Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-11-08

perhaps fifty men who have left the cab
OF tn locomotive for some other em-
plOymcnt, and in some cases the reasons
for leav ng are curious enough. Ii is hard
TO find drinker who will admit that
liquor hurts him, or user o. the weed
who will agree with the doctors that ex-
ccSsive nicotine slowly and surely l.
shattering his nervous system. And it
il harder sill to find an engine driver
who admits that long hours. ccasclesS
vigrls and ron b riuin% have weakened
his nerves or affected his courage
"Ile waS an excellent mat for years" "
said depot official "a he pointed to IL
retired engineer lounginy around the
Pennsylvania depot; ''but the time came
when hc saw phantoms, and We had to
retire nim."
'Phantoms?"
"Yes. They seemed realities 10 hun,
Of course. In the last year OF his run !
| was OH his tram one night, when he
stopped twice in 'welve miles for oh.
structions On the track, and yet there
| wasn't so much as straw on the rails
Another night he stopped dead still at
the end Ola bridge, believing the struct-
ure gone, and toward the last began
picking up cOrpses at the cross roads"
DO all engineers become affected this
way?"
No. There are men on the road hero
who are as good to-day as thev were
when they entered the cab fifteen OF
twenty wears ago. 1t depends upon the
temperament. The constant vigilance
and burden of responsibility are terri
BILE worry to some and no burden at all
to others. The motion of an engine
| lone wonld break down some men. The
engineer who takes out the Pacific eX-
press tonight grows fat over his hard
work, and twenty years service would
not break him down. His predecessor
broke down and died befare he had
been six years at the throttle"
| An old engineer, when questioned by
the writer as to his feelings OH discovery
| that he had killed man on the track
said: THE public, taking them collective
| think that an engineer is hard hearted
wretch, and he thinks no more of run
ming over human body than he doe:
people say that we become hardened t.
it and don't mind it a bit; but that's ;
mistake and very grave one. | remem
Der killing man some five years ago
aud know that couldn't sleep for
month alterward, except by fits anc
starts. | used to have the most horribl,
nightmare that ever worried mortal man
One night / had horrible dream. NJ
wife woke me up. had my hand o.
the footrail of the bed just as if l La
hold of the throttl , and beads of perspi
ration were standing out all over my fac,
My wife told me how / had yelled, 70
Gods sake jumpp and how it had wax
ened her; and she sprang out of be
; shaking with fear, and when she shoe
me and l realized where I was, ! tol
her INV dream. It's mean thing to al
cuse of not minding killing people," sal
the engineer, as he took his oil can an
stsrled to oil his engine.
Another engineer told the writer tha
. he knew of few instances in which el
= gineers had gone crazy from killing ret
pie with their engines. 81 know poo
fellow" said he, "who was on the Ne
Jersey Central. He killed woman u
by Clifton one night, and that night
heard him tell the trainmaster, Bill
Smith, at Elizabeth. all about it. III
had queer look in his eyes and SCENE
: to grow insane right there. A wee
after that he was put in straight JACKIE
and he's in an insane asylum tO-da
nothing short of maniac. and that hal
pened nearly fifteen years ago"
} 1t is very evident that the whole couri
, of an engineers career is not so smoot
as the track he runs over. He is SUI
posed on all occasions to exercis
presence of mind, no matter what stare
: MIN in the face. Brooklyn Eagle.