Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1904-05-20
THE MILE A MINUTE MAN
WHY HIS HAIR MAY GREW GRAY
IN A SINGLE NIGHT.


ment, But He Never Loses His
Nerve-Caution Is Not Always Win.
ner.
"For my part, believe the reason for
the recent epidemic of wrecks" said
a commercial traveller in the smoking
compartment of a Pullman car. lis
due to tie fact that the nerves of the
engineers are brought to such a high
tension after a number of bad acci.
dents that they lose control of them
selves"
That's Just. where you are wrong"
quietly said a gray-haired man with
tanned, weather-beaten face. who sat
near the window smoking a cigar Il
think you will all credit me with
knowing what l am talking about. as
have been a railroad engineer for the
gines, from mine dummy to- hum
dred-ton passenger engine with sew
en-foot wheel. and have railroaded on
all the principal lines in the United
States.
"The great majority of people seem
to have the idea that the engineer of
fast train is always in fear of rum
ms and collisions, and that he is under
such nervous strain that he some
times has to be lifted from the cab
when he reaches the end of his run.
That isn't SO. An engineer has too
many duties, such as watching his sig
nails, keeping water in his engine, and
seeing that he is on his schedule time,
to have much time to worry himself
about accidents that are likely to hap
pen. AS long as he pays the proper at
tention to his own train he knows that
is al he can do. and that if anything
goes wrong it is beyond his control.
So he doesn't take up any of his time
worrying. Accidents will happen, no
matter how much care is taken to pre-
vent them, and sometimes there can't
be found any reason for them, but you
may be sure that they are never
caused through the engineer losing his
nerve.
IF an engineer were under half the
strain most people suppose him to be
he wouldn't last dozen trips, but you
will find that men live to grow old at
engineering, Just the same as at any
other work-that is, if they are suited
to the business and have no bad luck.
AS a rule they are men of good, strong
nerves and with little imagination. OF
course, | don't mean that all engineers
are alike. There are good and ordi-
nary and fast and slow engineers. And
it is curious fact that it is not always
the slow, cautious man who gets along
with the fewest accidents.
"One of the fastest engineers | ever
knew was one of the safest, and yet he
would come safely through after TAX
ing chances that would have made an
other mans hair stand on end. One
thing he did I'll remember all my
life. | was firing for him at the time
and thought that this was the last OF
US. We came into the station hauling
an accommodation train. with the en-
CINE running on one Side-that is, the
gear on one side had broken down and
he had disconnected it, taken off the
side rods, and tied UP the piston. All
the power thus had to come from the
good side This doesn't interfere with
an engines speed-at least going
down hill-but of course she is much
more likely to give way in that condi-
ton than when she is in good order.
"The station was at the top of
steep grade and we were coming down.
Our train had just five minutes to get
to the next station, at the bottom of
the hill, four and half miles below,
and side track for an express coming
from the opposite direction.
well, the engineer wanted to make
the run. but the conductor got off the
| train and said that he didn't want to
commit suicide. II the engineer was
bound to kill himself he would have
| to do it alone, said the conductor, but
he finally was persuaded to get aboard,
and away we went Never before or
since have | had such ride. From
| the way we few down that grade
thought we would never reach the bot
| tom except in a pile. But we reached
the side track safely. after all. and
pulled into it just in time to miss the
express, for it came through a mo-
ment later as fast as it could travel, as
its engineer made dash for the grade,
and it didn't miss the rear end of our
hind coach six inches as it was drawn
| into the siding.
"Yet that engineer is still running,
and he has had fewer accidents than
many a slower and more careful man.
There is always certain amount
of excitement in the life of an engi-
ner, but it gets to be just the same as
any other work a man is doing year in
| and year out | sometimes see pic
lures in magazines showing the engi-
neer in a confab with his fireman.
| His train all the time supposed to be
travelling at a gait of mile minute.
You will never. see anything like that
in real life. An engineer always must
have his hand on the throttle and his
eyes glued straight ahead. The frac-
ton of a second sometimes will make
all the difference In the world, for you
/
you at the most unexpected places,
and it is strictly necessary that you
see it just as soon as you can.
while going along with an express
as fast as the engine could turn a
wheel the oJner day / came suddenly
upon a brakeman waving red flag |
threw on the air and then reversed the
engine, for could tell by the way the
brakeman was waving that we were
close on his train. Well. we came to
a stop not an engines length from the
engine of a way train that had crossed
on my track to get some cars out of a
siding. and hadn't time to get out of
my way. The brakeman had had hard
work to get up the track far enough
to give me the warning. so that
would have room to stop in. If | had
been having one of those chats that