Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1883-04-14
bEmIND TIE IRON HORSE.

Man on the Track.
An old engn er said to P4iiadel-
ph Pr IS repo ter: "The public,
taxing them coll ctiv ly, tn nix that an
engin er is an harl-htatted wretch,
and that he tn nks no more of running
over hu nan b ing than he dies Of
killing cow or hog. I've heard
people say that we became hardene |
to and don't mind it a bit; but that )
mistake, and a very 6 ave one. l
remember killing man some five
Y ars ayo, and know that C ulIn't
slt eo for north, except by fits and
starts. used to have the most hor-
riole Nightmares that ever worried
moi tai man.
"One night" continued the old en-
gireer, 81 had horrible DIR, am. That
was an awful night. My wife woke
me up. 1 had my hand OF the foot
rail of the bed, just as # had "old of
the throttle, and the b. ads of p rspra-
ton were Standing out all over my
face. My wife till me how l had
yelled, 'For Gon's sake, iumpp and
how it had wakentd her; and then she
s, rang out of bed taking with fear,
and when she shook me and l saw
where l was, told her of my DIR n.
It's a mean thing to accu us of not
Ill .nding killing peopl'," said the engi-
neer. as he took his oil-can and started
to oil his engine
Not long ago Engineer Knowles
stood examining his engine in the
Broad street station; h had just
brought the "owl" train from Jersey
City. There was a busy scene all aoout
him; two Southern eXpr sse' and two
Western trains were standing in the
station. 1t was just o'clock in the
morning. and very sharp, biting,
chilly dawn; baggage porters and me
laden with great bI ndles of Philadel-
phia morning papers, fresh from the
press, were hurr, ing to the ira n. The
electric light was splitting and Kissing
and casting weird, fantastical shapes
and shadows about the engineer, who
stoo apparently gazing at nothing. A
Pr, SIS reporter opened conversation
with Engineer Knowles, and, after
good deal of talk, he said, as he eaned
with one foot resting on the Lub of a
driving-whe l:
"T>e been running for ten years,
and never met with mi hap unit
short time ago, and then everything
seemed to come all at once. 1 killed
an old peddler at Princeton Junction
one day. He was crossing the track
bv the station in his cd wagon. l
think he must have been asleep, for he
paid no attention to the whistle when
blew. and of course he was killed
outright. The old fellow was we'll
known in Trenton. Then 1 struck q
man over in the meadows, and right
on top of that l killed man at New
ark"
Another engineer out in the West
Philadelphia ard tod the report he
knew of few instances where eng
neers had gone crazy from killing
people with their engines. 81 knew
poor fellow" said the engineer, "who
was on the New Jersey Central. He
killed a woman up by Gil ton one
night, and that night l heard him tell
the train-master, Billy Smith, at Eliza
beth, all about it. He seem d to grow
insane right there, and had a queer
/ OK in his eye. A week a ter that he
was put in straight jacket, and he's
in an insane a>ylun friday, nothing
short of maniac, and that happeneu
nearly fifteen years ag1.
1t is very evident that the Whole
course of an engineers career is not
as smooth as the track he runs
over. They are supp sed to exer-
else presence of mind, never mind what
stares them in the face. The engineers
on the Pennsylvania railr, al receive
$3.50 a day, or $ll5 month. For in
stance, round trip from the Broad
street station to Jersey City and back,
1872 miles, is considered days work.
Every third day they have off. Some
engineers get through their days work
in IS time than others.
The engineer gets off his engine much
the same as jockey gets OF his snlkey
when the race is over. The h 'stlers
take charge of the engine, which has
become dirty and tired-looking from
dashing over 1872 miles of road-bed.
When you see an engineer who is
running passenger line, you can make
up your mind that he has worked a
long time on an engine before he
reaches that important post. First,
there are four or tivey ars to b. rived
as y fireman, and then several years on
freight train.
The engineers on the Pennsylvania
road are carefully selected by the It