Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-05-09

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the Tehachapi Grade.
From the Modesto Farmers Journal.
Railroad engineers are queer fellows. and are
Is full of superstition as an egg is of meat.
Last week, while the big ninety-ton engine was
nlling her tank at the depot, a Journal reporter
and Engineer Drifting, who has taken seven of
those monsters down to Tehachapi had the fol-
lowing conversation:
ibid you ever take a train up the Tehachapi
grade at night mean since the horrible acct
dent2" asked the reporter.
Eyes: made trip over that part of the road
the last time was down" replied the engineer,
'and, so help me God, never want to see an
other sight like the one witnessed that night.'
"What did you see. If | NAV ask?'
''Weil. don't like to talk about such things.
Tor I'm different to most of my brethren and
don't believe that spirits visit this earth; but
what / saw that night almost convinced me that
they do on some occasions. had had a very
hard days work and the night was one Of the
most fearful that ever on the mountain
and I've been over the road more than a thou
sand times. Well, just as we We're passing
where the cars jumped the track my fireman
the young man In the cab n0w-called my atten-
ton to man living on the track only short
distance ahead. 1t was only a moments work
to stop the engine-we didn't have a train. The
cow-catcher was within about three feet OF the
body when We stopped. l thought 1t was some
poor tramp who had fallen down and frozen to
death i could see the body just as plain
as 1 sec You now, but when | got down
and went In front of the engine 1
couldn't see the sign of q man. nor where any
one had been This was stickler for there
were several inches OF snow on the ground and
had any one been there / could have seen the
print In the snow / was so much astOnished
that could not speak for a few minutes. At
last my companion asked II he was dead told
him there was no one there and he replied:
What's the matter with you? / see him right
at your feet This caused me to take the sec
Ond look, but not the sign of "a man could find.
got back into the cab, and. strange to say, |
could see that body just as plain day. | sent
my fireman down and watched him. He walked
al over the body and came back in moment
with the whitest face ever saw on q human
being. Neither of Us could speak word. 1t
was terrible; go | started up the grade deter
mined TO get away from the horrible thing.
Nhen We passed over the spot where the body
seemed to be never heard such .yells in my
life. They came from both sides of the road"
They both stick to the story and say others
have seen it.
Lead-POisOningi in England.
yfom the London Times
In the ShOredteh Union twenty three patients
suffering from lead-poisonlng were admitted
into the infrmary during eighteen months OF
this number three died, the remainder were
under treatment for periods varying from three
or four weeks to six months, and some of them
are so crippled that they will probably be
paupers for life. In the Gateshead Union
'decrepitude palsy. blindness, and often death
are the frequent results of lead-poisoning, and
the board appeals to the home secretary to
institute an inquiry, with a view to the
Introduction OF machinery to do the most
dangerous part of the work." In the Poplar
Union thirty cases of lead poisoning were ad-
mitted during twelve months. and in many of
them 1.-The illness was of long duration render
Ing necessary heightened residence in the sick
asylum, at a great charge to the rate payers of
the Union. From Newcastle no details are fur
nished. the guardians basing their application
merely upon the number of cases Of this de-
scription which are constantly coming under
their notice. but from Holborn we learn that
hfty-fOur cases of lead-poisonng were admit
one OF the persons died few hours after admis-
sion, and that the stay of the survivors ranged
nom three weeks to three months Mr. Red
grave carries the Poplar statistics somewhat
further, having obtained from the Guardians a
list of persons who applied for relief i'm cOnse-
quence of lead-pOsOning between January 1881.
and July. 1852. and having employed Mr. Super-
neutrality-suspicious. Gram to make visits of in
quiry with regard to them. The cases were
thirty IN number. of whom all but three had
been i'm the sick asylum two had been i'm a
hospital, and one had been treated by private
medical practitioner. The hospital cases were
In patients for three and five weeks respect
lively; and of the sick ASYLUM cases two died
twelve were discharged within a month. nine
within three months. two within six months
and two were still in the asylum at the time OF
inquiry. These figures. notwithstanding their
magnitude, do not represent the full extent of
the evil; for the medical attendant at one white
lead factory reported that SiXty-fOur cases of
lead poisoning among the employees were re-
1erred to him in nine months; and at another
there were l3i cases between May 1881 and Oc-
tOber, 1852 IL is well known. moreover that cases
OF lead poisoning. arising among the persons
employed at the works in Poplar and Shore
0lteh are scarcely ever absent from among the
out-patients of the London hospital
In order fully to appreciate the significance OF
tne foregoing statements. 1t is necessary to re-
member that lead-pOisOning implies very severe
and dangerous Illness. which often entails Der
manent disability. Like most metallic pOisOns,
lead has especial afflnites for certain structures
and 1t constantly produces paralysis OF the ex-
tensor muscles of the hands and of the feet,
with the result that the hands hang heplessly
from the wrists, and that the feet are I'M
able TO support the weight of the body.
These conditions are more common when the
poison has been inhaled as dust or introduced
BY absorption through the skin than when 1t
has been swallowed; and they are by no means
unknown as consequences of the use Of certain
hair dyes. When lead is swallowed. it is more
prone in the first instance to produce severe alb
domnai pains, and in the last century such pains
were so common in DevOnshire as to constitute
disease which was described In medical books
as 'Devonshire collie, the causes of which were
vainly sought in all sorts of real or supposed
conditions peculiar to the locality devon
ehire collie was at last discovered to be only
form of lead-pOisonng and to be due to the
general employment of leaden vessels in the
manufacture of cider. With the removal Of the
cause the effect has Disappeared and Devon
shire colo is now unknown to the present gen.
Grafton of residents In the county. Similar
symptoms are apt to attack persons who drink
water which has been conveyed through new
Ieaden pipes. and it is said that publicans are
mi offar tha
putting up of new beer engine the assump-
ton being that the first glass of beer drawn in
The morning. which has been standing in the
pipes all night. Is usually for the consumption OF
the publican himself
4 Silent Partner.
From the Chicago Drummer.
At supper one evening Mr.. Topnoody, after
praising his wifes fine biscuits and good coffee.
began to talk on municipal affairs In hopes that