The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-14


Time to Prevent "a bad Smash-Up
"A Very Miraculous Escape.
ct have been reading carefully the evil
dence regarding the terrible accident at
Exeter, Pa, on the Reading railroad, the
ether day. and, while 1t is contradictory,
believe that the verdict of the coroner
| jury will be that some one of the enl-
| ployes was asleep while on duty" says
| the Washington Post
The speaker was one of the Oldest rail-
road engineers in the country, who, after
twenty years in charge of the throttle of
! a locomotive voluntarily resigned to seek
| other pursuits not SO dangerous or ex-
citing. When the Pennsylvania railroad
was completed to Pittspurg, nearly fifty
years ago, he took the second locomotive
over the Allegheny mountains, with the
late Thomas L. Scott as his conductor
AT that time the Pennsylvania railroad
named all of it's locomotives after rivers
or creeks along the line, and this engi-
neer was known as BILLY Gardner, of the
Backlog" the latter part of the title be-
Ing the name of the locomotive and the
former the engineers name. Resuming,
the engineer said:
There Is something about railroading
that 'conduces to sleep. 1t may be the
rumble that causes drowsiness, it may
be the long hours on duty, but 1t many
cases. in my judgment 1t is the failure
OF the employees to secure needed rest
when they have the opportunity During
my twenty years experience as driver
OF the iron horse knew of hundreds of
severe wrecks due entirely to someone
being asleep on the post of duty Even
the responsibility imposed on the man
would not have the effect of causing him
to keep awake. Sometimes it is the fault
higher lie In
men to work too long without sleep.
TOBACCO JUICE IN HIS EYES.
L remember one occasion during the
nrst year of the Civil war all the mem
bers of my crew, including myself. were
required to work seventy-two consecutive
hours without sleep and then were dis
missed because we declined to make an
otner trip before seeking repose. During
that period there were times that the
only way could keep awake was to. rub
tobacco juice into my eyes and the pain.
or necessity, banished slumber for time.
However. when the superintendent was
told OF the facts leading up to the dis
mfssal he not only reinstated all those dis
missed, but gave them two weeks leave
OF absence with pay. At the same time
the master mechanic, who made the dis
missals, came in for a severe scoring at
the hands Of the superintendent
But once. in my railroad career did I
turn my engine over to my fireman and
go back to the caboose for a little rest,
and the narrow escape that l then had
from severe wreck and the killing
ana Woundfng OF hundreds of sleeping
passengers taught me lesson that was
never forgotten. The incident occurred
in Illinois in February 1870 At that time
l was running an engine pulling a fast
freight on the Illinois Central railroad.
nr6mAn
House, whom had instructed in all that
he knew about railroading NV health
was not of the best at that time. as
mad been. an annual victim of the ague
that pervades Southern Illinois, and my
system was shattered from the shakes
In addition, there was some sickness
among the members of my family, with,
the result that my nights at home would
be broken up in looking after the COM
fort OF, the loved ones. Business on the
railroad was brisk and there was a heavy
passenger traffic, due to the annual Mar
oil Gras celebration in New Orleans 81,
PREMONITION OF DANGER.
On the night In question my train was
running south. l had a Ave and a half
foot Rogers engine and was hauling for
ty loaded cars. Along about 10 o'clock I
found that l could hardly keep my eyes
open. The road ahead of me was clear
of trains for an hour or more. About
the only thing of Importance in view
was to meet and pass the Chicago ex-
press at Makanda, which was twenty
four miles away. l then yielded to temp
tation. Placing my fireman in charge
of the throttle, with the head brakeman
to do the firing, / went back to the ca
boose to secure a little rest I should
not have taken this step if l had not
reposed every confidence in my fireman.
and l believed that he was thoroughly
competent to run the engine.
How long [ slept DO not know, bat
L woke with the premonition that some
thing was wrong. AS l regained nv
senses l realized by the swaying of the
train that 1t was running much faster
than 1t would have been had I been In
charge of the throttle. There was a
heavy down grade for five miles to the
point where [ was to meet the express
and my first. thought was that we had
struck the grade and gained the impetus
Springing to my feet 1 hurried out the
front door of the caboose and climbed
to the top of the first freight car. The
sight that met my eyes nearly paralyzed
me. There in full view I saw the head
light of the heavily loaded express train
waiting at Makanda for my train to
take the sidetrack and permit it to pass
How l got over that train to nv engine
1 hardly know. But I did Jumping
down on the tender sprang into the
cab to shut off the throttle and took other
means to reduce the momentum
FIREMAN WAS ASLEEP.
II glanced at the fireman He was
sound asleep on the seat; the head brake
nan kept him company On the other
side. realized that it was utterly i'm
possible to stop the speed Of the train.
and l lad visions of the awful wreck
that would follow. My engine was max
ing forty miles an hour, being propelled
by the heavily laden cars in the rear.
and certain destruction seemed to face
the express car and the hundreds of
sleeping passengers. AS the rules re-
CURED that should stop, and, after
the head brakeman had opened the
switch, should pull by the passenger
train, there seemed to be no way to
avert the disaster. All these thoughts
flew through my brain In twinklins.
and as l expected to meet death at nv
post, 1 wondered who would care for my
two boys who would become orphans
Fortunately the siding was a short
one, and that fact, coupled with my rep
utation as careful engineer, prevented
the disaster at the critical moment and
saved. the lives of many. The engineer
of the passenger train OWNED from the
rumble made by my train that something