Evening star., 1902-09-15
RAILROADING IN MEXICO.
Stupidity of Poems and Local Regula-
tions Very Exasperating.
From the Brooklyn Eagle

/
"Railroading in Mexico has its peculiar
perils to the peons,' said a returned civil
engineer of a construction company which
operates in the southern republic You
know peon will stand at the foot of a hill
and watch detached bowlder coming
straight toward him and not stir until It
has hit him, killing him or breaking a leg
or two. His brain seems to have no gray
matter. 1t requires five or six poems to lift
a rock that could easily be moved by one
Anglo-SaXon, and their peak-crowned and
broad brimmed hats bump together as they
strain and heave-ho. After it is lifted they
all shout in their lingo, Don't let go,' If
one lets go then they all yell and drop the
stone, and it hits about five of the mems
feet, as a rule. AS they work barefooted
the results are distressing.
When railroads We're first put through
Mexican territory the curiosity of the poems
was immeasurable. They gathered, day OF
night, along the track and became a pest
and a nuisance because they were So ig-
norant of the ways of the locomotives that
they often got recklessly on the track and
Were manned or killed That sort of acci-
| dent is a different matter in Mexico from
what 1t is in the states. owing to the diff
| ference in the laws. BY the Mexican law
| if a person is MANNED or killed he must
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| instance. who may be- and usually is miles
| distant from the scene of the accident. Tn
| I'll the judge arrives no one must, under
| penalty of imprisonment, touch the body,
| and manned person may die be fore medical
| aid can be summoned. / was once on a
construction train that ran over and cut
| on both feet of a peon, and the judge did
not reach him until the following day OF
course, the poor fellow was dead when the
| Judge arrived.
| by the Mexican law. also, no one is al
| lowed. to remove the body of person killed
until the judge of the first instance ar
| riveS. This is sometimes awkward [ saw
once the body of peon, killed on the main
| track near a station, lie there for two DAYS
while the trains had to go around 1t by
! means OF siding to avoid running over it
| In those early days of railroading so many
| poems We're killed on the railroads that the
| habit of the civil authorities in locking llp
! engineer, fireman, conductor and the entire
| train crew until investigation was made of
the circumstances of the killing that it be
came highly detrimental to the management
| of the roads. | have known a locomotive,
| engineer to be in a Mexican jail for two
| months on a charge of running over n
| native. In time this became eXaSperating
The peon Will steal anything on a ira elk
| or about a that is not fastened down
! and the railroad men learned to hate them
| religiouSly. OF course. something had to be
| done to avoid punishment in the event of
| running over peon and the railway
| brotherhood took matters into their oyvn
| haldS- IL was Wlld country. Reports
reached the towns from time to time of the
| mysterious disappearance of a peon here
| and there along the line of railway, but
nothing was ever seen Of their bodies Ii
was as much of a mystery to me as any
one until [ solved it one dark night. | was
| on a train running toward Mexico CITY
when there was a jolt and the train stopped
| Going forward to see what was the matter
1 saw four Of the train crew take the life
less body Of peon from under the wheels
and carry it to the locomotive cab When
the train was well under way the firebox
door was opened and the body bundled in
and consumed. Now that railroad tracks
are multiplying in Mexico. the poems are
| learning caution and deaths and mysterious
disappearances are less frequent than they
formerly We're