The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-02


One Thing Breakmen Like TO Take
Advantage of.
From the Chicago Chronicle.
As is generally supposed, the life of
railroad man is not strewn with roses.
But Notwithstanding the fact that there
is a great deal of grief" connected with
the work of the trainmen. engineers and
firemen. probably there are no working
men that have more real fun" while in
the performance of their duties.
Railroad men, as a rule, are very SUI
perstitious. More particularly is this true
across the track in front of an engine
particularly is to them bad omen and
an engineer who sees a cat do this when
he is starting out to make his customary
run Is never at his ease until he has fin
ished that trip
A few years ago an engineer on the
Burlington road backed his engine upon
a sidetrack to couple on to string of
freight cars loaded with merchandise
ready to be taken West.
After getting his train out under good
Roadway the engineer observed a black
cat dart across the track some distance
ahead OF the engine.
The engineer, turning to his fireman,
said:
"Al. 1 am awfully afraid that we are
going to have bad luck before we return
on this trip"
why SOP" asked the fireman
"Oh, | can just feel It, that's ALL"
But what makes you feel that way?
persisted the fireman.
We'll, to tell you the truth I Just saw
a black cat run across the track back
there by that lumber pile and that is
sure sign that we will have bad luck
before we get back hon."
HOrrifyinE Accident Happens.
The fireman said nothing. They went
along sixty or seventy miles when sud
denly they came to a stretch of road
that ran on "A curve through a very dense
forest. The trees were high and the
shadows cast made this particular piece
of track very dark. Emerging from the
forest the train sped out upon straight
line of track and into the bright moon
light, and, behold, right in front of them.
apparently walking between the rails, was
a woman. The engineer shut off steam,
drew the sand lever and whistled violent
ly for brakes But too late-the poor
woman was struck by the engine pilot
and nearly thrown out of the right OF
way.
There" shouted the engineer, II know
that cat would cause trouble"
The train was brought to a standstill
and backed up to where the woman lay,
only it was found that instead of having
killed a woman the engine had struck a
sheaf Of grain. 1t developed that the
fireman had told the incident of the cat
to the forward brakeman and the brake
man had telegraphed to the night opera
tor of a station. The OPERATOR had
mounted his railroad bicycle ran out to
the field and placed the grain upon the
track. That morning the engineer bought
breakfast for the whole crew.
Revenge for the Engineer.
The engineer won revenge, however. The
| telegraph operator, who was a short,
| heshy man weighing nearly 300 pounds,
| was the leader of a brass band in his
| town and didn't get as much sleep dur
| ing the day as he should have. He would
| go TO the bandroom and waste part of his
sleeping time teaching the band, and as a
result it was hard for him to keep awake
nights while on duty. Therefore he de-
vised a scheme whereby he would be
reused to report train. The scheme was
to tie cord to a switch that stood oppo-
site the depot window, run the other end
through the window and then tie IL to his
leg relying on the jerk to wake him In
this way he could lie back In hts easy
chair, place his feet on the desk and sleep
without fear of failure to report a pass
ing train. But he reckoned without his
host The cord was too strong and the
first train that came along nearly pulled
him out of the window
Coal Hold f. shifted.
He profited by this experience, however.
and after that he used much lighter
cord. and instead of fastening ii to the
switch opposite the window he tied II to
coal hod and placed II on the opposite
side of the track. This worked all right
until the trainmen discovered the artifce.
This is where the superstltious engineer
got even. Going east through this town
it is down grade and in order to get a
freight train by the station 1t was not
necessary to work steam and train
could glide by with very little noise. One
night the engineer slowed down his train
and had the forward brakeman go ahead
take the coal bod from its usual resting
place on the opposite side of the track
and place it quietly upon the depot plat
form. Thus the train passed through the
town without waking the operator.
When he reached the next town the
engineer told the night operator there
what had been done and had him call up
the sleeping operator to inquire the
whereabouts OF train a. The sleepy OPP
orator raised such a commotion over the
wire trying to locate this train that the
chief train dispatcher took hand In the
matter and Mr.. Sleepy Operator nearly
lost his job.
Trapping Heavy Sleeper.
There are engineers and engineers
good, bad and Indifferent engineers who
sleep while on duty. There is one on a
certain Western railroad who runs a close
second 10 the seven sleepers Neverthe-
less, he would never admit that he ever
went to sleep while on duty.
one winter day number OF railroad
men were seated around the stove at their
division boarding house. chatting and tell
ing stories, when the subject of Sleep
ing while on duty came UP. Several sar-
castle thrusts were made at Engineer
Morgan, the sleepy one. Finally when
Morgan could stand their taunts no long
er, he exclaimed:
boys. I'm all my many longs years OF
railroadin' there is one thing that / have
never done. have yet the first time 70
go to sleep while In the performance OF
my duties as an engineer"
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