO looking locomotive to eyes not accustomed tomed to them but certainly popular aa as a class dass among engin men because of or t easy riding qualities This pop popularly popular ular ty ext extended to the 50 until such time as she acquired unto herself the 11 reputation of a man roan killer It is to be regretted that t a complete record of her har sins has not been kept t but such as an are at hand will demon demonstrate demonstrate demonstrate strate that It was no Fro idle superstition that caused a qualm of ot to the themen themen themen men w when hen ca called lied to make a trip on her herand herand herand and as the engines were run in the system stem every crew on the road had a turn with the 50 They knew that whatever the cause she had been wrecked more times than all the theother theother theother other eng nes 5 on the road rond and her proverbial was such as to bring to t the most Intrepid runners a feeling as if it 1 they the mI e going to their own on fu funeral fUneral funeral when called for her Her Hirst Misadventure E On her fin firt firt t trip she left the e rail raU through some some pretext or other with a heavy train oil oi 01 ore and on a down grat graue a i and after days da s the wreckers a found round her hern In n the bottom of the canyon can On the underdog In a pile pUe of debris that had once constituted a n train of cars with its They also found Sam Willard tilt engineer with his left leg cooked to the knee where it had been r pressed against the boiler head lead by the i coal pile Sum atm was alive and recovered recovered recovered ered but Bill Redding his fireman had been killed ri r ht away awa as one of the wreckers expressed it Sam had hadi f his leg amputated am and about a n ati ti i year later again aga n appeared for work It ItIs Itis Itis Is a strange that Sam lost his 1115 left leg on the maiden trip and lost his leg on the same ensine en engine engine gine sine on the lase trip she ever made on the South Park Sams last mishap Inisha was In a collision w were ere he was about to f jump before they th struck but ho lee was wasi i Story of the t e Bloody Record of a Hoodoo Noo Hoo d doo o Locomotive Loc m tive The Awful Wreck at Idaho Falls F Us Usi i i F I i r rt t f j jt jn n T t P Pe Pf a e f e 1 4 DAYLIGHT REVEALED REPEALED A SIGHT MAGNIFICENTLY Y TERRIBLE I l 44 caught in the gangway gan y and his remain remaining remaining I ing leg was sacrificed Strange too I but Sam recovered from this had ha sticks fitted to both his stumps and ran locomotives on the Denver Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Western until like many man another he went out In Inthe inthe inthe the great strike of 1894 Sam is now proprietor of a drug drugstore store in Salt Lake City II Seven More Victims I In the interval between her first and last trips on the he South Park seven more men lost their lives on the 50 SO and as many had been maimed or ser seriously serIously seriously injured Her last victim pre previous previous to Sam Willards second wreck with her was Engineer John Wiggins who had both legs broken by the break breaking breaking breaking ing of the back side rod on the en engineers engineers side which plowed and thresh threshed ed through the cab until the fireman brought the train to a stop After Wil Willards Willards 11 lards last accident the 50 0 had an extended season in the back shop and about the time she was ready for the paint Wiggins reported for duty to the master mechanic The latter facetious facetiously ly inclined suggested that he wait a aday aday aday day or two and the 50 W would be ready but Wiggins saw no humor in inthe inthe inthe the remark or at least l St in the prospect of again getting the hoodoo He cud sud suddenly denly discovered that he was not so 50 sowell sowell well as he had hm thought and departing for home show up at the round roundhouse roundhouse roundhouse house for fora a month calculating that the 50 had had ample time to get into more trouble tr uble arid and be laid up u again I I However Wiggins and ana all the ilie he rest of 1 the South Park engineers and arid firemen had nothing more to fear from the hoodoo for about this time it suited the Union financial policy to wreck the South Park and having transferred the traffic to the Denver Rio Grande the locomotives including the 50 0 were transferred to the then narrow gauge Utah Northern rail railway railway way connecting Ogden Utah with Butte Mont Mon t and passing through Idaho A Disastrous Wreck I I This was in the winter of andin and andin andin in the early morning of the of May of the latter year the headlight head headlight light was putout put out forever in one of the I strangest aid a most disastrous wrecks ever recorded As stated the road was narrow gauge but the management had decided to make It standard and pre to this work was transporting to the north end the new steel rails for the standard gauge track Early in May Maya a strike one of ot those chronic eruptions that Ed DIckenson used to say could originate nowhere but on the seventh and eighth division of I districts of the Wyoming I the Union Pacific spread to the th Idaho j division of which n Robert fer was superintendent Blick as he j j was called fired the strikers rs and in a ai afew afew i few days das was operating the road with a anew anew new but for the most part inexperienced i ed lot of brakemen Such were the conditions when on the night of Maj 12 2 1886 the 50 car carried carried carried ried green signals for a triple header as third section of train the preceding preceding preceding ing section like this one consisting of eleven narrow gauge cars loaded with steel rails and a caboose These cars were but feet in length and in order to load the thirtyfour foot rails it was necessary to remove the brake staffs At that period too the use of the automatic air was con confined confined confined fined to passenger trains thee the freights being handled by b straight airo air alt o The 50 piloting the 17 1 and 24 4 pulled out of the division terminal at I that time called Eagle Rock Ruck under which name it acquired a notoriety that the town thought to ltd lid ld Itself of by adopting the present more romantic name of Idaho Falls Fall At a snaillike pace the three engines dragged their load up the 3 per cent grade toward the divide which marks the boundary of Idaho and Montana and about a am am I m of the were within five miles mlles of o Dr Creek UW the tt e next nett ext telegraph eta sta station 1 I tion with ith a steep pull Dull before them themI I Green Blunder I The second section had reached Dry Creek and there received orders to do dp 1 some switching tWitching which the conductor I with his two green both of I whom wham wore were making their th ir first fint trip over I the road proceeded ta to db do It was necessary necessary essary essaI to place the th eleven ge l T v ven en cars n f steel on a eo siding the 3 itch of bf t which at atthe atthe the lower lofter end of the yard had not been disturbed and was still s set t for tor the mainline While the men men were work working working working ing elsewhere the cars being on a slight grade and with no brakes be began began began gan to move down hill and one of the brakemen noticing It jumped on the first car to set a brake As stated all ail the had been removed to accommodate the rails but the brake brakeman brakeman brakeman man was not aware of that fact and hoping to avoid a derailment in the theard yard ard he jumped off and ran ahead to the open switch which he be threw for forthe forthe forthe the mainline Then he remounted the cars to set the brakes which were not there and crazed with the sudden re realization realization of or his blunder and its pos pea possible sible consequences he jumped jum from the th runaway runa ay cars and ran wildly into the sagebrush where a sheriffs posse found him four days later laterA A Frightful Crash In the first mile the cars had attained the velocity of an express train on the heavy down grade but they the had yet four miles to run be before before before fore they ther met the upcoming third sec section section section tion piloted by b the hoodoo 50 A AI comparison of time made subsequent I to the th disaster showed that not more than four minutes had elapsed between the time the cars were run out on the I mainline and their meeting the up coming train The combined weight of the eleven cars and their lading was pounds and at the given ghen rate of or speed spee let some mathematician cal calculate calculate cul te the force of the Impact allowing allow allowing ing a rate of ot six miles mUes per hour for the 1 upcoming train The latter could see only so far fu as the headlight of the t 50 SO penetrated the darkness and them the three engine crews were all unconscious unconscious unconscious and equally unwarned of ap approaching approaching approaching danger George Flood was engineer of the 50 SO and Jimmy ClarkI Clarka Clark t I a mere boy CO was his fireman George Georce Geor Oram and Billy Purdie were on the theli 17 li and Bert Chapman and Azel Zel I 1 Keach on the 24 Jimmy Clark was down putting in a fire when the crash I came and according to the verdict of the coroners jury ju was killed in four I different places Every flue in the boiler was driven back through the through the coal pile and actually two sheets forming the back backof of the tank and rails weighing half a ton apiece accompanied the flues I side aide by side Flood was pinned into the cab and was scalded externally and Internally w with ith steam to such an extent I that he lie waa was considered as Sf good as dead though the decision de foci was a hasty I one The crew of the second engine en ine j I Iwas was knocked out of the cab es I taped practically call unhurt though Oram maintains S to this day da that he was sent nt I flying through the air over his own tank over Chapmans Chapman s engine and that he finally landed on tank On Chapmans tank he was found sure enough but that he climbed into it while dazed by the horrible force of the collision is the general belief bellef Chap Chapman Chapman Chapman man himself was slightly injured by being hems thrown out of his cab but Keach his fireman had his right leg caught and smashed to a pulp In the gangway Poor Azel He deserved to live for his hJo hl courage was superb Whipping out I his knife he cut oft off the shattered mem member member I Iber ber thus freeing himself He then I crawled Into the sagebrush and with his handkerchief and a sage limb which he cut formed a z tourniquet and stopped the flow of blood Then he composed himself in the cold of the early dawn and awaited the arrival of the relief train when his wounded limb received such excellent surgical treatment tre treat ent that he died in the hospital of blood pole pol poling ing Ind four days later Flood whose con condition condition condition appeared so much more serious recovered and is still st Jl In service sc no ice on the same niece piece ot of track as Sf are also Oram tram I Chapman and Purdie Purdue At the wreck Teck daylight da revealed a sight magnificently terrible The rails rait from the runaway cars care had wreaked awful vengeance othe on the miscreant 59 st stand and had she she been made the target for tor fora tora a large caliber cannon her demolition could not have been teen more te There was just nothing left leU of ot her h r out but buther outher to these thea even her squatty drivers and 1 soy of m attached so the taint I strongly that they were condemned and the a 5 se 59 with two more victims added to her already alread long list wee waa forever for forever ever marked vacant on the equipment list Other rails were shot like arrows 1105 i ifor for fOi feet from the point where the i collision occurred and after winging I theair the tte theair of weight through their halfton air drove themselves A third of at their I i length into the earth Not ot a single carin car carin carIn in either train w was s fit for rebuilding r rand and the body bod of the caboose was shear sheared sh ar ared ol et the me i ed oft off Just above the alls ls None Injured however as train crew were one brakeman was wat in the cupola above aboe the damage and the other and th the con conductor ductor were sleeping on the lockers So i J passed aa ed the jonah of the South SouthPark SouthPark SouthPark Park and with her went many a sigh of relief from who knew her history I |