The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1888-06-02
FREIGHT BRAKENEN,
THE MANY HARDsHIPs OF THFlR
WORK IN COLD WEATHER.
''He Slipped and Tell"-Waitiny for "a
Chance to Step Into Dead Mems Shoes.
Coupling Considered the "Top Notch'
of Danger.

Coupling Considered the .'Top Notch"
of Danger.
On one of the very coolest and stormicst
days of the past winter was in tho office of
pennsylvania railroad official overlooking
q vast yard of endless switches and stlings,
over which shifting trains and locomotives
We're moving like so many huge shuttles.. \
rugged looking young man, wearing a cap, Il
rusty blue ree;ing jacket, a blue flannel shirt,
and baggy trousers stuffed in high rubber
boots, entered the office, took off his cap, and
as soon as he could get his breath thus adj
dressed the official:
II want to leave my name for the Job o.
brakin' on freight train so. Jimmy Riley's
out of it. He just got cut in two up in the
yard. The train was comm in purity lively,
an the cars was icy OH top. The engineer
whiStletl for brakes an Jimmy started to run
over the top o the train. He slippcd AM fell
betwixt two cars. He hit on the bumper am
grabbed to save himself, hut lie couldn't
ketch nothin, an dropped on to the rail.
Both trucks Went over him. Me an another
teller was there, an we started for here as
fast as we could get to ask for Jimmv's
place l got here first, an Id like the Job
first rate, if You could give it to me, sir:'
The railroad official promised to hold the
application for consideration, and the man
Went out, evidently we'll pleased.
"Ihere is no calling" said the official when
the man had gone, $50 beset with danger and
halrlShips as that of railroad brakeman.
especially on long freight trains; and vet. if
there should be twenty brakemcn killed on
this or any other road to-day there would he
rs many applicants for each nnn's place as
soon as the news of his death became known.
The man who was just here was M eve wit
ness of Riley's frghtful death, and yet what
ever impression it made upon linn was lost in
appreciation of the fact that the dead man
had left place to he filled by some one else.
This prompted him to net at once am, he lost
not second in securing all the advantage
priority of application might give him.
INTO DEAD MEMS SHOES
Every railroad has hanging about III;
yards and stations small army of these
anxious applicants for chances to step into
dead mems Shoes They are chiefly men who
have followed railroaling all their lives, and
who have lost their jobs for some cause
isailroading is good deal like politics If IL
man gets into it once he isn't worth snap
for anything else And so if he gets out of
it lie is constantly OH the lookout for the OPP
portunity that he believes must como to let,
him in again. There isn't one among thi,
class of men refer to who does not feel gen
uine sorrow when II railroad man is killed,
and not one of them would hesitate to risk
his own life to save that of any tranman in
danger, although he might be sure that the
death of that man would give him a long
hoped for place on the road; yet they haunt
the tracks and the station yards day after
day, watching the switching and coming and
going of trains, knowing that sooner or Inter
some one of the men on those trains is bound
to be killed or manned into helplessness It
seems that there were only two of these men
near to witness the shocking death of Riley
today, and when others hear of it and that
an application for Rilcy's place was put in
all hour or SO ahead of them they will bemoan
The hard luck that had kept them from being
present when the accident occurred and
robbed them of an equal chance in reaching
my ear first. 1t is by no means likely that
the young man who was Just here will be
hired, although he may If he isn't given
Itilcy's place it will not break his faith nor
that Of any of his kind in the Importance of
having early intelligence of fatal accidents to
trainmen and of being early in my Office with
the news and an application, or, if the acci-
dent occurs somewhere else, at the office of
the one in authority there"
walked through the railroad yard and to
the spot where poor Jimmy Riley was killed
His mangled body had been taken away A
grimy, one armed switchman pointed out to
me where the unfortunate brakeman fell on
the rail, and explained how it all happened
THE TOP NOTCH OF DANGER
This has been hard winter on en-" said
the switchman. Jimmy makes four this
week, SO far. Three Of 'em was took just like
him. and tothcr IN was tlattened twxt tho
bumpers while he was couplin'. ! couldn't
tell you how many has been caught up along
this line, but I've been noticin' that there's I,
Soim many strange brakemcn on some o the
trains that comes in. There's five fellows in
three gangs alone that l don't know.
ha.ent had tho heart to ask where the old
hands ore, for 1 s'poso I'd be told that th,
one had been knocked off his car bye bridge,
an tint one had missed g. couplin an got the
bumpers, an that another one had slipped
from the roof like Jimmy jist now, an so on
1t may he, though that some of them ule
| nnly laid up with few fingers Off or an arm
twisted out Of the socket, or q foot run over
and smashed. or some little thing like that,
I hope So anyhow.
what makes brakin' so dangerous. A
good many things For instance, there S
couplin. That's always at the top notch of
dangerous from one New Years to another.
every day in the year. year in an year out.
just now the ice an snow on the cars is dan
g"rous. 1t isn't an easy thing for man to
rum along the tops Of cars going twenty
miles an hour, even when there is no ice on
the boards an the wind is light But when
you take it like it has been for a week or 50,
with the car roofs like glass and the wind
tearing along faster than the train does.
want You To know that there's got to be
| nerve i'll a man for him to climb up to the
top of car and run over half dozen OF so
every time the engineer calls for brakes
Then, mind you, brakeman has no right to
ride anywhere but on his car, no matter if
the snow is falling on him by the ton or rain
drenching him or hail a-pelting him like hot
Shot. Then he's apt in the night to run his
head against some bridge that spans the
track. But couplin' is what carries the most
of them away. l used to be freight brake
man myself, and one day l stepped between
,wo cars to couple them, having at the time
two as good arms as anybody ever had
When l came to my senses my right arm
was gone. Inc bumpers TOOK IL OH. These
link and pin couplers are what ruins tho
boys. Every brakeman knows that just for
having to do that he has to pay six times as
much for insuring his life as the man that
sets in a warm office and makes out the train
way bills does. Then brake chains are apt
to part too. when the brakeman is twisting
up his wheel, and away goes the brakeman
to the ground. If he don. get in under the
wheels he's apt to get his head or his neck ~
his legs broken by the fall.'-New York
Times.
The Propagation II Cholera.
An examination of the watrl',"t New York
liarirur has been undertaken for tao purpose
ii determining its character, and how; long
ii wculd support life of the different micro