The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-13
EMPLOYEES FEAR ENGINE AZ.
.,,c,GO LOCOMOTIVE WITH A BAD
RECORD.

use IT'S Retirement-Its Career
rom the beginning Marks 1t as
,..-v nIucky-Instances Where
ICES We're Endangered and Pa
irons Delayed.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Do,tb turks in every puff of steam ex-
IA by engine AZ CT the South Side Ele-
.'1,s5 railroad if the stories of employees.
49,. Coincidence of accidents and the &C
,s,n Of the managers of the system are to
- accented as indications of the dread in
.,,icb the iron monster is held.
r, the retirement of the engine to the
& o,mnany's yards at Sixty-hrst street the
81 oHciaIs look forward to the smallest list
of damage suits since the line was operated
8 within two months all the apparatus that
s. hos furnished power to the road will be
sod and electricity substituted. The men
,,bo have the shipment of the battered
eraines in charge viii be careful In the
q handling of Nc ~ for fear that the many
q n9ns of iron will bring about another ia
8 ,oItv before the weight is let down from
s. the superstructure.
q If II had not been for an unusual num-
d har of accidents in rapid succession it is
81 nrohable that No 40 would be mustered
q e5t Of service along with it's fellows. Such
& horror was aroused among the engineers
81 ana fremen that no volunteers could be
Fl found to man the throttle and feed the
81 Rollers Cunning trainmasters removed
d the fatal number from the breast of the
great cylinder, but the engine was known
nv other marks and the employees would
moi stand for the imposition Finally the
q attention of the higher officials was called
10 the remarkable accidents and the re
81 tirement of the engine was ordered.
no. AZ began its career of Crime dur
ing the world fair. One of the veterans
B Of the road claims 10 remember the exact
time when the miscreant began to act
badly
III was about the eighth week after tho
opening of the exposition he relate(i.
Fl 81 was brakeman ON the train and was
e sanding on the first platform directly he
hind the coal box. We were at Sixteenth
n street just over the tracks OF the St
Charles Air line. About that time we
81 were carrying an unusual number of pass
Fl engers and every employee of the road exer-
csed the greatest caution. The pltrons
q we're packed in the coaches and no one
q permitted to stand on the platforms ex-
B cept to get on or off the train. 1t happen
4 ed that the rear platform was not as
9 closely watched as 1t might have been and
a boy found his way out there. Well, as
s the train was speeding over Sixteenth
q street engine No. AZ gave one of its pc
culiar spasmodic jumps, the steam pipe
a in the rear of the last car broke shooting
a cloud up through the cracks in the floor
s The boy was SO frightened that suppose
Il staggered backward and fell on to the
4 ties. He was made senseless by the fall
and had it not been for the vigilance of
the engineer on the rear train it is MO
bable the youngster would have been
3 ground to death under the wheels.
1T is the aim of officials of the road
q when accidents take place to keep them
& quiet and for purpose The rate of in
q juries is far below that on the surface
lines, but should the public be provided
q with the facts it is probable that great
many people would be scared away from
the cars that speed along many feet above
the earth.
Back in 1898 I will wager that there
were thirty accidents on the south side
s. T. and that No. AZ figures in two thirds
s Of them 1 remember in July of that year
how great scare was caused on the su-
& perstructure near Forry-third street The
train was going along at full speed when
suddenly, there was a grating noise and
the engine listed to one side and with it's
Il human freight went bounding along the
guards alongside the track. People
snrieked and seemed to think that they
would only reach the ground mangled or
I possibly dead Fortunately the train was
brought to standstill before ii could tum-
Die Off the structure. If that engine and
u was ~, by the way, had fallen to the
ground and dragged the string of cars with
H. the company would probably have had
10 build a huge railing on both sides of
the tracks to avoid the possibility of a
recurrence.
NO. AZ was accountable for numerous
other accidents and complications which
are too numerous 10 recall"
NO AZ met with bad accident early in
1890 which put it out of service for five
months Strange to say, at the time when
'he engine nearly committed suicide there
was no one near enough to be injured.
Inc cab collapsed while the engine was
resting quietly in the siding at Sixty-first
street. The accident took place at mid
night and was not discovered for, tu,o do,,s
afterward. On account of the let-up In
traffic repairs were deferred so long that
1t seemed as if the yardmaster was de-
termined to interfere with the criminal re-
cord of the engine
FINALLY after otI,ar aroi,ae bod tr.,-x,.