Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-07-02
os rHA rRosr rLArFoRM.
This Griptnnn Knew HIS Business and Pas
ssngefs Rode Comfortably.

. F..
/, He was q six-footer,, this gripman,
and he had a bony figure. with large
hands, large feet and prominent cheek
bones. His complexion was fair, his
hair was short and of straw color, and
his eyes were small and blue. 1t being
Ia biuetery day, he had the collar OF his
'ovarcoat turned up. In Norway or
Sweden that figure started to grow,
and evidently it was well developed
Iibefore ID reached here, says a writer
in ths New York Times. From the
lwilde OF the land of the midnight sun
ito the front platform of Broadway
| car is quite stretch, but the figure
| that was plotting this particular car
down town did not seem to be out of
place there. He knew how to handle
| 1.-The grip and the brake, II he did not
know how to do anything else. The.
lilikelihood is, however, that il he wore
placed somwhere else and required to
exert great strength and keep control
iof his nerves he would be just the man
| for an emergency. His ways were
| revelation 10 a passenger who has
| always boarded the cable cars with the
Impression that something would hap
| pen, probably because so many things
have happened. Marrow escapes wild
ened the scope of that impression, and
1 the passenger realized that a trip up
or down the way requires lot of nerve
on the front platform. Previous OK
periences with green gripmen, feeble
gripmsn and nervous gripmen had pre-
pared the passenger for the revelatio on.
/ One Of the front seats being vacant
at Madison square, the impressible
passenger vacated another for it, and
kept an eye open for narrow escapes. if
nothing worse, but the gripman's way
| of starting the car, keeping it under
way and stopping 1t when the occasions
required was eoothing 1t released all
fears and created confidence never
| experienced before, and before long the
passenger sized up the gripman for all
he was worth. Whoever has been
pitched about by the sudden movements
of a car because the gripman put the
grip on too quickly can appreciate the
applcation OF the grip in n way that
starts the car easily and slowly. This
six -footer had that easy way to perfec-
tion, and yet, to look at him, one
would think that he would put on the
grip with an energy that would send
everybody tottering, for he certainly
had the appearance of being able to rip
the grip chain apart. To all outward
appearances, he seldom exerted himself
to any extent, but he had control ol
that car every second. The strength
that he used most of the time was in
his hands and arms Hardly half Z
dozen times did he use the ratchet tC
bold the grip in place. He started the
car by a wrist motion on the griI
wheel, the pressure being increased ant
the speed OF the car accelerated grad
ually by the strength of the arms, in
stead OF by the weight of the body, anc
he kept IL under way by firm or slight,
loosened grasps, according to the con
ditions al the cross streets aud il
Y crowded places
4 When he had to stop the car he loos
ened the grip just enough to allow thu
i cable to slip through and then put oil
, the brake At the crossings he gauget
| the length OF the car, when any on,
desired to board it, and put on tb,
brake gradually until the car stopped
! and that is good deal more than th.
] majority OF gripmen are inclined to do
the usual method being to put on tn
brake quickly and stop the car sud
denly If any one desires to get off, 0
/ slow down a little if man desires t,
board It, Several times he had t
I drop the grip and apply the brake witt
r reverse movements of the arms to keel
. clear of trucks and coaches that got il
] the way, but he had such perfect com
mand of himself and the wheels that h
did not strike thing all the wa
down, although only an inch separated
. his buffer from the tail end of true
at times He knew his business, an
tho impressible passenger rode com
n fortably