Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-11-28
TRIES THE NERVES.
AN OLD FIREMAN ON THE EFFECT
OF A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

lision Occurs-A Smash Up Makes Man
Scary Ever Thereafter.
There is something attractive about
railroad life to the man who once Gu
tiers it. The railroad companies rarely
give up reliable, faithful man. He
may become manned and unfit for the
most remunerative positions and be
forced to accept some humber place
with smaller salary attached to it,
but it is all unwritten law with most of
the great railroad companies that the
man who is injured in their service
shall be placed i'll some position where
he may obtain his livelihood.
Thus it may happen that when you
fall i'll conversation with the man who
occupies "a humble switchhouse or a
fiagman's shanty you are talking with
one who has had his share of excitement
and been through experiences that
would make the hair of the average man
stand upon end. A reporter met
switchman the other day the pathos of
whose life was expressed in the wooden
leg which he used, and as the Empire
dashed by he locked up and said:
eyes, like railroading. | have been
in the business all my life and expect to
spend the rest of my days over the rails,
but [ am quite content to remain here
i'll my little cottage and tend to my flag
cling rather than have the position of
the man who holds the throttle ON that
big engine which just whizzcd by here.
You may think it a snap to sit there
and ride over the country at the rate of
mile Il minute, but tell you the man
carries load of responsibility on his
shoulders which / would not want on
mine and which the average man knows
very little about. l know something of
it, for l was fireman some years ago on
one of the fast engines and lost my leg
i'll an accident between here and AL
bany. But if | had come out of that &C
cident as sound as you are l never
should have been able to hold my nerve
for any more fast trips. That finished
me for that work.
''Then ii IL man has been hurt in a
railroad accident it makes him scary
of that kind of work, does it?'' asked
the reporter.
"You bet it does" answered the
switchman with emphasis, land don't
let any one fool you that it doesn't. The
man who was running that engine tho
day l was hurt escaped with hardly a
scratch, but he never could keep his
time up the way he did before that and
finally was Put on Il freight engine,
where the running was great deal
slower.
II shall never forget the way he look
ed the afternoon the smash up occurred.
Just before the crash came looked at
him. We were rounding curve down
by Schenectady. His long gray hair
was flowing in the breeze, his face was
set and his eyes fixed Oh the track
ahead.
''All at once he jumped to his feet
and reversed the lever and exclaimed in
a startled tone, My God, we are
caught! 1t was probably not more than
half minute after WHEN 1 was lying
beneath the engine with my leg crush
ed, utterly unconscious of the fact that
a great wreck had occurred, but every
movement and occurrence of that half
minute is as wildly impressed upon my
mind as if it had taken weeks of time
to impress it there.
Gas he spoke 1 looked through the
cab window ahead of us, and there,
within 20 rods, was u freight engine
coming straight at us, and there was no
possible chance to escape crash. The
engineer was Going his duty. ! knew
thar. He was reversing the lever. apply
ing the brakes and doing his best to
avert what he knew was inevitable, but
/ had nothing to do and it seemed as if
everything in my life was before me in
those few seconds. felt absolutely sure
l was going to die, Strange as it may
seem, the though, did not seem horrible
to me- A whole lot of the slang say
ings, such as, you are learning to fire
here in this world so as to be prepared
for the next, ard You won't mind a
hot job ever tLCro, and Il number Of
those stale things which a fireman has
to take, came into my head, and even
in that awful position it occurred to me
i'll IA humorous sort of Way that [ had
made il good start here below, OF here
mcnt was thinking of my wife and
childrcn-ycs. and Of mother, too, who
had Ltcn dead number of years. A
man always thinks of his mother at such
il time. But | dot think | had par
ticle of fear CT death. The last thing
that was on ny mind wRa the question,
Who was to blame for the accidcntY
And that is the last remember
"When came to my senses, l was
in hospital and was minus a leg.
Since thea | have been constantly en-
ployCd one way and another by the rail-
road company, hut | never see one Of
the fast trains so by without thinking
of that wreck. The engineer miraculous
ly escaped with scarcely bruise, but it
finished him for that kind of work. He
was always seeing engines ahead of him
after that, and have heard that more
than once he has slowed up his train in
order rot to collide with an imaginary
engine, which have no doubt was as
real to him rs it was on the afternoon
the wreck ! speak of occurred. As said
before, he was transferred to a freight
engine, but even there he was timid
and finally left the road altogether.
"You can put it down as ii pretty
been i'll an accident once he is minus u
good share Of the nerve which it takes
10 make his runs on time TO the tick,
and if he ism t Oh time he has got to 90
sooner or later "-Rochester Democrat