The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12
BORN UNDER LUCKY STARS.
COME MARVELLOUS ESCAPES FROM
DEATH ON RAILROADS.


~ the Merest Charce-Better to BE
Vucky Than Rich.
From the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
yVashiugton.-If there is one thing that
a railroad employee believes in more than
o,o,ber IT is luck. No matter how clearly
PRACTICAL man may analyze a certain
ia occurrence they will obviously shake
,beir heads and contend that it was a
,,se of luck, good or bad, pure and sim
pie.
For instance, if one of their number
had been ordered out on a certain train
and through sickness had failed to report
and the man taking his place had been
Killed they will, one and all, emphatically
derlare it was case of lucky sickness
for the man that was compelled to remain
at home They fail to see in the fact that
the substitute proved negligent in his duty
and had the regular man been in his
Mace it was 100 to l chance that the ac-
cjdent would not have occurred.
It is. however an undeniable fact that
there are more strange and weird occur
rences taking place daily in the railroad
service than in any other branch of en-
ployment The ponderous rolling stock.
the swift flight through the country over
spider-like bridges, under the earth
through long, dismal tunnels, and in
weather varying from the pleasant to the
most trying, all tend in the direction of
beliefs almost supernatural. Then again,
train service is not the kind that calls 50
much for brain as physical equipment
The element of chance does, to a certain
extent. enter into the every day service
of trainmen, and that they should be SUI
perstiticus is only following natural lines.
II is occurrences like the following, the
details of which recently came from Ha-
zleton Pa, that lend a color of substance
Ia 4 trainman's belief in luck. When
coming into the yard at Weatherly, a
small station near Hazleton, with his
train. conductor John McHugh told one
Of his brakemen to cut the caboose loose
al the lower end of the siding, and let
the engine take the train to a point near
the western end. McHugh had then been
on the road constantly for twenty hours,
and his eyes were heavy for lack of sleep.
AS ordered, the brakeman few minutes
aer pulled the pin holding the caboose,
and supposing that the conductor would
take care of the car, continued up the
track with the remainder of the train.
The brakeman noticed later, however,
that the caboose had run out on to the
main line again, and that McHugh had
not appeared on the platform. The road
at that point is marked by grade which
drops fifty feet to the mile, and to catch
the caboose was impossible.
Taking IN the situation at a glance, the
uainmau FASTENED to the telegraph office,
and messages were sent to the different
stations below to either sdetrack or derail
the runaway caboose. 1T was not known
whether the conductor was on 1t or not.
The operator a Black Creek reported the
car by his station, and the man at Penn
Haven was barely notified when the run
away shot by the window of his office.
Down the mountain side the car rushed
with the rapidity of lightning, while with
IN it sat Conductor McHugh fast asleep,
and oblivous to the danger his nap was
mourning. Fortunately, there were no
West-bound trains started out of Packing
ton, and the immense distance allowed
time for the operator to set the switches
and run the car up the safety track Other
uainmen we're distributed along the grad
ed track. and, as the speed of the runa-
way caboose decreased as 1t climbed the
hillside, one of them was enabled to board
it and apply the brake before it reached
the obstruction at the end.
When the car was brought to a stand
still McHugh was found on the bench in
inside, sitting bolt upright, and sound
asleep. When aroused and told of the
perUous ride he had had, he refused to
believe it, and only after looking in vain
Tor his train did he come to sense of the
situation. There were a hundred and
one chances for that car to either jump
the track or crash into another train and
XII. the sleeping McHugh, but he can GER
taialy be classed with the ones born I'M
der a lucky star
\ representative of the Gobe-Democrat
happened in at the headquarters of the
n.l J., 4 t- To-
uuIhS the past week and came across half
dozen engineers and conductors of that
road discussing the question of luck in
connection with their employment The
deDate was warm, and many of the stories
'od were given as Illustrations to sub
s'ahuate assertions that 1t Is better to be
uoIh lucky than rich An old engineer,
Iisged out in his street buds, as he called
men, was telling how slight the barrier
oe'Ween life and death may sometimes be,
ana now his lucky star permitted him to
'edIe the following story He said
was running a a good rate of speed
yle day, when, as 1 approached a part of
the road about two miles east of Phiadel-
pAia on the then newly built Baltimore
eto ONO road, where there was rather
sHaTp curve, and where the roadhed was
taised about forty feet above the turnpike
igYeh the front wheel on the outward side
under the forward truck Of nv engine
smart and rolled down the embankment
tnnslahtly all the wheels under the whole
S"aiu-ehglne, tender, baggage car and sew
i9I passenger coaches-were humping
S'lls over the ties
me humping and jolting was so vic
many r,, mat no one could steady himself pre-
praIatory to ieaping from the cars; all the
Goss myers could do was to hold on for
rt5 '' NE and pray. After this frlghtful
ee mad been continued for about 300 feet.
,b u We're running fully fifty miles an hour,
's reversed engine brought the cars to
the Sl,a stlll' nobody the worse except for
1r IIlght and the jolting.
"Hat do you think saved us?" asked
sro, snslneer, casting an inquiring glance
Sun oon1 the group of listeners, all of whom
i iIgA their heads negatively. Merely
thu inch iron bolt nut under the pilot
left ul was brought when the engine
on, '"e rails, against the inner side of the
farolF rail- and acting as a sort of
ergi, served to keep the course of the
jne1 ie ana the cars that followed forward
nati.ao or outward. 1t was all a. con1bi-
h ton OF things not to be met with once
"