The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1891-12-17
Killed by the Iron Horse.

grown gray il the service of the compa-
ny as he stood beside his locomotive, the
! other day, "the suspense attending run
over accident when you are on an en-
gine smothers one, I can assure you" he
continued, wipiDg blotch of oil off the
side rod with piece of. .4EEastu, That l
am somewhak. Of an authority N the
Subject, because I have had the misfor.
tune to run over about everything from
chicken to fire engine.
"You would naturally think that
collision where your life was in immi-
nent danger would cause you more ankle
ty than any thing else, but it doesn't.
Usually collision occurs before you
know where you are. You are sailing
along over the rails, trying to keep as
near your schedule time as you can,
when suddenly something shows up be-
fore 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 your air brakes
reverse the engine, and wait for the crash
and the engine buries herself in the ca
boose or the cars of the train you strike.
Then you make the most of a bad job,
and if you are not at fault for the acci-
dent and no one is injured or killed, you
soon forget all about it. But it is en-
tirely different when you rua over hu'
man being. You are speeding along and
see man Oh the track in front ofyou.
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 stop the train.
The air brakes are put on, the engine is
reversed, aud the great drivers begin
working backward, sending fire in show
ers from the shining steel rails, while
sparks of live 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 be-
yond description. All efforts to warn
him are useless. You feel a slight jar
as the poor devil is struck, and 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 you
would like to stop rai!roading and earn
living at something else. Meantime the
train has come to standstill. The en-
CINE has ceased her struggles and the
only sound you hear is the throbbing OF
the air brakes ss it pumps back and
forth making noise like the breathing
of some exhausted beast. The baggage
master, conductor and brakeman rush
out of the car and take all that is left of
the victim from under the wheels.
"Well, you know his fate now. AS
soon as you are signalled to go ahead
and as you touch the throttle, the engine
leaps forward eagerly, as if she were
anxious to leave the dreadful place be-
hind, and in 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 he is likely to throw the locomo-
tive off the track. When the pilot OF
the engine hits him it usually knocks
him down and then rolls him over and
over for a few yards under it before the
trucks strike him, and when they DO
there is great danger of them leaving
the track. The drivers are almost Ger.
tain to follow the trucks, and ifyou
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 be is hit until
he is stone dead.
ut is next to impossible to kill goat
with an engine. Goats are the most lrrl'
tating of all animals that wander along q
railroad track. No matter how fast you
may be running or how quietly you steal
down upon him, he will see you out OF
his eye, and manage to get out of the way
lust in time 10 miss the cowcatcher as
the engine rushes by him at lightning
speed. Cows and horses are easily dis
posed of, though sometimes they get un-
der 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 their 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 aud sad
~ that they haunt you for days to
come. A locomotive seems to take
savage delight in destroying sheep. she
throws them in every direction, sud will
kill whole flock in an instant. once
struck flock of geese. Well, / never
thought there we're SO many teathers IN
the world. | couldn't see anything but
feathers for ten minutes end when We
reached the station my engine looked as
if it had receiveda a coat oftar and feath'
ers.''