The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-10-05
ALL In ONE DREAM.
WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY A MAN IN
A SHORT SPACE OF TIME.

mess with Which the Mind Works When
Tt In Supposed to- Be Taking Rest-How
Long 1t Took to DO Ten Hours Work.
A few evenings since q number OF
newspaper men were in an Office await
ing the arrival of gentleman who was
TO call together meeting that they had
been directed to report for their respec-
tive papers.
A number of topics was discussed,
and one Of these was dreams and the
extreme rapidity with which mental
operations are performed. A number of
experiences were given, but the one that
attracted the most attention was that of
a Call representative, who narrated what
he had done in q dream.
1T was" said he, 'in 1868 that after
n hard days work I reached home and
lost no time in retiring Glancing at
the clock as turned of the gas noticed
that it was just 18 minutes after mid
night.
Shall tell you at this point how long
was dreaming or tell first what I did
in my dream? That you all may better
appreciate what was done, win defer
the matter until the end. Bear In mind
that what Is to be told was all In the
dream. Seated in the old Office on Com
mercial street, above Montgomery, / was
endeavoring to put into presentable
shape the facts of trial that had taken
place In the district court, when in came
E. A. Rockwell, who was the chief ed
itorial writer, and calling me by name
said: You had better get ready and go
to San Leandro. There's been a terri
BILE railroad accident. There's 80 or 60
people killed, and | don't know how
many injured George E. Barnes, at
that time one of the proprietors and
managing editors. had overheard Rock
well, and in that quiet way of his sug-
gested that no time be lost in reaching
Oakland, and there procuring a buggy
and pair of horses, to go to San Lean
dro or wherever the accident was.
Rushing down to the ferry landing
at the corner of Pacific and Davis streets,
reached there in time to find that the
steamer for the other side of the bay had
just pulled ont, and that / would have
to wait half an hour for the next boat.
The delay was vexatious, and then when
the ferryboat did move eastwardit SEEM
ed as il she would never make her land
ing, she seemed to be going 80 slowly.
When the slip on the other side was
reached, there was some accident to the
local train, and there was not any pro-
spect of starting for an hour or more
There was not q team Of any kind at the
landing, so had to walk to Oakland.
"a desire to make mp for the time lost
urged me On, and / think the time made
from the landing to Broadway and
Washington street has never been beaten
by man. Near the corner ] went into a
livery stable and ordered q pair OF horses
hitched up. There was O delay there,
for the proprietor had his doubts about
the ability OF the team making the trip
ont and back. Finally started, and
the way those horses few over the road
was caution. When the scene of the
disaster, some distance beyond San Le-
andre, about IA miles from Oakland,
was reached, proceeded mt once to
gather the facts.
Down on the notebook were penciled
the names of 80 odd men, women and
children who had either been killed out
right or burned to death in some of the
cars which had caught fire. Then fol-
lowed the names of about 40 who had
been injured, a description Of their in
Juries and the opinions of the physicians
who were in attendance as to the possi-
bic outcome in each case. Now, any Of
you who have had experience in gather
ing information of that kind can fully
appreciate that it was not child's play,
for the injured were in different places,
and it required time to get around to
them all.
Then there was the obtaining of data
about the dead. Anumber of them were
well known residents Of this city, others
were from San Jose, so it became neces-
sary to obtain enough to give each de-
cent obituary notice. In addition to this
it became part of my duty to get the
statements of passengers, so as to de-
scribe their feelings when the train de-
rallied and went over on its side down a
little gully and be able to write up the
narrow or fortunate escape of each.
Then there were railroad officials to in
terview, and, as you all know, they are
the hardest kind of people to obtain facts
from
We'll, it took nearly three hours to
get all the matter that was needed for a
sensational article that was to appear
under half column scare head. Then
there was the ride back to Oakland set
tlement with the livery stable man, who
swore that he would never rent team
10 a newspaper man again, rush in D
hack to the ferry landing and the trip te
this city. Without waiting to get any
thing to eat made my way to the Office
and at once commenced to write up, tell
ing every one who came to ask for de
tails to let me alone / did not write il
copper plate style, and for that matter
never did, but / wrote and kept on writ
ing until ] had enough to fill what wouli
make about four full columns of The Cal
,of the present day and wrote that bi,
scare head. AS / handed the last lin,