Wichita eagle., 1886-11-13

Man Killed By lightning Twenty Miles
! Lineinaa's Control.
@Wcll, that's about the worst trip l ever
. h2d, Air. Stephens" said Smith Bryce, the
| Western Union lineman. as he threw his kit
OF tools upon the floor
! "How's that, Smith, asked Mr.. Stephens,
! the Western Union manager.
! "Oh, the lightning was bad. 1t was ter
| rible 1t beat anything I ever saw. 1t
| knocked my plyers out of my hands, and one
! tine threw them fifty feet. 1t knocked me
/ down twice, and made me dance a three
minute jig. 1t took my tools away from me
! AID laughed at me when l made the second
attempt to join the ends Of tho wire. l tell
you / have been in many storms. | have
/ Splicol wires il the dark, with lightning run
ming By So rapidly that could not have seen
| the wires but for the bright current on them.
| have been thrown from the top of a high
pole and have been made hold my hands
wide open by the current on the wire, despite
r3y effort TO shut them, but / never had such
an experience as | had this morning Just be-
! fore day, four miles this side Of Macon. The
: lightning played along the wires in streams
and flashes: it rolled in balls. it jumped III
humps, it cut al kinds of funny tricks, ard il
resisted nearly every attempt made TO splice
the broken places"
You SEC" said Mr.. Stephens, interrupting
the liae-nan, that the Macon wire was
broken yesterday, and Smith went down the
road to fix it, and when he reached the
broken wire he was in thunder storm and
had some trouble fixing it."
"iIe didn't fix it while it was lightning.'
"Oh, yes; they don't mind q little light
ming. II knocks them silly sometimes, and
once in a while kills a man. But line
man gets used to that sort o thing, and finally
plays with lightning as the bird with snake
that is charming it."
Then l;nem2n's lifeis interesting"
1t is. Now there's Smith. lie has been
here daring twenty years and during that
time has had more electricity pass through
linn than would be necessary to tear Atlanta
into splinters Since hc has been here two
hnemen have been seriously hurt aud two
have been killed. About four years ago we
had one killed up the Air Line road out
twenty miles. You see, the wire was il two
and after We had located the trouble the line
man took helper and went up They found
the broken wire and began splicing it, but
while they were at work lightning struck the
Wire aud killed the lineman and knocked his
helper senselcss. Why, the poor fellow was
as black as could be. Then, since then, Smith
went out on the State road with another line
man, and while they were at work Lightning
hit the wire and killed the lineman, and 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 be
seen, and the lightning which killed the man
was twenty rliles away"
TWENTY NILES AWAY
eyes, twenty miles away. The men were
working near Big Shanty, and way up above
Gainesville Il big storm was raging. The
lightning struck the line and followed it for
twenty mics when it came to the end CT tho
wire, which the Ineman was holding il his
hand, and killed him"
Eyes, said Srnith. II had hold of the wire,
too. He had it IT the end, and the shock
passed over the wire through my hands be
fore it reached him. Why, the instant felt
it my hands sprung wide open, and before I
could LOOK around the poor fellow was on the
ground dead and l was whirling like q whiI:l-
wind
'Thc1sa linenan's life is in danger:'
"CoEstantly. He is always as work and al
ways ready to go. You see, we measure the
telegraph wires by ohnls-not inches, feet or
miles. For instance, the wire from here to
any point is so many ohms. Now, if we have |
any trouble in securing connection, say with |
Chattanooga CT Macon, an operator goes to
the instrument and tries the pressure If |
it SHOWS half the number of ollrls the
wire is entitled to we know the wire |
is down. broken, or ont of order half |
way to Chattanooga. The lineman is called |
up and told where the trouble is He |
takes dozen glass insulatorS, coil Of 100 |
feet Of wire, 4 saw, hatchet. and other TOOLS
and board the first train Maybe he was just
returned from three or four days trip, and |
is tired and hungry. This makes no differ
ence. The wire must be fixed, and, without
seeing his family. he jumps on the first train
and goes. As he nears the place where the
trouble is located, he pulls the bell cord, the
train stops and he jumps of 1t may be at
the dead hour of night or it may be at noon.
1t may be clear Or it may be raining hard. 1t
may be warm or it may be cold 1t may be
in an open field or it may be in the woods.
These things the linemen can't control. and |
after he hits the ground he hunts the broken
place, mendS the wire and sits down on the
cross tie until n train comes along. He don't
care which way that train is going. He wants
to get out of the woods, and, without cere-
mony, flags the train down and gets on
But don't the railroad company object.n
oh no You see we have q contract with
all the railroads which allows US this right,
and it is the secret Of the Western Unions
success
DO the linemen pay their fare:'
"No, they have ANNALS. Now, there's
Smith-the only coorcd man in the south who
has ANIMALS over all the roads in Georgia
with pocketful Of ANIMALS Atlanta Con