The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-10-15

10 jump clear Of tho track and then
come back with n laundering crash.
a curve is struck, and the unwicIdly
cars lurch and sway and threaten to 90
over the bank. The ice and the cold
iron of the brake wheel have bc-
numbed the poor brakcy's hands so
that he can hardly use them, and all
the while the repeated calls for brakes
from the engineer urge him to do his
utmost to slacken the speed of the
Il ain.
Perhaps, as he tugs ut some wheel
and swings his body clear Of the car in
ms effort to tighten up the brakes, the
chain gives way, and woe to him il he
have not presence of mind and strength
OF muscles sufficient to retain his
grasp, for otherwise his body will be
shot down between the cars, to be
ground to pulp beneath the mercilcss
wheels.
The danger is tcnfold greater, too, if
he be using "club" as lever in tight
ening the brakes. Should the chain
give way, as not infrcqucntly happens,
and the brakeman have the wheel torn
from the grasp of his single hand,
death or mutilation is almost certain to
result.
1t is always the part of brakeman
who understands his business to exam
Inc the rods and chains on each car that
Will be put in his charge before the
train leaves the yard. On some roads
the frcight-car brakes are kept in good
order by men specially detailed for the
purpose, but on many, especially those
which handle many cars from other
! lines. it is the duty Of no one to look
ont for these details, and the careful
brakeman will always examine the cars
beforehand.
lie will save himself much trouble
and possibly even preserve his own life
rs we'll as those Of tho rest of the crew
by finding ont which cars have their
brakes i'll the best order and which are
not TO be depended upon.
With the modern freight train
equipped with air brakes, as is now
often the case, the life of the brakeman
is far easier and the major portion of
the hard and dangerous work is elm
mated. The engineer can control the
speed OF his train without the constant
care Of the brakeman, and all that in
dividual has to do is to hold himself in
readiness to respond to n call should
the air brakes give out.
One can frequently see heavy trains
running at high speed over the roads in
TINS state without a soul in sight on the
decks OF the cars, while under the old
system It was never safe without
brakeman at their posts every moment.
With the introduction of automatic
couplcrs on freight cars one Of the most
risky portions Of the brakcman's duties
will be done away with. The number of
men killed or manned in this country
through the antiquatcd style of coup-
ling still extensively in vogue reaches
INTO the thousands annually, but, hap
PLY, there is n promise that this fear
ful sacrifice will be ended before long
Anyone who has had experience in
making up trains with the common
style of drawhcad knows that it is a
matter of wonder, not that so many
men are killed Or injured but that SO
few suffer
10 have to step in between the ears
on dark night, the ground slippery
with ice or mud, with an engineer, per
haps, who is careless or not good in
calculating distances and who sends
his locomotive back with 4 crash, is
about as sure a method of inviting
death or painful injury rs can be mag
incd.
Yet 1T is the brakeman's duty to do
this without faltcring. and it is q dis
grace II he fail to IN AXE the coupling
the first time. He simply must not
fail, and to do this he must take chances
that would make an Inexperienced
mans hair turn gray.
Not only must he hold the couplinp
link to the last fractional part of a see
ond necessary to guide it into the draw
head OF the rapidly approaching train,
but he must have the coupling pin in
readiness to drop into place like n flash;
he must have his lantern in one hand
or on his arm, and must be ready to
move back with the cars until lie can
have an opportunity to get out from be-
tween them.
If the coupling be made where there
is network of frogs and switches the
greatest care must be taken in the hur-
ricd movement to keep pace with the
cars that the feet be not caught in any
OF these man-killing devices, otherwise
death is sure to come in it's most horri.
bic form.
But with the automatic couplers now
in use, and whose adoption most rail.
road men think should be made com.
pulsory, all this is done away with.
With these and the general introduce
ton of air brakes, the life Of the brake.
man will have nearly every element OF
hardship removed, and it will be nc
more hazardous than any other occupa
ton. .-EX- brakeman, in San Francisco
Chronicle.
How He Looks.
A mild-manncrcd young man, with g
keen sense of the vcriticS, was congrat
ulacd last week upon q small but ap
DrCciahlc allitinn To Lie fnmil.- LII.