The Van Buren press., 1903-08-29
KEEPING PASSENGERS AWAKE.
r,. Art Of Rousing DrOwsy Travei-
ers in stations Is something
of an Art.

road station there is a special olhcei
whose duty it is to keep travellers awake
OF course, he keeps a watch Tor proies
sional loafers as well. but his principal
dutv is to see that waiting passengers
do not sleep over train time
In Broad street station, the Reading
terminal and the Baltimore & ONO Sta-
ton, these special officers are adopts a'
arousing sleepers They almost always
do it gently, says the Philaoelphia
Press.
After long years of experience how
ever. waking sleepy railway traVelerS
may approach an art. In the oesin
ming one of the first things to be de-
termined is whether a passenger Is dead
10 the world from travel and loss Oh
sleep. or whether he is deader sun
from whisky. In either case the ofhcer
has not only the time to make oDserVa-
tions, but every opportunity ana IN
either face he may read signs oi the
better way of proceeding with the in
dividual
If whisky has been conducive 10
shlmber. a safe and telling method Oh
procedure is for the officer 10 step
lightly but firmly on the mans 1oot
High on the instep is the most effective
spot for the application OF pressure
The effect is disturbing, without the
disturbed ones recognizing the source
of the irritation. Two or three passlngs
of the officer at minute intervals, each
time with the application of a police
shoe where it does the most good, are
sufficient for any but aggravated cases
of inebriety,
For these aggravated cases an ap-
plication of a faucet of unboiled water
alone will do. Regulations Will not
admit of a conductors taking a drunk
en- man aboard a train and he must
be sobered before he passes the gates.
Water applied to the back OF the neck
from half-inch faucet, allowing 1or
the natural leakage down the spinal
column of the intoxicated one, VIII DO
the work in three minutes. In most
cases these drunken ones are victims OF
cold nights; they go out for something
warming, take too much, return to the
warmth of the station waiting-rooms,
and are drunk in FIVE minutes
Oddly enough, the drunken man who
is subjected to a douche Of cold water
seldom resents the treatment He may
even thank the officer for SOLDERING him
up and may express the most cheerful
countenance at his improved feelings.
The really ugly man to awaken is the
man who by nature Is sour, perfectly
sober, and yet worn out with travel
and loss of sleep. Such a man may be
naturally a sound sleeper and hard to
awaken, and frequently he strikes out
in a blind rage, without realizing what
his impulses are Several years ago a
cowboy of this peculiar temperament
and condition was sleeping in a dark
corner of the general waiting-room,
and the officer went over to him, touch
ing the fellow on the shoulder at the
first, and finally having to shake him
vigorously.
Apparently the fellow was awake
and it was explained that the cowboys
train already had been called; but after
the officer had gone away he turned to
find the cowboy sleeping again. To see
If the man was shammlng the officer
stood over him for half minute be-
fore he finally reached down with one
finger and raised the fellows chin until
the light struck into his face.
Instantly, like jack In the box, the
cowboys eyes glared wide open, and he
sprang to his feet, striking out with
right and left like the kick of a mule
1t was a busy mixing up for two min
utes but the blue Of civic authority
won out at the last in time to put the
cowboy aboard the train for his native
west
In the main men are the sleepers In a
railroad station, Women are more nery-
Gus and more anxious than are men,
and, while man viii 20 to sleep with
a grip, cane, an umbrella and a cam
era piled In a scat four feet away, the
average woman keeps hand or foot on
her valise while she sits awake. II Ia
only now and then that a sleepy woman
Will explain 10 the matron Of the won
ems waitlng-rOom that she has to wait
liye hours for a train and thus have per-
mission to get the sleep that she may
be composed enough to take,
For as TO sleeping in stations the gen.
eral prohibition Of It Is simply to pro-
tect the sleeper against missing his train.
The traveller may be distinguished from
his fellow who might come In simply
to end warm place In which to lounge
and do2e, and as to the possibility Of
persons losing baggage or pockctbooks
while asleep there Is little danger not
enough Of Itself TO cause the order to
keep awake,
Strangely enough, too, Of all these pas
sengors coming into the city, the emf.
grant and the immigrant, trayelngupon
second class tickets at reduced ratc
receive more attentions and are allowed
more rest than any other class Of tray.
elors