Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-26
and after he had finished he began to tell

and after he had finished he began to tell
Of so2ne u his experiences.
j got SO sick of the old town." he said.
that / made up my mind several weeks
ago to Get out and never go back. When
the folks heard me say anything about
leaving they woul say, wen give you
:Wo weeks. and thcn townsville will be
good enough for YOU again. Fha made
me hot. and at last I got money enough
together to buy a ticket to Ne" York.
That was just before the trolley strike,
and, as my application had been in sew
eral days, I had no trouble in getting d
job. They sent me With about 80 others
down to the Third avenue depot and put
me OF what they call a school car. This
ear they use to break in new men on, and
it's a sight to see the ~greenhorns do
stunts on it. They have it off the track
about half the time, and burn out fuses
three or four times a day. They have
school cars of three or four kinds, and
you've got to try your hand for a week
altogether on all the cars before you get
TO the graduating car. 1t WAS pitiful to
see some of the old men who applied try
to get used to running those cars. I saw
several over SO years old, and 1 know
from the way they acted they didn't have
a cent. After a week of practicing some
of them failed on the final examinations,
and had to go away without work. The
man who rides on the car doesn't know
much about what the motorman has to
go through before he's allowed to take
out a car. 1t would take half a day to tell
all about it.
10 wind up they make you sit down
with an inspector and answer-or try to-
a lot of questions. These are fired at a
man to see whether he remembers what
has been told him.. One of the examiners
asked me what I'd do if the motor con-
troller handle should get stuck While the
power was on full, so that | couldn't move
it either way, and the rope on the trolley
pole should break. 1 saw in a minute
that the question was likely to be a
knockout, and, not knowing anything bet
ter to tell him, l said I'd get off the car
and let it slide. The inspector Just
grinned and said he guessed that would
be the right thing to do.
DO you know what putting it 'on the
loop means? No? l thought you didn't.
Well, it's this: There are double motors
under each car. The controller handle is
last notch of the motor box is the loop
Up to the last notch the power is all from
one motor. When the last notch is put on
the second motors power is brought into
play. That's what makes that sudden
lurch of the car just after it gets under
Roadway, and makes you think you're
going over a country road thank We
ma'am,' AS much power goes on with
that last notch as was on all the other
notches together.
II could stand the hard work and
irregular hours all right" continued the
new motorman, but kids and drunken
men are nearly driving me to drink. On
Monday night at dusk l was sailing down
Hamilton avenue feeling good, because
l had not met with an accident all day.
On a doorstep sat d man n his wife
watching their little girl play with a rub
Der ball. The child threw the ball up,
it bounded toward the car, and the little
girl followed It.. l was running at nearly
full speed, and the child never saw me at
all, although I was kicking the bell for
fair. The mother gave a yell and fell
back in the doorway, and the father put
his hands over his eyes. Did I kill the
kid? Not at all. I reversed the power,
and put on the brake SO quick that I
doubled six or eight people right over the
backs of the seats in front of them. I
just grazed the kid. but / suppose the
people in the car will be suing for DAM
on account Of shock to their systems.
II I could get SO for every shock to my
in the last two weeks I'd go back