Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-12-24
q TRAIN DISPATCHERs9

What Is called the second trick. my
aours Of duty being from 4 p N. to II {
) N. The third man, Charlie Burns,
Who came on ct midnight and worked
i'll 8 q. M, was particular friend OF
nine. He was 9 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 : severe attack Of malignant
lever, many were the expressions Of re-
Rret and Of, hope for his speedy recovery.
During the trying days Of Charles
illness / spent al the time could
spare by his side, but on account OF his
absence from the Office it was necessary
for the remaining two Of rs to double
up''-that is, work twelve hours each,
my watch being from t8p. M TO 8 T. m.
Icame on duty one. evening feeling
very bad. The weather was 20 warm l
could not sleep well in tho daytime; be-
sides, I had spent q considerable part
of the day with Charlie, whose illness
had now reached q 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 l was
likely to have q busy night OF it. A
wreck on the road during tho day had
thrown ali the regular trains off time,
and besides the usual number Of special
freights there was special passenger
train to leave Linwo0d, the eastern
terminus of our division, at II p. m.
with large party of excursionists re-
turning from = picnic. For several
hours I had my hands full There was
q special tram of live stock bound east
which had to be kept moving, but was
being delayed by hot journals; never-.
theless,I hoped to got them into Lin.
wood before the excursion train started
west B !:
As usually happens in such cases, tho
excursion train did not get ready to
leave on time, and it was 11:40 p: m.
when they reported for orders at Lin
wood. l fixed up their orders. got the
report of their departure from Linwood
at 11:45, and entered it on the train
sheet Then. having for tho first time
that night few minutes breathing
time, l rose from the table and went
over and seated myself by the window,
where it was cooler than under the
heated gas-jets over the table I was
alone in the office, and as i sat there
enjoying the cool breeze which came in
through the open window a neighbour
ing church clock rang out the hour Of
IL. From force Of habit I glanced at
the door, almost expecting to hear
Charles light footstep on the stair and
sec the door: open to- admit him as OF
old.
: '.Poor fellow thought, .'it will be
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 entered. My aston.
ishment may be imagined better than. ]
can describe it. 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 a
few hours before l could not have be.
lieved that he had strength to get out Of
bed. sat and watched him in speech.
less surprise, which was increased by
his strange manner.
Instead of his usual hearty greeting
he took no notice of me at all, bu1
walked directly to the table and sal
down. Placing his hand upon the key
he began calling o." which was the
signal for Elm Grove, the first station
six miles west of Linwood. Il, !, O.
came the response. "Put out sigma
for special passenger west and copy.
.:Ro," '.Ro," IDS, rang out the sound
or with Charles nimble fingers upor
the kew. ''Ro'' was the call for Rose
dole, the second station from Linwood
eight miles west of Elm Grove. Il, l
RO," came back the answer.
lis special east comingP Ds."
Then, as I sat by the window - on.
paralyzed, the awful truth flashed
across my mind. I had overlooked tn
stock train, laundering eastward twenty
miles an hour, and made no provision
for its meeting the excursion train. NJ!
blood seemed turned to ice as / heart
the reply:
''They are at the switch. $Ro."
Another minute and it would hav'
been too late. !
still apparently oblivious of my pres
ence, Charlie reached for the order-bool
with his left hand, while his right con
tinued to manipulate the key, and
heard the sounder click:
Out signal and copy Ds.
Order No. 734.
To G. and E. Eng. "a Ro.
C. and E. Eng. 100.
SPECIAL east eng. "a will take sidinI
and meet special west eng: at Rosed.le
o.. -..,.-' s::2.s..z.:. IL j. w. NJ.
Quick as a flash came back the re
Spouse from each station, and in les
time than it takes me to write it tn
order had been repeated and signed b.
the conductor and engineer of eac
train. while Charlie copied it into tn
ordersbook aud returned his 20. K"
Then, rs realized that I was save
and q great disaster averted, the revu]
sion Of feeling was too much for m
overstrained nerves, and lost cor
sciousness. 49,. ...,. .-
An hour after / was awakened by
familiar voice, and looked up to Tin
Frank Dryer, oneof our conductors
who had volunteered to watch tina
night with Charlie. standing over me
awake up. old man." said he, Il hav
bad news for you. Charlie died just a
the clock was striking II.
I reused myself and went to tn
table: yThere on the order book was tn
order Just as had heard it clicked on
by the sounder, and ':Ro" was CALM
me to repor: the two trains safely BY
Had I been dreaming and sent the orde
in my sleep, or had my friend redeeme
his promiseP
The writing in the order-book was i
his hand, and have never been able
account for it-Detr0i Free Press.
The Campbell divorce case is calc,
lated to elevate Sir Charles Dixie
popular esteem slightly.-Providen'
| Journal.
! TT Ihc0BS MT