The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-07-02
TRAIN DISPATCHING.
Labors That Make Young Men
Look Prematurely Old.

eyes, that is my age, although most
persons say fOrty-five, as my general
appearance is of that age instead of
what you guessed. Come up in the
Office and I'll tell you the cause of this
partial transformation"
The speaker was a train dispatcher
on the great railroad system controlled
by the Pennsylvania Company, and an
opportunity was offered the reporter
to note the growth of the telegrapher
until he occupies the position of dis
patcher and has the lives of hundreds
of people under his control, while the
trains are running fifty miles an hour.
After getting comfortably seated in an
Office while off duty the dispatcher be-
gan his story by saying;
''About twelve years ago this spring
had charge of the dispatching of q
team of horses and a plough, and was
busy breaking up fifteen acres for corn.
This was on my fathers farm, on the
prairies of Indiana. had good COM
mon school education, and knew just
enough of electricity to want more
light on the subject. When the sum-
mer's work was done l made applica-
tion at the telegraph Office in the town,
about five miles from here, for lessons
in telegraphy. The operator was q
young lady, and after she had ''sized
me up" from head to foot, she con-
sented to take mo as a student. I,
however, did not take my first lesson
from her, as a messenger boy and a
companion had observed my general
hay-seed appearance.
''As / was going out of the door one
of the boys said: Say, Jake, you
dropped a half-dollar in the water
bucket when you got that drink
81 went back and looked, and, sure
enough, there was a coin. / did not
drop it there, but I resolved to have it
all the same just as / was about to
reach for it the boy said:
I'll bet you a dime you can't pick
it out with one hand
Il could not take that from a boy, so
we put up our money, and he insisted on
holding my other hand while [ got the
coin. The moment touched the water
thought had been struck by light
ming, for l shook like leaf and saw
innumerable stars. The little rascal
had wire running into the bucket
with the other in his hand, so when
touched the water | completed the
circuit and got the full benefit of it.
''The next morning found me at
work learning the Morse alphabet, and
in six months L was placed in charge of
q little Office at night. Like every be-
ginner I got very sleepy on long even
ings, and afraid of sleeping at my post
and letting train 60 by, did as al
most every other operator has
done in his life, rugged some kind of
appliance to wake me up in time. After
repeated experiments L perfected a
system that worked beautifully for sew
eral weeks, but finally brought disas-
ter. l got some stout twine, and to
one end attached a tin can. This l
took some distance up the track and
placed it on a rail. The other end of
the cord loOped about my finger when
] lay down to sleep. When q train
came along the can would be knocked
to one side, of course pulling the string
and I was up in an instant One night
fixed my apparatus and went to sleep.
Suddenly / was awakened, thrown on
the floor and knocked about the room.
A train went laundering by. You see
that one joint of my middle finger is
missing, and perhaps can imagine the
cause. Instead of the engine knocking
off the can, it got caught on the cow
catcher, and the cord was strong enough
to pull me off the table.
t'After several years experience at
almost all the important Offices on the
line, and having learned all the sidings
and grades on the road, together with
the other knowledge an operator must
have, I was promoted to the dis
patcher's Office. Here the time is
divided into eight-hour shifts, the
eldest man taking the hours from
eleven p. m. to seven a. m, and the
others arranging to suit themselves.
The duty Of the dispatcher is TO handle
all trains, instructing them by orders
where to pass and where to meet trains
coming in an opposite direction. On
q double track road this is easily man
aged, but on q single line the des-
patcher must think of nothing but his
trains. No train must be on the main
line without orders. When an order is
sent it is copied verbatim in an order
book on the dispatcher's table, and
also by the receiving operator out the
road. He reads the order TO the en-
gineer and conductor, gives them a
duplicate, and they sign for 1t, and
their acceptance and understanding 0f
the order is telegraphed to the dis
patcher, who answers to go ahead.
Orders are often given for trains to
pass at certain points when they are
nearly a hundred miles apart, and they
have to be there. The Fast Line" on
the Fort Wayne makes the run from
this city to Alliance, a distance of
eighty-six miles without a stop.
held her four minutes one night for
orders one night at a way station and
remembered it for a month, for the
superintendent and ] had a consulta-
tion the next day, and he insisted he
wa right.
"pll relate An instance 70 HA0w yOu