New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-03

cars until the work was done. and in this way
they are sometimes held two or three hours. VI
this Par1culaTT W. e0 that night and the re-
nainder ut 6:55 the next morning. They work
six days and six days OF, but ABOUT nan OF
their vacation must be spent IN studying tnelr
scheme books postoff1ces and routes In order
TO pass the examinations which are held at IRE
ouent intervals The head clerk on this train re-
ceives 81 500 a year, it is made UP of three
cars or more. The. salaries of the others range
FTon, 81 400 TO 5000 for the Short stops Every
man Of the crew must have from twelve thou
sand TO fifteen thousand postoft1ces in his head.
He must know their locations Just as he knows
that Roosevelt is President of the United States.
He must be familiar with hundreds of train
schedules for of the offices are reached by
two lines and he must know which train gets
there first All things considered It is little Won
der that many of those who pass the Civil Ser
vice examination cannot stand the strain on
their memories and have to leave the service
A BAD SCARE FOR ALL
In the washington station train No 81, of the
Southern is coupled up and waiting 1t consists
of three mail cars and one filed with express
matter. There is just time to transfer the mail
from New-York before the train starts for At
lanta the Georgian capital six hundred and fifty
miles away. which distance the train is scheduled
to cover in sixteen hours
The motion Of No 33 gave the correspondent
trouble to keep his feet, but it was nothing
TO the way No 81 tore through Virginia tndt
beautiful Sunday morning. The Tram was HSnT
enough to feel every motion OF the powerful
Locomotives It seemed to take the curves on
two wheels. and to whip the rear cars nan
off the track. One soon underseooo ma ~
was foundation for the story Colonel Arm
strong one of the vice-presidents OF the Soutn-
ern tells of his experience with this tram
Il was out on the line in my car, ne saIu,
s.and was in a hurry to reach Atlanta. tele-
gTaphed orders for No 81 to stop ana nook Oh
nv car. I stood it for about forty miles. ana
then sent word to the engineer to hook me
off the first siding he reached
In the two sorting cars OF the train eight
men were at work, with Virginia, North caro-
lima South Carolina and Florida letters aho
PAPERS Only the most pronounced curves
and jolts bothered them, for they hao tne
feel of the road and well developed sea legs.
Every man was intent his work, handling
letter after letter with marvellous precision ana
speed
MES q falling star or the batting of an eyelash,
accompanied by a shrek from the loconlotlVe
whistle so shrill that it froze the blood, inc
train seemed to stop an instant Inen IL TOSS
from the track. came down with q terrible
Jolt. IN again down again, with frightful gr1ndS
ing noises arising from every underlying Wheel
of the huge trucks which carried the car
Every man in the mail crew Went up INTO
the air as though shot there. and the Tribune
CORRESPONDENT went UP with them. he was
the only one who came down, however, LOT
each of the postal clerks managed TO gran
one Of the twin safety rods which run the
length of the car roof, and hold on Inc cor
RESPONDENT came down hard. and was rolled
among the mail bags Half dazed by the fall,
certain that the mail train was going into the
ditch, remembering fully the details OF score
OF wrecks in which the mail cars suffered
worst the reference clippings of which even
then reposed in his pocket, there was moment
in which he gazed with fascination at the mall
crew dangling from the safety rods. One OF
the men, as he swayed with the plunging train,
was 1nurmuring the act Of contrttton of his
church, shortened to meet the exigencies or
postal service dangers. .s.