Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-28

kid" he called to the shivering boy in,
the corner, get II move on YOU now and
get after that beer" The kid slowly
arose, and picking up a battered tin
pail, minus a handle, took the dime and
left the car.
The conversation then became gen.
eral, and the reporter introduced him
self as a clerk who had been sick, lost
his situation and was trying to beat his
way to California. This satisfied them,
and the proffer of the beer made him
solid" with the gang.
When the boy came back, the cards
were gathered up, and, after being
carefully wrapped up in a dirty piece of
paper. were slowed away in the pocket
of the ''rufian." The man with the
red beard, in an aside to the reporter,
informed him'that the ''rufian" was a
dead hard man" The conversation
turned to the police, who were roundly
cursed by all except the consumptive
man, who was too busy coughing. The
peer can was making the rounds, the
red -bearded individual always manag-
ing to get the lions share. After the
liquid had been disposed of, the big
man. the ~red-bearded individual md
their companion, a dried-up little fell
low whose clothes merely hung upon
his frame, disposed of themselves for
the night, and the reporter and the
gentleman with the cough entered into
conversation,
"How did you come to be in this fixy'
asked the latter. What has been your
e~Nperience?"
my experienced" he said ruminat-
ingly, my experience has been atough
one. 1t would make an interesting
story if written out. I've seen both
rood on1 barl fimnc hnt nnuy Pm what
is called a bum telegraph OPERATOR
and have 'ierked lightning in nearly
every city in the country, from coast to
coast. Exciting business! Well! l
smile it was sometimes" Here the
''bum telegraph operator" INDUCED in
a hard fit Of coughing, from which he
emerged exhausted. After he had
rested, he continued: 1.-The most ex-
citing time l ever experienced was
when l was dispatching trains on a GER
tain road in Ohio. To make n long
in those days and one night l came on
duty pretty lush After lighting my
pipe, l tilted back in my chair and
made myself comfortable for the night.
l dozed off and was awakened by the
conductor of an outgoing train asking
for orders. Half asleep, and still feel
ing the effects of the whisky l had i'm
bibed, l gave him orders to pull OUT
and resumed my pipe. l had about set
tied myself for another snooze, when
the next station out called me up
to report the departure OF a wild train
coming in. What had | done? Given
orders that would run two trains to-
gether, the incoming train and an Eek
cursion,' filled TO overlooking with pas
sengers from all along the line, who
were taking advantage Of the cut rates
to attend the county fair. To ward off
a collision was now impossible. What
should | do? For ten minutes, l was
paralyzed with fright, then the shock
sobered mt and / realized the enOrmity
Of my neglect, and resolved to fly. l
thought of the p~enitentiary, and "a pos
sibly long detention in Jail before trial,
money in sight, walked twenty-fOur
miles to another road, and made my way
south. I changed my name, and have
been pounding brass ever since in
commercial Offices, not daring to trust
myself to railroad work.
"Yes! the trains cam together, and
| afterwards read in the papers a descrip-
tion of the accident, as it was called. 1t
was not so bad as l anticipated, only one
man, a brakeman, being killed. / con-
cealed my identity, but my conscience,
for Ihave one, has been pounding at me
all these years, and whisky is the only
thing that strangles it. In my time, l
was one of the best operators in the SER
vice, but | am getting pretty 'shaky,'
now, and they say l send pretty bad
Morse | suppose m cash in pretty
soon, and l don't care how o it IS"
Here the bum operator was seized
with another violent paroxysm OF cough,
| ing. and the reporter, with a hurried
goodnight, 'siid back the door dropped
to the ground, and sped back to the
switch shanty.