Through Ashtabula, haunted with the memory of railway
disaster, we burst, and on to Conneaut and Springfield; and, even
against hope, hope grew again. Twelve miles from Springfield is the
little town of Swanville, and here the high-water mark of 83.4 miles
at the end of the last division was beaten; for the 6.2 miles from
there to Dock Junction were made in 4.4 minutes--or at the speed of
84.54 miles an hour.
As has been said, it was hoping only against hope. But to despair was
impossible in the face of such running; and when Erie, 8-1/2 miles
beyond Dock Junction, was reached, the 95-1/2 miles from Cleveland
had been done in 85-1/2 minutes, at an average speed of 67.01 miles
an hour. The average speed for the whole distance from Chicago was now
63.18 miles an hour, which was crawling close up to the record. But
424 miles had been covered, and only 86 miles remained. If the record
was to be beaten, the speed for those 86 miles would have to average
over 70 miles an hour.
Was it possible to do such a thing? It never had been done, of course,
in all the world; but the essence and the object of the whole day's
run were that it should defy all precedent.
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