The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-09-17
A QUEEN OF THE KEY.
How Helen Ransom Saved Train Load
of Passengers on The Columbia
Port Deposit Railroad.

| uo" IkhnsOh Sattu u LOht
of Passengers on The Columbia &
Port Deposit Railroad.
! Of the many professions open tc
the fair sex there is none that so per.
sistently calls for members as that o
telegraphy. There are, OF course,
many lady telegraph operators, bu,
there is also constant demand fol
their service. 1t is we'll known
fact that lady telegrapher can get
work even in the dullest times and
when the best men in that profession
have been turned away with the
notice that work is dull and no new
men are wanted. One fact that
accounts for this state of affairs is
the salaries paid lady operators. For
instance, man becomes proficient
enough to earn $50 a month /; a lady
becomes equally adept, but instead
of $50 she will be given S35 month.
One of the strange things in con-
nection with the fair sex and teIe-
graphy is the fact that really first
class lady operators can be counted
on the fingers Of ones hand, taking
the country oyer. But two can be
recalled who are working on a press
circuit, one little lady is serving on
one of the New England circuits and
the other at Columbus, Ohio, on the
western circuit. Whether it is 2
loss of the nerve power that accounts
for this state of affairs it would be
hard to say, but it Is nevertheless
true that to find lady telegrapher
earning salary over $50 month is
indeed rarity.
One of the greatest drawbacks to
ladies becoming first. class tele-
graphers lies in the fact that an offer
of marriage coming from one OF her
colaborers of the opposite sex, If he,
be at all bright and good looking, is
hard matter to refuse, and as a
consequence vacancy in the force
takes place. When one of the fair
sex first enters the telegraph field
the excitement and novelty of her
position gives her additional strength
but as the glamor wears off and she
recognizes the fact that 1t is hard to
climb the telegraphic ladder of fame,
then it is that a proposal of marriage
comes in the nature of providen-
tial interposition.
Many very good stories are told
OF bravery displayed by lady tele-
graphers in the far west, who while
on duty have saved trains from be-
ing wrecked or rescued railroad
employees from perilous positions
Helen Ransom's daring piece OF
bravery on a railroad that runs
through Lancaster county will match
any of them wherein GOODNESS and
nerve are considered.
Miss Ransom was the telegraph
operator and station agent on the
Columbia & Port Deposit line. This
road hugged the banks of the Sus.
quehanna river from end to end and
there wasn't spot on the entire
division OF forty miles that it wasn't
almost sure death to the train hands
for a train to leave the rails. Wrecks
occurred on an average of once a
week and were always followed by
several fatalities. The station she
was located at was near immense
limestone quarries wherein some
half hundred Italians were employ
ed. About 100 yards above the
station was a hundred foot trestle
spanning small stream at ordinary
times, but on the day in question
greatly swollen and very swift as il
emptied into the river at that point
A blast had just been fired of un
usual force and an immense rocl
landed directly on the trestle, taking
it apart in the center, the swift water
washing away the debris and leaving
a gap in the rails of about twenty
FIVE feet. The river was very high
at that point and the small boat:
that were handy could not be pro
PEELED against the swift current. The
nearest bridge on the little stream
over which the trestle was stretched
was some three miles distant. Mis-
Ransom saw the mischief done by
the rock and Immediately rushed
out and told the superintendent o
the Italian gang to send man or g
himself around the wreck and stoI
a train that was due from the nortl
in about halt an hour. The super
intendent was an Italian, with
smattering of English, but whit
failed entirely to see the gravity c
|. the situation. The only wire tha
ran along the road had been stretch
ed on the trestle for economy's SAX
, and had been broken with tn
trestle, so that no communicated
with the north could be had. Mis-
Ransom tried to tell the Italian tn
true situation, but he only smile