The Washington times., 1905-05-21
CHAPTER vI-(continued.)

Now resumed Howe. they will |
probably make a fielder of you. Come |
down 10 this car
Arising, he and Gray proceeded to a
long low car standing near. John MOTTO
ed in great white letters on the side, i
P. & R.
''This,' said Frank, lis a car from
the Pennsylvania coal fields. and is the |
most murderous combination ever con- |
trived by corporate greed. Notice the |
long sixteen-inch dead blocks faced with /
boiler iron; see there. where by the |
force of impact the facing has been /
fractured, bolt heads protruding inch |
and Jagged splinters awaiting like |
sharks teeth. When you enter the link |
the blocks are less than four inches |
apart. your arm between them to the /
elbow. one OF those slpinters catches |
your sleeve-and then.'' with The side OF |
his hand he struck Johns arm at the |
elbow.
AS strange convulsiye shudder ran |
through the member John replied: |
But surely there Is some way to avoid |
1t, lots of men grow old and keep their |
arms intact"
"A very good answer replied Howe, |
sbut they do it in this way. This car
and those of the Lehigh Valley and
Delaware, Iackawanna and Western are |
coupled in this manner: you walk with |
the moving car, resting your arm over |
the dead block. reach down to the link. |
enter it by guess. then with quick |
turning of the wrist throw your hand |
from between the clashing drawheads /
At night your body and the dead blocks |
effectively exclude the light OF your
lamp. Look how the ties rest above the
partially filled surface of tilis track
Ii /
ing snow. stumbling through the pitch
dark. ahead CT the moving car. depend
ing upon dancing shadows or a deeper
gloom to fix the exact fraction OF sec
ond TO snatch your hand from the
hungry jaws awaiting it in the hidden
blackness. Now. some of these cars
have q hook and a three link chain
fastened TO them. and it's easier then,
all you have to do is TO raise the three
link and drop it over the opposing
hook; but then again you have TO couple
one of these 10 a common sucker
mouth-there is where fine work comes
in. Drifting around the country are
probably a bare dozen of expert three
link couplers' OF whom the best is called
Scranton Pete To make these coup
lings you rest the outside OF the middle
link in your hand, lay the index finger
along the first one. and throw it into
the drawhead. striking the bottom end
OF a forward cooked pin; always re-
membering to have the link stretched
when throwing
Another thing, John,' he continued.
"neyer forget that these drawheads
are not uniform in height; there Is al
ways danger OF their overlapping and
'jack-knifng' you.
What do you mean by that?" asked
In F-s<s
.onIy two cars coming flush together
and careless fielder furnishing angel
timber" replied Howe grimly.
How do you manage il when the
l1rawheads vary that much in relative
heights" John asked.
by the use of what is called a crook
ed link" Howe replied. Continuing ne
added, always place il in the dead or
standing car-aad swing out quickly, for
If it breaks you are all in. Now watch
me- and I'll show you the method used
by the best car couplers; first jerk the
drawhead out"-Howe gave the appIi-
ance a quick two-handed pull-'tso that
when on dead block cars. it will strike
first, causing the pin to fall right in
stead of being thrown to the ground
by the full impact of the dead blocks.
Now SET the pin in this manner; top
toward you. and as far through as II
will balance. BY the way, there is
big difference among fielders about this
process. some claiming the head should
rest back, but I'm inclined to like it as
I've shown you, as when coupling into
a high dTawhead on cars with platforms,
the over-reaching board usually present
will, on the upward buckle, in catching
the pin head. cause you to miss the
coupling Now as you almost invariably
work on the engineers siGe I'll take
you into the advanced class. Stand in
this manner. placing the left foot out
side OF the rail and the right well in
side. Now with your left hand get
good grip on the outside of the car;
stand with your back toward the ap-
preaching car, keep off your heels. strain
every cord and muscle for a backward
spring, remembering that the strained
left arm. if ever 30 quick or strong, will
need every boarded resource of nerve.
breast fran q 'jack-knife.' Now we will
imagine il ? a. M on a dark night, you
have two tracks 10 take care of; out in
The fog you near the rumble OF a kick
ed ear, you listen 20 the ran clicks and
form an idea as to its speed; decide that
it is not running at a dangerous rate;
now you string your lamp on your right
arm; as the looming wall-like ends
emerge above you. give quick glance
at the drawnead height; another at the
end siils for protruding rods or bolts.
and remember. boy John, that of all the