New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-09-09
TRIES THE NERVES.
AN OLD FIREMAN ON THE EFFECT
OF A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

The Thoughts That Flash Through the
Engineman's Brain just Before a Col
lision Occurs-A Smash Up Makes a Man
scary Ever Thereafter.
There is something attractive about
railroad life to the man who once ell
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 an unwritten law with most of
the great railroad companies that the
man who is injured in their service
shall be placed in some position where
he may obtain his livelihood.
Thus it may happen that when you
fall in conversation with the man who
occupies humble switchhouse or
fagman'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. 4 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 looked up and said:
Eyes, like railroading. I have been
in the business all my life and expect to
spend the rest Of my days over the rails,
but I am quite content to remain here
in my little cottage and tend to my flag
ging rather than have the position Of
the man who holds the throttle on that
big engine which just whizzed by here
You may think it a snap to sit there
and ride over the country at the rate Of
a mile a minute, but tell you the man
carries load of responsibility On his
shoulders which I would not want on
mine and which the average man knows
very little about. I know something Of
it, for was fireman some years ago Oh
one Of the fast engines and lost my leg
in an accident between here and AL
bany. But if had come out Of that &C.
cident as sound as you are I never
should have been able to hold my nerve
for any more fast trips. That finished
me for that work -
'Then if a man has been hurt in q
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 the
day 1 was hurt escaped with hardly 81
scratch but he never could keep his
time up the way be did before that and
finally was put On q freight engine,
where the running was great deal
slower.
II shall never forget the way he look
ed the afternoon tie smash up occurred
Just before the crash came looked at
him. We Were rounding a curve down
by Schenectady. His long gray hair
was flowing in the breeze, his face was
set and his eyes fixed On the track
ahead.
All 1T once he jumped to his feet
and reversed the lever and exclaimed in
a startled tone, My God, we are
caught!' It WAS probably not more than
half a minute after when l was lying
beneath the engine with my leg crush
ed, utterly unconscious Of the fact that
q great wreck had occurred, but every
movement and occurrence of that hall
minute is as wildly impressed upon my
mind as if it had taken weeks Of time
to impress it there.
LAS he spoke ! looked through the
cab window ahead Of US, and there,
within 20 rods, was o freight engine
coming straight at US, and there was no
possible chance to escape 9 crash. The
engineer was doing his duty. I knew
that. 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
eryth;ng IL ny life We" before me III
those few seconds. I felt absolutely sure
was going to die. Strange IS it may
seem, the thought did not seem horrible
to me. A whole lot Of the slang say
lngs, such as, You are learning to fire
here i'll this world SO as to be prepared
for the next, and You won't mind q
hot job over there, and number Of
tliOoC SLdiS tli1NS,S W lllCIl u IICmtIl lids
to take, came into my head, and even
in that awful position it occurred to me
in {: humorous sort Of way that J. had
made q good start here below OF here
above, as I might say. The next mo-
ment was thinking Of my wife and
children-yes, and Of mother, too, who
had been dead number Of years. A
nan always thinks of his mother at such
q time. But don't think I had par
ticle of fear Of death. The last thing
that was Oh my mind was the question,
Who was to blame for the accident?
And that is the last remember
'When 1 came to my senses, was
in hospital and was minus a leg.
Since then have been constantly EN-
ployed one way and another by the rail
road company, but l never see one of
the fast trains go by without thinking
Of that wreck. The engineer miraculous
~ escaped with scarcely a bruise, but it
finished him for that kind of work. He
was always seeing engines anead of him
after that, and have heard that more
than once he has slowed up his train in
order not to collide with an imaginary
engine, which have no doubt was as