Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-05-23
WHICH IS THE SAFEST CARP
We'll That Depends on Things Nobody
Can Foresee.

Which is the safest car on a railroad
traIn?" repeated an old Detroit railroad
man, as he stroked bis chin and seemed
10 reflect on the query. "Well, the beet
answer can make is that it il the car
which doesn't run off the rails when all
others DO, and which Is left on the bank
when the train goes through a bridge
You We Travelled thousands OF miles
by rail2"
Yes, tens Of thousands"
And been in half adozen academies"
I've been in exactly seventeen rail.
roaa accidents, but some of them we're
hardly worth mentioning"
And do you locate yourself In any
particular part Of the train?"
NO. When first began travelling |
wouldn't ride in any coach but the rear
n | had about two Sozen reasons
why that was the safest car. aud for six
or eight weeks went rolling over the
country feeling as safe as if in my own
brlch house. One night we lost too
much time at a station and a special
overhaulcd US and smashed into the rear
coach. You'll think it funny. but out
OF the sixteen people in that car | was
the only n badly hurt. | had a leg
and two ribs broken and was covered
with bruises. When | was able TO be
Out again | went dead back on the rear
car
-Acd took the next one to the smoker,
eb?7
That's what did. A dozen differ.
ent railroad men had a dozen reason.
apiece why that was the safest place.
and for three or four months | rode in
that car and laughed at the chaps who
caFried insurance policies. Then my
iopd dream Of safety was rudely shat.
tered. The engine, baggage and smok.
ing cars passed safely over a certain
switch while running at the rate Of
forty miles an hour, but the forward
trucks OF my car caught somewhere
and the car vas twisted right out Of the
train. les, sir, it was torn loose al
both end, and rolled down au embank.
ment, and not another car left the rails.
We had two killed add a dozen hurt,
but | got of the car with q bad shaking
up. My confidence in the first car was
gone, however, never to be restored"
And then you took the middle Of the
train?"
Il did, my son. Yes. | sat down and
reasoned it out to my perfect satisfac-
ton that the middle car of the train
was as safe as sitting on the post Office
steps in Detroit. Ii was about a yeaI
before anything happened to undeceive
me. One afternoon, when we were
dusting along to make up lost time. we
crossed the tracks Of another road gust
a few seconds too Don or too late, Just
as you will have it. An express train
on the other road came booming along
and waded right through rs. It struck
my car. Of course, and what was left Of
it after the grand smash couldn't have
been worked Y into a wbeelbarrow.
Five killed was the record, and | got a
broken arm, a scalp wound, and a gen.
eral bad shaking up"
And after that?"
After that and up TO the present
date have no choice. | drop into a
seat wherever | can find one and don't
worry about accidents. I've known a
whole train except the last coach to 60
through a bridge. and I've known
every car but the last TO pass safely
over. In a head-on collision the for.
ward coach may be smashed to splint.
er>. or it may rear up on end and es-
cape all injury. | was on a train once
where n locomotive struck the rear car,
rolled it aside without serious injury to
anybody, and then killed or wounded
every passenger in the next coach. The
man who goes hunting for the safest
car ~ a train is throwing away his
tipsy lie may take any car aud travel
SN<ZfSr nIscrUice ann De siiIea an
rid< en- miles. | onc saw twenty
two PEOPLE smashed ia p coach. and We
two fellows sho were stealing a ride OF
the trucks underneath got OF scot-free
just buy a tirst-class ticket. get aboard
before the train goes. and leave the res,
to Providence. "-DetrOit Free Press.