The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-06
KILLED BY TIE IRON HoRsE.
The Drivers Feelings as the Monster
Does Bis Rorrfd Work


Does Bis Horrid Work.
From The CIneinndfi Commercial Gasette.
YES" said an enginser who had grown
gray In the service OF the company, as he
stood beside his locomotive the other day,
''the suspense attending a run over accident
when you are on an engine smothers one.
can assure you, he continued, wiping q
blotch OF oil of the side rod with a piece OF
waste, that | sm somewhat of an authority
on the subject, because have had the mis-
fortune to run over about everything from
chicken to a fire engine
You would naturally think that ool-
llsion 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
are You are sailing along over the rails.
trying to keepas near your schedule time as
you can, when suddenly something shows
up before you. With me it has always been
the rear 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 cars Of the train you strike. Then you
make the most of bad job, and il you are
not at fault for the accident and no one Is
IL.
But it is entirely different when you run
over human being. You are speeding
along and see a man on the track In front
OF you. At first you think he will hear the
train, just as thousands have heard it
before and get off the track in time.
but he goes on with his back toward
you, and you pull the whistle
string and the engine shrieks her warning.
He does not hear even that, so you try to
sion the train Tho nj hra1k
the engine is reversed and the great drivers
begin working backward, sending fire in
showers from the shining steel rails, while
sparks OF I've Goals from the furnace shoot
from the stack high up into the sky as the
monster groans and struggles, vainly trying
to stop the train behind.
"While you draw nearer and nearer the
victim the suspense is absolutely beyond
description. All efforts are useless. You
feel slight jar as the poor devil is struck,
and a cold sweat breaks out all over your
body and faint feeling comes over you,
until you fall back on your seat sick at
heart, and wonder what the fate Of the man
was and whether he leaves family and
what sadness there will be when they learn
the news at home. You think that
you would like to stop railroading and
earn living atsomething else. Meantime,
the train has come to a standstill. The en-
CINE has ceased her struggles and the only
sound you hear is the throbbing of the air.
brake as it pumps back and forth, making a
noise like the breathing Of some exhausted
beast. The baggagemaster, conductor, aud
brakeman rush out Of the oars and take ali
that is left of the victim from under the
wheels
'Well, you know bis fate now. As soon
as you are signalled to go ahead, and as you
touch the throttle, the engine leaps for ward
eagerly, as If she wers 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.
"a pig is a dangerous thing to run over.
for be is likely to throw the locomotive Off
the track. When the pilot of the engine
bits him it usually knocks him down and
then rolls him for few yards under 1t be-
fore the trucks strike him, and when they
do there is great danger of them leaving
the rails. The drivers are almost certain to
follow the tracks, and If you don't go down
the bank you are lucky. So you see what
havoc one pig can make with railroad.
Another disagreeable thing about pig is
that he never stops squealing from the time
he is hit until he is stone dead.
ut Is next to impossible to kill goat
with an engine. Goats are the most irritat-
ing OF all animals that wander along a rail-
road track. No matter how fast you may
be running or how quietly you steal down
upon him, he will see you out OF the corner
OF his eye, and manage to get out of the
way just in time TO miss the cowcatcher as
the engine PUSHES by him at lightning speed.
Cows and horses are generally easily dis
posed of, though sometimes they get under
the wheels and cause bad wreck. But
they are SO large that the pilot gets under
them and throws them to one side.
Sheep are the most pitiful of all
animals to run down. They seem to
realize the danger that they are in and
huddle together in the middle of the rails
and await death. Their Innocent eyes stare
at you so mournfully and sadly that they
haunt you for days to come. A locomotive
seems to take savage delight In destroying
sheep. She throws them in every direction,
and viii kill a whole flock in an instant /
struck a flock of geese once. Well, never
thouR ut there were so many feathers in the
world. l couldn't see anything but feathers
for ten minutes and when we reached the
station my engine looked as If she had re-
celved coat of tar and feathers"