Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-11-22
get no trace of him. know now that
ne did not close his eyes in sleep that

WI euGere0 the tralnmaSter'S
ONCE at the depot at 8 o'clock a. M.
ana relieved the man who had been on
since midnight, he looked badly, and
ehe other dispatchers noticed that he
was nervous and unsteady. He sat
oown at his table, took the kew in q
mechanical way, and commenced work.
!, ne was handling the north end of the
me between st. Louis and D.
1orty two miles of road.
1t was busy day. Besides the two
or three freight trains each way, Will
nad to handle. one north-bound accom-
mediation, the south-bound through
express, and the branch mail line, and
added to this, two work-trains were
put out between st. Louis and a point
twenty-five miles SOUTH and short
suburban accommodation train was or
dered on for the summer months. and
IN half an hour he had the road clear
1or the passenger trims. and brought
the new suburban out to K, the end
OF its run, where it was to lie until its
return at noon.
At this juncture the Division Super
lntendent was notified that the Gen
eral Superintendent was coming out
over the road in his special car, ac-
companied by two New York railway
kings, one of whom had his son along.
The Superintendent said he would be
ready to leave st. Louis at 8 o'clock,
and wanted to run regardless of ali
other trains. The Division Superin-
tendent turned to Will, saying:
Byron, the Superintendent, wants
to leave st. Louis at 8 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
schedule, so you can run him down
this far by wire. Give him a good
run"
1t was 10 little work to rearrange
the time of all trains between the two
points, but Will soon had everything
open SO that he could come right
through.
The arrangement was no sooner
made than the Superintendent sent q
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. It required
careful, level-headed work, and it was
done.
At 10 o'clock the Superintendent
again changed his leaving time to IL
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 II o'clock. The Superintendent
private car carried the two millionaires
and 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 k, where the
suburban accommodation, north bound,
was due to leave at noon, at just about
the same hour-possibly few minutes
after - o'clock. Following the ser
pentine curves of the track along the
river bank, the special bounded on it's
way.
Two miles north Of k was the
M River, which was bridged by the
railway It was small stream, only
about two hundred feet wide. On the
south bank, nearest to K, was u switch
and a small station, at which an oper-
ator was not regularly stationed. The
little station was known as. W.. The
bridge was put at the confluence of the
small stream with the mighty Missis-
sippi. Coming on to the bridge from
the north the tracks rounded precipi-
tous bluff with sharp curve: SO that to
a south bound train the bridge was out
OF sight until the locomotive was al
most upon it.
With the intention of making W
meeting point for the north-bound
suburban and south bound special, by
giving the suburban the siding, Will
called up k, and gave the en-
gineer of the suburban orders to leave
on time. On that fatal day there was
no operator at W. OF course the
suburban would stop at W, but it
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. I"
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 at W that day.
He received no answer to his call.
Time was precious. He called again,
and received no answer.
whats the matter with W." he
asked. II can't raise him, and if he
don't come to his key before the sub
! urban reaches him, there will be a col
lision with the Superintendent's spe-
cial."
"There is no operator at W - to-
day." answered the trainmaster, who
had just entered the room.
"My God! then they will meet on
the bridge, and nothing can prevent
it,"
A ghastly pallor came over Willis
face. and he sank back in his chair in
a dead faint. The trainmaster took
the key, and Will was carried into the
next room and revived with cold water.
They kept him close in the superi!n-
tendent's room, and would tell him
nothing save that the wreck was not
very bad.
r. L 1;,oc Tho con of the