Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-12-24
A TRAIN DISPATCHER'S

were three of US in the Office. had
what is called the SECOND trick, -" my
hours of duty being from 4 p. m. to IL
.. The third man, Charlie Burns,
who came on at midnight and worked
till 8 g. M, was q particular friend Of
mine. He was . young man Of high
character, a. 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
fever, many were the expressions of re-
gret and of hope for his speedy recovery.
During the trying days of CHARLIE
illness l spent all the time could
spare by his side, but on account of his
absence from the Office it was necessary
for the remaining two of Us to ''double
up''-that is, work twelve hours each,
my watch being from 8 p. m. to 8 a. m.
I came on duty one evening feeling
very bad. The weather was 20 warm I
could not sleep well in the daytime; be.
sides, l had spent a 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, l was
not at all pleased to find that I was
likely to have busy night Of it. A
wreck on the road during the day had
thrown all the regular trains off time,
and besides the usual number Of special
freights there was a special passenger
train to leave Linwood, the eastern
terminus of our division, at II p. m.
with a large party of excursionists re:
turning from q picnic. For several
hours I had my hands full. There was
a special train Of live stock bound east
which had to be kept moving, but was
being delayed by hot journals; never.
theless, 1 hoped to got them into Lin.
wood before the excursion train started
west.
As usually happens in such cases, the
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. liked up their orders, got the
report of their departure from Linwood
at 11:45, and entered it on the train
sheet Then, having for the 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 neighbor-
ing church clock rang out the hour Of
IL. From force Of habit I glanced al
the door, almost expecting to hear
Charles light footstep on the stair and
see the door open to admit him as Of
old.
Poor fellow thought, lit will be
= long time before he enters that do0l
again, if he ever does" Just at the
last stroke of -, 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 though hit was
that in the delirium of fever he had
escaped from his nurses and made his
way to the Office, but when / left him q
few hours before l could not have be
lieved that he had strength to get out o.
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, bu
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, l, O.
came the response. PUT out sigma
for special passenger west and copy
"Ro," "Ro." "Ds," rang out the sound
er with Charles nimble fingers upon
the key. 'Ro' was the call for Rose
dole, the second station from Linwood
eight miles west of Elm Grove. -, /
Ro," came back the answer.
is special east coming? D."
Then, as I sat by the window as on,
paraiyzed, the awful truth flashed
across my mind. had overlooked thu
stock train, laundering eastward twenty
miles an hour, and made no provision
for its meeting the excursion train. Ny
blood seemed turned to ice as hear(
the reply:
''They are at the switch. Ro."
Another minute and it would hav'
been too late.
Still apparently Obvious 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.
G. and E. Eng. 10 o.
Special cast eng. "a will take sidin,
and meet special west eng. at Rosedale
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 eacl
train, while Charlie copied it into tn
order-book and returned his 20! K"
Then, as I realized that was save,
and a great disaster averted, the revu]
sion of feeling was too much for M
overstrained nerves, and l lost con
sciousness.
: An hour after 1 was awakened by
familiar voice, and looked up to fin
Frank Dryer, one of our conductors
who had volunteered to watch tina
night with Charlie. standing over me
''Wake up. old man." said he, Il hav
bad news for you. Charlie died just a
the clock was striking IT,
I reused myself and went to tn
table: There on the order+book was tn
order just as I had heard it clicked GU
by the sounder, and ":Ro" was calm,
me to repor. the two trains safely by
Had been dreaming and sent the orde
in my sleep, or had my friend redeeme'
his promiseP
The writing in the order-book was il
his hand, and l have never been able
account for it-Detr0H Free Press.
The Campbell divorce case is caller
lated to elevate Sir Charles Dixie i
popular esteem slightly.-Providene
journal