Thread: 1854 Huggleston 4WD steam wagon, great read

Originally Posted by Landy110

Well my dear esteemed colleagues it would appear that our heros Stoker and Huggleston are on sebatical, or frozen or have met with some fate or fates alas unknown. ( Probably the accursed bear herd )
In the sorrowful absence of such news as would enlighten us as to the ongoing adventures of our heros I venture to offer a link to another build thread on the affore mentioned forum which may be of some little interest to you fine upstanding gentlemen as have the temprament for such contraptions as Land Rovers. This has been brought to the fore on previous occasion but I am sure there are those of you who have not before chanced upon my build thread.

My Defender 90, More Mechanically scale ANOTHER bush vid 16-8-09 page 14 - Scale 4x4 R/C Forums

I must have MOREMORE MORE DAMMIT MAN!

Article from the Vancouver (BC) Times, August 9, 1857:

STRANGE DOINGS IN THE OREGON COUNTRY

STABBING, MAYHEM IN ROOMING HOUSE

MADMAN AT LARGE

THEFT OF DYNAMITE

Our Southern correspondent tells a tale of such strange behaviour that it beggars belief, yet Witnesses to the extraordinary events all verify their truth.
THE DARING ATTACK
At a Rooming House in Blaine, Oregon Country, a Philadelphia man, Felix Huggleston, attacked another man, his travelling Companion known only as Stoker, inflicting a most unusual though not mortal wound, later escaping the scene in a steam-powered wagon in which the pair had travelled more than 1,300 miles, from the port of Duluth on Lake Superior.

Witnesses report that Mr. Huggleston, who had been ill for a period of several months, entered the Rooming House via the kitchen, proceeded into the dining room where the Guests were enjoying breakfast. He then fetched up a fork and assaulted the man Stoker, inflicting several Wounds in the man's neck.

Captain Jonathan McPhee, of the steamer Mollie Ann, on which Stoker had booked passage to the East, said Mr. Huggleston "fought like a madman against the man Stoker, who had done nothing to provoke the attack. The madman carried on screaming about potatoes, for why I cannot say. Clearly the man was deranged."

Mr. Huggleston then bolted from the room. He was heard to shout, "I have killed him, Glory Hallelujia, at last I am free," despite not having killed or even seriously wounding Mr. Stoker. Mr. Huggleston then escaped the scene, steaming north atop a device which defies the imagination.

Captain McPhee described it best: It resembled in many aspects a Locomotive, but ran not upon steel rails but the ground itself, and at such great speed that mounted men could not catch him. Even the forest did not slow his progress, the great Locomotive knocking trees down as if they were tenpins! Never have I seen such a thing, nor do I ever wish to again."

THE DYNAMITE THEFT

While Guests of the Rooming House assisted the wounded Stoker, pressing clean cloths to his wound, the man stood up and exclaimed, "The Dynamite!" and ran bleeding to his first-floor room whereupon he did discover the lock Smashed, and a quantity of Dynamite he had hidden therein, to be Missing. "The poor fool, we must stop him!" cried Mr. Stoker, and he too ran from the Rooming House.

But so great was the speed of Mr. Huggleston's escape that none could hope to catch him.

Mr. Huggleston was last seen speeding to the north, toward our Fair City. Citizens should be warned that the man knows no Reason, and is armed with much Dynamite. Vancouver Police request that any who see the man or his Device should immediately contact them.

Another, from the Times, August 11, 1857:

MAD RAMPAGE ENDS

ENORMOUS EXPLOSION IN THE WOODS

CITIZENS ARE SAFE

Vancouver Police have stopped the madman Felix Huggleston, who escaped after attacking a man in the Oregon Country on August 8, as Huggleston approached the settlement of Surrey.

Police Constable Ulysses Draper reported: "Well, he was easy to find, wasn't he? What with the smoke, and the straight line of flattened trees. When we caught him up he was crossing the mud flats there, churning up a great spray, and none wished to approach. We blew our whistles and shouted for him to stop. Even then I could see the man was in mortal danger, as his machine's boiler was glowing red hot. But it was all over when he shoveled in the Dynamite."

The resulting Explosion could be heard for miles, and fragments of the glowing metal started several small fires.

The mad Mr. Huggleston is presumed dead, and of his Steam Waggon, nothing remains but smoldering wreckage slowly sinking in the mud, still steaming as it cools.

Letter received by Mrs. Anna Huggleston:

11 August, 1857

My dear Mrs Huggleston,

As you know it was my privilege to accompany your husband Felix on his expedition along the 49th Parallel. It is my sad duty to inform you that, although Felix completed the journey, he shall not be returning home. Felix was killed today as the boiler of his Steam Waggon exploded.

I would gladly escort his body home to you, but not a trace of him can be found. We must assume the worst, but know that he did not suffer, as the explosion was very powerful and mercifully quick.

I shall arrive by steamship on 9 September, and shall return to you Felix's journal which will, I feel, explain much.

Yours in service,

Stoker


And a totally unrelated (?) item, from the Vancouver Times Police Blotter, 20 December 1857:

9:00 P.M. Police were called to 19 Armory Lane, where a Citizen did complain of a man shouting "Potato head" but no man could be found.


found them all on the modlers forum, i think i got them all before i got locked out, something about maximim viewable posts