Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-11

II alities, now being swept away
l. - by the onward progress of CIV
lization, is the railroad switch-ten-
der who sat at the shanty by the
right of way and became a sort of
unofficial purveyor of more or less
authentic information and the hero
of many a railroad yarn. AS a
writer in the Little Rock Arkansas
Gazette notes, Government operation
of the roads, combined with the eN-
tension of the interlockinG system,
has slated the ''gossipy tenant" for
retirement. In the old days when
important news flew through the
yards and passed from crew to crew,
it was generally "shanty DOPE" and
was traced to "shanty No. /, shan
ty No. e" or "shanty No. g." as the
case might be. The writer in The
Gazette reminds us that,
"The shanties came into being
with the first railroad that was built,
and were intended to protect the
switch tenders from the rains and
other seventies of the weather. In
cold seasons the tender always had
q cheerful fire, and, being naturally
fond of company, he welcomed tho
trainmen who slipped IN, to warm
themselves. The shanty jobs, through
the working of some unwritten law,
were invariably given to old or de-
crepit trainmen. Operatives who
lost a leg or an arm or sustained
other disabling injuries were given
such assignments on their return to
service. Many a railroad escaped
damage suits by exercising diplo-
matte skill in the distribution of the
shanty jobs.
Before automatic switches were
brought to their state of efficiency,
the shanty and the shanty-man were
as much n necessity as the yard
master or the yardclerk. In the
shanty-man's own estimate he was
more essential than the president of
the road, and he usually did not
hesitate to express this opinion, as
he has from time immemorial been
n person of privilege. When he
had important information to send
through the yards he never reserved
It for any one. He let the first man
along know all about it. knowing
that there would be no delay in its
transmission to the others on the
plant"
Every railroad terminal. we are
told, has it's stock of anecdotes con-
cerning the shanty. A story is told
of chow q shanty-man played the
role of hero and saved the passen-
gers in the waiting-rooms at tho
old Union Station at Twelfth and
Poplar Streets, st. Louis, from the
fury of a pack of wild beasts" The
tale runs thus:
at was back in 1886 or 1887,
that this catastrophe was averted
So Ia rtv,A
ing qualities OF the shanty-man. A
circus train was being switched
through the yards, and had pro-
gressed as far as Fourteenth Street.
when a derailment overturned a
string of cars loaded with Gagged
lions. tigers and other types of the
Jungle. Several of these cages were
wrecked; many of the animals
crawled out and started down the
tracks in the direction of the sta
tion.
THE man of the shanty saw tho
mcnagerie first. and, having a good
start on the thoroughly frightened
beasts, proceeded to smash all pre-
vious records of sprinting achieve
ment scored in any railroad yard
extant and he succeeded. He reached
the waiting rooms far in advance of
the OnFuSnlnS animals, anu HdO
enough breath left to shrek an
alarm. The people waiting for trains
crowded in the rooms and the doors
were quickly secured. Some of the
animals ran up stairway in the
station building leading to the Of
fees of the station company and
created a panic among the clerks.
some of whom jumped from the
second STORY windows out on Pop
lar Street, while others sought safe
ty behind desks and chairs and in
closets. Some of the animals sue
ceeded in reaching the street, where
they were shot by the police. The
few that managed to get to the Of
fees were taken alive by attaches
of the circus
Many of the o'd-time feuds be-
tween train-crews were traced to
the shanties. A story would get a
start and brood trouble. 1t might
have been originated in a spirit of
jest, "but the point of humor was
not always discovered in time to
head off a fist-fight or two" But
picturesque and interesting as the
shanty-man was. he was relic of