The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-04-17
UNAPPRECIATED LABOR.
THE HARD LIVES LED BIZ LOCO
MOTIVE FIREMEN.
Although Subjected to Great Dangers
They are BARELY the Recipients of Pub
lie Favor or Commendation.

1t is doubtful III there is man on tne
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 70 the baggage
master who looks after its luggage in
transit--perhaps, il it is a 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 fireman-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 purse, but, according to In
dianapolis News, the records show that
he has performed as many deeds of valor
as the engineer. Again, il the train
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 all 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 obstructed 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 a 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 more firemen
than engineers are killed in railroad
wrecks.
About the only time the fireman has
a little leisure is when the train is run
ming down grade. Then ''she is shut
off" steam is saved and the knight of
the shovel climbs up TO cushioned seat
and takes 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, huctuating back and forth,
gauge his labor as well as the steam.
There is science in feeding an en-
gine 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, dcft handling to
keep the deck of the cabin clean and
hundred other little things that go to
make slsillful flreman-one that saves
money for the company by outstanding
the coal. In the old days the fireman
on "wood burners had hard time of
il 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 ''stolxes
up one of the huge ''moguls' or "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 stakes
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,
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton and
the new Monon the fireman has hard
time of it. The machinery needs a
large amount Of steam, and it takes a
great deal of coal to make it, and the
scoop" i3 ringing all the time.