Evening journal., 1893-06-23
ONE OF THE BIG FOUR. .
"reminiscences of an Operator
of Former Days.
TWO SLEBPERs CAUGHT UNAwAREs

wv ohhDI bho OhUHal UNAW AhLp,
An Ex-Operator and Spy Tells How He
worked Two Block Men who Slept
Not Wisely, But Too wen-A New
York Flyer Helped the West Yard Man
Out to the CONSERVATION OF Whining
ton
"Yes, said an old railway man last
night 81 feel Just as safe in a Penn
sylvania railroad train as / do in this
room. Under the present block
system It Is every bit as safe
and casualties caused by falling
buildings are almost as common
as serious railroad wrecks nowadays
don't mean freight wrecks They are
very common; but then the loss of life
is not great in them unless dozen
tramps are stealing their way from
some point on the road Most of the
railroad men who are killed by freight
trains meet death in the yards either
by carelessness or losing their presence
OF mind in emergencies which call for
sound Judgment and quick action
IF every man does his duty under
the block system a collision or acsi-
/ dent cannot possibly occur.
But every man does not do his duty
and collisions and accidents are of FIRE
quent occurrence" suggested the re-
porter.
"Then the railroad company knows
just where to place the responsibility
the railroader replied If an axle
breaks or anything of that kind happens
to the train it is the fault of the inspec
/ rl.a H.. al. a.,
| the time the train went out IL was his
duty to detect any flaw in the condition
Of the trucks. If the rails spread and
let train on the sleepers the blame rests
with the track walker at night and the
section men by day. II two trains get
In the same block and collide it is the
fault Of the dispatcher who gave the
order or the man who garbled IT, The
order files clearly show who Is response
BILE IL block operator puts the red on
a train and the engineer disregards IL
and dashes into the next block, the en-
gineer suffers the penalty,
But, suppose the engineer says the
block operator did not have the red on
him and the operator says he did-what
thenq"
"lf one Of them can satisfactorily
prove his assertion, all well aud good If
not, they both get the grand bounce.
DO sleeping night operators cause
many accidentsg
Comparatively few. They stop more
trains than anything else, for few
operators have the hardibood TO go TO
sleep with the white on and train in
the next block They 60 to sleep with
the red on and depend upon awakening
before the train arrives II they do not.
the train stops, the engineer awRkens
him by blasting the whistle, then the
two men exchange the compliments OF
the evening in very heroic language
the operator 10 reported at headquarters
and s is taken from his months pay foi
every train he stops When wal
younger / was a spy for the division
operator on a certain road held the
l,post for a good while, but ! have my
first man to report
"You didn't discover any dereliction
of dutY2"
"Oh, yes did, lots of IL, but talked
to the fellows themselves or gave them
an intimation that their shortcomings
were known at headquarters ! remem
Der an instance where a festive operator
near Wilmington perfected a device
whereby an approaching train would cut
string and drop coal scuttle to
awaken him. l spotted IL, and one night
/ went out TO the block The young
, wizard was stretched in his hammock
fast asleep. ! didn't awaken him, but
swung his hammock in such a way that
the suspended scuitle Of coal was i'm
mediately over his head He had spent
q the day in TO wn and never stirred in his
sleep of exhaustion. / walked out
{ quietly, stationed myself to see the fun
and left an approaching train 10 do the
rest. A short distance above the station
: IL cut the string the scuttle fell with 3
4 crash into the operators face and wher
d he dropped the signal he looked like ,
negro minstrel / returned TO towr
and he never resumed the coal scuttll
i racket.
81 remember another fellow who ha(
o an unimportant block He went t
"A Philadelphia and got one OF these papel
machines like they use in stock brokers
offices and at the police station in thu
o city. He attached it to the wires and II
!, the morning all he had to do was to lool
e in the basket and make up his report
q for the paper tape contained ever.
! thing that went over the wire. o
course he allowed two minutes for th
U run from the blocks above and below il
y / making up lhe lllne suteV. MS uhlil
n report was thing of beauty If not
I Joy forever. It was too good to last, fo
t he fell under suspicion. One night
went out there, found him asleep, de
$ tached his paper machine, carried i
II away and when he awoke in the morn
$ ing he had neither machine nor tap
d from which to make up his report. Fo
70 the next day or two he went around lik
a lost spirit, thinking that everybody b
II met knew Of his misfortune, and part
e cularly the division operator. Tn
a machine cost him S25 and he paid tina
II amount for two or three nights SLEEP
He was not bounced that time, but hi
, drowsiness ultimately caused his dis
y charge"
l. Ibid any one of the Big Four operator
\ of New York ever astonish the operator
of Wilmington
eyes, they are the fastest operators i
N the country. / remember one time / wa
e superintendiug the work in the Wes
ie Yard. A tramp walked in. gave hil
10 an old coat and hat and he took a seat i
1. "a Ia