The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-01-27
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A SHOCK TO THE ENGINEER.
Always Unnerved if His Locomotive
Runs Down a Man

Some one with a fOndness for the
combination of statistics has evolved
the theory that engineers hold their
position on an average ten years. Den
yer knights of the throttle must be
superior to their brethren in other
places. for it is not at all unusual to
encounter men there 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 consecutive year with the
company. He is a splendid specimen
OF the engineer-a man of Drawn and
brain. His hair is quite white, but his
physical and mental yigor has not de-
creased; rather has it grown with the
flight of the years, and the assump-
ton of greater responsibilities. He bub-
bles over with good nature and laughs
at the suggestion that anything in his
career would prove of interest to the
general public. He was born in Frank
lin, Mass, April II, 1916. He began
firing on the Boston & Albany in 1862.
but the war fever was contagious. and
he enlisted with his father. The au-
thorities discovered that he was too
were compelled to return to peaceful
pursuits. After three years shoveling
of coal he was graduated to the upper
side of the cab and pulled trains all
over the Bay state. In 1875 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
Denver toward the south.
He has been unfortunate enough to
kill several persons who got il. front of
his engine, which is one of the speed
lest on the system.
What were my sensations after the
ira gedies?' he asked. and the smile
faded from his face. L can't describe
it. l suppose a fellow Of my size should
be ashamed to confess that anything
caused him TO collapse. but after we
crash into some one and know that
fatality has occurred 1 am unable to
stand When l see the danger 1 con
centrate every energy to avert the
catastrophe. / am not nervous then.
but when it is over I collapse. About
five years ago. a few miles below Colo
RADIO Springs, on q clear day, we were
bowling along at forty miles an hour.
and l observed a man walking down
the middle of the track. I Sulled the
whistle, but he did not pay the slight
est attention. ! thought he would get
out Of the way and we were upon him
before l realized that he did not in
tend doing so. l reversed and put on
the brakes. but the cowcatcher caught
him and hurled him against a telegraph
pole. Life was extinct when We reached
him.
I'VE turned him over to the coroner"
said Mr.. Frye, according to the Den
yer News. and afterward that official
told me that the dead man was d fugi-
tive from justice. He had murdered a
man in Oregon, and for months had
evaded the authorities That day he
had learned in Colorado Springs that
the local police were looking for him.
He had evidently grown weary of fee
ing from place TO place, and deter
mined to commit suicide