Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-08-30
ENGINEERS NERVE.
Take In Their Hazardous
Calling.

~ have been often asked why rail.
way engineers disregard their in
structions and the warning signals
along the line of their road" said
the general superintendent of rail
road to Washington Star man,
"and l have summed it up that it is
human nature for men to take
chances in their business, and that
engineers are no exception to the
general run.
Sometimes they cannot give a sat
isfactory reason why they do so. J
will give you an authentic instance
of this habit, which made me live len
years in 80 minutes:
"On a road was at the time con
nected with was long trcstle over
a bay, several miles in length, with
a drawbridge in the center. The
draw had been opened, and as o
tugboat was passing through the
bridgemen heard the rumble CT q
fast, heavily laden passenger train
as it struck the bridge mile away,
knowing that the red danger signals
were set with the opening OF the
draw, they supposed that the engi'
neer would slow up, or stop, as might
be necessary. Instead, to their con-
sternation, the train came along at
regular speed, and frightful acci'
dent appeared inevitable. They
yelled to the captain of the tugboat
to go at full speed, and as the boat
glided through the draw in the dark
ness they eXerted themselves tc
swing the draw into the locking bolts
before the train could get to the
point where the rails separated.
"The engineer, however, Disregard
ed the last danger signal few hun.
dred yards from the draw, and came
on. BY remarkable coincidence OF
time and position, the draw, which
was, of course, in motion, swung so
that the rails of the east-bound track
were in juXtaposition with the west.
bound track upon which the train
was running, and the heavy engine
and one of the passenger coaches,
striking the east-bound rails, glided
upon the draw and stuck there, the
remaining portion of the train being
on the west-bound track, making al.
most figure of the coaches.
"If the draw had moved the Thrift,
eth part of second faster or slower,
the east-bound rails would not have
been opposite the west-bound rails
at the very instant that the great
engine STRUCK them, and frigbtful
disaster would have resulted. When
! got out on the bridge few min.
utcs later / fully expected to find
the train in the bottom of the bay
and the draw smashed into splinters
l discharged the engineer on The
spot, and asked him why he had not
observed the signals. He admitted
that he saw them, but could not give
satisfactory reason for failing to
observe them. He evidently took his
chances of finding the draw closed
when he reached it.
"The engineer of to-day is a sober
steady, nervy man, especially on the
fast express trains on the big roads.
1t is nerve that makes one man car
ry limited express train through
the darkness of the night, fog, hlect
and binding snow at GO miles an
hour. The stories we read about of
an engineer losing his nerve after
an accident are largely fiction. II,
27 years of active railroad life ]
have had but one or two men apply
to me for transfer upon the ground
that their nerves had gone back on
them for running the fast trains. ]
have had men who have been flung
so feet over their tender in a head.
on collision and had dozen bones
broken come to me after they had
been discharged from the hospital
and ask to be put back on their old
run. You see, they begin firing
when they are about Is or 20, and
the cab of an engine is their home,
Ii bHey run Ihoo PciSoi, VI
wagon load of people on the tracf
| If it is not their fault, they take
q practical view Of it; they have to
II it is their fault, we discharge
them, aud they can take any view
Of it they please then, for we dc
| not wish in our employ careless men
| This is true with all of the big roads
and as a result American engineers
of to-day are about as model sci
! OF men in their employment as car
b. found"