News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-03-11
THE RAILROAD BRAKEMAN.
Hardships of his Life, the Danger Of Acci-
dents.

1t is hardy necessary to say that at
this season of the year the hardships OF
brakeman's life become almost unen-
durable. Accidents that never reach
the public through the newspapers are
of daily occurrence. The sloping tops
of the cars, covered with snow and ice,
make walking on them extremely hazard
Gus, though it has to be managed some
how with reckless rapidity. A misstep
is pretty sure to be fatal. While the
train is in motion the brakeman must be
at his post on top of the train, no matter
how cold the weather or how binding
the snowstorm. He must leap from car
to car, running forward and backward
as fearlessly as though he did not know
that fall meant instant death. Smoke
from the locomotive comes drifting past
him in clouds, filling his eyes with Gin
ders until they are sore. The cold
strikes through his clothes and benumbs
his limbs until he can hardly stand.
The sharp snow cuts into his face, sting
ing like needles, until he feels like
shrieking with pain, but while the train
rumbles on he must remain ready to
answer the call to brakes that is likely
to come at any moment.
Nor is the yard work which the
brakemen are required to do for nothing
much less dangerous. As the majority
of freight trains are sent out at night.
when they are least likely to interfere
with passenger traffic, most of the
''making up" is done after dark. 1t re-
quires the utmost watchfulness and eau
ton for q man to keep out of the way of
rushing locomotives that are showering
red-hot embers ON the frozen ground;
dodge the great cars that sweep down
on him without the slightest warning of
approach; read intelligibly the swinging
lanterns, which from distance look
like a swarm of huge fire-fies, and to
keep his hands from getting crushed In
the coupling irons. The company pro-
vides coupling sticks, but the brakemen
find them more a source of nuisance and
sometimes of positive danger than they
are a help and seldom use them.
Coupling, too, usually has to be managed
with bare hands, for mittens stick to
the frosty iron just long enough to cause
trouble Many a brakeman has lost his
hand or two or three of his fingers be-
cause he risked the use of woollen nit
tens while coupling.
One has to be among brakemen for a
time to realize how many of them are
crippled. A man with 10 sound fingers
is almost an exception. Their hands
and faces are like the limbs of the little
Jellybys, perfect calendars of distress.
Of course if man loses leg or an arm,
so that he is of no further use, he must
leave the service unless place can be
found for him as f1agman or caller. Acct
dents, particularly in the Winter season,
are numerous. If it is a mere loss of q
thumb or crushed foot the chances are
that it is not heard of outside the COM
pany's offices, but all such accidents of
a serious nature that occur in the State
must be reported to the Railroad Com
1t has been calculated from
figures thus obtained that 20 per cent.
of train hands employed on road five
years become crippled. A railroad
manual estimates that LOO railroad
are injured every year in the
United States while in the discharge of
their duty. In ten years this amounts
to quite at army of cripples. Whether
or not a brakeman gets any remuneration
for time lost by accidents met with in
trains depends on the chance
of his proving that he was using his
coupling stick at the time, or rather the
of the company's proving
that he was not using it. If the man was
not using the coupling stick it is con-
sidered violation of rules, and he must
live as best he can until he gets well
again. If it is otherwise, he gets half
pay until he is able to resume work, on
that he accepts it as quit
claim of possible damages against the
Sometimes, if the case is
very destitute, ne gets wooden leg.