The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-07-02
RUNNING AROUND A DEPOT.
How A TRAIN GOT PAST A SLEEPY
TELHaRAPH OPERATOR.

The order which Tie Failed 20 Ful-
fn-Am Accident AVcrted-Whnt
the Chief Dispatcher said.
Percy, Wyoming Territory, can h ard
ly be called city. 1t cannot boast of
an opera-house, sewers, aldermen, daily
papers, the electric light, or dog
pound. Outside of the section house
and small affair called a station there
are no buildings to speak of, if one cares
to speak the truth. Not so very long
ago man named Winfield Scott
Allen-was stationed there as night OPP
orator, and one Sunday evening, after
said Allen had been up late, instead of
wooing the drowsy god whose name
looks very much like 'morphinen in
print, he received message from the
dispatcher's Office in Laramie, telling
him to hold "No Z" for orders. He read
a novel. The arduous labors of the day,
however, had told upon the frail con.
stitution of Winfield, and just as he
reached that point in the volume in
which Gwendoline had consented to bid
defiance to her stern and unyielding
| parents, and elope with her own and
ownest Gerald McCloskey, the tired
operator dropped off to Sleep showing a
] lack of sympathy for the heroine that
| could only be excused on the ground of
extreme fatigue. Meanwhile his rcd
lamp within had gone out. 1t was but a
weak and sickly light at best, and the
poor thing probably felt so bad at being
hung out in the cold alone by itself that
| it concluded that life was not worth the
! living--at any rate it croaked and as
| trains do not stop at Percy unless sig
nailed, the reader can get ready for a ter
rible collision, with the accompanying
crash of engines, noise of escaping steam,
| the shrieks of the wounded, etc.
| No. came laundering along-a long
/ train Of loaded freight cars with half
! dozen emigrant coaches in the rear, filled
with men, women and children en- route
for the Golden Gate. Engineer Mathi-
son, as he neared the station, glanced in
quiringly at the signal-post for the red
! light which he half expected to see
there, but all was dark. The long train
swept by and disappeared in the black
night. Allen still slept; the thunder of
the passing cars had not broken, in the
slightest degree, mis- slumbers, or the
regularity of his snores. Il
For the last hour the chair on which
Allen sits has been throwing out distress
signals The sleeper has tilted it back
until his whole weight rests on the rear
limbs, which, after sundry squeaks and
groans, gave way. Allen gives way at
the same time. The floor, on which he
alights, doesn't. AS the overworked
brass FOUNDER and four-ace manipulation
| gathers himself up from the floor and
gazes ruefully at the ruins of the only
chair there is in the building, he becomes
conscious of the fact that the instrument
on the table is sounding his ''call" with
startling rapidity. He grasps the keys
and replies 81"
"Where is number seven 2"
"Hasn't arrived yet, " replied Allen.
care you sure 2"
eyes; don't think it could get by with.
out my hearing it, do you 2"
"Have you been asleep 2"
''No.n
"Got red light out 2"
eyes"
Glow does it happen, then, that the
operator at Fort Steele reports the arrival
of number seven at that place ~
Allen was paralyzed-partially. He
rushed to the door aud found no red
light-only lantern.
He took in the whole situation in
second, and, seizing the key once more
replied:
Blamed if 1 know. No. Z hasn't
passed here tonight. If she's at Steele
she must have gone around by the over
miles of here, you know" = =
There had been no accident. No. 10
had orders to meet No. at st. Mary's,
but had been delayed at Fort Steele by
a hot box until after the arrival of that
train.
Allen packed his grip, and every time
a train from the east hove in sight got
ready to turn over the Office to his sue
cessor, who, however did not put in an
appearance. One day Chief Dispatcher
Baxter came along. He took Allen to
one side very contidentially, and he made
up his mind that the official ak was about
to fall. Baxter said:
Don't go asleep again while on duty,
and for goodness sake don't let any more
trains go around over the old stage road.
The alkali mud eats the paint off the 10.
comotive wheels, and the amount of coal
required to pull up some o. these hills is
simply awful. The next time an en-
gineer tries to give you the slip by taking
that road, just take horse and follow
him up. You can catch him, because
the roadbed is so uneven that he can't
make very good time. When you catch
him, kill him, and I'll send a casket and
the coroner up on the first train. The
company will pay all the bills. Eh2"
Allen said he would. Laramie Boom
erdng
The Bible.and-Key Test for Theft.