The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1891-12-05
d THE LOCOMOTIVE.
Hs wing Run Over Almost EVERYTHING
from a Chicken to a Locative, an
Old Railroad Man Tells How
an Accident Affects Him

''1es, said an engineer who had
grown gray in the service of the com
pany, to a Cincinnati Commercial re-
porter, as he stood beside his lOcGmO-
tive the other day, ''the suspense at
tending a turnover accident when you
are on an engine smothers one | as
sure YOU" he continued, wiping a
blOtch of oil off the side rod with a
piece of waste, "that | am somewhat
of an authority on the subject, because
| have had the misfortune to run over
about everything from IL chicken to a
fire engine.
''fou would naturally think that a
collision where your own life was in
imminent danger would cause you
more anxiety than anything else, but
it doesn't. Usually a collision occurs
before YOU know where YOU ale. You
are sailing along over the rails, trying
to keep as near to schedule time as
you can, when suddenly something
shows up before You. With me it has
always been the rea of the train, for
| have never tried to pass an engine on
the same track coming in an opposite
direction. IN an instant you slam on
the air brakes, reverse the engine, and
wait for the crash, and the engine
buries herself in the caboose or ears of
the most of a bad job, and if you are
not at fault for the accident and no m
is injured or killed, you forget all
about it.
"But it is entirely different when You
Il over a human being. You are
speeding along and see IA man Oh the
track ahead of you. At first you
think he will hear The tain. Just as
thousands have beard it before. and
get Oft the track in time, but he goes
on with his back toward you, and you
pull the whistle string and the engine
shrleks, rer warming. He does not
heal even that, so You try 20 stop the
train The air brakes are put on, the
engine is reversed, and the great dri-
vers begin working backward, sending
fire i'll showers from the shining steel
rails, while sparks of live Goals flom
the furnace shoot from the stack high
up into the sky as the monster groans
and struggles, vainly trying to stop
the trairabehind. =.
awhile you draw nearer and near
er the victim the suspense is absolute
~ beyond description. All efforts are
useless. You feel a slight jar as the
poor devil is struck, and a cold sweat
breaks out all yer your body and a.
faint feeling comes over yOu until YOU
fall back on your seat sick at heart and
wonder what tt fate of the man was.
N whether he leaves a family, and
what Sadness there will be when thew
learn tho news at home. 1ou think
that you would like to stop railroading
anc earn a living at something else.
Meantime the train has come to a
%standstill. The engine has ceased her
struggles and the only sound YOU hear
is the throbbing of the alr-brake as it
pumps back and forth, making a noise
like the breathing of some exhausted
beast. The baggage-mastcr, conduc-
tor and brakeman rush out of the cars
and take all that is left of the victim
from under the wheels.
"Well, you know his fate now. AS
soon as you are signaled to go ahead,
and as you touch the throttle, the en-
CINE leaps forward eagerly, as if it
were anxious to leave the dreadful
place behind, and in a moment the
thought of the accident is driven by
other work from your busy mind.
~ pig IS a dangerous thing TO run
over, for ne is likely to throw the loco
motive off the track. When the pilot
of the engine hits him Unusually knocks
him down and then rolls him for a few
yards under it before the trucks strike
him. and when they do there is great
danger ef them leaving the rails. The
drivers are almost certain to follow the
trucks, and if you don't GO down the
bank you are lucky. So YOU see what
havoc one pig can make with a railroad.
Another disagreesble thing about a
pig Is that he never stops squealipc
from the time he is hit until he is stone
dead.
at is next to impossible to kill a
goat with an engine. Goats are the
most irritating of all animals, that wan
der along a railroad track. No mat
ter how fast you may he running or
how quietly lou steal down upon him,
he will see you out of the corner Of his
eye, and manage to get out of the way
just III time to miss the cowcatcher as
the engine PUSHES by him at lightning
speed. Cows and hors IS are generally
easily disposed of, though sometimes
they get under the wheels and cause a
bad wreck. But they are so large that
the pilot gets under them and throws
them to one side. Sheep are the most
pititnl of all animals run down. They
seem to realize the danger that they
are IN and huddle together in the mid