Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-22
The Ladies' Health Protective
Association Employs
Detectives
TO WATCH THE RAILROADS
Using Soft Coal on Engines Within
the Limits of the City.
UNEARTHING AN OLD ORDINANCE.
A Long List of Violations Presented to
Chief Bigelow.
LEGAL ACTION 10 BE TAKEN AT ONCE

Th7 Ladies' Health Protective Associa
tion is again on the warpath in its fight
against smoke. Just a year ago the ladies
turned their batteries on the Pittsburg
Junction Railroad Company, and in less
than month demonstrated to the officials
the necessity of complying with the law
and the economy of using coke for firing
locomotives Since last May no Junction
engine has been seen to puff big black vol
umes of smoke as it passed through this
city. thus conclusively demonstrating what
the officials of the road had vigorously de-
MED, that locomotives can be successfully
operated with coke and without making
smoke
The ladies have now turned their atten-
tion to the other railroads in the two cities
Having satisfied themselves and the public
that their demands are not unreasonable or
impract;cable. as a years test has shown.
they propose now to compel the other rail-
roads to obey the law as the Junction is
doing There is law in both cities to
prevent railroads from burning bituminous
coal. In this city no one remembers when
the law was ever enforced, but it has been
spasmodically enforced number of times
in Allegheny.
Discovered an Anti-Smoke Ordinance.
The ladies have gone about their work In
a systematic, practical way. which they ac-
quired in their fight against the Junction
road. They consulted their attorney, and
found that back in the sixties an ordinance
was passed by Councils governing the con-
duct of trains within the city limits, one
section Of which reads:
No bituminous coal or wood shall be used
in the engine of any locomotive employed in
conducting trains upon any railroad.
The ordinance contains several other i'm
portant regulations which are respected
about as much as the one quoted and the
penalty clause provides fine of $50 each
on the company, the conductor and engineer
running a locomotive in violation of any
section of it.
Observing the same liue of tactics used in
their previous warfare the ladies have pro-
cured evidence against the offending rail-
ways. They employed detectives to spot
engines using bituminous coal and making
smoke within the lity limits on certain
dates.
Detectives Put to Work.
The detectives were stationed at points
along the lines where they had an oppor-
tunity of determining the kind of coal used,
the smoke emitted and the numbers of the
locomotives In some cases the names of
conductors and engineers were secured. A
record of the engines thus spotted was kept,
and yesterday copy of the list was SUBJ
mitted to Chief Bigelow. He has been in
sympathy with the anti-smoke movement
since its inception, and has promised the
Health Association to do all in his power
to enforce the law.
The list of engines using soft coal on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was taken be-
tween noon on April 13 and noon on April
Is and is as follows:
Pittsburg and Cincinnati engines Nos IL,
u, 81, %. %, l50 So 81. 81, 80 So 512 5H SIS
5l7. 5l9, 523 527, 532 5S4, 535 536 $751; 56 563 564
565 SIS, 55. GO Gill; 6I2 GA 6l5. GIG 4iG, AS 4S3
asa, 4S9 499 5O2, 500, llO6, 762, 743 ia III and
729 Baltimore and Ohio engines Nos. 81,
2a5 2g6 297 299 SOO SOL 302 so3 3O4 sos 3o7, sos,
3J9 81, 3l3 3l4 324 S57 329 $780, S3l 332, $685. 36s
375, $780, All 452 40 AL 476, 49, 490 1871 49, 79S
s4i s45 9Oe 9Oi 9O, 9O5 Gil, ll09 l5C0, l50l 1902
15l3 nd 15a5