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Wiv uupui UI nniu ill iur UUllCI9 allU VVlltHIltirit may require feeding.Proper attention to the feeding of the boiler is the first and most important duty of the engine man. It is a duty the neglect of which he knows must be invariably followed by an explosion, from the effects of which others engaged on the train may by possibility escape, but which must cost him his life. It is therefore a duty almost never neglected even by the worst engineers. The engine man examines, from time to time, the condition ol the boiler by the guage cocks, and opens the feed pumps, so as to keep the level of the water to a proper height. There are particular occasions on which it is an invariable rule to fill the boiler. On approaching any chief station, where some delay is anticipated, the engine man ceases to supply fuel to the furnace, opens the fire door to check the combustion, and puts on the feed. By these means he arrives with a full boiler and low fire; the evaporation is suspended during the delay, and he starts again with a full boiler, the fire being restored to its activity before starting. But if the evapoiation while he stands should boil down the water, he ascertains this by the guage cocks, detaches the engine, and tender from the train, and runs for a short distance along the road, with the feed pumps on, so as to fill the boiler. Also, on approaching an ascending grade where, by reason of the increased resistance, a full power of steam becomes necessary, it is the custom to fill the boiler well just before coming to the foot of the grade, so that in ascending the pumps may be shut off, and the unimpeded evaporation used during the ascent. These are rules well understood by engine men, and which it may safely he assumed are never neglected by men of good character and tried habits.By the evidence of all the witnesses connected withthe Reading railway, Joseph Ward was one of thevery best ancl most trustworthy engine men on the line. He was five years in the service of the company, and lor the five preceding years was engaged by the Baltimore and Ohio and other companies, with all of w hom he had the best character. Mr Kirk, the foreman of the company at Reading, and Mr Simpson, the master machinist at Richmond, both declare that they did not believe it possible that Ward could have neglected the feed pumps. It is also proved that his habits were sober in general, and that he was quite sober on the occasion in question.But besides this general evidence, we have special proof. Powell, one of the brakesmen, saw Ward, before arriving at Reading, frequently try the gage cocks, and “saw that the boiler was well filled with water, and has no doubt that it was well filled with water on arriving at Reading—(see evidence.) Cowden, the brakesman, “walked past the engine just before starting Ironi Reading, and saw Ward try the gage cocks, and saw water coming from them.” It is clear, therefore, that on starting from Reading tlie boiler was full. The explosion took place at the foot of a grade ascending at the rate of fifteen feet a mile. Ward would, therefore, as a matter of course, keep his boiler filled until his arrival at that point, as it would be necessarywhile ascending the grade to cut off the feed. All these circumstances and proofs can leave no reasonable doubt that at the moment of the explosion the boiler was well filled with water.But it may perhaps be said that although the Damns
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Boston Post
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Tue, Oct 08, 1844
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GB 10 May 2019
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