The Delaware and Hudson Railroad Bulletin, June 1, 1937

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Look Jlgain

SAW a thistle and a flower
Growing side by side:
My eyes turned from the thistle to
The flower it sought to hide.

I saw the angry heavens glowing,

Presaging rain:
I caught a glimpse of sunshine when

I chanced to look again.

And so we 11 find that though this life
Holds much of sunshine and rain;

We're sure to see the sunshine if
We only look again.

— E. H. Morgan.

I

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— — —— wm t ma m ii n i

TO

5 DELAWARE AND HUDSON RAILROAD

CORPORATION

BULLET I N

earne

nglan

Strict Rules of Apprenticeship Recalled by Retired Oneonta Foreman

HE shall not con-
tract matrimony
within the said
term (seven years) ; nor
play at cards or dice tables
or any other unlawful
games whereby his said
masters may have any loss
with his own goods or
others during the said

term without license of
his said masters; he shall
neither buy nor sell; he
shall not haunt taverns or
playhouses nor absent
himself from his said mas-
ters' service day or night
unlawfully."

A sheepskin certificate
of indenture still in the
possession of retired Car
Foreman FRED CUNDY,
who completed his ap-
prenticeship to a wheel-
wright and carpenter in
1888 set forth,, among
other conditions which
bound apprentice boys in

nineteenth century England, a strict set of rules
governing their conduct 24 hours a day.

In return, MR. CUNDY was to receive the equiva-
lent of four cents a day until his final year when
he was to receive 28 cents per day. It is signed,
"In the forty-sixth year of the reign of our Sov-
ereign Lady Victoria, by the Grace of God of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Queen, Defender of the Faith and in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-
two."

FRED CUNDY

Born at St. B 1 a z e y
Gate, Cornwall, England,
in 1868, FRED had com-
pleted his high school
education at the age of
fourteen. At that time
English school-children's
vacations were limited to
two weeks in the summer
and two days at Christ-
mas time, a fact which
helps to account for his
early graduation.

Shortly thereafter he
began serving his appren-
ticeship in a shop doing
all types of cabinet and
carpentry work in addi-
tion to building farm and
clay wagons, the latter for
use in carting potters' clay
from the pits to the pot-
tery. The wagons were
of as much as six tons
capacity, to be drawn by
three heavy horses har-
nessed in tandem. Wheel -
making was an art in it-
self. If, when the elm hub, oak spokes, ash rim,
and iron tire were assembled, the wheel carried its
load soundlessly, it was considered to be properly
built; if it squeaked, it was faulty.

Even the larger wagon parts were hand made.
Large pieces of wood were cut with a two-man
saw; one man stood in a saw pit pushing and
pulling vertically while his partner stood on the
floor level guiding the saw along a chalk line as he
worked.

One unwritten but rigidly enforced rule of the

83

shop was that an apprentice should save the equiva-
lent of his wages for his employer every day in
addition to his regular duties. When no other op-
portunity offered, MR. CUNDY would make up
several "separators" — wooden blocks to be placed
between a horse's harness and the draft chains to
prevent them from chafing the animal's skin.

In 1891, MR. CUNDY, who had married shortly
after being out of his apprenticeship, sailed for
America on the S. S. Umbvia.

Arriving in Carbondale, where his wife's brother
was employed in the Delaware and Hudson Car
Shops, he was hired as a car framer by Master Car
Builder Thomas Orchard, and went to work in the
mill at the head of Main Street, directly in back
of the present division offices. All Delaware and
Hudson coaches and freight cars were then built
by the company's forces. MR. CUNDY built the
frames of hundreds of "Jimmy" cars, which were
12 feet 8 inches long, 4 feet 2 inches wide, had
18- to 24-inch wheels, were of 4-foot 3-inch
gauge, carried 5 tons of coal, and weighed 5,800
pounds. (In comparison, a modern composite hop-
per car is 35 feet long, 10 feet wide, has 3 3 -inch
wheels, is, of course, of standard gauge, carries 55
tons, and weighs 42,800 pounds.)

In 1899 MR. CUNDY was appointed machine
carpenter by Mr. Orchard, who had designed and
supervised the construction of the six wood-work-
ing machines in the wood mill. Mr. Orchard had
a very efficient system of checking the work of a
wood machine operator. When a large quantity
of lumber of one size was to be cut, the first piece
put through the machine had to be brought to the
office where it was put in his safe. When the order
was completed, the last piece was also brought to
Mr. Orchard who then compared the two. If they
were alike within one-thirty-second of an inch the
work was approved; if not, there was a vacancy
on the force. To guard against trickery, he some-
times called for a piece from the middle of a lot for
inspection.

Some of the coach interiors of that day were
masterpieces of the wood-worker's art, says MR.
CUNDY. The walls were of bird's eye maple, white
maple, quartered oak, or ash, while the ceilings
were covered with scenic paintings. Each car was
heated by a stove and illuminated by twelve oil
lamps.

Bearing out MR. CUNDY'S statement as to the
craftsmanship of that period is the fact that in
1925 an old Gravity Railroad coach was secured
from a Carbondale contractor who had been using
it as an office, so it could be reconditioned and
placed on exhibition. While some parts required
replacement, others were still in serviceable condi-

tion. The paintings on the ceiling were found to
be in a perfect state of preservation, needing only
washing and a coat of varnish.

In 1907 MR. CUNDY was promoted to the rank
of leading machine hand, it being his duty to repair
as well as operate all the wood-working machines.
By that time there were fourteen machines in the
shop, all run by a single vertical one-cylinder steam
engine. They prepared all the lumber used by the
Car, Motive Power, and Maintenance of Way De-
partments.

Six months later, on May 1, 1908, MR. CUNDY
became wood mill foreman, a position he occupied
until , the shop was closed in 1928. Early the
next year he was transferred to Oneonta as mill-
wright foreman. The last five of his 44 years'
service were spent as painter foreman, in charge of
the painting and stenciling of cars.

MR. CUNDY, who owns his own home at 144
Chestnut Street, Oneonta, is a Mason, a member of
The Delaware and Hudson Veteran's Association,
the Car Department Supervisors' Association, and
St. James Episcopal Church of Oneonta. Inci-
dentally, he was for 3 8 years a tenor singer in the
Episcopal Church choir at Carbondale and has for
nine years been a member of the choir at Oneonta.
MR. CUNDY has two sons: Frederick C, a ma-
chinist at Buffalo, N. Y. ; and Harry C, a foreman
in the Locomotive Department of the Erie at
Hornell.

Highball !

"The Comet," Extra 1117 North, leaves
Oneonta for Mechanicville

84

Petropolis Incline

Brazilian Rack-Railroad Climbs
1 9 Per Cent Grade and Negotiates
Curves of as Much as 1 7 Degrees

ONE of the world's most interesting pieces of
railroad track is the rack-operated Petropo-
lis Incline of the Leopoldina Railway, Bra-
zil, which climbs 2,657 feet in 3.77 miles, over an
average grade of 13.3 per cent or 1 foot up in
every 7.5 ahead. The incline starts at Raiz da
Serra station, 30.68 miles from Rio de Janeiro,
and terminates at Alto da Serra, 1.8 miles beyond.
The maximum grade is 19 per cent over a distance
of 131 feet; the sharpest curve is nearly 17 degrees.

On Gtota Fonda Viaduct

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mm

Boilers Set Level on the Incline

The meter (39.37") gauge single track is laid
with T-section, 75 -pound rails, in earth ballast.
The ties are spaced at meter intervals, this spacing
being maintained by longitudinal channel-irons fixed
on both ends of the ties to prevent creep. The
rack rails, which are about 10 feet long, rest on
cast-iron chairs bolted to the ties. The Riggenbach
rack system is employed, all rack materials being
imported from Switzerland.

From an engineering standpoint, two interesting
features of the line are the bridges spanning two
deep chasms. The first is of reinforced concrete,
103 feet long, with a center span of 59 feet and
two end cantilevers of 20 and 25 feet respectively.
This bridge was built after a severe cloudburst in
1930, when thousands of tons of rocks, trees, and
debris were brought down the mountainside, de-

stroying the old 25 -foot span girder bridge and
approximately 230 feet of track. The other bridge
is of stone with a 104-foot arch 82 feet high.

The line operates 20 rack engines, all but two
of which were built in Germany and Switzerland.
The others were constructed in the railroad's own
shops, although the boilers, cylinders, rack spur-
wheels, gear wheels, pinions, connecting rods, in-
jectors and gauges were imported finished. Wheel
centers, axles, tires, and frames are imported rough
and finished in the shops at Alto da Serra.

The locomotives are of one standard type, having
a single rack spur-wheel and four carrying wheels,
and weigh 26 tons in working order. Twelve
engines use saturated steam in 13% x 19% -inch
cylinders; the other eight have superheaters and
14 3/16 x 19% -inch cylinders. All 20 boilers
carry 195 pounds steam pressure. The locomotives
are designed to push a maximum passenger load of
32 tons at a speed of 7.6 miles per hour up the
incline; the maximum freight loading is 35 tons,
with an extra minute allowed for each kilometer
(3,281 feet.) Power is transmitted to the rack
spur-wheel by an intermediate driving shaft geared
at a ratio of 2 to 1. Because of the heavy stresses
to which they are subjected, driving shafts at one
time gave considerable lubrication trouble, although
this is being overcome by forced feed lubrication.
However, it is still necessary to replace driving
shafts after only 2,500 miles of operation on the
rack.

The descent of the incline, with a maximum
loading of 32 tons for both freight and passenger
trains, is made chiefly by the retarding action of the

85

Testing New Concrete Bridge

Le Chatelicr counter-pressure brake. As the engine
approaches the main descent, the valve gear is put
into reverse, clean air is sucked in by the pistons
through relief valves. At the same time the engineer
turns on a water jet which plays on the air stream,
the wet air being compressed and blown through
a discharge pipe, culminating in a control valve
and silencer, from which it issues in the form of
steam.

The front axle of each engine also carries a
floating spur-wheel engaging with the rack and
carrying a pair of cast steel drums; this is an
auxiliary brake, and in practice is used only for
switching or in the event of a defect in the Le
Chatelier brake. A third brake is fitted to the

crank discs of the driving shaft, and is of the band
type lined with hardwood blocks. This is a very
powerful brake, and is intended only for holding a
stationary train on the rack. All passenger and
freight cars operating on the incline have one axle
fitted with a floating spur-wheel and drums carry-
ing hand-operated brake gear, each vehicle being
manned by a brakeman whose duty it is to apply
these hand brakes during the descent.

Arriving at the bottom of the incline, rack en-
gines pass through a shed and are watered and
fueled. For a full load on the ascent 25 to 30
briquettes, each weighing about 23 pounds, are
loaded on the engine. Generally, however, this
is not quite enough to reach the summit, 3 or 4
more blocks being broken up and sprinkled over
the fire to give the locomotive sufficient steam for
the final stretch of 19 per cent grade. Fuel con-
sumption averages 95.7 pounds per mile for the
saturated and 88.7 pounds per mile for the super-
heated engines.

Traffic on the incline is very heavy: there are
1 6 scheduled passenger trains daily in the summer
and 13 in the winter, with 14 on Sundays and
holidays in both seasons, and there are always
freight cars waiting movement up and down during
the available intervals. As Petropolis is an ideal
summer resort for Rio business men, many of
whom reside there from the beginning of December
to the end of March, the problem of providing
coaches for the upward evening and downward
morning "commuter" trains is acute. This con-
dition is accentuated on hot summer days when the

(Concluded on page 92)

Photos by courtesy of "Railway Gazette"

Meio da Serra station is quite unpretentious

86

Scouts Trek to Jamboree

Railroads to Carry 30,000 to Washington for Mammoth Demonstration

BETWEEN 25 and 30 thousand Boy Scouts
of America and 24 foreign countries will
gather in Washington, D. C, June 30 for a
ten-day jamboree, the first event of its kind having
been postponed last year due to health conditions
in states near the capital when the site was 95 per
cent complete. At "Jamboree City," built on 350
acres of land on both sides of the Potomac River,
loaned by the federal government, nearly all within
view of the Capital, Washington Monument, and
Lincoln Memorial, the scouts will enjoy a program
of camping, pageantry, sightseeing, sports and na-
tional functions in which the President of the
United States, foreign am-
bassadors and leading nation-
al figures are expected to
participate. The grounds sur-
rounding the Washington
Monument will be available
for demonstrations and mass
gatherings of scouts and a
flood-lighted arena, seating
25,000, will be erected for
afternoon and evening dis-
plays.

Each troop will bring its
own tentage and the jam-
b o r e e will therefore be a
show of camping methods
used throughout America.
The community of boys will
have its own water supply,
eight miles of mains bringing
1,000,000 gallons of water
a day to the site from three
sources in the District of
Columbia and nearby Vir-
ginia. More than 20,000
feet of sewage disposal lines
will remove all shower and
kitchen waste. The city will
be made up of 25 villages of
1,260 persons each. Each
village will have its own
commissary disbursement de-
pot, like a country store; its
own post office and "trading
post"; its own hospital and
medical staff; and a food
depot in a 40 by 80 -foot

Official Jamboree Uniform

tent where trucks will leave the enormous food
supply twice daily.

Communication with the outside world will be
maintained through a 15 -trunk line switchboard
at general headquarters. Eighty lines from this
board will connect with the sectional camps.

Scout reporters, editors, cartoonists, and pho-
tographers will publish a 16 -page, illustrated tab-
loid newspaper with an estimated circulation of
50,000 copies from June 20 to July 9, inclusive.
Actual printing will be done on the presses of a
Washington newspaper. Before sunrise on each of
the eleven days of its life the Jamboree Journal's

circulation staff will distri-
bute it to the 20 sectional
camps as well as to local
hotels where the thousands
of visitors expected will be
housed, while thousands of
additional copies will be
mailed back home. Other
scouts will write their expe-
riences for home town news-
papers.

Nearly all American rail-
roads have agreed to reduce
the fare to one cent a mile
in coaches for scouts and
leaders in parties of ten or
more going to and returning
from Washington.

Highlights of the Jambo-
ree will include the opening
review of the scout troops
on Constitution Avenue by
President Roosevelt and other
national figures, a convoca-
tion at the Washington Mon-
ument on the evening of
July 4, pageants, demonstra-
tions, and the closing camp-
fire on the night of July 8.

W. D. MACBRIDE, Na-
t i o n a 1 Field Executive in
Delaware and Hudson terri-
tory, reports that many scouts
from communities on the
line have made reservations,
railroad travel being favored
for safety and economy.

87

Patrolman Brehm receives $5 Prize

CHIEFS of police of six communities on the
line attended the Fifteenth Annual Inspection
and Review of The Delaware and Hudson
Railroad Police Department, in the Tenth Infantry
Armory, Albany, Friday afternoon, May 7, as
guests of COL. J. T. LOREE, Vice-President and
General Manager. They were: David Smurl, Al-

Inspection Concludes

Marksmanship Awards Presented by (

■

Barre for the inspection, were formed into a provi-
sional battalion of three companies, color guard,
and a special detachment, under the command of

Major Thiessen, with Inspector Joseph P.

ANDRES, as adjutant.

Company "A," acting as an escort company,
stood at attention to receive the inspecting party
which included, in addition to COL. LOREE, H. F.
BURCH, Assistant to General Manager; W. W.
BATES, Assistant to General Manager; CAPT. E. B.
GORE, Executive Secretary to the Vice-President;
and LT. COL. O. J. ROSS, Special Agent, upon its
arrival at the armory at 3:30 P. M. Following a
battalion review, the department was formed into
a column of companies for the detailed inspection
of each man's equipment by COL. LOREE.

mwmmmm

(Below) Safety Agent Stevens marks up scores in riRe and pistol matches

bany; Harold Blodgett, Cobleskill; Mark Robert-
son, Cohoes; Frank N. Horton, Onconta; Clifford
Fleming, Plattsburg; and Maurice J. Kennan, Wa-
tervliet.

The visiting police officials were introduced to
the members of the Delaware and Hudson force
by MAJOR F. A. THIESSEN, Chief, at an informal
luncheon served in the armory mess hall at noon.
Chief Smurl, in a brief talk, complimented the
officers on their appearance and record and assured
them that if at any time his organization could be
of assistance to them in their work they should
feel free to call on him, making the request through
their superiors, except in cases of emergency, when
they should come to him direct.

As in previous years, the men assembled from
their stations between Rouses Point and Wilkes-

88

SA

nn

ualP

once

Meet

lo\. Loree in Presence of Visiting Chiefs

Inspection completed, the companies were formed
along three sides of a hollow square for the presenta-
tion by COL. LOREE of the trophies won in the
Annual Departmental Rifle and Revolver Match,
fired the previous lay on the Rensselaerwyck Range,
Rensselaer, with 56 men participating. The match
includes three stages of fire with the revolver, all
fired at 25 yards: 10 shots slow fire, one minute
per shot; 10 shots timed fire, 20 seconds per
string of 5 ; and 1 shots rapid fire, 1 seconds for
five rounds. With the rifle, each competitor fired
20 shots, all at 200 yards, 5 prone, slow fire (one
minute per shot) ; 5 sitting or kneeling, slow fire;
5 standing, slow fire; and standing to prone with
one minute in which to fire five rounds.

\

Mr. Butch and Patrolman Hall revive
Kentucky memories

The trophy, the Taber-Loree-Collins Silver Sup,
was won by PATROLMAN LUTHER B. PENNING-
TON, of Albany, who scored 266 out of a possible
300 with the revolver and 87 out of 100 with the
rifle, for a total of 353. Second prize, a pair of

handcuffs, awarded to the high man in Class "B,
those firing more than 276 and less than 310, went

to Patrolman Amelio J. Farone, of Oneonta,

who shot 307. The Class "C" award, $5.00 in
cash, for shooters firing over 230 and under 270,
was won by PATROLMAN ROBERT BREHM, Sara-
toga Springs.

Five men finished with totals higher than the
winning scoore, although they were ineligible for
the cup because they had won it before. They
were: JAMES H. OVERBAUGH 375, J. R. HER-
RON 374, R. L. ADRIANCE 373, H. J. RUSS 372,
and B. R. MASKO 362.

The match was fired under the direction of
MAJOR THIESSEN, with INSPECTOR ANDRES as
range officer, and Captain Joseph Forgett, of the
105th Infantry, as judge.

(Continued on page 93)

89

Vh

Delaware and Hudson Railroad

CORPORATION

BULLETIN

Office of Publication :
DELAWARE AND HUDSON BUILDING,

ALBANY, N. Y.

PUBLISHED MONTHLY by The Delaware and Hudson
Railroad Corporation, for the information of the men who
operate the railroad, in the belief that mutual under-
standing of the problems we all have to meet will help us to
solve them for our mutual welfare.

All communications should be addressed to the Super-
visor of Publications, Delaware and Hudson Building,
Albany, N. Y.

Vol. 17

June 1, 1937

No. 6

Freight Rates and H. C L.

EVERY now and then you run across the chap
who solemnly assures you that high freight
rates are responsible for the high cost of
living. He probably is sincere but poorly informed,
which is a polite way of saying that he doesn't
know what he's talking about. In the course
of an article published in Successful Farming the
author quotes some interesting facts concerning the
relation of freight charges to the prices paid the
butcher or grocer.

The freight on a 2 00 -pound hog shipped from
Danville, Illinois, to Chicago, for example, is 45
cents. The freight on dressed pork is about 1/3
cent a pound. Remember that when you get your
next pork chops.

For 21 cents 20 dozen eggs are carried from
South Bend, Indiana, to New York City as part
of a refrigerator car load. Only 12 cents ships a
bushel of apples from Tunnel Hill, Illinois, to
Chicago, in a rail carload shipment. From Bloom-
ington, Illinois, butter is sent to New York City
in car lots at a charge of % cent a pound. It
costs 13^2 cents a bushel to transport wheat in
minimum carloads by rail from Chicago to New
York, the freight on wheat enough for a loaf of
bread thus amounting to less than half a cent.
In none of these cases is the freight charge sufficient
to materially affect the price to the consumer.

In addition, when considering the matter of cost
of service of this sort, it must be remembered that,
unlike any other form of transportation today, the
railroads maintain and police their own rights of
way and pay taxes for doing it. Other carriers
demand the expenditure of your money and mine

to provide and maintain rights of way and expensive
structures, whether bridges, highways, canals, locks,
or what not, so that they may conduct a business
for their own personal or corporate profit, mean-
while resisting every effort to compel them to pay,

at least in part, for the facilities provided for
their use.

You Pay

TELEPHONE rates are to be reduced 75 cents
a month!" Wouldn't that be good news
if you were to read it in your local paper?
It certainly would be a big reduction on a percentage
basis or any other way you figure it. Yet, accord-
ing to a statement made by the president of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company, that
is just the amount per telephone that the Bell
System paid to Federal, State and Local Govern-
ments in taxes last year.

We quote this to bring home to you the effect
on you as an individual of the "unseen" taxes you
read about so often. When you have to pay higher
prices for bread and butter, coal, rent or clothing,
don't blame the merchant with whom you are
dealing. Taxes are now responsible for much of
the increase. In the case of the telephone they were
but $5.60 per instrument for 1929. Last year
they had been increased to $9.00 and each year
grows worse.

Federal and State legislators wrack their brains
to discover new ways of taxing the rest of us so
that they may have available ever increasing amounts
of "government money" with which to dazzle the
local yokel, meaning you and me!

Of course we aren't advocating that the telephone
company pay no taxes. Under our form of gov-
ernment we must all share the cost. This case is
cited only to awaken a realization of the relation
of taxes to the price which the "ultimate consumer,"
as we are sometimes called, pays for the necessities
and ordinary conveniences of life.

An Opportunity

ABOVE and through the noises of the
busy city streets sounded a staccato Tap!
Tap! Tap! Tap! which arrested our
attention and we turned to see a blind man feeling
his way along the sidewalk toward the corner
which we were approaching. We were several paces
ahead of him but slowed up with the idea of
helping him across the street, Before he reached
the corner the tapping of his cane attracted the
attention of other ears. A uniformed chauffeur
stepped quickly from a waiting limousine, took

J

90

the blind man's arm, and escorted him across the
street.

As we mused on the fact that such kindly acts
help mightily to restore your faith in human
nature in times like these, it occurred to us that
this was but a single instance of the thousands of
ways that the blind can be helped by those of us
who are blest with sight. Not only the physically
blind but those whose mental make-up is such
that they cannot see things in their true light,
who think that the world is wrong and everyone
else is against them.

If you could help a blind man over a street
crossing every morning on your way to work you
would feel that, in the language of the Boy Scouts,
you had "done your good turn for the day."
Perhaps if you keep your eyes and ears open you
will find that you can be helpful to someone with
whom you come in contact each day, and, better
yet, you may suddenly discover that someone has
•done the same for you — all in the day's work.
It doesn't involve your becoming a revivalist or a
"Citizen Fix-it" — merely a helping hand, quickly
offered, a cheering word or a pat on the back.
The chief requirement is alertness to the needs and
problems of those around us instead of a self-cen-
tered existence.

Signs of the Times

E hear of a road-sign painter who has a
knack of applying psychology to his art.
Here are a few brilliant examples he offered

a railroad company. Instead of the usual crossing

signs, he suggested:

Come Ahead. You're Unimportant. Don't
stop! Nobody will miss you. Take a Chance.
You can get hit with a train only once. Try our
Engines. They Satisfy.

The company graciously declined for reasons un-
known or unmentioned.

This puts us in mind of the traffic sign in a
small village. It reads: "Slow. No Hospital.' "
Concise, logical and effective, we calls it. — Via
Post.

Gas House

•

A small boy was being shown the Houses of
Parliament by his uncle, who was a member. The
boy asked a number of questions and elicited the
fact that members were paid their salaries in ad-
vance.

"I see," he remarked intelligently, "it's like put-
ting a quarter in the meter before you get any
gas."

Poisonous Plants

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Water Hemlock resembles the Wild
Carrot and Parsnip

ATER hemlock, one of the most poisonous
of wild plants in the United States, prob-
ably has destroyed more human lives than
all of our other toxic flowering plants combined.
In springtime when children are ready to eat any
succulent green that tempts them in their rambles
over the countryside, the water hemlock (Cicuta
maculata L.) is not only most alluring but, it is
generally believed, most deadly.

Resembling closely its esteemed brethern, the car-
rot and parsnip, this black sheep of the parsley
family lurks in swampy land throughout the eastern
part of the country and is found to some extent
as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Multi-
branched and tall, with lacy white flowers and
dissected leaves, the whole plant is permeated with
a fragrant oil that is most abundant in the spindle-
shaped roots clustered at the base of the stem. It
is these roots which are chiefly responsible for
poisoning of human beings.

The symptoms of hemlock poisoning are many,
including violent contraction of muscles, dilated
pupils, vomiting and diarrhea. Cases of suspected
poisoning, from whatever source, should always be
placed in the hands of a skilled physician. Never

91

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is medical care more urgently needed than when
the cicuta is the cause of the illness.

Water hemlock travels under a number of aliases,
the most common being "cowbane," "snakeroot,"
spotted hemlock," "spotted parsley," "snakeweed,"
beaver poison," "musquash root" and "muskrat
weed." It has a retinue of lawless wild plant
followers that should be shunned by everyone, par-
ticularly children.

There is the poison hemlock (Conium macula-
turn) which may be distinguished from the water
hemlock by its very large, much compounded leaves
and the fact that it prefers fairly dry ground in the
neighborhood of towns while cicuta grows in wet
places.

Many fatal cases of poisoning have been traced
to the wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.), a tall
coarse-leaved plant of the same species as that under
cultivation, which grows wild in waste places quite
generally.

The potato family has several outlaw members,
notably the thorn apples (Datura stramonium L.
and Datura tatula L.) both stout, large-leaved, ill-
smelling plants, producing enormous trumpet-like
flowers and fruits bearing many dark seeds. The
victims of the thorn apples are usually children
who are poisoned by eating the pleasant-tasting
seeds in the green capsules or by chewing the great
blossoms.

Equally dangerous are the enticing black night-
shade with its clusters of white flowers followed
by black, round berries, and its close relative, the
bitter sweet, a climbing plant with large clusters
of red berries. The latter should not be confused
with the woody bine, often called "bittersweet,"
with attractive orange red fruit, commonly used as
a winter decoration. The fruits of the buckthorn,
poke, baneberry, English ivy and daphne are also
to be avoided.

From this imposing but only partial array of
man's plant enemies, it is plain that everyone should
refrain from eating wild plants, no matter how
pleasing to the eye, unless they are known to be
harmless. Education of school children and others
with respect to the identification of these plants
and their posionous properties is of the greatest
importance. Finally, in cases of poisoning, a skilled
physician should be called at once. The delay of
an hour may mean death. — Health News.

Deduction

Prosecutor: "Now, tell the court how you
came to steal the car."

Red: "Well the machine was standing in front
of the cemetery and I just naturally thought the
owner was dead."

Petropolis Incline

(Continued from page 86)

inhabitants of Rio seek the cool of the hills for a
few hours.

Most of the Rio-Petropolis trains are scheduled
to make the 3 6-mile downward run in 1 hour 35
minutes and the upward trip in 1 hour 40 minutes.
Of this total, 25 to 3 minutes are taken up in
the descent or ascent of the incline, apart from the
time required for breaking up and assembling the
trains at each end.

Despite the increasing use of automobiles and a
new concrete highway from Rio to Petropolis, pas-
senger traffic has not been seriously affected: the
line carried 735,600 passengers in 1934 against
860,800 in 1929, the decrease being at least parti-
ally accounted for by unfavorable business condi-
tions generally.

Officials believe that the line's continued pros-
perity is due to a number of things: First of all,
the coaches are very comfortable for, despite the
narrowness of the gauge, they are 8 feet 6 inches
wide over all, seating 40 first class passengers in
well sprung reversible chairs, placed in 10 rows of
2 on either side of a center aisle. Furthermore,
the fare is only 30 cents for the one-way, 3 6-mile
trip, with correspondingly cheap season ticket rates.
Added to these features is the interest in the incline
itself as well as the grandeur of the view of the
flat country beneath, with Rio and its famous
bay in the far distance, a sight which has few
equals anywhere in the world.

Yet there is a serpent in this railroad "Garden of
Eden"! President Vargas of Brazil recently signed
a decree granting a 90-year concession for the con-
struction of an overhead electric transport line
between Rio and Petropolis, the 2 2 -mile "as the
crow flies" line of which will cost, it is estimated,
about $15,000,000. What its eventual effect on
the rack road will be can be guessed, though lovers
of the "iron horse" will probably remain faithful
to the older road for many years to come.

92

Police Inspection

(Continued from page 89)

Col. Loree presents Taber -Lor ee -Collins Cup
to Patrolman Pennington

COL. LOREE, in his remarks at the conclusion
of the inspection, praised the work of the depart-
ment, stating that, due in a large measure to their
activities, freight robbery losses on the Delaware
and Hudson have been reduced in recent years from
$50,000 to $1,700. Despite the trying times we
have been passing through, the officers have made
a record to be envied by any police department.

The ceremonies were concluded with a battalion
parade, at which time it was announced that Com-
pany "C" had been adjudged to have made the best
appearance, maintained greatest steadiness of ranks,
and displayed the best marching ability, and the
blue silk pennant signifying this fact will remain
on that unit's guidon staff for another year.
Incidentally, Company "C" has now won this
honor at six of the ten annual inspections since
it was first awarded in 1928. Company "A" has
been adjudged the winner three times, and Company
"B" once.

The officers of the units were: Company "A,"

Captain James Fox, Oneonta; Lieutenant

S. N. PlERSON, Carbondale;lST SERGEANT T. J.
DEAN, Rouses Point; RIGHT GUIDE J. R. HER-
RON, Schenectady; LEFT GUIDE J. C. STONE
Plattsburg; and GUIDON BEARER B. R. MASKO,
Albany; Company "B," CAPTAIN N. R. HENTZ,
Scranton; LIEUTENANT E. V. BROWN, Albany;

1st Sergeant J. A. Burnett, Schenectady;
Right Guide R. M. Parkin, Wilkes-Barre; Left

GUIDE C. N. GAILOR, Carbondale; GUIDON BEAR-
ER A. J. FARRON, Albany; Company "C," CAP-
TAIN H. W. HOOGHKERK, Whitehall; LIEUTEN-
ANT C. W. BENTLEY, Albany; 1ST SERGEANT
E. T. CARROL, Mechanicville ; RIGHT GUIDE R.
A. DONOVAN, Green Island; LEFT GUIDE D. D.
BROWN, Oneonta; GUIDON BEARER J. P. FLEM-
ING, Green Island; Color squad, BEARER G. P.
JAUSS, Albany; GUARDS A. H. SURPRISE, Schen-
ectady; and H. JENSEN, Albany; and the Special
Detachment LIEUTENANT T. J. CARRICK, Albany.
Music for the maneuvers was furnished by the
La Salle School Band of Albany.

ution

Pertinent thought from a recent issue of Readers'
Digest:

Kansas cities have materially reduced the costs of
government since the state passed its Cash Basis
law, which provides that no municipal purchase
orders may be issued or contracts awarded until
cash is actually on hand to meet the obligations.
Another deterrent to their reckless spending is the
Kansas budget law, under which school districts,
county and township boards, and other political
units must draw up an expense account, advertise
in the newspapers what they propose spending, and
give the taxpayers a chance to be heard on the
subject. If 20 per cent of the taxpayers object to
the expense account, they can kick it into the
wastebasket.

On the Range

93

ft

Midnight Special

JAMES H. Stewart, New York World-Telegram
staff writer, in a recent series of articles cap-
tioned "Knights of the Line" relates some
interesting information concerning interstate truck
operations. Mr. Stewart compiled his material by
virtue of riding as a passenger on "The Midnight
Special/' "40,000 pounds of speeding steel," that
runs between New York and Boston.

In his ride from New York to Boston the re-
porter learned, among other things, that truck
drivers on these carriers cannot get life insurance,
their work is considered too dangerous. Another
item of concern to motorists is that the operator
cannot hear anything in his cab except the roar of
his motor.

Going around a bend the driver turned to his
passenger and said: "See that field there, * * * I
was rolling around this curve one night. The
road was caked with ice. I felt my trailer shimmy
— that means skid. I cut my truck to bring her
out of the skid and ploughed right into that field.
Yep, there used to be a barn there. I tore it down
that night."

At one point en route an approaching truck was
forced to one side of the road by the Boston-bound
vehicle. This action stimulated a flow of profanity
from the lips of the offended driver. Whereupon
the "pusher" of "The Midnight Special" explained
to Mr. Stewart, "He's a gypsy. That guy had a
Missouri license. He probably hasn't been in Mis-
souri in six months. Gypsies keep going all the
time, they are just like tramp steamers. A fellow

buys a donkey and a trailer, hires two drivers and
registers it in a mid-western or southern state.
Then the truck goes around grabbing business where
it can. Some of those drivers don't get home for
six months. They live in their trucks. Gypsy
trucks are equipped with a small bunk into which
one driver crawls for a few hours' sleep while his
partner takes over. The bunk is just aft of the
cab. Only a truck driver or a seaman could sleep
in that hole, but those fellows can sleep stand-
ing up."

In answer to the question of the injury done to
the highways by trucks, he said, "Sure they do.
How could 40,000 pounds pound this road with-
out hurting it?"

The reason why drivers always stop at the same
diners along the road was explained as follows:
"Because those guys in the diners are our pals, they
have pull in the neighborhood. If we get a ticket
from the law the eating-joint owners help us out."
Pointing to a State Scale at the roadside the truck
driver proceeded to explain how the trucks evade
State authorities on the nights the scales are open.
"There are ways of dodging the scales. Drivers
have pals along the highways. So when the scales
are open and the police are patrolling the roads,
the pals will show a signal — maybe a red lantern,
maybe a towel on the farmer's front porch. The
telegraph system among truck drivers also helps.
A truck that has been weighed might fly a signal
for his comrades, or drivers simply leave word at a
diner that "the law" is on the job and within a few
hours every driver on the road knows the news."

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dMKOlt

_ LOOD waters recently endangered the lives of
hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Urgent
relief and rescue work were necessary — and lots of it!
Mobilizing swiftly, the railroads rushed hundreds of
trainloads of food, medical supplies and pure water
into the stricken area — and more than 200,000 men,
women and children were carried to safety over the
steel rails.

W HEN emergency comes — blizzard, flood,.storm
or drought — the railroads are called orr first te help.
And they have never failed to answer!

94

Clicks from the

ails

i

" Soda Ash" Johnnie

Horan, so named because he first
used a soda solution in washing
locomotive boilers, began his
84th year with the Milwaukee
Railroad April 19th. Born 99
years ago, in 183 8, Horan went
to work for the railroad in
1853, piling wood at a locomo-
tive fueling point, later making
candles for use in the coaches of
that time. For years he has been
superintendent of boiler wash-
ing operations. He jokingly re-
marks that he would retire but
for the fact that his boy needs
someone to look after him — the
boy, William, at 68, has 30
years' service with the Milwau-
kee.

+

Trousers Are Lost

at the rate of a pair every other
day on Belgian Railway trains,
while a woman leaves a dress
behind every ten days, according
to a recently published "lost
property list." The statement
includes some 2,000 items of
clothing, mostly scarves, gloves,
slippers, raincoats and hats.
Officials also found a gun, a
pistol, two bayonets, a packet
of cartridges, and two war
medals.

*

A Stolen Ride

for her dog so pricked the con-
science of a British woman that
after 20 years she confessed the
wrong to the station master at
Grimsby, says The Railway Ga-
zette. She explained that in
1917 she took a dog by train
from Sutton-on-Sea to Grimsby
without paying its fare. To
"ease her conscience" the station
master issued a dog ticket for
3 1 cents.

*

Horse Power is Used

in the operation of 15 of Jap-
an's 135 street railway systems,
the horse-operated lines totaling
93 miles in length. There are
also six, with 21 miles of line,
which have vehicles drawn by
human power.

The Cheltenham Flyer,

crack Great Western Railways
(England) express, hauled by
the four-cylinder 4-6-0 type lo-
comotive Lydotf Castle, recently
averaged an even 90 miles per
hour for 1 8 miles, covering the
distance between Uffington and
Cholsey in exactly 12 minutes.
Station to station timings be-
tween these two points were
91.7, 92.5, 91.1, 90.7, and
88.8 miles per hour. This re-
markable run was made with
seven coaches despite most
unfavorable weather conditions.
For the balance of the trip be-
tween-station speeds varied be-
tween 76 and 85 miles per hour
until the train neared London
when it was necessary to slow
down to avoid early arrival.
The time for the entire 77.3-
mile trip was 61 minutes 49
seconds, an average of just over
75 miles per hour.

+

Streamlining Six Locomotives

for fast international service is
now being done in the shops of
the Netherland Railways. A
short time ago mention was
made in The Bulletin of the
slow progress of through trains
in that country, in contrast to
their speed through Belgium,
behind the most powerful loco-
motives in European passenger
service, as well as through
France. Evidently the Nether-
landers are not ready to put all
their eggs in the Diesel basket
to which they have almost en-
tirely trusted their locals.

*

Manhattan's Paul Revere,

sometimes called the Eleventh
Avenue cowboy, will be out of
work June 28. For years he
has jogged along on a horse
ahead of trains running on the
tracks on the west side of town
to protect pedestrians and vehi-
c 1 e s at street crossings. All
street surface tracks will be elimi-
nated with the completion of a
25 -block cut and the "cowboy"
will have to find other duties.

A D. & H. Freight Crew

was credited with saving the life
of Timothy Kelley, 44, when
they discovered a fire at 2 A. M.
in the old grocery building in
Lock Street, Fort Edward, where
Kelley had made his home for
some time. Noticing the blaze,
they found his bed on fire, and
Kelley suffering from third de-
gree burns to his right arm.
The railroaders turned in an
alarm and the fire, which appar-
e n 1 1 y had been started by a
cigarette stub, was quickly ex-
tinguished.

*

British Phraseology

crept into the headlines of The
New York Times recently,
though not in its purest form.
The headline writer, too cramp-
ed for space to say "46,439
Freight Cars On Way," resorted
to the English terminology only
to find that "Goods Wagons"
would be no better for his pur-
poses. The happy (?) com-
bination of the two produced
"Goods Cars," with a saving of
two characters, thus providing a
headline of exactly the length
desired.

A Remarkable Coincidence

is reported in a recent issue of
the London, Midland & Scottish
Magazine. A checker who had
been sent to unload two freight
cars discovered them standing
together, the number of one be-
ing L. M. S. 48482 and the
other S. R. 48482. Both cars
had been loaded and shipped
from Warrington on the same
day and arrived at H a y d o n
Square at the same time.

120-Foot Rails,

reported to be the longest ever
produced in one piece, have been
rolled for the tracks of the Lon-
don and North Eastern Railway,
England, in an effort to do away
with as many joints as possible
on the route of the 90-mile-an-
hour Silver Jubilee.

95

s

uccess

A MAN is successful when he refuses
^~\ to slander even his enemies; when
he does not expect to get good pay
for his services; when he does not wait
until tomorrow to do the things that he
might do today; when he is loyal to his
employer, and not false to the ones with
whom he works; when he intelligently
co-operates with the other members of the
organization; when he is studying and
preparing himself for a higher position
with better pay. — THE SILENT PARTNER.

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