Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-25

Their Virtue Among Railroad Men-a"
Fatal Six White Cats-..Tigers'
Ears as Charms.
rArkansaw Traveler.]

1sT can't go out to-day" said an engineer,
steppir re- from his cab
-E1Wl ly?n asked the conductor, who hap
pened to be standing near.
''Lo ok there" and the engineer pointed to
apcat ying on the coal
"Wl nat difference does that maker"
$50 much that I would risk my life if I
were 70 go out Bent you know that it is a
warm ng.. do If you DON'T" and he refused
tic have anything to do with the engine.
This Y vas an exhibition of the popular super
stitiorl among railroad men- Although sens
lille men, practical, ard many Of
them well educated, yet SO strong
is their superstitious belief that
ao re asoning can convince them of their silly
weak ness The different roads have differ
.ent s'nperstitions, and different means of coun
teracting threatened evil. On the railroads in
Arkamsaw hearty every engineer, fireman
and brakeman, carry rabbits feet. This pre-
&c ution, it is affirmed, prevents serious acct
l. dents. Some time ago, on. one of the roads
zTnnning into Little Rock, two trains col
lided, killing two engineers. These two men,
! against better Judgment, neglected their rab-
| bits feet. A disaster was predicted by o
4 br akemaR on each train, and the fact that it
came was an Indispensable argument in favor
1 at the rabbits foot.
"a few days ago, the writerswas riding on a
4 Locomotive with wellknown engineer. The
\ train was running very rapidly, and the en-
i giaeer, who was very communicative, sud-
denly became silent.
--eftI don't like this" he said.
ss<What?n
--'tThe way feel" and he grew pale. He
4 locked ahead with eagerness, and after re-
manning fixed for a few moments, shut off
aseam and whistled ''down brakes"
I "What's the matterF'
tDidn't you see it!n
>s.Whatg'
| -~'That cat cross the tracks
| When the engine stopped hego5 of. and
approaching the place where he said the cat
had crossed, began to rub himself with a rab-
bits Foot. After continuing this for some
time, he rubbed the rail with the foot, num-
bled 6 strange jargon and went back to his
engias.
| You may regard it as foolish, !" he.said, as
we again flew along, ''but you see Ilknow. If
I hadn't seen that cat we would have had an
accident by this time There wasa time when
laughed at it, but have learned better. Some
time ago cat crossed the track in front of
me. My fireman begged me to stop and let
him rub the rail, but l laughed at him. He
4 fOWSO LAlaL We WOulO nave I'LL 6cCiO6uC, anu,
sir, before we had gone five miles further the
|sengine jumped the track and did considerable
damage. I barely escaped being killed, and
! since then 1 have carried rabbits foot.
When six white cats cross the track, nothing
can prevent calamity; that is, if the engi-
neer keeps sn, but if he gets off everything
may be all right"
''Do the conductors believe in the rabbit
foot theoryF'
'tMany of them do. Sometimes new man
hoots 1.-THE idea, but after a while he is con-
WINGED and gets him foot. On some roads
an owl claw is Eecessary, ard stiH on others
nothing but the tip end of coon's tail will
| answer
'cHow is this discovery NADER
always by the oldest engineer. When a
new road is built, the Oldest engineer on the
line can determine what to use. The more
| dangerous the road, the scarcer are the
charms. know one road in Mississippi where
nothing but piece Of tiger ear will answer.
In consequence Of this, accidents are very
frequent. A. friend of mine ran on the road
and never had an accident He went to a
circus one night and cut off the tip end of a
tigers ear The beast howled terribly and
died within fifteen minutes Ths rabbit
foot is the standard, and, as rule,
will do for narrow gauge roads, On the
eastern roads, beef bone is the thing. When
a road becomes known as a beef bone road.
it is regarded as the best. Next is the goat
bone, then the rabbit foot, then the owl
claw, then the coon tail, then the mole rose
and lastly the tiger ear"
"Did you ever run ON a mole nose road?"
eyes, for little while, but the company
was doing great deal to put the road in
good shape and it soon became a rabbit foot.
l have recently heard that it has become a
| goat bone"