Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1886-06-22
THE BRAKEMANs STORY.

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"Y,s. sir said the brakeman, a. he
stood by the stove warming his numbed
hands. sfter coming In from braking.-
People think as they sit In their warm
seats aud only hear US call out the differ.
emit stations tha, We have q nice. sot,
easy time but ne know better. Imagine
yourself out on a fla, car all night, With
the snow da.hing into your face. your
hand. on a cold iron brake, and think II
that's easy; or up on top Of . freight car.
running along. the wind cutting like .
knife. dark /. pitch, and watching Tor
fear you may rush suddenly under a
bridg, and be .wep, oil, and perhap, left
20 die in the snow. l. tina, easy. Does
ths, look like soft job' To be sure.
when We are transferred to passenger
cars, the work /. nice enough. but the
dangers we have 20 20 through FOR We
generally have to 20 on frigh, cars ir'')
en,iile u. to something batter on a pass
eug,r Car. and ~e ain, sorry ~hea we
ge, orders to take the head end Of such q
regular train.
There are very few bfakemsn who
can, tell some Acknowledgements Incl.
den, connected With their life on the rail.
To explain. l,, me tell jou a story from
my own experience. remember one
night. |, wa. fesrfully cold, nigh, in the
middle Of winter. and showing hard. |
was breaking in the middle Of q freight
train. I, was running along on slow
time ,h., night. and We were sbou, two
or three miles from the station. | was
standing by the brake Of fla, CAT. try
ing to ge, warm by stamping. wishing
iha, We were AZ the depot. 90 tina, could
70 back TO the caboose out Of the bitter
cold. when suddenly | felt the usin
humping snd jumping like /. II wheel
had broken. and knew something was
wrong. The whistle blew for brakes.
and In mighty short time We bad the
train stopped.
with the rv.t Of the men went back
TO see what VAS the matter. thinking
tina, | nigh, re, chance at the stove.
for | va. near frozen. Going back about
three hundred feet. We found ,hs, one Of
the rail. bad 90, loose and was out OF
place. but a. We had been going SLOW.
We bad run over the ,po, safely. Our
conductor looked up. aud. seeing me.
said;
"'Jim. g,, back and signal the pass.
snger train. She'll be along in = 'hor,
time now and take this. he said. hand.
ing me a rsd.lish, lantern; well 20.
You can come along With the other train.
with that all hand. 20, on board.
and soon there va. nothing bu, myseli
and the lantern left.
~ cold gus, brough, me to myseli
With quick turn. and then rsmem'
bersd ~hI | had TO DO. Holding the
lantern up. | say ,h., the lish, VI. lick
,rins. and shaking IL. found !, almost
empty. Then | began TO feel the re'Pon'
,ibiliiy Of my position a lamp With nc
oil in IL. the usin due Ia ten minutes,
With the chance Of |, being thrown of
the track. and no telling how many poor
people killed OF wounded. In case Of
tbs kind, .if, even brakeman will do
hi. best TO save human life. although he
sometime. lose. bis Own in the a,,emp,
and all be get. for Il Is having hi, name
in the paper, and being called a brave
fellow.
"Qaieker than | can tell Il. | made uF
my mind ,ha, the train mus, be signalled,
lamp OF no lamp Ba, how TO do u ~a'
the question II ran ahead wi,hou, q
lish'. the engineer nigh, think ! wanted
TO stop the train for robbery. for such
thing. have been done. you know. and
would no, only dash nigh, on faster than
ever. bu, maybe Try to ,csld me +. the
locomotive rushed by. tell you felt
like Praying jus, then. bu, brakemen are
no, selected for their religion. feelings,
30 | didn', pray much. bu, looked around
aud saw . ligh, shining in = ~indo~
some distance off. laid down my lam
tern carefully on the track, made be,
line for the mouse. and soon brought, 4
woman 10 The door. Who looked NOR,
frightened than Was q, my excited ap'
pearance. IL WA useless 10 ask fol
sperm oil, the only sort We use. 90
cried out
"'For God. sake re, me some straw.
"She seemed to realize the position,
and quickly brough, bundle. Feeling
10 my poke, | found three matches. and
grabbing the straw. | made my way back
TO the track.
Laying the straw between the rails,
I struck a match and showed !, into the
bundle. I, hiekered al instant and then
wen, out. | Eel, and found the straw
damp.
"Jus, then = dull. fsin, rumblinG
sound came down on the wind, and
knew she va. coming; the train would
soon be there.
"Seiling the lantern with one hand.
struck the las, match. and bending down
laid /, carefully inside the straw. and
then dashed forward, waving the red
light. The glare from the headlight
shone down tho track, and the engineer
saw me. bu, did not notice the red light
the sudden waving had pa, !, out
only .ereeehing, he came ',raigh, on.
When the train Was almos, on me
jumped one side. and singing the LAM
tern over my bead, dashed !, straight in'
to the cab. The engineer saw the lamp
as |, broke on the floor, and seeing the
red gla.. and battered lantern, whis,led
the danger signal and tried to check up.
Looking down the track, ! almost
screamed from excitement. The last
match had found . dry spot. and the
straw Was blazing up bright. The train
came 10 q s,ands,ill. She was saved ;
that's ell I remember.
"The next knew WAS in the bag
gage car. They said they had found