The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-10-23
ALL N ONE DREAM.
WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY \ MAN 81
4 SHORT SPACE OF TINE.


It's Supposed TO he Taking T;est-Hos
Long 1t Took to DO Ten Hours Work.
\ few evenings since a number o.
newspaper men were in an Office await
ing the arrival OF q gentleman who was
70 call together a meeting that they had
been directed 20 report for their respec-
tive papers.
y number Of topics was discussed,
and one Of these was dreams and the
extreme rapidly with which mental
operations are performed. y number Of
experiences were given, but the one that
attracted the most attention was that Of
Call representative, who narrated what
he had done in a dream.
1T was" said he. Sin 1868 that after
a hard days work 1 reached home and
lost no time in retiring. CHANGING ct
the clock as I turned of the gas noticed
that it was just 10 minutes after mid
night.
Shall l tell you at this point how long
| was dreaming or tell first what did
in my dream? That you all may better
appreciate what was done, l viii 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, l 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 so or 60
people killed, and / don't know how
many injured George L. 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 out, and that l would have
to wait half an hour for the next boat.
The delay was vexatious, and then when
the ferryboat did move eastward ii SEEM
ed as if she would never make her land
ing, she seemed to be going so 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 a team of any kind at the
landing. so 1 had to walk to Oakland.
"a desire to make up 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
livery stable and ordered a pair of horses
hitched up. There was a delay there,
for the proprietor had his doubts about
the ability Of the team making the trip
out and back. Finally | started, and
the way those horses few over the road
was a caution. When the scene of the
disaster, some distance beyond San Lee
andre, about IA miles from Oakland,
was reached, l proceeded at once to
gather the facts.
Down on the notebook were penciled
the names of 30 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-
been injured, description of their in
juries and the opinions Of the physicians |
who were in attendance as to the posi- |
BILE outcome in each case. Now, any of |
you who have had experience in gather |
ing information of that kind can fully |
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. A number 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 a de-
cent obituary notice. In addition to this
it became part of my duty to get the
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
-erview, and, as you all know, they are
he hardest kind Of people to obtain facts
rom.
We'll, it took nearly three hours to
get all the matter that was needed for a
sensational article that was to appear
lnder half column scare head. Then
here was the ride back to Oakland set
lement with the livery stable man, who
wore that he would never rent team
% newspaper man again, a rush in a
lack to the ferry landing and the trip to
his city. Without waiting to get any
hing to eat made my way to the Office
md at once commenced to write up, tell
ng every one who came to ask for de-
ails to let me alone. l did not write IN
Upper plate style, and for that matter 1
lever did, but wrote and kept on writ
ng until had enough to fill what would !
make about four full columns of The Call
f the present day and wrote that big
care head. As l handed the last line |
0 the foreman to set up l heaved sigh |
f relief and exclaimed, Thank good
less, that's doner That is my dream.
''At that moment l felt hand on my
boulder, jumped from the bed and
card my wife ask. What are you
roaming about? I lit the gas, looked
I the clock and discovered that it was
II minutes after midnight, or, in other t
lords, that in my dream Of less than
wo minutes I had performed all that I
ave related.
81 have figured on the time it would
AXE me TO DO what did in that dream
nd find that it could not be done in less