The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-12
rHErRAlN DIsPArcHER's MISTAKE
How the Accident Affected One OF the
Men About Whom Little Is Heard
Erolll fhe Neir York Epanfnl SIN

office at X had been painfully quiet
II was shortly after midnight and all the
wires on the eastern and western divisions
were momentarily stilled. A depressed
feeling had freighted the atmosphere in
the office all the evening. IL had affected
every one. Even the wires appeared to suf-
fer from II. When the saunders began to
rattle OFF los, o. os,n which prepared the
dispatchers for the report Of some train
passing PARKWAY station, they sounded
frightfullv loud. Several times Dispatcher
de Forest had shu1dered and screwed down
the armature Of his instrument so that it
would not make 50 much noise.
At 12:15 O'Clock the deep stiffness Of the
room, only broken by the slow monotOnous
ticking of the clock by which the watches of
all the employees Of the road were regulated
once a day, echoed with the words of the
telegraph. The operator at F. reported
TO Dispatcher dc Forest that Conductor
McGill of extra 100, loaded with fresh beef
bound east. wanted to know if he could
have ten minutes on the time of No. 1, the
west-bound night express, to make j.
"Old 10 just needs a little shaking up, Nc
Gill says, to take the kinks out of its joints"
the operator added.
De Forest cast his eye down upon his
train sheet, which told him ct q glance
where every train upon the road was Then
he looked at the clock. j was fifteen
miles from F.. If he did not allow Nc
Gill to use ten minutes of the express trains
time the meat train would surely be delayed
ror an hour or more. all the dispatchers
had orders from the superintendent to give
the meat trains as much show as possible,
the road being bound by contract TO get
them through in specified time. So De
Forest sent the the following official order:
To Conductor and Engineer Extra 100:
East-bound extra No. one hundred 400 has
until twelve fifty Q2;5O) a. m. 20 make j
against west. bound No. one ~.
Conductor McGilI signed the order and
the operator at F. repeated it back ac-
cording to the custom. Dispatcher de
Forest 20 K'd" 1t. A minute or two later
the operator at p said "Os" three times
to attract De Forests attention. and then
reported that extra 100 arrived at 12:l0 q.
m. aud departed at 1916.
The dispatcher jotted down the time
upon the train sheet and then began calling
the operator at r, three stations east Of
j, where the extra freight had orders to
run. He wanted to send the duplicate of
the order to the express train 30 that it
would wait at j for the freight. The
operator at T did not answer, and after
a moment or more of steady calling De
Forest stopped. Dispatcher st. John, who
worked the second trick from 3 o'clock D.
IN. to IL o'clock p. m. was i'll, aud his work
had fallen upon his two colleagues. And
then, to make matters worse, Dispatcher
Thatcher had been taken suddenly i'll early
in the forenoon and De Forest was got out
of bed to keep the road from get
ting clogged up. There were three
other dispatchers in the office, but
they kept the western division of the road
in operation. They were not familiar with
the eastern division. and consequently were
of no use. This necessitated De Forests
turning out. He had sat at the desk since
early in the morning, and with the terrible
strain of the position was in no condition
for duty that night. So when he
failed to raise the dispatcher at
T he dropped his head and stared at
the train sheet on the desks before
him. He was not asleep, but there was a
temporary lapse in his mind. The night ex
press had passed D, and the operator
there had reported it, This made it abso-
lutely necessary 20 get the orders to r
before it ran that station, as there was no
other telegraph office between that point
and j, where the freight was to meet it,
open at night.
Dispatcher de Forest sat motionless at
his desk, while the big clock licked off the
seconds loudly. Finally the eastern wire
opened.
'Os, os, os. No. passed on time TT
said the sounder slowly.
De Forest Strengthened up in his chair,
his face wearing an expression startling and
wild. He reached for the key of the instru-
ment, and his fingers played upon it as he
asked the operator at T to repeat the
report There had been no mistake. De
Forest jumped from his chair with cry
Up and down the office ne walked, wiring
ing his hands and sobbing:
my God, what have done, what have I
done?"
Intuition gave every one else in the office
an idea of what had happened. None of
them asked him. They merely gathered
around the table and glanced at the train
sheet and then at the book which contained
copies Of the train orders. One look told
the story. De Forest continued to pace the
room, crying as If his heart would break
and glancing at the big clock at each turn.
The night was thick and black. IL was
perfectly plain that only a miracle could
prevent the heavy meat train, running on
last time, and the flying night express from
clashlng together. If the operator at F.
had reported McGill's departure correctly,
the others in the room heard De Forest ar
gulng out loud, the two trains would meet
on the flats several miles west of j. The
engineers might catch glimpse Of the APP
pearing headlights, which upon a single
track are indicative Of danger in time to
prevent a frightful accident.
But the chances were that McGill had not
pulled out of F. for FIVE or ten minutes
after he was reported. That was common
thing when the operators and trainmen
were on friendly terms. 1t was called
Stealing time" While the officials knew
that 1t existed, they could never charge it,
because the trainmen protected the oper.
ators If they failed to make their runs
quickly enough. In such an event as that
The conductor would report to the dis
patcher that he had been detained by hot
Oox, or some other imaginary trouble.
McGlll had stolen any time De Forest
knew that the town trains would meet on
the curve few miles west without mo-
nents warning. Nothing could save them
In such an event.
Dispatcher de Forest continued to pace
up and down the Office, his eyes fixed upon
the clock aud his mind upon the accident
mat ne felt must happen. He did not pay
tne slightest attention to his colleagues in
the room. He talked to himself, tracing
ene Two trains rushing on to their doom in
the darkness.
There goes Mccall" he said, in tones that
maze the others SILVER; there goes McGill
uo"n the grade on this side of Calico juno
S,on. Bill Browns got old 10 wide open.
uG1, Du5 how he'll sail across the latsm
DeForest glanced at the clock again. Il
was l2;40 He sighed heavily and continued
~, Look at No. 1 sailing through j.
WY She should stopl But ir won't
matter, Everybody knows enough to keep
OUT of her way"