The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-27
At Il RAILROAD STATION.
What Happened When n Drunken Man
Tried to BOARD N Moving Train.

Tried to Board N Moving Train.
standing the other day on a railroad plat
form waiting for a train" said a traveller. II
saw among the passengers who had just got off
q train-not the train that l wanted-a we'll
dressed man who was drunk: he was noticeable
on that account. He went into the station, and
the other passengers disappeared as people do
after they get Off q railroad train. The people
who lad been waiting for that train had boarded
1t, and the platform. u minute before all In a
hustle, was now almost deserted. except for q
few who were waiting as l was for the train In
the other direction. and a policeman.
"Out from one OF the station doors came the
man with tho jag. He saw the deserted plat
form, and then he looked up and saw the train
his smoothly and rapidly out OF
the station and gathering Roadway all the time;
and Instantly he made q break for It, running
along the platform at the start and oblique!y of
upon the tracks. Or course everybody on the
platform watched him. as people do when they
haven't anything TO do. and almost everybody
was inclined to smile at the effort OF a man to
overtake n railroad train.
But this man vas a runner. and he was not
only swift, but true. From the instant he ap-
peared through the door OF the station. and
saw tho moving train. and broke into tho run,
he never wavered. He ran true as n die. II no
had been a second later he wouldn't have made
itat all; As it was. he came Alongside tho last
car of the moving train just back of tho front
platform. We thought he would miss II even
then. but he made o squirt. came up level
with the steps, caught tho handrail near.
car. made a spring for the steps. at the same
time reaching for the other hand rail. the one
on the forward part Of the platform. He got his
feet up on tho steps, missed the front rail by a
hair. swung round backward again. of the step.
and then hung there for a second or two. hold.
fret. and dangling from the corner OF the car.
Well. we had all stopped smiling some time
before that. The. policeman and one or two
more had started on a run UP tho platform
toward the train. They couldn't do anything.
the thing had got TO work Itself out now, but II
chances were a million to one that he couldn't
pull himself up. and he could not. In a second
or two he dropped. OF course there was an
even chance that he would fall outward,
clear OF the car, as he might tumble
inward under the car and be smashed.
fell 80 that he lay stretched out on the ground
parallel with the track and under the project
ing side of the car. II he kept still he was as
safe there as II no had been. In China. II he
should roll over outwardly he would roll into
safety; inwardly he would roll into almost Ger
tain death, II he sat up he was sure to be hit
by some of the projecting attachments OF the
car. 1t was n thrilling situation while 1t lasted.
What the man did do was to lie perfectly
still: he had been stunned or daZed by the fail,
and In q second the car had passed on and left
him lying there, safe, The policeman picked
him up, and brought him back to the platform;
he could walk then all right and talk. but he
Just escaped.
For my own part | never try to board a
moving train. Life Is much too short TO be
fooled away In any such fashion as that"