Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-25

certain train and through sickness had
failed to report and the man taking his
place had been killed. they will one and
all, enphatically declare it was case of
lucky sickness for the man that was COM
PEELED to remain at home. They fail to see
the fact that tie substitute Proved negli-
gent in his duty and had the regular man
been in his place ii was 100 to / chance
mat the accident would not have occurred
1t Is, however. an undeniable fact that
there are more strange and weird occur
rences taking place oaily i'll the railroad
service than in any other branch of en-
ployment. The POI. !crou5 rolling stock, the
swift light through the country, over spi-
der-iike bridges, Under the earth in long
dismal tunnels. and in weather varying
from the pleasant to the NEST trying, ALI
tend i'll the direction OF beliefs almost su-
pernatural. Then, again, train service il
not the kind that calls 50 much for brain.
as physical equipment. The element OF
chance does, to a cerclin extent. enter into
the everyday service OF train men, and that
they should be supers titIous is only follow
ing natural lines.
4 Narrow Escape.
1t is occurrences like the following, the
details OF which come from Halleton, Pa,
| that lend color OF substance to Il train
mans belief in luck. When coming into
| the yard at Weatherly, small station
near Hazleton, with his train. Conductor
John McHush told one OF the brakemeu to
cut the caboose loose at the lower end Of
| the siding and let the engine take the
| train to point near the western end. Nc
Hugh had then been on the road for TWEEN
| ty hours and his eyes were heavy for lack
of sleep. AS ordered. the brakeman d few
| minutes later pulled the pin holding the
caboose, and supposing that the conductor
would take care of the cabooSe. continued
up the track with the cars. He noticed
later, however, that the caboose had run
out on the main line again and that Nc
Hugh had not appeared on the platform.
The road at that point is marked by
grade which drops fifty feet to the mile,
and to catch the caboose was impossible
Taking in the situa ton the trainman has
tened to the telegraph office and messages
We're sent to the different offices below to
either sidetrack or derail the runaway ca
boose. 1t was not known whether the con-
ductor was on it or not. The operator at
Black Creek reported the car by his station
and the man at Penn Haven was barely
notified when the runaway shot by the will
dow of his station. Down the mountain
side the car rushed with the rapidty OF
lightning, while within it sat Conductor
McHugh asleep and oblivious to the Jan
ger his nap was mourning. Fortunately
there were no west-bound trains started
out from Packington and the immense dis
lance allowed time for the operator TO set
track. Other trainmen were distributed
along the graded track and as the speed
of the runaway caboOSe decreased as ii
climbed the hillside one of them was era
bled to board 1t and apply the brake be-
fore it reached the obstruction at the end.
When they did SO McHugh was found on
the bench sitting bolt upright and sound
asleep. When aroused and told of the peril
Gus ride he had had he refused to believe it,
and only after looking in vain for his train
did he come to sense of the situation.
There were hundred and one chances for
that car to either jump the track or crash
into another train and kill the sleeping
McHugh, but he can certainly be classed
with the ones born under lucky star.
The Rule of Three.
Few veteran engineers there are who will
not tell you that the rule of three has quite
as much to do with railroad accidents as it
has to do with the theory and practice of
proportion. A serious mishap to a train
invariably causes a shudder of apprehen-
sion among the trainmen the whole road
over, for a large number of them are firm
in the belief that many days will not pass
before a second and third will happen to
round out the trinity of accidents which
to their minds foreShadowed in the
first disaster. II Is no use to laugh at the
superstition of the engineer who has run
trains at breakneck speed over unseen
bridges on dark nights without turning a
hair, as he stands predicting trouble with
stances. ancient and modern, and tell you
that when young and fireman he himself
was an unbeliever, but that by experience
the truth of the adage has been proved to
him.
A social session of the Tie and Rail
Club was being held one evening recently
down at the oil house on Virginia avenue,
when an Evening Star reporter happened
to drop in. The discussion was warm, and
many of the stories told were given as il
Illustrations to substantiate assertions that
it is better to be born lucky than rich. An
engineer, all rugged out in a suit of blue
jean, and who was scheduled to go out on
the fast freight was telling how slight
the barrier between life and death may
sometimes be and how his lucky star per-
mitted him to relate the story at this time
He said:
II was running at good rate of speed
one day, when, as l approached a part of
the road about two miles east of Philadel-
phla on the newly built Baltimore and Ohio
road where there was rather a sharp curve
and where the road bed was raised about
forty feet above the turnpike level, the front
wheel on the outward side under the for
ward truck of the locomotive without the
slightest warning fell off the shaft and
rolled down the embankment. Instantly
all the wheels under the whole train-en-
CINE, tender, baggage car and several pas
senger cars-were humping along over the
ties.
THE humping and jolting was SO violent
that no one could steady himself prepara-
sengers could do was was to hold on for
dear life After this frightful ride had been
continued for about 800 feet we were
running fully fifty miles an hour, the re-
versed engine brought the cars to a stand
still, nobody the worse except for the fright
and the joting
What do you think saved us?" asked
the engineer, casting an inquirng glance
around to his companions, all of whom
shook their heads negatively Merely a
little one-inch iron bolt nut under the
pilot. The nut was brought. when the cars
left the rails, against the inner side of the
outward rail- and, acting as a sort of hange
served to keep the course of the cars for
ward instead of outward. 1t was all n
combination of things not to be met with
once in 100000 times"
Held on to the Axle.
"Oh, that experience is nothing to Tom
helly'S, the boss of section No. H. I'D near
BOWIE, chimed in greasy-lOoking loco
motive cleaner. Tom was walking on the
west-bound track one day last spring so
as to face trains approaching him, when
wildcat engine running backward came
up behind him and knocked him down.
When Tom fell one leg was thrown across
the south rail. while the rest of his body
rested between the rails.
IN that position he was pushed by the
moving engine distance of about 200 feet
before he was seen by a brakeman of a
coal train coming south. The brakeman
yelled to the engineer that they had rim
over man and the engine was quickly
stopped. Kelley then got out from under