The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-04-22
UNAPPRECIATED LABOR.
The Eard Lives Led by Locomo-
tive Firemen.
Although Subjected to Great Dangers
They Are Rarely the Recipients
of Public Favor or Com
mend2tion.

It Is doubtful if there is man on the
train who is less appreciated than the
fireman The public shakes hands with
the conductor who has charge of the
train, thanks the brakeman for many
little courtesies, bows to the baggage
master who looks after its luggage in
transit-perhaps, if it is masculine
public, swears at him-trusts its valua-
bles with the express messenger and
talks long and loud of the brave engi-
neer." But the frenan-he who bends
TO his work and feeds the fire that makes
the steam-is never mentioned. Some
times purse is made up for the engi-
neer. No one ever heard of the fireman
getting a purse, but, according to In
dianapois News, the records show that
he has performed as many deeds OF valor
as the engineer. Again, if the train
leaves the track or goes into another
train the fireman has fewer chances to
escape than any man on the train ey-
cept, perhaps, the mail clerk, shut up
like rat In cage. When the fireman
is at work, and that Is nearly al the
time when the wheels are turning, he
stands stopped over shoveling in the
fuel or raking the Goals in the fire box;
his view ahead is INSTRUCTED and, he
cannot see the danger that may be
dashing upon him The rattle and roar
of the machinery may drown the engi-
neer's warning Gala crash-the tender
pins him to the boiler head and he dies
horrible death. Standing in the narrow
gangway peering ahead, sudden lurch
around 9 curve may throw him off. In
stances have been known when the
coupling between the engine and the
tank parted and the fireman dropped
between them to be ground to pieces.
The records show that moro 4irenen
than engineers are killed in railroad
wrecks.
About the only time the fireman has
little leisure is when the train is rum
ming down grade. Then "she is shut
OF" steam is saved and the knight of
tic shovel climbs up to a cushioned seat
and takes a breathing spell But even
then one eye is ahead, his hand on the
bell cord and the other eye fastened on
the steam guage, whose little black
hands, fuctuating back and forth,
gauge his labor as well as the steam.
There is science in feeding" an en-
CINE that is not understood by one not
in the business. There is way to
throw in the coal and to empty the
shovel and close the furnace door at the
same time. 1t requires nice calculation
that tells how many scoop loads" are
needed to send the hands on the gauge
to the proper figure, def handling to
keep the deck Of the cabin clean and
hundred other little things that 60 to
make skillful fireman-one that saves
money for the company by husbanding
the coal In the old days the fre,aan
on wood burners" had d hard t.sae of
it and certainly earned the small money
he received for his services, but he had
a sinecure compared with the man in
blue overalls and jumper who stokes
up" one of the huge ''moguls'' or t'hogs"
of the present day. These engines haul
freight and eat up coal as if it were
CREASED paper. The fireman is at work
continuously, and about the only time
he has to rest Is when his train sstakes
a siding" to let more aristocratic pas
senger train pass. On the "ten wheel
ers" that pull the Big Four fast trains
or the engines that haul the express
trains of the Vandalia, Pennsylvania.
Hamilton and Dayton and
the new Monon the fireman has hard
time of it. The machinery needs
large amount of steam, and it takes a
great deal of coal to make it. and the
scoop" is ringing all the time.