The Indianapolis journal., 1885-01-25
TALKS WITH DOCTORS.
Railway Surgery and the Injuries It Treats
The Most Prolific Source Of Accidents.


porter, lis simply the treatment Of accidents
peculiar To railroads. These are for the most
part crushing accidents. and no part cf the body
is exempt from them, though the hands and
fingers suffer oftcner than any other parts.
Nearly all these casualties result either from
coupling or uncoupling of cars. Where the ac-
cident results from coupling it is usually because
the man does no. take the hand out quickly
enough from between the drawbars Sometimes
he fails to take It out because, in winter the
glove freezes to the link, orthe fingers are numb
and void of feeling or the engineer may push
the cars together too suddenly, or pull up too
quickly"
''How sop inquired the reporter
The Doctor continued: 'lhere is great diff
ference in the engines in this respect Some of
them respond very quickly to the opening of the
throttle; others more slowly, or very slow. If a
man is accustomed to coupling behind slow en-
gine he might sometime be caught if changed be-
hind quick one. Sometimes the drawbars push
under far enough to allow the wooden or iron
blocks called deadwoods'-a significant name
20 come in contact This is very apt to catch
the arm instead of the hand. At other times to
make coupling he may have to reach
over these deadwoods, and at other times under
them. If he happens to make a mistake and
reaches over when he ought to reach
under, he risks getting his arm caught.
Sometimes in pulling q pin, il the drawbar
passes under too far the hand gets caught be-
tween the head Of the pin and the end Of the
car. If there is any defect in the drawbar-in
either drawbar-he is more apt to be caught
than if both drawbars are perfect
Couldn't the roads, by using some of the
numerous inventions offered, prevent many of
these accidents-some uniform system of coup
lers?"
MY idea would be that so long as the hand is
used there will be accidents whether the height
of couplers is the same or not-whether they
are of uniform pattern or not. Take two coup
lers of exactly the same height when made
most roads use the uniform height of thirty
three inches for drawbar. Now let two cars be
turned out of the shop precisely the same, and
yet the drawbars may not correspond when the
two cars come together, for some one Of several
reasons An old car is lower than new car
because the springs have let down owing to use,
weight having been upon them for some time.
Or. take loaded and an unloaded car standing
together and the drawbar of the loaded car will
be found considerably lower than the empty
one. So far as the adoption of a uniform coup
Ter is concerned that matter has been taken up
by the governments of several States. Massa-
chusetts leading off, believe. A commission
was appointed for the express purpose of exam
in;ng into this matter and they were unable to
decide upon any one coupler as perfectly filing
all the requirements"
What were the objections~
NEARLY all these patent couplers, said the Doc
tor "are complicated and liable to get cut of
order. None of them found to be anything
like reliable as the old link and pin system.
believe the railroads are anxious to adopt any
thing which is apparent to be permanent inn
provement 1t is certainly their interest to do
so, because they are constantly liable to damage
suits account of these coupling injuries.
1t would be measure of economy Tor them to
adopt an Improvement of that kind. Many rail
roads have tried to lessen the number of acci-
dents by requiring men to use stick in coup
ling, but without satisfactory results Expert
enced railroad men have told me they did not
think it would materially reduce the number of
niuries, because large proportion of the acci-
dents result from handling the pin, and the only
use Of the stick is to raise the link If any
thing goes wrong, when coupling, the man has
to pass between the cars anyhow. and so he
poses himself as much as if he did not have the
stick"
"How are accidents of this character to be
avoided9"
'Men could often avoid them by grasping the
pin properly-not takingit with the full hand,
but at the top with the fingers. A number of
roads require the constant use of the stick.
1t has been tried here but the men say it is
nuisance and does not really save them any.
Another trouble is when the men stand between
the cars in coupling and they come together too
closely and so squeeze the shoulders or hips or
belly"
'Are there many accidents from persons get
ting their feet caught in frogs?
II do not recoect to have treated frog arci-
dent in two years am not able to say whether
the infrequency of this class of accident here
about is because the frog has been improved or
not. Another word about drawbars: Very often
drawbars are injured, broken in some way on
the road, where it is impossible to make repairs.
Every coupling made with that car until it gets
into the shop, is dangerous. Such cars are
always marked as out of repair as warning to
enR1yss% R%gef s tho r.,,tiv. freo.nov o. accident.
comparing summer with wnterF
81 do not think there is any great amount of
difference, though it may be they are a little
more frequent III winter, particularly coupling
accidents These, however, are about offset by
various warm weather accidents, when there is
more travel and when boys play about the cars.
Very little of the surgery here comes from
wrecks, this city being remarkably Fortunate in
that regard
What becomes of the men who are injured
by the cars9"
ION the majority of the roads here it is the
custom when a man is hurt, if he has no home,
to have him taken to ST. VncenE's Hospital At
the hospital the road pays his board and expens-
ses if he is taken home he is allowed pay for his
time, wholly or in part. When he gets out, if
permanently crippled or disabled for long
time, there is found an easy place for him, as a
fagman at crossing, tending switch, or in
the messenger service have never known an
instance of road here refusing to furnish work
to any crippled man.
"Some of the roads, especially those of the
Pennsylvania system, have undertaken to edu-
cate their men as to how accidents are to be
treated in an emergency. To this end on every
train, generally on the engine or in the caboose,
the company has placed box containing band
ages, absorbent cotton, pins, and a rubber strip
which is to be bound tightly around the limb to
are accomnanied by full instructions for their