Griggs courier., 1893-09-29
ALL IN ONE DREAM.
WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY A MAN IN
b. A SHORT SPACE OF TIME.

ness With Which the Mind Works when
1t Is Supposed to BE Taking Eest-How
Long It Tcok to Dn Ten uou~s' Work.
A few evenings since q number OF
newspaper men were In an Office await
ing the arrival of q gentleman who was
to cal together meeting tina. they had
oeen directed 10 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 We're given. but the one that
attracted the most attention was that of
I. Call representative. who narrated what
he had done il dream.
1T yas." said he, in 1868 that after
hard days work l reached home and
lost no time in retiring. Glancing at
the clock as l turned off the gas noticed
that it was just Is minutes after mid
night.
Shall tell you at this poins how long
l was dreaming or tell first what l did
in my dream? That you all may better
appreciate what was done. viii defer
the matter until tie cad. Gear in mind
that what is to be told was all n the
dream. Seated in the old Office OF Corn
,nercial street, above Montgomery. ! was
endeavoring to put into prese,table
shape the facts of Il trial that had ra:en
place II the district court. when in came
E. n. Rockwell, who was the chief ed
itorial writer. and calling H.c by n;,sae
sa;sj 'Ic-;. la,l better get ready and 20
to Sam Lcandro. There's been a ter:i-
bla railroad accident. There's 80 OF 50
people killed, and / don't know hcw
many injured. George L. Dal;os. It
t!lac time esc Of the pcpv:ie;ors anl
managing editors, i4t;si overheard Roc,
we'll and i'll Shat quiet "'ay Of his aj;:;-
:,ested that ll9 time be lost in reaching
Oakland. and saere procuring a bu@g,
and Il pair OF h3rses. to go 10 San Lean
dro or W.!o-vy.r The accident was.
Rushing, down 10 the ferry landing
at the cornerof Pacific and / vis streets. /
| reached there il. time 10 ind that the
steamer fo,' ne her 81 I. Gt the bay had
just pulled outx,anl that | wuUld have
to wait half ;n 1our fur the next boat (
The delay was ve~&tious. a,.I then when
the ferry boat t,illinove o,.s.wardit SEEM !
ed as if she woules never make her land
ing. she seemed ~ he going 50 slowly !
" hen the slip cG the other side was
reached. there T:.s some @vci,tent to tie
local train. and t.:sge WIS not any pro-
spect Of starting !,nr all hour or more I
There WAS not a team Of aisy- kind at the
landing. So had to. walk to Oakland
"A desire tc lnal;;s- ny for :he time loss !
urged me Oh, and J! .hink the time made
from the landing so Broadway and
Washington street has never been beaten
by man. Near tle. sorner Went into a
livery stable and ordsred q pair of horses
hitched up. There was delay there,
for the proprietor had his doubts about
the ability OF the team making the trip
out and back. Finally l started. and
the way those horses. dew over the road
was caution. When the scene of the
disaster. some distance beyond San Le-
andre. about IA miles from Oakland,
was reached, l psDesaded at once to
gather the facts.
Down on the notebook We're penciled
the names Of 30 odd Anen. women and
children who had either been killed out
right OF burned to death in some of the
cars which h;sa caught fire. Then fol-
lowed the names OF about 30 who had
been injured. description of their in
juries and the opinions of the physicians
who We're in attendance rs to the posi-
bic outcome in each case. Now. any of
you who have had experience in gather
ing information Of shat 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 We're
we'll known residents of this city. others
were from San Jose, so it became neces-
sary to obtain enough to give each de-
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 vent over ON its side down 4
little gully and he 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
sensational article that was to appear
under half column scare head. Then
there was the ride back to Oakland set
tle1nent with the livery stable man. who
swore that he would never rent seam
to a newspaper man again, a rush in a
hack to the ferry landing and the trip to
this city. Without waiting to get any
thing to eat made my way to the Office
and at onae commenced to write up. tell
ing every one who came to ask for de-
tails to let me alone. did not write in
copper plate style, and for that matter
never did, but wrote and kept on writ
ing until had enough to fill what would
make about four full columns of The Call
OF the present day and Wrote that big
scare head. AS | handed the last line
to the foreman to set up heaved a sigh