The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-11-15
A SKATING CONTEST;
The Train-D ispatchep's Love.
BY EDWARD p. STONE

W0hYmA nave no neSltltlOn1 IN YOucn-
uMElN ing for the truth of.
MN8fHN The scene is in o pretty
FEN town of about 5000 inhab.
%A itants, which n~estles costly
e7NN in a broad valley between
the foothills of one of the mountainous
Western States, pierced by one of the
great iron arteries of commerce of the
Gould Southwest system of railways.
The time vas the month of May, 1855.
At the period mentioned 1 was asso.
ciated with my brother in the publica.
ton Of q small weekly paper in this
tiourishing little town Of D. 7 be.
came acquainted with almost every one
in town, and was always ready to par.
ticipate in such Of the social pleasures
as the limited population allowed.
The roller-skating craze had seized
the town during the preceding winter,
and of course all the girls and boys
learned to skate. The society boys and
girls of D. were like all boys and
girls of small towns, in that they di-
vided themselves into "sets" or crowds,
and it is with the members of the set
to which I belonged hat my story has
to deal. For present purposes we will
know them as Maggie Reynolds and
William Byron.
Maggie Reynolds was the &C.
knowledged belle of the town, and she
carried her honors with becoming
grace. She was a slender, delicate
little bunch of nerves, of the brunette
style. The only daughter of wealthy
parents, she was spoiled, petteQ and
willful. She was both vivaciou and
pretty, and Of course q most agreeable
companion.
William Byron, who, by the way
was a close, friend Of mine, was a train
dispatcher in the service of the rail
way upon which D-i is located. He
vas q good mate for Maggie, and from
the time the pair became close friends
at the skating rink everybody thought
it would be a match.
Byron was also Of small stature. Hc
had seen a deal of the world and was 8
ready wit, very muck of a gentleman
and exceedingly well thought Of by
the girls, as well as by the public gen,
orally. He was temperate and indus,
trious, which, taken in consideration
with the fact that he was an excellent
dispatcher, established him in the con.
tidence of both his chief and the super
intenuent of the division.
William Byron and Maggie Rey.
nolds were both graceful, finished
dancers, and, as they learned to skate
together, made the most accomplished
and disappearing couple that fire
quented the rink. They we're together
so much that the r1mor of their ell
gagement was finally accepted as 1
fact.
The rink was to close for the sum
mer with a grand masquerade ant
skating contest, numerous prizes be
ing offered. It was known;that Mag
gle and Will intended to contest fo1
the first prize, and everybody sale
they would win it. never knew the
causes which led up to a change O
This programme, but the change wa
made. and it was al expensive one-ar
least [ always thought it had a very
strong bearing on the events of the
succeeding hours.
/ am not q believer i'll premonitions
but [ can recollect very distinctly that
1 never looked upon the friendship be
tween the two with even the smallest
degree of favor, and l knew Maggie's
disposition and feared that she was
merely havinga little pastime at Wills
expense, and [ felt equally as sure thai
Will was deeply i'll love with her.
When the night for the contest final
~ arrived, tha whole town assembled
ut the rink, and from my position il
The gallery I could see every one il
the hall. Maggie had arrived, accom-
panied by her mother and brother, and
Will was on the floor q few minutes
before she arrived. She went i'm
mediately to the gallery witt
her mother, while Will remained
on the floor below, mingling with the
merry throng of maskers, and | no.
iced that he was not in his usual
spirits. He looked and acted i'll al
though he knew he was being scruti
nized. Maggie did not wear her usual
bright, happy smile, and did not act as
though she intended to skate.
AT the last moment before the con.
lest began, q well-dressed, dappel
young man, u passenger brakeman EN-.
ployed on the road, who passed &
good deal of his time in D., and
whom [ had often seen at the rink
and noticed as an excellent skater, as,
eended the gallery stairs and sought
Miss Maggie's side, and they exchanged
4 few words, and Maggie arose, accom-
panying him to the tlAr below. In {
moment they appeared together il
full view of the audience, which di
vined in q moment the meaning of the
move. Maggie and Will had quarreled
sad she was going to skate for the
prize with Mr.. Sander, for that was
the name OF the good-looking and ac
romplished young skater.
Will left the rink before the contest
was over, without exchanging a wore
with Maggie.
AS soon as I could get away from
The contest I searched for but coulc
get no trace of him. I know now thai
he did not close his eyes in sleep thai
night.
The next day was a beautiful one
When Will entered the trainmaster's
office at the depot at 8 o'clock a. M.
and relieved the man who had been OF
since midnight, he looked badly, anC
the other dispatchers noticed that ht
was nervous and unsteady. He sar
down at his table, took the key in 1
mechanical way, and commenced work
He was handling the north end of thu
line between st. Louis and D.
forty-two miles Of road.
II was a busy day. Besides the twt
Or three freight trains each way, Viii
had to handle one north-bound accom-
mediation, the south-bound through
express, and the branch mail line, ant
added to this, two work-trains wer,
put out between st. Louis and a poin
twenty-five miles south, and q shor
suburban accommodation train was or
dered on for the summer months, ant
in half an hour he had the road clea;
for the passenger trains, and brough
the new suburban out toK--, the ent
Of its run, where il was TO lie untilit