The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-19
CAMERAS
THE III. LIEBER COMPANY.
"a West Washington street.
FIRST LODGE OF SORROW
ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS
HOLD memorial SERVICES.
Thirty-Two Vacant Chairs Told the
story of the Harvest of Death
Character of Exercises.

The Indianapolis Division No. 103 Or
der of Railway Conductors. and the Ladies
Auxiliary. held memorial services in their
hall at l35 North Delaware street yester-
day afternoon in memory of the members
who have died since the local division was
organized. The affiliated orders of rail-
way trainmen took part in the exercises.
The hall was prettily decorated with green
plants and large flags caught up with crepe
hung from the walls. Across the front of
the hall were thirty-two vacant chairs,
covered with black cloth. and on each
rested a wreath of green. These represent
ed the deceased members. The services
were the first Of the kind ever held by the
order The meeting was called to order
by Fl. z. Joslin. chief conductor. a ladies'
quartet opened the programme with song,
followed with prayer by the Rev. Virgil
W. Tevis, Of Fletcher-place NJ. r. Church.
The roll of the deceased members was
called and then God be With You till We
Meet Again" was sung. The Rev. G. c..
RowlinsOn. Of the Third Christian Church,
delivered the memorial address Mrs. II.
p Brunaugh sang Excelsior and William
l. Taylor, attorney general, who was once
a locomotive fireman. delivered the address
of the day In part he said:
I'VE have met 10 pay our tribute TO the
memory of those who have come in off
l.
turned In their accounts, set down their
lanterns and have gone home. On what
a slender thread hangs the life of the rail-
way trainman- Splintered fange, a
broken axle. a dragging beam, a mistake
of the dispatcher in sending a train order,
an error OF the operator in receiving il,
or confusion OF the engineer in reading il,
bridge burned away a culvert washed
out, an open switch, wrong signal given.
a broken rail- a slip Of the foot on the icy
car and the injury or death of the train
n he dahl Ia a~-
cfdents 10 the minimum should be the eff
fort OF railway managers and legislators
Let US see the story in figures. There are
over 100000 men In the railway service
In this country to-day. OF these. 10000 are
engineers. AZ. 900 are firemen. 80 900 are con-
ductors and 10000 are brakemen and bag
gagemen. Here are 1926 employees in the
train service alone. Do you know that
1920 OF them, or one man 10 every ten,
were either killed or injured last year!
This Is the annual harvest of injury OF
death on the rail OF the trainmen alone
Think OF it, more trainmen have been killed
or injured since the great war of the re-
bellion than We're killed and wounded in
that awful struggle. This is the record OF
trainmen only. Add together all railway
employees Of every grade and the total fig
ures OF injury and death LAST year mounts
up to 5000. This appalling fact deserves
and should arrest the attention of all rail-
way pnanagers and owners. as we'll as legis-
latOrs
TOOK FIRST GREAT STEP.
Harrison
took the first great step toward the lessen.
ing of these periIs He as President de-
manded of Congress the passage Of the
automatic coupler and power brake law
What has been the result? In 1892 II. 7O
men were killed or injured IN coupling anC
uncouPling cars. Last year 4.7O0 men were
killed or injured in like service. More thar
One-han the casualties from this perilou:
service have been eliminated nv that law
should 10 she
provide that either by agreement OF rail
road managers or on their failure to do 81
that some commission should provide a uni
form coupler OF standard height, widtl
and make for use on all cars and locomo
uves Railway trainmen have rights a.
well as bondholders and stockholders
Five thousand trainmea in this coun
try were killed or injured last year il
falling from their trains Proper power
brakes with properly assembled train.
ought 20 greatly lessen these casualties
Legislation can and ought TO supplement
the work OF the prudent railroad manager
Railway officials generally are eager to d,
what they can for the sa fety and comfor
of their employees. but to-day they have lit
tie 10 do in defining the policy of thei
roads. That policy is fixed by others IA
removed from the men on the trains or tn,
manager at his office
Wrecks come without warning at nigh
far from the help OF a physician. Al
artery is cut, an arm crushed off Imme
date help will save life. Every trai,
should by law be required TO carry an,
every ualnfuaH SnOuiQ De instructed il
the use OF simple appliances to save life
The bandage and the remedy for scaIdini
steam should never be absent These prac
teal suggestions come 10 me to-day in thi
presence The excellence of your organiza
ton viii greatly aid in this work OF mercy
In conclusion Mr.. Taylor said that whel
a Philippine soldier is killed the who'll
country Is UP in arms. but when a rail
way srainman loses his life IL passes un
noticed.
The services closed with Mrs Chidiste
singing His Last Run and the benedic
ton by Or. RowlisOn.
Following Is the roster OF the dead. Il
H Parlee. l. d. Hubbard. John b Stanton
G II. Gist, Chester owen. George A. House
Strang A. Catherwood. Henry Henderson
john Lame. John T. King. John T Elliott
Harvey Knowles Edward r Stephenson
Harry E Smith NJ. r. Motion. w. G los
lin. John Small. j. w. Draa, L. s. Hughes
William Starkey, William A. Howard
George c. Baker. @. w Tyre. William
Smith. A. ]. Morrow. j. G Smith. Jane
Prentice and John Shreav, and these auxil
fary members: Mrs T. w Ford Mrs i
w. Spence. Mrs. Alice Bridge and Mrs j
7. Mooney.
The Police COmpIimented