A DASH THROUGH a BURNING TUNNEL.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1055, 18 March 1873, Page 4

A DASH THROUGH a BURNING TUNNEL.

The timbering of a tunnel 650 feet long, on the Tuckee and Virginia. City Railroad, near Gold Hill, Nevada, was burned out completely some few days ago, and since, across the south end," a boulder as large as a house hns fallen, and for a long distance the earth has caved in. A correspondent writos : "There was no trusty watchman or any body else to give warning of the impending danger, and the train was around the curve and into the tunnel before the firo could be seen. The tunnel is 650 feet in length and the fire bring at the opposite end there was little time foe thinking or acting, and not enough for etopping. The deep red flames and dense bkiek smoke were ahead, and it looked like attempting a mad rush through Tophet; hut there was no other way for it. The lives of the passengers and all hands were in the care of Johnny Ba>th >iomew, and nodody knew it better than he. His first impulse was to reverse the engine and whistle down breaks but his quick conclusion waa that that w< uldn't do, so with a resolute jerk of the lever he 'threw her wide open.' Tie Reno gave an angry snort and rushes madly forward, like a freed racer, with whirlwind spt-ed, right through the fiery mass. Johnny held fast to the lever, closed one eye, held his breath, and tried to think of some prayer as he passed in his checks, for he imagined lie could feel the rails bending like lead under the wheels, and both felt and heard the blazing tinviers and other fallen obstructions on the track being dashed aside by the trusty cow catcher. The women passengers screamed, and even the stout hearted men q livered with sudden fear as they dashed through the fierce Hot light, but in another instant the terrible gauntlet was passed, and they safely slowed down in the cool, grey morning daylight beynd. Dirt, stones, and blaziug bits of timber on the cow-catcher, and the shower of burning coal covering the traiu, showed how dangerous were the obstructions so safely passed, yet they had rushed through so quickly that the paint on the passenger coaches was not even scotched."

The marriage service, in the opinion of an American paper, should be changed to read, Who dares take this woman ? And the groom shall answer, "I dare." A man who don't know anything will tell it the first tune he gets a chance.