The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-27

/ Jlonl1eu the system. When this dlShOn-
est fellow had investigated the system
and discovered its weakness he resolved
TO profit thereby One day he received
iine looking trunk that struck him as
| being particularly valuable Immediately
| after the train started he took of the
| check and canvas cover and in place sub
stltuted cover of his own that he had
secretly provided. He also placed a tag
on it and upon arriving in Philadelphia
unloaded it, When the owner of the
trunk reached New Yerk aud demanded
his trunk it could not be found, and an in
! yestigatiOn was set on foot. Hundreds
of pieces of baggage had passed through
the hands of the men on whom suspicion
fell and that particular trunk, of course,
! was lost sight of.
The only way so locate the trunk if it
had been stolen, and the railroadoficials
finally concluded it was, was to shadow
each man. This was done and the unsus-
pecting thief was captured while trying
| to dispose of several articles that were in
the trunk and had been described to the
| detectives.
"Now, everything works with clock
| ike precision. A record is kept of every
check and signed receipt is given by
the baggagemasters. Should a trunk go
astray it can quickly be traced to the
last man handling it, and that is the best
any system will do. When the quantit V
of baggage handled is considered the
small percentage of losses is something
| remarka BILE"
In case of wrecks" inquired the re-
porter, Il should imagine your situation
to be anything but pleasant"
Your imagination is all right on that
subject, replied the baggagemaster, with
a shrug of his shoulders That is the one
unpleasant phase of railroad life, and in
our case our danger almost equals that of
| hn n,,frf
ever seen the inside of baggage ear you
may have noticed an iron rod running
along the side just over the doors In
case of sudden run-in that rod is our
only hope. The wreck may only be a
slight one, say the smashing of the cow
catcher of the engine, but the sudden jar
produces havoc in our car, and the tons Of
baggage is thrown together with so much
force that to be caught lin the midst of it
would be almost certain death. This fact
continually confronts us, and on the
instant the danger signal is sounded we
make flying leap for that rod. l could
cite over hundred cases in which the
slightest hesitancy would have meant
death, but the quick action of the men in
peril prevented dire results.
IN CASE OF WRECK
"The inside of baggage car after such
slight run-in is worth going a consider
dD1O ulSbduCG 70 SEE. lHcIe IS generally
a space, say about three feet wide, in the
middle of the car, in which we do the
little writing necessary, and in the frac-
ton of second this space is transferred
to either end as the case may be- / have
seen pet animals crushed to death in this
movement so quickly that their yelp or
cry of alarm would be halted before fully
uttered, while the baggage master would
be grasping the rod for dear life, and his
body flying in the air outside the car.
There is no way to improve upon the
packing of baggage in the car, as the
space is too valuable, and every inch is
brought into requisition A person not
acquainted with our surroundings would
naturally think that the best thing for US
to do would be TO jump from the car and
| take our chances, but the odds
against US in such cases are at the ratio
of to l. Take, for instance, a pitch-dark
night with the rain falling in torrents.
The doors are about half open to let in
fresh air. Your eyesight will fail you a
foot outside the door All at once the
danger signal is heard from the engine.
The train is running at the rate of 80
miles an hour, and cannot be brought
under control in less than 100 yards or
more. Before that time the crash may
come. We cannot tell on the instant
what we have to contend against outside
the car. 1t may be that the train is on a
OLlQEG5 dilObiiGL IIdll DldN Uc running DIV
in an opposite direction; a steep bank
may be there that willhurl US back under
the wheels, or a nice soft mound of earth
may be the particular spot on which we
may alight, but, as l have before re-
marked, the chances are to L against it,
so we grasp the rod, and the percentage
of salty is turned in our favor at about
the same odds.
Gone of the strange things of my career
of fifteen years on the railroad is the fact
that although l have been in several
wrecks the sum and total of my expert
ences have been few bruises. For this
reason | cannot tell you any stories that
have narrowing details to them. But here
is one that might strike some people as
being humorous, although to me at the
time it was quite otherwise. My first
years as q baggage master were put in on
! the Pittsburg division Of the Pennsylvania
| railroad, the division that takes in the
Allegheny mountains My run was on the
| local train, or one that stops at all sta
tiOns- The car had doors at each end, be-
sides the two large side doors. l was
| young and careless in those days, and it
frequently happened that the end doors
were left unlocked.
DRUNKEN MINER.
zone dark night in October at about
| o'clock, just after pulling out of Johns
| town, a craZy-drunk miner bolted into
! my car with a large revolver in one hand
and a larger knife in the other. Both the
side doors were open, and on the instant
took one step toward one of them to
jump out, but stopped and decided to face
the music. The miner was not out for
money, but, as he put it, for bloody
| blood I tried to coax him into a peace
| full frame of mind. but he was obstinate.
Several men on the train had seen the
miner come into my car, and they tried to
| enter to help me out of my trouble, but
one or two shots fired in their direction
| kept the door closed and left me to my.
fate. When the crazy fellow saw that
he had me safe he began to humble some
thing about giving me three minutes to
say my prayers, at the end of which he
declared he was going to fill me full of
lead and then cut it out with his knife
''Scaredl Not bit; simply paralyzed.
I would have taken leap from the car
door, but for the fact that we were run
ming alongside ravine, the sides Of
which sloped down the mountains fully
| 500 feet or more.
"The miner stepped to the middle of
! the car, slightly toward the right door,
and / noticed that it was with difficulty
! that he kept on his feet. l forgot to men
tion the fact that he had cut the signal
| ,.oy,o with bis lxnifp on or, to,siocg INV