The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-11-15

return at nOoL.
At this iuncture the Division Super.
intendent was notified that the Gen.
eral Superintendent was coming out
over the road in his special car, &c.
companied by two New York railway
kings, one of whom had his sou along.
The Superintendent said he would he
| ready to leave st. Louis at 8 o'clock,
and wanted to run regardless of all
other trains. The Division Superin-
tendent turned to Will, saying:
"lsyron, the Superintendent, wants
to leave st. Louis ut s. o'clock on his
special. He wants to reach here by IL
o'clock, and will have the right of way,
and you hardly have time to make q
this far by wire. Give him Q good
run"
1t was no little work to rearrange
the time of all trains between the two
points, hut Will soon had everything
open so that he could come right
through.
The arrangement was no ooner
made than the Superintendent sent .
second dispatch to the effect that he
would not leave until 10 o'clock. This
upset all previous arrangements, and
new time must be made, and new or
ders given to every train. 1t required
careful, level-headed work, and it was
done.
At 10 o'clock the Superintendent
again changed his leaving time to III
o'clock, and the exasperating work had
to be again gone OVER.
The crowding OF so much work into
such a short space of time resulted in
another delay, and the special did not
leave st. Louis until several minutes
after IL o'clock. The Superinfendent's
private eur Carried the two ~millionaires
ana that Official, while the son of one
of the rich men rode on the engine.
The first twenty-five miles of their
course lay along the river bank. The
special would reach X, where tho
suburban accommodation, north bound,
was due to leave Mt noon, at just about
the same hour-possibly q few minutes
after IL o'clock. Following the SER
p~entine curves of the track along the
river bank. the special bounded on its
way.
Two miles north of X was the
M River, which was bridged by the
railway. 1t was q small stream, only
about two hundred feet wide. On tho
south bank, nearest to X, was a switch
and Il small station, at which an oper-
ator was not regularly stationed. Tho
little station was known as W.. The
bridge was put Mt the confluence of the
small stream with the mighty Missis-
sippi. Coming on to the bridge from
the north the tracks rounded aprecipi-
tots bluff with a sharp curve. SO that to
Il s%ouih-hound train the bridge was ont
of sight until the locomotive was al
most upon it.
With the intention of making W
Il meeting point for the north-bound
suburban and south-bound special, by
giying the suburban the siding, Will
called up X, and gave the ell
gincer of the suburban orders to leave
OH time. On that fatal day there wac
no operator at W.. OF course the
suburban would stop at W, but il
should have had orders to take the sid.
ing and wait there for the special.
Now it was bound to meet the special
before another stop was made, for the
latter had orders to run regardless
The suburban had hardly more than.
started until Will called up W to
give it orders to take the siding for the
special. He had not known that there
was no operator ut W that day.
He received no answer to his call.
Time was precious. He called again,
and received no answer.
WHAT'S the matter with W." he
asked. II can't raise him, and if he
don ONE to his key before the sub
urban reaches him, there will be q COL
lision with the Superintendent spe.
cial."
There is no operator at W to.
day" answered the trainmastcr, who
had Just entered the room.
MY God! then they will meet on
the bridge, and nothing can prevent
i'll.
a CHASTITY lallor came over Wills
face, and he sank back in his chair in
a dead faint. The trainmaster took
the key, and Will was carried into the
next oom and revived with cold water.
they kept him close in the Superin-
tcndent's room, and would tell him
nothing save that the wreck was not
very bad.
1t cost two lives. The son of the
New York millionaire, who was riding
on the specials engine, was jammed
into the tire-boN and literally burned
alive. The fireman of the special en-
CINE was caught between the engine
and tender and so badly crushed that
he died i'll n few hours.
AT III o'clock that night I met Will
as he came ont on the street from the
Superintendent Office. 1 hardly knew
him, and as 1 took his hand he scarcely
spoke to me. He didn't know yet the
result of the accident.
"How did it end-how many were
killed. he asked me.
We'll, there are three hurt-one
pretty badly" / answered, not wanting
to tell him the truth.
We were standing zeal the depot.
On the platform around the corn was
i, n crowd of excited engineers, tiremen,
and brakemen. One of them spoke out
loudly, saying:
| "Well, boys, I am not rich, but !
have thirty-iive cents left to help buy
a rope for that operator"
/ He did not know that Will was
standing within ten feet of him. Will
: heard it. 1t was like q knife-thrust.
, He reeled and fell into my arms. lear.
ried him across the street into q saloon
and soon revived him. The strain was
. too much for him and he tainted away
/, twice before / could get him home.
> His mind wandered. / finally got him
= to bed and rave him a heavy dose n,