Next in order, I wish to call your attention to accidents caused by
overhead obstructions, drawbars, lumber, poles, cinders, and other
obstructions left too near the rail, holes and trenches left
uncovered, and failure to block guard-rails and frogs, etc. Everybody
is or should be familiar with Rules 45 and 49, which require blocking
of frogs and guard-rails and a clear space of six feet from the rail,
and yet one would sometimes think, from the appearance of some yards,
side tracks and switches, that the rules, like the midnight closing
ordinance, were dead letters. It, however, is the intention and desire
of the managements that they, like all other rules, should be
enforced, and no one is so much interested in that enforcement as the
train and yard men, who work in the yards and on side tracks and
switches. If they had been observed, or if their non-observance had
been reported by the men who must have known of their violation, none
of the following accidents would have occurred:
P. B. Montgomery, brakeman, fatally injured at Mason, while
attempting to uncouple car G., P. & A. No. 593 from O., M. & C.
No. 1783; chain on pin being broken; blocking gone from
guard-rail.
John Lenahan, switchman, killed at Juniper, June 4; footboard of
switch engine on which he was riding struck a telephone pole lying
in the grass alongside the track, throwing Lenahan under the
engine.
P. D. Kendrick, brakeman, injured at Bentley, Jan. 5, 7:00 p.m.;
was riding on the side of a box car, when he was struck by a spike
sticking in a board, which was part of the fence around the cellar
which was being excavated for the new depot at Bentley. It was
necessary to amputate two fingers of Kendrick's right hand, his
right leg, and he also received a very bad scalp wound.
Peter Alton, brakeman, was climbing up the side of A., B. & C. car
No. 2843, at Hackley, when he was struck and knocked off the car
by a highway crossing sign at that place, and so badly injured
that it was necessary to amputate both his legs below the knee,
and his right shoulder blade was also broken. This crossing sign
cleared this car only 2 ft.
K. G. Purdy, switchman, killed in Walton yards, Dec. 10; caused by
his being knocked off the top of a car by the Avery Street viaduct
and run over and killed.
I want to call especial attention to the Alton, Montgomery, Purdy and
Kendrick cases. In the former the crossing sign had been in the same
place for over 20 years. The man who put it there, roadmasters, and
section foremen, who should have discovered its dangerous proximity to
the track and moved it to a safe distance, the one required by Rule
49, were grossly careless, and the injured man and other trainmen who
had passed it daily for years must have discovered that it was too
close to the track, and if they had reported it, as they should have
done, this accident would not have happened, and they were blamable
for not doing so. In the Montgomery case the section foreman was at
fault for not properly blocking the frog, as required by Rule 45, the
roadmaster for not seeing it was done, and the car inspector and
repairer for not discovering that the coupling apparatus was defective
and repairing it. In the Purdy case the management was at fault for
not seeing that warning whips were up for the viaduct--they are now;
and in the Kendrick case the man who hung up the lamp too close to the
track to warn people, instead of making it a protection, increased the
danger, and the division engineer who allowed it to be done was
inexcusably careless. Such cases not only swell the total number, but
account in a large measure for the total increase in personal injury
accounts of the railroads.
Section foremen do not seem to realize the importance of examining the
whip guards for overhead obstructions every time they pass them to see
that they are in proper position and if not, pull them down with the
hook provided for that purpose. If the roadmasters would be more
particular to see that this is done we would have fewer accidents of
this kind in the future.
And in removing hand cars in yards, place them far enough away from
the rails so that a man riding on the side of a freight car won't be
struck by them, as happened to
A. T. Swanson, brakeman, injured at Tracy, Aug. 30; he was hanging
on the side of a car, and was struck by the handle of a hand car,
which had been left too near to clear a man on a car.