I was thrown out of the way of the wreck and near the edge of a river,
and when I regained my senses a priest was bending over me, bathing my
forehead. I gradually realized what had happened and went to my
engine. There was scarcely a vestige left of The Little Arequipena,
only a piece of the boiler and two pairs of driving wheels. The shock
was so great that the little coach was hurled over the other engine,
which was not damaged much.
I saw several persons bending over some one, and, on going closer,
found William Cuthbert, our traveling engineer, stretched on the
ground dying. Five soldiers were dead beneath the ruins. One officer,
with his legs broken in two places, begged that others be cared for
first. The road-master was in agony, his lower limbs frightfully
burned by escaping steam; all the others were more or less seriously
injured, except myself. When relief came our dead and wounded were
taken to Arequipa.
We had been sent out to repair the wires, and orders had come to me
that we should be given the right of way. The engineer who collided
with me told me that the commander of the government forces had
ordered our superintendent to furnish transportation for his troops
to Puno at once, and when informed that it would be impossible to send
a train until we were heard from, he threatened to place the
superintendent in jail unless his orders were complied with. No one on
the other train was hurt. They had six coaches full of soldiers, the
priest who assisted me being among them.
The day after our arrival at Arequipa the funeral of William Cuthbert
took place. The procession was the largest that I had ever witnessed
at any funeral in Arequipa, natives as well as foreigners taking
part.
It was a long time before I recovered from the shock, not alone of the
collision, but the death of William Cuthbert who always had been ready
to befriend me and who had given me much valuable information. He lies
buried in the cemetery at Arequipa, in a vault. A marble slab was
erected to his memory.
The general manager sent for me one day to come to his office in
Arequipa, and after talking over the cause of the collision, I told
him that I considered him to blame for allowing any engine and train
to go out without knowing first where we were, and that it would have
been better to have gone to prison, that if he had been sent there the
American government would have demanded his freedom, and he would have
been honored. As it stood, he was to a certain extent responsible for
that dreadful affair. After some more words I left the office,
realizing that I had incurred the displeasure of the head officer. I
concluded to leave, which I was sorry to do, as I looked upon Arequipa
as my only home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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