" The Battered Boy "
The day Island Job had the two S. brothers working on it together and they were not averse to having a drink.
They used to pull the roughs out and cut out on the lead by the Yard Office, and we the afternoon job had to pull them up to the graveyard and leave then there, for someone to come and take them to the North side to be switched out, and then we returned to the Island.
Before taking the pull to the Graveyard, I was checking the cut for hand brakes, when I heard a sound from inside a car.
I called my mate not knowing what I was going to run into, and we opened the car gingerly expecting something or, someone to come bounding out, but it was one of the S. brothers as drunk as a skunk.
The day crew must have thrown him in there to keep him safe, and out of the way and forgotten about him.
He was all covered in flour, the previous contents of the car and we couldn't recognize him at first.
We called a cab to have him taken home, but the cabbie wouldn't take him in that condition, so we had to flush him with buckets of water, and let him dry before we could call the next cab and get rid of him.
Danny L.
1 comment:
Rule G was well known amongst railroad men as the rule that forbid the use of alcohol while on duty. It was also probably one of the most ignored rules in the book. On payday there was always someone around who was drunk, and usually more than one. Paycheques weren't handed out until after 3:00 p.m. on payday, and in those days the banks were all closed, and a cheque couldn't be cashed until the next day. You could tell the Company where you wanted your cheque sent for pickup, and many men got their cheque at the freight shed on Front Street. Fortunately, just across the street was the Barclay Hotel, and they were willing to cash your cheque if you let them keep the loose change part. For instance if your cheque was for $181.35, you got $181 and they kept the 35 cents.
So here was the scenario on payday. There would be a big lineup of men stretching from the freight shed out onto Front Street as everyone tried to get their cheque. Then there'd be a big lineup at the Barclay stretching out onto Front St. as everyone tried to cash their cheque. And of course, once it was cashed everyone had to go in and have a few beer. It was a good deal for the Barclay Hotel all the way around.
But the one day that stands out in my mind at Bathurst St. was the afternoon that the Parkdale job pulled into the Northside with a cut, and the foreman was telling the yardmaster in the tower what he had on his train via the talk back speakers. He rhymed off his list of cars and finished by saying "....and a car to be turned and taken back to Barber-Greene." The yardmaster said "A car for where?" The foreman repeated it. Again the yardmaster asked, "A car for where?'. The helper, Fergie was sitting on the bench outside the Northside shanty with his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette, and drunk as a skunk. When the yardmaster asked the foreman to repeat it a third time, Fergie pipes up and yells into the speaker, " A car for Barber-Greene you stupid bastard." If you remember, those speakers were very loud and this one was almost directly under Bathurst St. bridge. Up on the bridge was a little old lady just about to get on a streetcar when the yardmaster yells to Fergie over the speaker; "Why don't you take a long suck on this, Fergie." Well, the poor old lady's mouth dropped open and I thought she was going to fall off the bridge.
When those guys got tanked up, it was quite an education for a young checker.
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