Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-12-22
THREE CALLS FOR ENGINEERS.

THREE CALLS FOR ENGINEERS.
Strange Superstition Peculiar to tho
| Kings of tho Throttle.
Outside the Southern Pacific round
house in this city a group Of locomo-
tive engineers were sitting and chat
ting.
Now, there's no use denying that
it's the third call that gets an engin-
eer," said John Nolan, the Oldest engin-
eer in California, as he came out OF
the roundhouse wiping oil from his
hands. 81 have yet to know an engin-
eer who doesn't believe that, and I
could tell all day long Of instances to
prove the correctness Of the belief.
"Then, too, there's no use denying
that most engineers can go through
any sort of wreck and not get killed
until they have their third call. Take
the case Of Bill Conner up on the Fris-
co and Sacramento division last year.
"Bill was hauling a six-car train on
which was half ton Of giant powder
on the gondola car. A lot Of Mexican
track laborers were in car near the
gondola-
mo one ever knew how it happened,
but the dynamite ignited. Half the
lMexicans were blow to atoms. and the
rest were mangled.
"The fireman on the engine with
Bill Conner had been in two wrecks
before. He was blown over 100 yards
away, and probably never knew his
fate.
1.-The gondola was shivered to
matches. The rails were bent like
hairpins, and the whole train and To-
comotive were in ruins.
when the wrecking car came to
clear things up the tender was lacked
up, and there, beneath lot OF coal,
covered with blood and coal dust, and
many broken bones, was Bill Conner
unconscious and apparently breathing
his last. The doctor said life was
matter of only a few nours.
"The railroad boys gathered about
Bill as he lay on the grass alongside
the track. He regained consciousness
and, getting his breath, managed to
lsay:
ooh, I'll come through all right
This is only my second CALL
1.-The doctor shook his head, but
every railroad man there knew Bill
was right. Well, it took four months
of nursing and heap Of pluck on Bills
part, but he came out sound and well
Bill was transferred to the Port
Iland division, and had the softest and
safest job in his life. He feared an
, other and third call. So he sought as
safe a job as possible, and at much
smaller pay.
Last spring he was drawing No.
passenger accommodation, just outside
, of Woodburn, when the connecting rod
, on the engineers side Of the locomo-
, tive snapped, and the loose end stuck
through the cab, breaking Bills leg
and crushing his ankle.
, 1T didn't seem like such a serious
accident for a railroad engineer, but
Bill said:
boys, it's my third call. I'll make
a powerful effort to get round again
but it looks bad to me-"
!. "In a month Bill died. Blood pois-
oning set in and all sorts Of unusual
complications came into the case"
do you remember that case OF
young Fred Fuller, out on the east FL
Paso division?" said an engineer at
!. Nolan's elbow. THAT proves the sense
!, of the three times and out belief.
Zone night down there when the
|, darkness was so heavy that you could
almost chop it, and the rain came down
In rivers, Fred Fuller's engine was
taking a heavy curve out on the Texas
plains, and a drivewheel f1ange broke
The engine jumped the track, and Fred
: had a close shave from instant death
; in the wreck.
1T was his first call, and Of course,
he survived. A few months in the
. hospital, and he was ready for an en-
gine again.
} HE got light work about the El
} Paso yards and on daylight runs
About a year after the wreck he be-
gan taking regular night runs and ap-
J peared to be as good an engineer as he
ever was.
"One night it happened that Fred
! was put on the same train that he was
on when hurt. 1t was noticed that he
was a little nervous, but no attention
was paid to this. The night turned
out to be the same kind Of one as that
on which he was hurt-dark and rainy.
"As the train neared the curve
where the first accident had occurred
the fireman noticed Fred slack up his
engine, and at the same time he began
to get paler and paler. AS they round
ed the curve where he had been ditched
before Fred uttered shrek and fell
over in a faint. The strain was too
much for him.
He was taken off his engine, this
time for good, Of course, and was for
a couple Of years doing switch work in
the yards. AS an engineer his first
call had ruined him for life. No
amount Of money could hire him to
steer an engineer around that curve
Iagain after dark, and he was known
to be a man Of great nerve, too"
II fired for seven years for old Har-
vey Post, and he was the most dare
devil man at a throttle ever knew,