Lastly, I shall call your attention to a few of the accidents in which
employees are injured by their own carelessness, thoughtlessness or
recklessness, and frequently it is the latter. If we could eliminate
them and one-half of those caused by the carelessness of other
employees much of the unfavorable criticism of railroads would cease,
as the cause would no longer exist.
We will take up some of the most common accidents of this class,
caused by coupling cars, getting on or off, or falling from, trains or
engines, moving or standing. The following cases will serve to
illustrate how frequently unnecessary chances are taken and the
result.
Can anyone imagine a reason why a man of common sense who is old
enough to be out of school should stand on a footboard and when the
couplers are almost together put his hand in between them to pull them
over or try to kick them over with his foot, walk backwards, contrary
to Rule 51, between the rails fixing a Jenney to get ready to couple,
instead of stopping the car or engine and getting the coupler in
position; why they should stand in the middle of the track and wait
for an approaching engine or car to reach them and then step onto the
footboard or brake-beam, when they could just as well get on the side
or other end, and do it with safety; why men jump on an engine pilot,
which Rule 33 prohibits, or on a moving car to ride a few feet to a
switch, when the same is going so fast as to make it dangerous, unless
they want to show how expert they are; why they should get off moving
cars or engines under the same circumstances; why a man should not get
off a standing car or engine without getting hurt; undertake to climb
from car to car when unnecessary; cross the track in front of moving
cars or engines, when they are so close to them that to the
uninitiated it looks like suicide; or cross between cars, when they
could just as well climb over? But rather than take the time, which
the company pays for, they take the chances, and then if they get
across, like the man who drove over in front of the engine at the last
highway crossing and waited on the other side to see the train go by,
they wait until the tail end comes along and get on there, but if they
get caught blame the engineman for coming too fast, or the company for
not having the track nickel plated, or for having a handhold in the
wrong place.
Why they should allow themselves to be struck frequently in broad
daylight by overhead obstructions, for which tell-tales are erected to
warn them; by building close to the track, with the location of which
they are familiar. Yet rather than work their gray matter a little,
they get hurt. Why a man sent out to look after broken rails or
defects in the track shouldn't watch for trains from both directions
or take the trouble to ascertain before starting whether trains are on
time. And yet we all know that just such chances are taken every day
with results shown in the following cases, which are such as happen
all the time; the only reason or excuse that can be given for them,
that I can imagine, is, that the men injured never should have been
employed; that instead of being employed on trains and engines and
drawing--not earning--more pay than principals of schools, and
frequently than school superintendents, they should be working in a
barn or shoveling dirt instead of on a railroad, where their
recklessness, carelessness, and failure to realize the dangers of the
business and the necessity of complying with the rules and taking no
unnecessary chances, not only endanger their own lives, but those of
others. They are of the same class that the railroad organizations,
for the protection of their desirable membership, ought to help get
out of the service, not try to keep in until someone is seriously
injured or killed, and then complain and say the company is liable
because they kept such a grossly careless, incompetent man in the
service; and if you will think for a minute, you will know that none
of the careful, forehanded men--the men who own homes and have a
little money in the bank--are in this class.
I will first refer you to some cases caused in coupling cars, and by
getting on and off cars, of which the following are fair samples, each
of which not only could but should have been avoided by the exercise
of a little common sense by the injured person:
G. L. Penston, collector, injured at Wanley, May 10; went in to
uncouple hose after getting train onto track; did not tell anyone
he was going in between the cars; other cars were switched onto
train and his head was caught between the cars.
Henry Kendrick, switchman, injured at Mertonville, March 13; was
standing on front footboard of engine, which was about to couple
onto a car; draw-bar on engine was too far to one side to make the
coupling and Kendrick attempted to kick it over with his foot, but
missed it and his foot was caught and crushed.
M. T. Bowers, fireman, Fairmill, Jan. 6, was trying to jump from
the running board of engine to footboard, when he fell and was
injured.
L. B. Gorky, conductor, Panitoca, Aug. 14; was standing on top of
car, gave engineer a stop signal, and when slack came back, fell
off car.
P. F. Newton, conductor, injured Oct. 3, at Durham; got off head
end of train, and tried to get on way-car as it came along, and
was thrown to the ground and badly injured. Train was moving about
15 miles an hour.
Then comes the class of injuries caused by crossing between or going
between moving cars or in front of moving cars or engines, and those
caused frequently in broad daylight by obstructions with the location
of which employees are perfectly familiar, but fail to take any care
to avoid, such as the following:
H. M. Tupper, switchman, injured at Murferton, March 21, ran ahead
of moving car to throw switch; after throwing the switch he
attempted to cross the track again ahead of the car, was struck
and badly injured.
David Spurton, switchman, Olivia, Dec. 12; while hanging on side
of car, was caught between car and viaduct, and severely injured.
L. Q. Lafflin, switchman, Rutherville, Oct. 4; was sitting on top
of car riding backward his head struck viaduct, and he was knocked
off and injured.
Among other classes, altogether too frequent, as well as unnecessary,
are those caused by leaving cars too near a switch to clear a man on a
car on the next track; by going under cars to repair them, or under
engines to clean the fires, without putting out a flag; by cutting
steam hose without first knowing the steam is turned off.
Now why a man switching cars will not take the trouble to put them far
enough in on the track to clear himself riding the next cut in on the
adjacent track, or why a man will go under an engine or car to repair
it or for any other purpose, without protecting himself from injury by
putting out a flag as required by Rule I, passes my understanding.
Whenever you find the rule disregarded, report it, so that it will not
happen with the same man in the future; why a man should undertake to
cut the steam hose before he knows the steam has been turned off, the
devil himself could not tell, and yet the following cases would seem
to show that a man with a big stick is needed on the railroads as well
as elsewhere.
William Jacobson, switchman, injured at Delavia, May 19; he left
caboose on side track too near the lead, and then rode some cars
down the lead, and was struck by the caboose.
H. J. Calpine, car repairer, killed at Mestigo, June 3; was under
car making repairs; did not put out flag or tell anyone that he
was going under the car; the car was moved and he was killed.
J. P. Alton, switchman, injured at Wolton, July 13; cut hose
between sleeper and coach and failed to turn steam shut-off cocks;
was badly burned by steam.
And lastly I will refer to a few cases of injuries which cannot well
be classified, so we will say from other causes. They are a
miscellaneous lot, none of which ought to have happened, or indeed
would have happened if the first rule of nature, self-preservation,
had been observed. But I will give you several examples:
A F. Ford, brakeman, injured at Lenopa, Sept. 3; hanging on side
of stock car instead of ladder, cow kicked him and broke his
wrist.
B. L. Pomeroy, brakeman, fatally injured at Schuyler, Oct 29; in
attempting to oil a hot box while train was running, he fell under
the wheels.
John Leveridge, fireman, injured at Worthington, May 8; passing
through town, waved hand at trainmen standing on side track,
struck mail crane, and injured his arm.
Richard Manville, switchman, injured at Poulsville, June 17; stood
on top of car giving signals and when slack ran out fell off of
car; left leg broken.
K. T. Morrison, brakeman, Homerton, April 26; went back along the
track, to flag his train, went to sleep on track, was struck and
killed by another train.