The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-08-19
4 LINEMiN'S LIFE.
ALWAYS At WORK AND ALWAYS
READY TO GO.
Mending Wire, In 1hunderstorm.a
Man Killed by Lightning Twenty Miles
Away-Iosating a Brsak-Bsyond the
Linsman's Control.

~ I'll. tfldt : dtsiul Tue Nptst uif ~
bali. Mr. stephens said Smith Bryce, the
Western Union hneman, Us Le threw his Kit
II tools upon the tlsor
~IIoas that, Smith asked Mr. stephens,
the Western Union manager.
"OA, the lightning was test IL Was ter
rihle lt ls.at anything l ever s'iw. IL
knokel my llyers out of my han'l', ami one
time threw them lifts feet. IL Knocked ne
lown twice, AMI ma h. HE dance thru
minute jig II took my taols away from me-
unl Lu. heel at me when MAKE the second
attempt 10 pin tll. ends If the wire. tell
yuu have l.,n in many storms. | have
>l,lrsd wirS in TIN clark, with lightning run
ning los ~ rapidly that could m't have sen
the wlnS hut for the bright current "n them
have t-,-n thrown from the top 1T a LlSh
pnlt AMI have l-en made hold my hands
viii. open t,y the current on the wire, despite
my effort L. shut them, hut never hid such
an experience IL, hipi this morning just la
for,. day, four mills this side of Macon The
lightning played along the wires IN streams
aud flashes. il rolled in balls II jumped Ia
humps, il cut all kinds Of funny tricks, ami II
resisted nearly every attempt made to splice
the broken places
YOU s..e," said Mr. stephens, interrupting
the lncuian, that the Macon wire was
broken Yesterday ami Smith went down the
road 10 ilx it, ami when he reached tho
broken wire h. was in thunder storm ami
hal sonIr trouble fixing it
lie diin't fix it while it was lightning"
"Oh yes, they don't mind little light.
ming 1t knocks them silly sometimes, AMI
once In II while kills man. But a line
man gets u>d to that sort o thing, and finally
plays with lightning as the bird with snake
that is charming it,
| Then liueman's life l. Interesting
1T H. Now there's Smith lie has b,Sn
here during twenty years, and during that
time has hal more electricity pass through
him than would lie necessary to tear Atlanta
into spliuters. Since he has been here two
hnemcn have been seriously hurt AMI two
have been killed. About four years ago We
had ono killed up the Air Line road a. out
twenty miles. You see the wire was in two,
and after we had located the trouble the line
man took helper AMI went up. They found
the broken wire and Logan splicing it, but
while they were ut work lightning struck the
| wire ami killed the lneman and knocked his
helper S,nscl,ss. Why, the poor fellow was
rs black as could lie. Then, since then, Smith
went out on the state road with another line
man, ami while they were at work lightning
hit the wire and killed the lineman, ami Smith
came home badly used up. Why, just where
the men were working that time it was as
clear as crystal. There was not cloud TO la
seen, AMI the lightning which killed the man
was twenty miles away
TWENTY MILES AWAY"
Yes, twenty miles away. The men were
working near Big Shanty, AMI way up abo,,
Cartcrsvillc a big storm was raging. The
lightning struck the line and followed it fOI
twenty miles, when it came to the end of thu
wire, which the lineman was holding in hi,
hani anil killed him"
AYES" said Smith. Il hal hold Of the wire
t"a llc hal it ut the end, AMI the shock
passed over the wire through my hands IL,
fore il reached him. Why, the instant ! fell
it my hands sprung wide open, and before
could look around the poor fellow was ON til,
ground dead AMI was whrlng like whirl
wind
"rhcn u lincman's life Is in danger"
Constantly. He is always at work ami al
ways ready to 20. You see, we measure tn,
telegraph wires 10y olms-not inches, feet Vi
miles For instance, the wire from here T.
any point Is 50 many olInIs Now, il we hav,
any trouble IN securing connection, say will
Chattanooga or Macon, I'M operator goes I,
the instrument AMI tries the pressure
1t shows half the number of ohns tn
wire il entitled to we know the wir
is down. broken. or out Of order hal
way 10 Chattanooga The inoman is Gale,
up AMI told where the trouble is IL
takes dozen glass in,ulatolS, a coil of In
feet Of wire, Il saw, hatrht, and other tool,
and board the first train Maybe he was ili>
returned from IA three 81 four days trip, an,
is tired AMI hungry This makes no differ
. entr. The wire must hr fixed, and. withuu
seeing hi family, he jumps on the first trail
aud goes. \, he n"ars the place where tn
, trouble Is located, hr pulls the bell cord, til
! : train stop, and he jumps off. 1t may be a
the dead hour of night, or it may be at noon
' 1t may he clear or 1t may bc raining hard
may he warm or it may liz cold 1t may l.
il an open field or it may he in the wood,
These things the lncmcn cant control, an
) after he hits the ground he hunts the broke
place. nIenls the wire and sits down on til
cross tie until a train comes along. He don
, care which way that train is going He want
l to got out If the wouis, ami, without Ger,
mony, flags the train down and gets ON
"lut don't the railroad company objecti'
> "Oh, no. You s,c We have contract wit
all the railroads which allows US this righ
) AMI 1t is the secret Of the Western Union
| success