Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-09-18
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Ny Murder.
By a TELEGRAPH OPERATOR.

After all, we way-station telegraph
operators are not without our little
romance occasionally, and | think l
! can show that we are not certainly
without certain amount OF RESPONSE.
bility; but it is seldom if ever recog-
nlzed, unless some of our number by
carelessness suddenly plunges train
into destruction by failing to deliver
or understand orders.
The time of which l write was one
pleasant afternoon in early autumn,
on the 22d day Of September, 1879,
and as the occurrence made q deep
and vivid impression on my mind, /
cannot forget the day, which was
Friday.
AT the time I had been an agent
and operator on the railroad q
little while over two months. The
line was directly through parts of In
diana and Illinois, and some Of the
distance had no telegraph Office, con-
se4uently the order distance was
somewhat lengthy, and there was but
one office between mine and Ccwans,
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 en-.
glne had sprung her throttle with lao
pounds of steam, and had gone east,
while the fireman had gone to lunch,
and the engineer who was oiling
round, had no time to get on.
All was still as death for minute,
when the dispatcher began to call G
=, the only office between mine and
Cowans; for fully five minutes be
called him, using the signal $685."
which means death, but still no an.
swer, and still the monotonous click
OF the armature presently he an
swered in a dozed, hurried manner,
and when asked about the epgine,
said 1t had passed there at a fearful
rate of speed at fourteen minutes
past 4, 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 picnicksrs,
and had actually left a station only
eight miles east of me, the first tele.
graph office, at two minutes past 4.
The dispatcher called me furiously,
and, being at hand and expeotant, l
answered him Immediately. Then he
said "Turn your switch aud wreck
engine No. IL, going east wild" 4
ropiied quickly 81 cannot witho.t
an indemnity order :" and after a
hasty consultation with the Superin-
tendent, as | afterwards learned, he
went head with an order, whose
usual form and wording reused many
a lazy "brass sounder" from a doze.
IL was like this:
To 0PERAroE; Wreck wild engine No. II !,
at your eastern switch gate to save collision.
Company will defend and uphold you.
ORB.
1 Immediately returned my "13" or
understanding" received my "cor-
rect at 4:ls pm" and turned to look
for the engine, when although tho
conversation between myself and the
dispatcher had consumed but four
minutes, | saw her coming at the
greatest speed ! ever witnessed, and,
snatcbing my order, | ran to the
switch gate, about $50 feet, and
when had unlocked and thrown the
rail, the roaring monster was only
about 100 feet away. | had my watch
in my hand, and stepped quickly
back out of harms way, when, at
exactly twenty minutes past 4, 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
oyer, and stopped on her side, push
ing a splinter Of the cab on the wbis-
tie valve, and there she lay, seeth.
ing, kissing, screeching mass of rub
/ Dish.
But above the din aud rattle l
heard one wild, despairlng shrek fer
help, and, when / could get close
enough to see anything, ! found what,
had it not been for the face, would
never have been recognized as q 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
mailman, who, il seems, had climbed
on the engine at Cowans unobserved,
and, 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 they
found me standing by the engine,
gazing alternately at the bloody driv.
err and my written order, still tightly
clasped in my hend.
The Coroner held an inquest as
soon as | could be examined, and the
verdict was ave, the jury, find that
Albert Long came to his death by
being crushed beneath locomotive
which was wrecked by J. L. b., 81
operator on the 49, II. r., accord.
ing to the order of d. r. B., bis Su,
perintendent and superior officer
Aud we find further, that no blame
can be attached to the said j. L. b.,
d. r. b. or the said railroad company
as the engine was wrecked TO save 9
heavily-loaded excursion, and said
Albert Long, being a mailman, wal
on the engine in direct opposition &c
the company's orders"
! have that order and a copy o
the verdict side by side in my diary
whare they will always remain.
Often in my dreams see an IN
recognizable mass of quiyering flesl
and broken bones beneath a bug,
driver, and white unsecured fac
presents itself to my gaze. A sud
den shrek will almost craze me, and
| am often tempted to go where rail
roads are unknown, where the hisslnl
ord eoraaehipv cappof reach me-