The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-07-04
SAVED BY A BICYCLE.
How Young Telegraph Operator Pre-
vented q Railroad Accident.


vented a Railroad Accident.
'sFour years ago." said the telegraph oper-
ator, mere boy in appearance, but with white
hair, {" was telegraph operator at a small
country station on q southwestern railroad
/ had little to do, and, to enable me to leave
the Office at will, I had attached a large tin
cup to the sounder of my instrument, so I
could hear my call from any part of the vii
lage When the south bound train arrived at
noon one Saturday / hurriedly communicated
with the conductor, and learning that he had
nothing to send, prepared to quit my office
for the afternoon went away, leaving the
train standing at the depot, hot boxes detain-
ing it longer than usual. Lucky did not
90 beyond earshot of my instrument. I fire.
quently left the Office for hours, but always
kept within hearing distance, the lineup
sounder enabling me to distinguish my call
several hundred feet away. Somehow [ had
open, expecting, for some reason I will not
attempt to explain, to be called to the Office
Before / had been absent ten minutes, and
while the train still stood at the depot,
heard my familiar call repeated in what
seemed to me unusually rapid succession.
Instead of walking leisurely, as was my wont,
| ran to the Office as fast as I could, and
heard as I entered: Hold No 4 at your
station until special going north passes"
Involuntarily L glanced out of the Win
dow, and saw the train | was ordered to hold
disappearing around curve short distance
away | was not told at what time the special
left the station south, which was only ten
miles away, and saw in my minds eye the
two trains rapidly approaching each other.
Suddenly I remembered, while tearing my
hair and cursing my negligence, that No. 4
had to stop at woodward two miles down
the road to take on fuel That would take
five minutes. My first thought was hand
car, my second horse, but | did not know
if the first was at the station or the second
was to be had in the village Rushing out of
the Office, I stumbled over my bicycle
Without a moments thought l showed it out
of the door before me and was ON it in less
time than it takes to count ten. In my odd
moments l had become quite an expert
bicycist. The country road parallelcd the
railroad for several miles, and the former was
down grade the entire distance. | put my
whole strength into the effort of propelling
the machine, and had the satisfaction of at
tanning speed had never accomplished be-
fore. My hat blew off and my coat was
dotted through fear that it would retard my
speed. ] got within perhaps fifty yards of
the now stationary train when the engine
whistle blew and the train started up. l re-
doubled my efforts and came alongside the
rear platform of the last Car just as the train
was getting under full Roadway With a fall
ing side motion threw my wheel against the
side of the car just forward of the platform,
and grasped it, the same time letting go my
hold on the bicycle. I caught the bell cord
and gave it one vigorous pull and as the
train came to halt / gave the cord three
jerks, the signal to back. and tainted The
conductor found me where / had fallen. Sus-
pecting something wrong he permitted the
train to back to TIE station, getting there just
as the special, loaded with the directors of
the road and their families, swung around the
curve into the station. | had brain fever and
came near dying, not regaining my reasoning
faculties for five weeks after my terrible ex-
perience. But the conductor said my hair
was white when he found me on the rear of
his train"
Mrs. A. t. Stewart of New York is the