Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-12-14

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Freight conductors come in for large
share OF fatalities. Their duties call
i them to all parts of the train, one mo-
ment OF the top of the cars, another
swinging down the little iron ladder, at
the brake. end of a box car, anu again
clamberins over scrap iron or coal or luin-
| Der on the gondolas. Sometimes a sharp
ctrve- G, tcife.s man -uast"ares, ana he
I falls from the train top and drops be
i tween two cars Lutte chance -ioi MS
then.
Brakemen, too. have the danger Of ia II
ling from cars, and OF being knocked Off
| by low bridges; while the coupling of-cars
cost perhaps. more in human lie thzen
any-,other branch of the business
Taking the railways of the whole coun-
try scarcely an hour. passes "lthcut.an
accident. serious or fatal. in a railroad
yard. a man once pointed out to me the
stretch of track lying north Of the Chesa.
peake and Ohio crossing by the old Broad
street station. Five men haze <been.
Killed on, that little stretch OF: track since,
I've been ,railroading.' he said And ne,
is a Young mau-i1l- the Work at that -
There are many ways in which yard
man can-meet his Death. There IS little
OF the spectacular or the dramatic in sucn
an end. Usually it is Quick and une ez
pected. A man for instance. going
\
hand and bent on some GRAND further
down the track meets an engine bearing
doWte~u upon him with all the noise that an
engine. with a heavy train behind it. can
make He steps TO one side and lands d.
dectty IN front Of q locomotive on the
other track Neither he nor the man IN
the cab can save him then. Unless q
mans business puts him in railroad
yard. it's the best kind Of a place in the.
80 4-r
Another branch of the servfcetts fraught
with dangers that are more serious tran
those OF the engineer and fireman. Few,
ever think Of the Life OF q railway mail
clerk He stands in his. car, next be-.
hind the engine, and if anything happens
to that train it catches him like rat in,
a trap. The engine crew can see the dan
ger from afar. and can jump if. nothing
else. The mail clerk sees nothing but
what is in his car; and he knows any
thing. Of the, wreck, 1t is after it. has
come. oz < -
Insurance companies figure the chances
of life and death very closely. Sol
means something when the rate sheets
show that an accident policy that cocts a
IawyerZ or a clerk four dollars. costs.
railway engineer twenty. Five to. one
against him; but none of the score of en-
gineers that I-lsnow-s has ever spoken to
me of dissatisfaction in his work.
Goodness and judgment are the powers
that rule in the cab and on the train.
Enginenan Mills. of the Coast Line. said
tie other night. a man must keep a cool
head, make UP his mind wha to do, and
do it,. And from, Engineer Ham. of..the
Southern, comes the like statement: THE
man who runs an engine must form quick
Judgment and use it without the Slight
est hesitation. -,
a night, when you- and l. and the most
Of rs are asleep, .somewh eress betweenr:a
hundred and a hundred land Twenty-Five
thousand men are,~running ctruins and
working in1 the railroad yards in these.
United States. s ~ s1-sg
And.-t0 rEpear,-rne chances are five to
one against them