St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-11-10
A STRANGE STORY.
A Train Dispatcher's Account OF
Railroad Order and Its History.

railroad Order and Its HIstorS'
Detroit Free Press.
Several years ago I was employed as
train dispatcher on Southwestern Amer
lean railroad. As usual, there were three
OF us in the Office. l had what Use called
the second trick" my hours of duty being
from p. IN to II p. m. The third man.
Charlie Burns, who came on at midnight
and worked until a. M, was a particular
friend of mine. He was young man OF
high character, fine dispatcher and very
popular. and when, during the burning days
of July. it became known among the men
that he was confined to his room by a Sc
we're attack of malignant fever, many were
the expressions of regret and of hope for
his speedy recovery.
During the trying days of Charles i'll
ness spent all the time | could spare by
his side but on account of his absence
from the office it was necessary for the re-
naming two of us to double up"-that is,
work twelve hours each, my watch being
from p. In. to s a. m. l came on duty
one evening feeling very i'll. The weather
was so warm | could not sleep well in the
daytime; besides, | had spent considerable
part of the day with Charlie. whose illness
had now reached a critical stage, and
seemed to show little prospect Of i'm
provement
Hence, as you may imagine. was not at
all pleased to find that | was likely to have a
busy night of it. A wreck on the road dur
ing the day had thrown all the regular trains
of time and besides the usual number of
special freights there was special passenger
tain to leave LinwoOd. the eastern terminus
of our division. at II p. III. with large
party of eXcursionistS. For several hours
had my hands full There was a special
train of live stock bound east. AS usually
happens in such cases. the excursion
tram did not get ready to leave on time,
and it was 11:40 p. H. when they reported
for orders at LinwOod. | fixed up their
orders, got the report of their departure
from LinwoOd at 11:45 and entered it on
the train sheet. Then rose from the ia
bic and went over and seated myself by the
window, where it was cooler than under
the heated gas jets. l was alone in the of
flee, and as sat there enjoying the cool
breeze which came in through the open win
dow neighbOring church clock rang out
the hour of II. From force of habit
glanced at the door, almost expecting to
hear Charles ght fOntstep on the stair
and see the door open to admit him as of
! old.
Poor fellow" thought, at will be a
long time before he enters that door again.
| if he ever does" just at the last stroke of
IL, and while my eyes were still fixed on
the door, it opened and Charlie Burns en-
tered. My first thought was that in the
delirium of fever he had escaped from his
nurses and made his way to the office, but
when left him few hours before l could
not have believed that he had strength to
get out of bed. l sat and watched him in
speechless surprise, which was increased by
his strange manner.
Instead of his usual hearty greeting he
took no notice of me at all. but walked
directly to the table and sat down. Placing
his hand upon the key he began calling
%" which was the signal for Elm Grove.
the first station, six miles west of LinwoOd.
IL L, O." came the response. Put out
signal for special passenger west and
copy" ''RO." "RO." 'Ds," rang out the
sounder with Charles nimble fingers upon
the key. "RO" was the call for ROSedale,
the second station from Linwood, eight
miles west of Elm Grove. Il, L, +" came
back the answer.
Then, as | sat by the window as one par
alyzed. the awful truth flashed across my
mind. l had overlooked the stock train.
and made no provision for its meeting the
excursion train. My blood seemed turned
to ice as l heard the reply:
'They are at the switch. RO."
Another minute and it would have been
too late. Still apparently oblivious of my
presence, Charlie reached for the order book
with his left hand while his right continued
to manipulate the key and | heard the
SOunder click out the order that held the
train. Quick as flash came back the e
Spouse from each station. and in less time
than it takes me to write it the order had
been repeated and signed by the conductor
and engineer of each train, while Charlie
copied it into the order book and returned
his 80. K" Then. as L realized that was
saved and a great disaster averted. the re-
vusion of feeling was too much for my
over strained nerves, and lost conscious
ness.
An hour after I was awakened by a
familiar voice, and looked up to find Frank
Dwyer, one of our conductors who bad vol
unteered to watch that night with Charlie,
standing over me. Wake up. old man, :"
said he, Il have bad news for you. Charlie
died Just as the clock was striking l2."
reused myself and went to the table. There
on the order book was the order just as l
had heard it clicked out by the sOunder,
and 'Ro" was calling me to report the two
trans safely by. Had l been dreaming
and sent the order in my sleep, or had my
friend redeemed his promise? The writing
in the order book was in his hand. and
have never been able to account for it.