Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1894-02-15
RAILRoADERs sUPERsTIrlous.

when They Escape from Any Great Dan
ger They Regard IL Merely as Luck.
II there is one thing that railroad
employe believes in more than another
IL is luck No matter how clearly
practical man may analyze certain
odd occurrence, they will obviously
slnke their heads and contend that IL
was case of luck, good or bad, pure
and simple. For instance. IL one Of
their number had been ordered out on
a certain train and through sickness
had failed to report and the man talk
ing his place had been killed, they
will, one and all, emphatically declare
IL was a case of lucky sickness for the
man that was compelled to remain at
home. They fail TO see the fact that
the substitute proved negligent In his
duty, and had the regular man been in
his place IL was hundred to one chance
that the accident would not have &C.
Cured.
IL Is, however, an undeniable fact
that there are more strange and weird
occurrences taking place daily in the
railroad service than in any other
branch OF employm = The ponder
GUS rolling stock, tAe swift fight
through the country, over spider-like
bridges, under the earth in long dis
NAL tunnels and in weather varying
from the pleasant TO the most trying,
all tend in the direction of beliefs al
most supernatural Then, again, train
service is not the kind that calls so
much for brain as physical equipment
The element of chance does TO GER
tain extent, enter into the everyday
service of trainmen, and that they
should be superstitious is only follow
ing natural lines
IL is occurrences like the following,
the details of which come from Hazel
ton, Pa, that lends color of substance
to trainman's belief in luck. When
coming into the yard at Wetherly, a
small station near Hazelton, with his
train. Conductor John McHugh told
one of the brakemen TO cut the caboose
loose at the lower end Of the siding and
let the engine take the train TO a point
near the western end McHugh had
then been on the read for twenty hours
and his eyes were heavy for lack Of
sleep. As ordered, the brakeman a few
minutes later pulled the pin holding
the caboose. and, supposing that the
conductor would take care of the ca
boose. continued up the track with the
cars. lie noticed later, however, that
the caboose had run out on the main
line again and that McHugh had not
appeared on the platform. The road
at that point is marked by a grade
which drops fifty feet TO the mile, and
to catch the caboose was impossible.
Taking in the situation, the trainman
hastened to the telegraph office, and
messages were sent TO the differ
ent offices below to either side
track or derail the runaway
caboose II was not known
whether the conductor was on il or
not. The operator at Black creek re-
ported the car by his station and the
man at Pen Haven was barely notified
when the runaway shot by the window
of his station. Down the mountain
side the car rushed with the rapidity of
| lightning, while within II sat Con-
ductor McHugh asleep and oblivious to
the danger his nap was lncurrinR. For
tunately, there was no west-bound
trains started out from Packington,
and the immense distance allowed time
for the operator 10 set the switches and
run the car up the safety 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
enabled to board 1t and apply the break
before it reached the obstruction at the
| end
When they did so McHugh was
found on the bench sitting bolt up
right and sound asleep When aroused
and told OF the perilous ride he had
had he refuse 10 believe IL, and only
after looking in vain for his train did
he come 10 a 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 GER
tainly be classed with the ones born
under lucky star.-N. Y. World.