The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-11

THE RAILWAY MAIL Gle
PERFORMS HIS DUTIES.
Death or Serious Injury Almost 4
tain to Fellow Disaster to Trail
Marvellous Cuickress Of Hands
Brain in Demand.


Brain in Demand.
II any ambitious author is on
hunt for material teeming with fra
melodrama, stripped of theatric
sci, let him stuay the life and ha
ships Of the railway mail clerk. P
lie knowledge of lis usefulness is
stricted to very meagre generality
and the average man has a scan
idea OF the hazards perpetually co
passing Uncle Sans employees in I
flying railway post Offices all over {
United States.
He is ever al the post Of DANCE e
from a physical standpoint. Right D
hind the ponderous, pounding loc
motive with tis mind tenseiy conce
trated on the work in hand, he is q
posed to any disaster which may a
sail the speeding train. The eng
neer, the fireman, the train crew 4
large. as a general rule. have ward
ing Of approaching danger and ar
given at least a fighting chance fo'
their lives. The clerk is behind
locked doors, most of the tind
Doors that open slowly, and heavily
too. TIE lact that all his senses ARD
centered within the narrow confines
OF the car prevents his catching ths
danger sigral, and about the first in
t.mation le has Ct q catastrophe i
a terri fc collision with the locomo
tive, an abrupt stop from high speed
which throws him the length of th'
car. or the crushing in OF the car
shell, to be followed frequently b1
fire. from witch escape is made i'm
possible by confining timbers.
Agility is not an adequate definl
ton of what is required of this clerE
mentally and physically He must b.
almost saperhuman. Stations, larg
and small, are constantly beinI
reeled eff by the galloping trahi an
tLey each pour varying tide Of lei
ters and papers into the car. It
highly probable that large percent
age of this mail is intended for tn
next stop, a distance possibly Of te
miles, more frequently four or fiv'
Like lightning he must sort out thi
varied heap reading scrawiing, 'iliel
ible add eees in a car swaying VII
lently from side to side Sometime
the light is poor; sometimes the a.
| dress given is a little strange to min
being a new and obscure post Office
but as the service demands Of hi
Eometb,ng approaching infallibilit
Ills list Of erors must be trimr.e
down to the minimum.
At the holiday season or any tin
Of national stress the work OF Il
railway mail clerk is immensely mi
tiplied, consequently his difficultie
Periodically his train Dr. another
late, no matter how pnnctual Il
schedule in the majority of case
and there is an accumulation of ma
To be made up in shortened tim
with the drawback Of a footing unce
tain from the jump Ia speed by vhiC
tso conscientious engineer tries e .
gain a portion of the lost minutFs
hotgs.
These are only a fey IF bis .r;..
The chronicle could be prolonged =
til It filled three times this space,
cordirg the simple truth in each lin
Enough has been said 10 show th
the clerks life is spent literally e
the midst Of alarms" His is one
the hazardous callings which receh
such scant sympathy, because SO y
lie understood. He is the modeI
Mercury in more literal sense ths
TIE pcst.l1n, since his work
broader ana done under infinite
more parloas conditions, and
should rank very no-s the top OF Il
list OF men who are bona fide hero
in eace-time.-Atlanta Constitntio