Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1899-08-02
ONE LESSON ENOUGH.
THE STORY OF AN ENGINEER WHO
SLEPT WHILE ON DUTY.

Seemed to threaten Feartul
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, 1t is the failure
of the employees to secure needed rest
when they have the opportunity. During
my 20 years experience as driver Of
the iron horse 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 laxative
mood, and he continued:
"But once in my railroad career did
turn my engine over to my fireman and
10 back to the caboose for a little rest,
and the narrow escape that then had
from severe wreck and the killing and
wounding of hundreds of sleeping passen-
gers taught me q 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.
Ny fireman was young man whom l
L. - oil hf. tr,nx oho1f
railroading. My health was not Of the
best at that time, as l had been an an
Aual victim of the ague that pervades
southern Illinois, and my system was
shattered from the shakes In addition
there was some sickness among the men,
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 heavy passenger traffic
due to the annual Mardi Gras celebration
in New Orleans.
ION the night in question my train
was running south. / had 5h foot
Rogers engine and was hauling 40 load
ed cars. Along about 10 o'clock 1 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. l then
yielded to temptation. Placing my fire.
man in charge Of the throttle, with the
head brakeman to do the firing, l went
back to the caboose to secure little rest.
should not have taken this step if had
not reposed every confidence in my fire.
man, and l believed that he was thor
oughly competent to run the engine.
"How long l slept / do not know, but
/ awoke with the premonition that some
thing was wrong. AS l regained my
senses / realized by the swaying of the
train that it was running much faster
than it would have been had 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 got over that train to my engine
hardly know. But / did.
Jumping down on the tender, l
sprang into the cab, shut off the throttle
and took other means to reduce the mo-
mentum. glanced at my fireman. He
was sound asleep on the seat. The head
| brakeman kept him company on the 9TH
er side. / realized that it was utterly
impossible to stop the speed Of the train,
| and I had visions of the awful wreck
that would follow. My engine was max
ing As 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
I,passengers.
I "As the rules required that l 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 .saster. All these
| thoughts flew through my brain in a
| 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 ! would not have
| approached that meeting place at such a
rate of speed if everything was all right.
when my train was about 300 yards
from the express. / saw a man run from
the engine of the express and throw the
switch for me. At the same time | could
see by the swinging Of 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 averted.
My train dashed on to the sidetrack. past
the express and then out on the main
track again at the rate of 35 miles an
hour, and could not bring it to stand
still until was more than two miles past
the station.
| "You can imagine the effect upon the
| express IL 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 / never left my engine again in
charge of that fireman or any other fire.
man. One such lesson was enough fol-
me.
| Naturally my fireman was much cna.
grined over his act, but ! never had con-
q - n - l.1