Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-29

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over the immense bed
of flaming Goals. has his view in front entirely
blocked and, like the government employe
directly in his rear, knows nothing Of a sudden
run-in until the crash comes.
1t is strange circumstance, but nevertheless
true. that in almost every wreck wherein life is
lost or the victims forever crippled the suffer
ers will be found to be firemen.
As he stands at his work, braced against one
end Of the tender, the train flying over the
road at terrific rate Of speed. the hazardous
part Of his labor il quickly discernible. Should
the links part between the locomotive and
tender a terrible death Is his. One false step
will precipitate him head foremost from the
narrow opening at the side and, as the engine
strikes a sharp curve, this result is not easily
guarded against. He has to be continually on
the alert against curves, and to the green fire.
man the swerving swing Of the engine is some
thing exceedingly difficult to stand up under.
About the only time the fireman has Of leisure
is when the train is going down grade. Then
the engine is shut of. the steam saved and the
fireman climbs up onto his little leather covered
seat in the cab opposite the engineer and en-
joys few minutes well-earned rest.
THE FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE FIREMAN
since the ad option Of the ''modoc" and ''hog"
engines by the big corporations, has task be-
fore him in keeping up steam almost the equal
Of the iron puddler in the rolling mill His
chief relief comes in the way of long clay
overs" or side tracking Of his train for the
more aristocratic or swiftly moving passenger.
In olden days the firebox of locomotive both
freight and passenger, was about five or six
feet square, while at the present time the fire.
box OF hog engine is fully twelve feet
long and the big passenger flyers about two
feet less. Into these boxes coal must be
shoveled almost continuously on q fast rum as
the engine eats it up in a way that almost
makes the grain elevator jealous as it devours
the grain in the hold Of a vessel aiongside.
PLUCK AND ENDURANCE REQUIRED.
Although the work of fireman is exceedingly
arduous and the risk to life and limb very high.
his labors develop the man. If he does not
possess the proper amount of stamina a vacancy
soon occurs, but if the necessary amount of
pluck and endurance is forthcoming years
experience will put him on the road TO promo
ton as master Of the engine AS the fremen
earn, on an average, about S65 month and
the engineers about Sl10. it can be readily seen
that the promotion is eagerly looked forward
to.
A reporter Of THE EVENING STAR. while max
ing his rounds one day recentlv accosted one
of these knights of the coal shovel" as he was
about donning his suit Of blue jean down at the
round house on Virginia avenue A ma or part
Of the above facts were cleaned from him.
THE FIREMEN HANDICAPPED.
In addition he said:
1.-The one great handicap we have when
mishap is about TO occur is the noise occasioned
by the EARRING Of the locomotive. The en-
gineer has time, perhaps, to reverse his engine
and give warning call but it has frequently
h.vN xhaA
the reversing Of the engine, which throws the
fireman to his knees or on his face and before
he can recover himself and make the leap for
life he is buried under the coal in the tender
and pushed up against the firebox to be slowly
roasted to death. Then again the space through
which the fireman is compelled to leap for
safety is so narrow that il reminds one Of an
attempt to jump through doorway while the
door is coming to. II caught it's case OF
| Kitty bar the door,, because the victim will
| have the life crushed out of him in an instant,
| as the tender invariably mounts the locomotive
| in a collision"
why don't you leave the railroad and take
up some other occupation?" inquired the
porter.
"well," replied the fireman, 81 can make
| more money at firing than any other business,
as my education is not of the best, and then
| perhaps may become an engineer some day.
| As to being killed, that never worries me.
When my time comes I'll have to 60, and I'm
| taking the chance of that time being away off
Have ever been caught in a wreck? Not
| of any consequence, but was witness of poor
Jim Givens untimely take-off. and I'll never
| forget it. Tell you about it? Well, don't
mind. It's sad but short tale.
JIM OWENS FATE.
"Given was firing on the Richmond and DAN
vile road and was in the wreck that occurred
about thirty miles down the road two years
back. My train was on a siding not hundred
| yards away. Death did not come to him like q
| fash. Unconscious of his impending tate he
| was caught at his post. hurled with great force
against boiler head, left envelopcd in scalding
steam, and, powerless to escape from the horri-
| BILE torture, he was compelled to remain where
he was found until his eyes were boiled out and
| his flesh almost cooked by the surrounding
| heat. Inconsistencies first came to his relief,
but life remained few hours.
1.-THE circumstances Of Given's death are sad
enough to bring tears to the eyes of the
| strongest, even though told as bare facts. At
| the time of the collision he was shoveling in
coal, and no doubt his engineer called to him,
| but on account Of the noise the warning was
lost. The force of the unexpected collision
| threw him with great force against the fire box
| and then out on to the north side of the rail-
road track, his body striking finally against the
head Of one of the burst locomotive boilers
Stunned by the shock, he was left where he was
| thrown. When the locomotives came together
| the boilers Of both engines were burst. The
pent-up steam poured forth in scalding vol
umes, enveloping poor Given's body while it
lay, unable to move, and il not reDaered
totally unconscious by the shock already re-
| ceived he must have soon become So as the
! escaping steam was at boiling temperature
His eyes we're first ruined. When We found
him he was blind and unconscious. can
| imagine no death more horrible than his"
more pleaslng story was told Of railroading
in Pennsylvania. The hero 10 "Jim' Collins.
1t was one Of the widest rides and bravest acts
which have ever taken place on a railroad. Il
occurred on the Central railroad Of New Jersey
between Penobscot and Coalport. The through
freight was q very heavy one and left Ashley
| fifteen minutes behind time. At Penobscot a
heavy grade commences and continues down
the mountains for fifty miles to Coalport.
Slowly the train started down the grade. the
| engineer, on account Of the extra long train
| and being behind time, delaying to whistle
down breaks until the train had gathered con-
siderable Roadway. When the shrill whistle
| sounded the brakemen sprang for their particu-
lar batch Of cars, but the heavy wind and the
rain compelled them to crawl along on their
| hands and knees.
All this time the train was dashinQ down the
heavy grade, gathering impetus as each tele-
graph pole was passed, and the brakemen
found 1t impossible to check it's progress by
putting on the brakes. Almost before thew
realized It twenty miles had been passed and