The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-06
FRAMING GRIPMEN.
..uua N couN1eym-N FOR CITY
sRl'N'a RAILWAY seRwcl.


"" -. and Plenty Of Nerve
.usere do the gripme la come from en-.
"N a"a armed, blue uniformed G EN-
strong - ,he washington and George
pl@se o. ~ 49, vas asked last night as he
losI Ia, oa, at the end of the route for a
left DID , of and sandwich III the All
MI ssbt restaurant ..o country. most of
"NDy %Aass fellows who are raised on
hsnL .,as and beer in the city don't
csare''0' have the muscle necessary TO
s s'ar on the brake and stop the rla,n
throw ,s un Grade. Then again country
@auo"I mighty careful about going
nan .ha Streets. He's afraid that ev-
hIOusu No hs sees step off the pavement is
u n' ~ he run over, and he is absolute
gaDs " that every team that comes
y. 't tr"m cross street is going to collide
al Hun Jim Il takes him about two
WIZ ;. D' Get over this fear, and then. as
!sss s,Omec little careless, he has Few
D . 1 that smash up tenders and take
~ Uaiut off the coaches ana men ne
us ss and the road is ready to break
\ another countryman. "a,
u s aT do they break them in!'
aWsll, they are mighty careful with
49,. 4 new man on the grip is about
s ~ worst scared object in the world
S',s shont your condemned man being
. ...sd when he's walking out to be
,.aosd--wby, his sensations amt In 1t
. NTH the man who's running grip car
=, tbe first time. To be sure, an expert
.u,sd ripman is on the car right be-
Ma him, ready to throw on the brakes
.aS sOund the lookout bell. But be-
tween the grip, and the wheel brake,
md the track brake, and the go ahead
and stop signals, and the look out
hIl, and the people jumping on and of
me- rrip car, your new gripman just gets
yasck. They say they don't mind 1T,
INIT they're talking through their bon
mats that's all. Then, another thing,
he way they throw Oh the brake yanks
their arms out of joint and makes 'em
rood and sore, tell you.
There's something funny about
baking up grip car. l came from the
country to my job, but l wasn't always
splOwboy When Twas young fellow,
used to work in a country printing Of
fee and used to have TO run Washing
ton hand press. Ever run Washington
hand press-you're in the newspaper
business? What Never run oneY Well,
then, ICant tell you anything about it,
except that if you don't know the trick
you cant throw er over and get an i'm
preston no more than rabbit. You
may have a muscle like blacksmith,
but il you don't know the knack yor
can't pull the lever over, but if you are
to the trick, and don weigh more 4
70 pounds you can throw her around
Just like lightning and make 600 i'm
rssons an hour-rhat is, if you've 60
agOOd devil to do your mixing
well, as | was saying. that's jus
like braking up a grip car. Some biz
hlOvsweighing 200 pounds, with mus
e& on them like Fitzsimmons, go on
@cne Of these grips with two coaches
behind EN-, and the way they brake 'e
upmakes all the passengers think the,
have gone to sea. Then little fellow
Snodon't look heavy enough to handl,
team OF mules attached to a sulk,
pow gets a job on the road, and h
gas that old grip like drum majo
moving baton, and he'll get tn
mack Of the thing right quick, and whel
y brakes 'er up the passengers thinl
aM The first waltz at the Charity bal
b Just starting.
but While he may he throwing OF
s brakes all right he's kind of off hi
W wnen 1t comes to hearing the tw
1ls iC go ahead. You see, new maj
su' 90 everything at once. Take
e' week to get the shiver off, an,
s ~. mat time regular gripman run
~ NJ ,ue new man. keeping a sharp look
y inen the new man, after his week
T. 70 The superintendent and has t
-. M examination. They ask him al
wv ue signals, and where other car
~ and where the dead men, are
~s mans block you strike if 20
~ . -! go the cable where you hav
"a u You ever strike dead man
) SOs gone, no ifs and ands abou
N !, al a. about the street and so on
NJ, " 'ne new man passes the exami
n ' 10 puts up $40, and they Civ
N ~ .s,'lncate, and he can 20 and pu
IdS ny .Or a uniform and an overcoai
M s. arches gripman, read
n, Sesrees below zero and 100 dc
''0'e zero and his little old 90
ipms, OOmpany's breaking in six ne,
it now On r the Fourteenth street lin
No. Two OF the old men die
p abo up'e quit Each line alway
ID ,s svous a dozen extra gripmen o
Akiun !, ' VI an emergency, so they'r
bows r.. .nese new ones. One of til
svsnn" lou an accident at Ninth an
an the other afternoon. Ra
i tbm uas.s,ia bobtail car. By gin
Mno su' no was going TO knoc
be dldn sar 70 the Good Hope hill
gers on ~. scared2 Well. the pal
Hsd as ha 'n ne oobtail wasn't half .
he min V ~ was ~ He could hardly q,
da. B = ,, PICK up the pieces Of Ii
but thu ' enough he was as good .