Show MU ST q BE CAREFUL MAN DUTIES IMPORTANT PART OF TRAIN SERVICE supposed 0 sed to protect his hl train against R rear ar end collis collisions ions Is often to blame tor for serious wrecks tho the duties of flag flagman nion have not been standardized that iq to say bay rules governing them nare anro not tho the same on nil all roads A fla flagman ginan Is supposed F to be a careful man t the 0 best brakeman brako inan indeed on tho the train I 1 have known cases however where green hands were given the job theoretically and actually on some lines a flagman Is in only required to protect hla his train against rear end collisions on tho the other roads flag men are also brakemen bra keinen when a train stops it if the stop Is not 0 of the schod lilo kilo of that particular train the figman Is required to go back a sufficient chent distance and with a lantern by bight and a flag hv by day together with torpedoes or fuses signal any other train that la Is going tho the same name way and on the same earno way the words a sufficient tent distance permit the flagman to use his own judgment and the phrase Is found in the rules of a grat many railroads big ones onea as well as aa little ones there are arc roads however which direct that a flagman dagman shall go back to the afif fifteenth h or twenty fourth telegraph polo from ae the last ast ca car of hla his train whether hether ly lie he goes a sufficient distance inhar in hla opinion tod or for a specified distance measured meas urea by poles he is to stop any train that jeopardizes his own when his train la Is ready to move tho the engineer signals him in with a whistle and then ten he be sprints over the ties as fast as he can leaving it Is supposed one or two torpedoes on the rails inbi behind the flagman the engineer and the conductor conduct oi are in a hurry time is so precious prec loup with them that every fraction of a minute counts the farther the flagman walks away avay from his train farther he ha will have to run when ho he returns ile he Is a human being like thereat the rest of us maybe the sun Is pretty hot perhaps it Is a cold or rainy and a sufficient clent distance alvea him latitude lu a matter of life and death I 1 many a flagman has baa wrecked a train the flagman of the overland express on the chicago burlington QUI quincy ney railroad was to blamo blame primarily for the accident at western 1 springs ill on the 14 th of last july the train was stopped by signal early during the morning in a fog it was being followed by tho the ra fa mall mail the trains so our investigation showed were about nine minutes apart apara the flagman at the official hear hearing trig of the case eald that ho went w ent back as far as he could and that he ha ran part of the way ile he put down two tio torpedoes 1200 feet from the rear end of h la own train iraln on his way back the last fast mail passed him at fifty miles an hour and a moment later rati ran into tho the overland express which had not begun to move killing 11 pa gera and two employed emp loyes and injuring 26 gers gera and two employed emp loyes tho the trains remember 0 had bad been about nine minutes apart in a test after the accident it was aa found that a flagman fla gihan at a brisk walk could c have gone back 2227 feet in six alx minutes it was learned also that the flagman of the overland express put pui two torpedoes on the rail which was simply a cautionary signal whereas he should have used tined but one torpedo which would haie bae been a signal tor for the fast mail train to stop |