Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-09-05
EXPERT WOMEN TRAIN JUMPERS


tesc 'eHoffkht 6tIets
Mrs. Marie Santow il one OF the most
expert train Jumpers 10 the United Staten
/ With the ease and dexterity OF a veteran
railroader Mrs. Santow takes a fsyjpe lean
on a swift moving coal train and safely
lands on the bumper or on the axle end
above the wheel. With the same ease and
success she jumps safely from train and
goes on her way rejoicing.
Mrs Saptow Is buxonl, good looking.
black haired and black eyed woman aud is
thirty-1ive years old. She is a coal picker,
and mt the Close Of the night her face and
hands are begrimed and black. She Is
what Is known as "A professional coal picker;
that IS, she picks coal along the railroad
for the use Of her family. In the lower
section OF Reading are some thirteen wom-
Ell coal pickers who nightly jump on and
of moving coal trains and think nothing
OF it. Mrs. Santow is 'the queen OF the
gang" and is regarded as the most ven
turesome.
1t Is common custom for the women
to go down the road on loaded trains and
come back on empty trains. The trains
20 ut the rate Of ten to fifteen miles an
hour beyond the lower outskirts OF the
city. Three or four women jump on a
loaded coal train at night and scatter
along the middle cars away from the sight
of the brakemen and conductor. In the
space OF three miles they succeed in push
ing off lot of coal from the tops OF the
we'll loaded cars. Those loaded with egg,
furnace or steamboat coal are not modest
ed. The nut coal Is the most sought
after. After the women have gone down
far enough, and II not detected, they jump
off the train no matter how fast it is NOV
ing: but they generally take their time 10
selecting the best place to make a safe
| landing.
The coal that they push off the cars on
the down trip is gathered up at dawn by
girl coal pickers who have not yet become
proficient In train jumping. After the
women leave the loaded coal trains going
| down they wait for an up coal train made
up of empty cars. These trains run rapid
| ~, but the women, no matter how dark
the night, run swiftly along with the train
and jump on them AS gracefully and sue
| cessfully AS any practical railroader. They
gather up their skirts in their left band
and use their right in securing Il grip.
Once on an empty car, the women get
down into it and scrape the coal together.
At times considerable coal is left in the
| bottom by careless dumping at the great
| piers at tidewater, and this coal is bonan-
"a to the women, who scoop it up into bags,
completely filling them by the time the
| train reaches the outskirts of the city.
| These filled bags are then swung over
the sides of the car and dropped to the
ground, followed by the women them
selves. In this way they toll all night,
and succeed in getting together lot OF
coal, which is deposited in the back yards
of the shanties they occupy. Their hus-
bands work in the neighboring mills, and
are never known to buy more than IA ton
Of coal for winter use. They buy this coal
in order to have "A receipted bill to show in
case they are arrested. The girls gather
up tie coal in pans and old scuttles along
the railroad. They are frequently chased
| by the railroad police, but are rarely ar.
rested. because the girls are seen doing
nothing wroIg, and the women train
| jumpers work only at night and are smart
enough not TO be caught ut il.
| Occasionally one is killed through her
own carlessness, but such an accident has
not happened recently. Some of the more
successful coal pickers have enough coal to
spare to sell to their neighbors.-Cor.
| New York Sun.