Evening journal., 1902-10-14
ENGINEERS HAVE
WONDERFUL NERVE
Desperate Chances Taken by
Man at Throttle, Without
Knowing Why

81 have been often asked why rail-
way engineers disregard their instruc-
ions and the warning signals along the
inc of their road" said the general SUI
9erintendent of a railroad to a man,
and have summed it up that it is hu-
man nature fer men to take chances in
1 their business and that engineers are
40 exception to the general run.
Sometimes they cannot give a satis-
factory reason why they do so. l will
give you an authentic instance Of this
habit which made me live 10 years in
30 minutes.
"On road l was at the time connect
ed with was a long trestle over bay
several miles in length with a draw
bridge In the center. The draw had
been opened, and as q tugboat was
passing through the bridge men heard
ithe rumble of a fast, heavily laden
passenger train as it struck the bridge
a mile away. Knowing that the red
danger signals were set with the open
ing Of the draw, they supposed that the
engineer would slow up or stop. as
might be necessary. Instead, to their
CONSERVATION, the train came along at
regular speed, and frightful accident
appeared Inevitable. They yelled to the
captain f the tugboat to 80 at full
speed. a"' "s the boat glided through
the d.c.h u the darkness they exerted
themsel3es to swing the draw into the
locking bolts before the train could get
to the point where the rails separated.
b "The engineer, however. disregarded
the last danger signal. a few hundred
/ yards from the draw. and came on. By
n 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 iuxtaposi-
tion with the west bound track, upon
b which the train was running. and the
heavy engine and one OF the passenger
coaches striking the east bound rails
giided upon the draw and stuck there
the remaining portion Of the train be-
ing on the west bound track. making
almost figure $ Of the coaches.
< X the draw had moved the thirtieth
part Of a second faster or slower. the
- east bound rails would not have been
opposite the west bound rails at tho
very instant that the great engine
struck them. and n frightful disaster
would have resulted. When ] got out
( on the bridge few minutes later.
fully expected 10 tind the train IN tn,
bottom Of the bay and the draw smash
ed into spllnters / discharged the en-
gineer on the spot and asked him why
he had not ohsoryled tho Signals n,
admitted that he saw them Int cault
not give satisfactory REASON f3r fail
ing to observe Them lie evldcntly tool
his chances Of finding the draw CLOSED
when he reached It.
"The engineer of today Is sober
steady. nervy man. especially on tn
fast express trains on the Zig roads.
is nerve that makes one man carry
limited express train through the darl,
ness Of the night fog. sleet and blind
ing snow NJ go miles an hour The sto
ries we read about of an engineer los
ing his nerve after an accident ar
largely fction. In % years Of actlv
railroad life have had but one or tw
men apply TO me for transfer upol
the ground that their nerves had gon
back on them for running the fas
trains
Il have bad men who have been fun
90 feet over their tenders in a head oi
collision and had 4 dozen bones broker
come to me after they bad been dis
charged from the hospital and ask TO b
put back on their old run. You see. the
begin firing when they are about Is o
20, and the cab Of an engine Is thei
home. lf they run into a person or
wagon load Of people on the track, If
Is not their fault, they take a practice
view OF e.; they have to. If it is thei
fault. we discharge them. and they ca
take any Wow of It they please ther
for we do not wish In our employ car,
less men. This Is true with all Of tn
big roads. and as result American er
glncers Of today are about as model
set Of men In their employment as ca
be found Washington Star.