The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-08-18
ONE. LESSON ENOUGH.
THE STORY OF AN ENGINEER WHO
SLEPT WHILE ON DUTY.

A Thrilling Ride the End of Which
Seemed to Threaten Fearful
Wreck and Awful Loss of Life-A
Narrow and Lucky Escape.
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 in many
cases, in my Judgment, it is the failure
of the employees to secure needed rest
when they have the opportunity. During
my 20 years experience as a driver of
the iron horse l knew of hundreds of
| severe wrecks due entirely to some one
being asleep on the post of duty Even
the responsibility imposed on the man
would not have the effect CT causing him
| to keep awake"
The speaker was one of the oldest rail-
| road engineers in the country, who, after
| 20 years in charge of the throttle of
| locomotive, voluntarily resigned to seek
| other pursuits not so dangerous or excit-
| ing. A question or two about the old
| times put the ex-railroader in talkative
mood, and he continued:
But once in my railroad career did
turn my engine over to my fireman and
go back to the caboose for little rest,
and the narrow escape that l then had
| from a severe wreck and the killing and
wounding of hundreds of sleeping passen-
gers taught me a lesson that was never
forgotten. The incident occurred in ILL.,
nois in February, 1879. At that time
was running an engine pulling a fast
freight on the Illinois Central railroad.
My fireman was a young man whom
had instructed in all that he knew about
railroading. My health was not Of the
best at that time, as / had been an an
nual victim of the ague that pervades
southern Illinois, and my system was
shattered from the shakes In addition
there was some sickness among the MEM
bers Of my family, with the result that
my nights at home would be broken up
in looking after the comfort of the loved
ones. Business on the railroad was brisk,
and there was a heavy passenger traffic
due to the annual Mardi Gras celebration
in New Orleans.
"On the night in question my train
was running south. l had a 5h foot
Rogers engine and was hauling 40 load
ed cars. Along about 10 o'clock found
that 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 express at Makan-
da. which was "a miles away. ! then
yielded to temptation. Placing my fire.
man in charge of the throttle, with the
head brakeman to do the firing, went
back to the caboose to secure little rest.
l should not have taken this step if 1 had
not reposed every confidence in my fire.
I holi thok ho
oughly competent to run the engine.
How long l slept I do not know, but
1 awoke with the premonition that some
thing was wrong. AS 1 regained my
senses / realized by the swaying Of the
train that it was running much faster
than it would have been had l been in
charge of the throttle. There was a
heavy down grade for five miles to the
point where l was to meet the express,
and my first thought was that we had
struck the grade and gained the impetus.
"Springing to my feet, l hurried out
the front door of the caboose and climb
ed to the top of the first freight car. The
sight that met my eyes nearly paralyzed
me. There in full view l 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 my engine
l hardly know. But l did.
Jumping down on the tender,
sprang into the cab, shut off the throttle
and took other means to reduce the mo-
mentum. l glanced at my fireman. He
was sound asleep on the seat. The head
brakeman kept him company on the 9th
er side. l realized that it was utterly
impossible to stop the speed of the train,
and / had visions of the awful wreck
that would follow. My engine was max
ing 40 miles an hour, being propelled by
the heavily laden cars in the rear, and
certain destruction seemed to face the
express and the hundreds of sleeping
passengers.
"As the rules required 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
twinkling, and as l expected to meet
death at my post 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 a 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
unusual had happened. He told me aft
erward that he knew l would not have
approached that meeting place at such
rate of speed if everything was all right.
when my train was about 300 yards
from the express, | saw man run from
the engine of the express and throw the
switch for me. At the same time l could
see by the swinging of a lantern in the
rear of the express that the switch at the
other end of the siding had also been
opened. The disaster had been ayerted.
My train dashed on to the sidetrack, past
the express and then out on the main
track again at the rate of 30 miles an
hour, and could not bring it to a stand
still until was more than two miles past
the station.
You can imagine the effect upon the
express if the engineer had not acted as
he did. 1t is needless for me to add that
during the remainder Of my career on the
rail l never left my engine again in
charge of that fireman or any other fire
man. One such lesson was enough for
me.
Naturally my fireman was much cha
grined over his act, but I never had con-
fdence in him afterward. He had been
tried in the balance and found wanting.
A few years later he was promoted to be
an engineer and had been running his
engine but a short time when it exploded,
killing him, his fireman and a brake
man. Post.