Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-31
ASLEEP AT TELEGRAPH KEY
Explanation of Many Serious Wrecks on the
Railroads Of the Country.
HUMAN ELLMENT N IRAN OPERAIION
Dangers which the Most Improved
signal Systems Cannot wholly
EIIminate-The Man who
Takes Chances.

I1keA NnAMcNas
There is an ancient saying that no par
ticular harm is to be apprehended from
a knave. as he can be guarded against, but
that heaven Is the only protection from
fool, because no one can tell what he may
do next. This adage, attributed by them
to the ohicial In charge OF transportation
on the canals OF Egypt, has been adopted
by the general managers of railroads In
this country as their own particular prop
erty. II has unquestionably been heavily
overworked In times past IA applied to the
"man underneath" in accounting to the
public for wrecks which were really due
to lack Of judgment and foresight on the
part OF the operating oficials and their
superiors, the board of directors. There
have been many instances IN the history
Of American railroading, however, where
asleep at his post or forgot his orders
was the true explanations for bad acci-
dents. with either enginemen, signalmen or
train dispatchers as the Offenders From
the latest accounts Of the terrible wreck
at Adobe, Colo, recently, that disaster was
clearly caused by lapse OF this kind on
the part Of one Of the Denver & Rio
Grande agents.
All tile IdCc OI nekllkthNc VI Tue SUI $3.50
killed upward Of forty people in Colorado,
the railroads are almost helpless. There is
little that can be done to guard against
such Indifference TO duty as that shown
by man who will, no matter how great
his fatigue, fall asleep knowing that hun
dreds of lives are dependent upon his Wig
lance. The railroads use the utmost care
in hiring men and do everything to make
sure that they are performing their duty
conscientious!y. Once in a while, however,
a fool will get by the boards Of examiners
by whom all railrosd employees in RESPONSE
bic positions are now hired. and when he
does. only too often II takes wreck TO
show him up
FIaRman who "LOst His Head"
Twenty years ago one of the large rail-
roads of the east was poor. There never
has been time when it hasn't been poor,
but at this particular period the treasury
had but recently been looted for the third
time in ten years. The salaries of some OF
the officers were in arrears, and wrecks
were unpopular. not so much from the
danger to human life as the cost OF re-
equipment On a certain division OF this
railroad there was a young civil engineer
! who had been but a few years out OF col
lege BY midnight raids on the equip
| ment piles" OF the neighboring divisions he
had succeeded in building up the section
OF the line over which he was ''roadmas-
ter until it became the envy of the other
division roadmasters and attracted the no
tice of ''the old man" himself. AS Lowell
said of two OF Emerson's associates:
They might strip every tree and e never
| would catch 'em,
His Hesperides have no rude dragon to
When they send him a dishful and ask him
He never suspects how the sly rosues came
by EN-;
He wonders why t is there are none such
| his trees on ..lt ,.t .,t+.t.
| And thinks 'em the best he has tasted this
| season.
Thanks to a sly old Irish foreman with
pretty knack at raiding, the young road
| master was laying a foundation for a rec
| oyd-breaking future, when he had wreck
and bad one. He was laying new track
on a section of his division shut of from
the rest of the line by heavy curve One
of the section hands was sent back with
torpedoes and a red nag, to warn trains
to ''come on slow" He was particularly
warned to look out for an express which
was due about half an hour after he went
out The track gang had just lifted an old
rail preparatory to letting in a new one
| when this train rounded the curve at full
speed and went into the ditch. Disregard
ing everything else. the young engineer
knowing that his reputation was at stake
ran back to the spot where he had posted
the fiagman, taking the foreman and 9
iaborer with him as witnesses. They found
the man pale as death sitting by the side
of the track. his flag beside him. He wal
trembling like a leaf. and the only explana
ton he could give for his failure to sigma
the engineer was that the onrushing traiT
frightened him so that he was unable 4
move hand or foot. Improbable as thii
seems subsequent investigation proved tina
the same man was discharged from anothe
road for having failed to nag a train tina
he had been sent out to stop. The swif
approach of train apparently affected hin
IN much the same way that standing on tn
edge OF a precipice does some persons
The Man who Takes Chances.
A division engineer was one day making
an inspection of track from the cab of ;
passenger locomotive which he had boarde,
for the purpose. The enEiINe driver calle'
him over to his seat 10 look at some OBJ
ject at the side OF the road as the division
engineer supposed. Instead, he pointed L
large boulder, the size of an egg crate
that had rolled down the hillside and la,
directly between the rails in front OF them
There was plenty of time to stop. and tn
division engineer expected the driver Z
shut on steam. Instead he opened tn
: throttle wide and yelledi
See me bunt It on"
The engine hit the rock with a might
thud. rolled a trine. and then settled dow
on the rails again, the boulder having gon
l. over to one side. The division engineer. a
soon as he could get possession of hi
! voice. made the driver stop his engine.
''You fool!' he called back as he climbe
. down from the cab, II wouldn't ride an
I, other mile on the same engine with 20
! for 1900"
The fireman, meaning to throw oil on til
j troubled waters, said:
why, that's nothing. Mr.. -. Gu
never stops for little thing like that. an
he's got the best record for, time OF an
n runner on the road"
The division engineer left the road 500
h after this incident, so he never knew whs
became Of the engine driver. Before
II went however, he sent full report OF II
occurrence 10 headquarters, and the ma
e was in all probability discharged.
According 20 the latest reports OF a