The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-08-21
MY MURDER.
BY AN OPERATOR.

SpOnSlDllltlJ Dub IL 10 SSluOnl, IL cNci ,
recognized, unless one of our number
by carelessness suddenly plunges a
train into destruction by failing to de-
liver or understand orders.
The time of which | write was one
pleasant afternoon in early autumn,
the 22nd day of September, 1875,
and as the occurrence has made a deep
aad vivid impression on my mind, |
cannot forget the day, which was
Friday
At that time / had been an agent
and operator on the -- railroad a
little over two months. The line was
directly through parts of Indiana and
Illinois, and some of the stations had
no telegraph office, consequently the
order distance was somewhat lengthy,
and there was but one office between
mine and Cowans, twelve miles west.
On this day was quietly putting
my meerschaum in the large bay win
dow of my office, and wishing for
something to relieve the monotony,
when the operator at Cowans called
the train dispatcher and said an ell
CINE had sprung her throttle with one
hundred and forty pounds of steam,
and gone east, while the fireman had
gone to lunch, and the engineer, who
was oiling around, had no time to get
on.
All was still as death for Il minute,
when the dispatcher began to call
C., the only office between mine
and Cowans; for fully five minutes he
called him, using the signal "23," )"
which means death, but still no an
swer, and still the monotOnous click
Of the armature; presently he answer
ed in dazed, hurried manner, and
when asked about the engine, said it
had passed there at fearful rate of
speed at fourteen minutes past four,
with no person visible.
1t was only six miles more to me,
and an excursion was on its way west
with heavy load Of tired picnickers,
and had actually left Il station only
eight miles east of me, the first tele-
graph office, at two minutes past four.
The dispatcher called me furiously,
and being at hand ard expectant, |
answered him Immediately. When
he Lsaid: "Tprn your switch, and
wreck engine No. II, going east,
Wild" l replied quickly: Il cannot
without an indemnity order" and af-
ter hasty consultation with the su-
perintendent, as / afterwards learned,
he went ahead with an order, whose
unusual form and wording reused
many a lazy 'brass sounder" from a
doze. 1t was like this:
TO OPERAToR-Wreck wild engine
No II at your eastern switch to save
collision. Company will defend and
uphold you. ID. Il. b.
| Immediately returned my "13" or
understanding" and received my
"correct at 4:IS p. M" and turned to
look for the engine, when, although
the conversation between myself and
the dispatcher had consumed only
four minutes. saw her coming at the
grandest rate of speed ever witness
ed, and snatching my order | ran to
the switch gate, about one hundred |
and fifty feet, and when | had un-
locked and thrown the rail, the roar
ing monster was only about one huns
dred feet away. | had my watch in
my hand, and stepped quickly back
out of harms way, when exactly at
twenty minutes past four she went
over, and such an unearthly crash
hope may never see or hear again
The dirt and stones flew fifty feet
in the air, the engine turned clear
over and stopped on her side, pushing
a splinter of the cab on the whistle |
valve, and there she lay seething,
Kissing mass of rubbish.
But above the din and rattle
heard one wild, despairing shrek for
help, and, when l could get close
enough to see anything, l found what,
had it not been for the face, would
never have been recognized as man,
in the crushed and bleeding mass of
flesh that lay under one huge driver;
but the face was without scar, and
by that was recognized as an escaped
madman, who, it seems, had climbed
on the engine at Cowans unobserved,
ana pulling the throttle open, had
started ON a wild, awful ride to the
gate of death.
When the excursion train came up,
ten minutes later, they said L vas
found standing by the engine, gazing
at the bloody driver and
my written order, still tightly clasped
in my hand.
/ was unconcious Of everything
save the fact that | had obeyed orders
and had thereby taken a life. They
;ay | tainted, but l knew nothing
from the instant discovered that
white, bloodless face until four days
ater, when l awakened apparently
,ut of dream. My first question
vas. "Did the excursion arrive safe
v%
The coroner held an inquest as
,oon as l could be examined. and the
verdict was: ave, the jury, find that
Albert Long came to his death by be-
ng crushed beneath a locomotive
which was wrecked by j. l.. B., an
operator on the -- K. f., accord
ng to the order of ID. l. d., his SUI
perintendent and superior officer. And