The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-06
A SHOCK TO THE ENGINEER.
Always Unnerved if His Locomotive
Runs Down n Man.
Denver (Col.) News.

denver (Col) news.
Some one with fondness for the compi-
lation of statistics has evolved the theory
that engineers hold their positions on an
average ten years. Denver knights of the
throttle must be superior to their brethren
in other places, for ii is not at all unusual
to encounter men here who have labored
for the same corporation from fifteen to
twenty years and feel that they still have
many years to toll in the harness. Charles
Frye of the Rio Grande is one of these
Last year he completed his twentieth con-
secutive year with the company. He is
splendid specimen of the engineer A man
white, but his physical and mental vigor
has not decrea Sed, rather has 1t grown with
the flight of the years and the assumption
of greater responsibilities. He bubbles over
with good nature and laughs at the sugges-
ton that anything in his career would prove
of interest to the general public He was
began firing the Boston & Albany in
1862, but the war fever was contagious and
he enlisted with his father but the au-
thorities discovered that he was too young
and his father too old and both were COM
PEELED to return to peaceful pursuits. After
three years shoveling of coal he
graduated TO the upper side Of the cab and
pulled trains all over the Bay State. In 1878
he came West with an engine from the
Taunton works and ran between Cheyenne
and Sidney, Neb. Two years later he came
to Denver and went to work for the Rio
Grande For the last eighteen years he has
pulled a. passenger train out of this city
toward the south.
He has been unfortunate enough to kill
several persons who got in front of his en-
CINE. which is one of the speediest on the
system What were my sensations after
the tragedies" he was asked, anG the
smile faded from his face 81 can't de-
scribe it. 1 suppose a fellow of my size
should be ashamed TO confess thatanything
caused him to collapse but after we crash
into some one and know that fatality
has resulted. | am unable to stand. When
! see the danger / concentrate every en-
ergy to avert the catastrophe. / am not
nervous then, but when il is over l col
lapse. About five years ago a few miles
below Colorado Springs on a clear day we
were bowling along at forty miles an hour
and | observed a man walking down the
middle of the track. l pulled the whistle.
but he did not pay the slightest attention.
| thought he would get out of the way and
we were upon him before realized that he
did not intend doing so. / reversed and
put on the brakes. but the cowcatcher
caught him and hurled him against a tele-
graph pole. Life extinct when wa
reached him. We turned him over to the
coroner and afterwer6 that official told me
that the dead man was a fugitive from
justice. lie had murdered a man in Ore
gOn and for months he had evaded the au-
thorities That day he had learned in Col
oradO Springs that the local police were
looking for him. He had evidently grown
weary of fleeing from place TO place and
determined TO commit suicide.
Some time later | narrowly avoided run
ming down an old man near Manitou | in
tended spending the day in the resort with
my wife. but the shock was so great that
! was iii for the entire afternoon. IL I had
killed the poor fellow l believe the effect
upOn me would have been serious
The Hnd-hearted engineer spoke with
much feeling and ii was evident that the
tragedies had made such an impression
upon his mind that they could never be
forgotten. He is justly popular with the
management and employees alike.