Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1917 — Wrecks Pay Interest on Railroad Debt [ARTICLE]

Wrecks Pay Interest on Railroad Debt

“Whee! Some wreck! Say, pop, how did the camera man happen to be there when the train jumped the track?’-’— ——— When father’s boy asked that at the picture show dad “stalled.” To be sure he did. How could a hard-working father be expected to answer the whys and wherefores of the movie business? Didn’t he furnish the nickel? And wasn’t the wreck good enough? "Ennyhow,” said ma, “the picture man is always there;” ' —- —* "•— ‘ - “Nix 1 I saw a coal truck hit a garbage wagon t’other day," said boy, “an’ there wa’n’t no camera man around. Peach of a picture, too.” But the “picture man’’ gets the w’recks, all right; he buys ’em. “Ready-made wrecks, gen’lemen I Head-ons, rear-ends and track-jumping. First mountain to the left —step lively!” And so gather round the printer man while he spins a yarn as to" how the camera man, like Snapshot Bill, is always hard by when the train is wrecked, to-wit: __xl—’Under the heading of “Wrecks and Automobile Smash-Ups” the Income account of the Wharton and Northern Railroad shows that the company adds about $30,000 to its yearly earnings. This sum is more than equal to the interest on the road’s outstanding bonded indebtedness. While other railroads in the country look upon a wreck or smash-up of any kind as a direct cause of financial loss, to say nothing of the expense of endless litigation and the loss of patronage, the Wharton and Northern makes an entry on the credit side of the ledger every time it sends an engine crashing into an automobile or a train of " cars tumbling down the hillside. The road extends from Wharton to Green Point ’ Junction, in Morris county, New Jersey, a distance - of about twenty-two miles. It forms a link be- <■ tween the Erie and Lackawanna lines. It travft rugged section of the* state of New Jersey, through what is known as the Copperas mountains, a continuation ,of the Appalachian range. The hills are grand masses of grafiite, veined with magnetic Iron - ore. Historically, this section of the country is Interesting, for it was there that much of the Iron used in making firearms and munitions during the War of" the Revolution wa-r smelted and forged. Plowshares and other Implements employed- In peaceful pursuits were also produced. AH of this property at one time belonged to Queen Charlotte ,of England and comprised what was known as the Charlotte grant. The Wharton Steel company of Philadelphia, which- now owns some five thousand acres, is the owner of the Wharton and Northern railroad. the steel Industry was at low ebb, a few .MWhrs ago, the road’s earnings slumped badly, and Mr. P. E. Stryker, the general*superintendent, be-

gan to figure out how the income of the road could be increased. About the same time the directors —of. a film company , were looking, around to find a railroad that would be willing to stage “wrecks” and other thrills which necessitated the smashing up of engines, cars? automobiles and other prop--erty.-- —: —■—— “Strykertold the directors of the film company that hecould supply their wants. He’explained that his road was ideally situated to stage such horrors, as there were plenty of curves-in the roadbed and enough high embankments and steep mountain sides to furnish the proper scenic background. Likewise, he could readily furnish the cars and engines and, what was equally necessary, the engine drivers and trainmen with the intelligence and technical skill to handle just such work. Mr. Stryker received a commission to stage a wreck, and ever since the Wharton and Northern road has engaged in the peculiar business of producing wrecks and smash-ups to order. The staging of a collision or accident is a big undertaking, and it requires some time-to arrange all the details. The director of the film company first goes over the road until he finds the point at which the background, scenery and other physical features conform to his idea of the proper setting of the scenario. This may call for a high embankment or a trestle, or it may be necessary to have .a" river below, so when the cars jump the track they will pile up on end in the stream, or it may be that a smash-up in w : hich the cars roll down an embankment and catch fire is wanted. After the director of the film company decides what kind of a smash-up he wants and where he wants it to take place, Mr. Stryker sets about to procure the engine, “cars and other accessories. On one occasion the director of one film company desired to picture a forest fire in a section of the country traversed by a railroad, in order to show a rescue scene in which people residing lu the burning area would be saved by the quick Action and heroism of a train crew. Along the right of way of the Wharton and Northern was a strip of country about half a mile in length and extending back about a quarter of a mile from each side’-of the track. It was covered by a considerable growth of underbrush, scrub trees and other inflammable material which for a long time had been a menace not only to property belonging to the railroad but to the surrounding timber lands and dwellings. /fter the property owners had given their permission and a fire patrol to guard against a spread of the fire had been the film company placed its cameras, and got the desired picture of a train rushing through a forest fire, making the rescues.—New York Herald. A Baltimore man has acted as best man at the weddings of forty of his friends and yet escaped matrimony himself. ; ; ■ ■ ......