St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-23
ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

Monthly.
| had been travelling all the afternoon.
and it was with q feeling of disgust that
alighted at the little station of D.,
where | must wait five hours for the
train to take me to the city. There was
no one in the station but the station
master, and as misery loves company we
were soon OH friendly terms.
As the evening wore OH L occupied
myself in examining the railway maps
and i'm finishing novel which pur-
chased that afternoon on the train. AT
about II o'clock heard the dull pun
of a freight engine approaching in the
distance.
Louder and louder the noise became, |
Until, suddenly. with glare from
the headlight the great locomotive
Numbered by the little window, and i'll
a moment the train rolled away iii the
direction from which had come lew
hours before.
Silence again fell upon us. We con-
tinued our talk, interspersed now and
then with moments of quietneSS, broken
only by the frequent clicking of the tel
egraph instrument on the table under
the window.
At last finished my novel, and again
sat idly tossing about my watch charm.
The stationmaster sat opposite me with
his feet on the edge of the telegraph
table. while he careleSsly ran over the
columns of a newspaper. was on the
point of making some remark when sud
denly there came sharp clicking OF the
| instrument.
NV companion sprang to the table and
answered the call. Instantly l saw that
something unusual had happened. AS
| the little brass key clicked off the mes
| sage | saw the station masters face
| grow white, then livid. He rose quickly
| from his chair. placed his hands over
! his eyes. and almost shouted: "My
! Godl What have | dOne"'
| sprang to his side, asking him what
was the trouble. He rudely pushed me
away, and with a look which / shall
never forget, fairly yelled: Don't
speak to me! Don't speak to men
Then he sank into the chair, with his
hands convulsively grasping the arms.
But it was only for moment.
| Quickly gathering himself, he drew up
to the table, and then followed some of
the most exciting moments that l have
ever experienced.
Wondering what it all meant, yet
realizing that something must have
occurred i'll which he was an important
factor [ closely fixed my eyes upon
him. No sound save the spasmOdic
| ticking of the machine and the heavy
breathing of its operator was audible.
He sat bolt upright in his chair his
left hand on the arm, his right busy
with the key His eyes were riveted on
the table before him. For minute he
was busy with his message, and then,
silence. And what silence! Not
muscle moved, not a sound could be
heard. Even the agents breathing had
stopped.
He watched his machine with the
gaze of lynx. | stood behind him, my
heart throbbing with anxiety and fear:
At last, after a silence which seemed
! ages, the machine began to click. L
watched him while the message came
forth from the wires. 1t was, evidently,
a satisfactory reply, for he did not APP
pear more agitated.
Then the machine stopped. He rose
from his chair and came toward Inc. 1t
needed no words to tell me that he Suf-
fered during those five minutes. Great
drops of sweat rolled down his cheeks.
HIS hands shook with anxiety. Placing
them both on my shoulders, he ad-
dressed me thus in hurried and i'm
FASHIONED voice:
II don't wonder that you're surprised
heaven knows that 1 was aWfully
frightened-but LISTEN: l got orders
this afte. noon to stop the freight train
! which Just went by here on our turnout.
j / was to detain it until the Boston eX-
press should arrive and then allow 1t to
20 on. But somehow or other L forgot
the order, as you know, and didn't think
about it till few minutes ago.
Soon after it went heard from b,
two stations above here, SayilT' that the
express had Just left there for this sta
ton. You see, it doesn't stop at A,
the one between here and b. That
message reminded me of my mistake,
and now the express and freight have
both been running toward. the same
station. If the express had arrived
there first, and left before the freight
got there, or they had not received my
message, thrn-then-"
He paused in his rapid talk and said
in all awful voice: Then there'd have
been collision and I'd be to blame.
But God knows that | didn't mean to
forget to obey that order!' said he, i'm
pulsively.
There was only one thing to be done
telegraph to A, telling them to to
hold over the train that had arrived
there first. That did. For five min
utes, as you saw, waited in mortal
agony for the answer to that message.
1t came Just now. Said that neither
train had arrived, and that they'd hold
over the one that got there first. So,
thank God. l was not too late. and
everything is all right"
He sank into chair and folded his
arms on his breast. Hardly had he done
this, when the ticker began again. He
read the message, and then, as the
clicking stopped. he bowed his head on
his hands and sODbed aloud. The mes
sage was: Have stopped expires here
will hold over as directed"
The Boston train reached D. half
an hour late, by reason of the stopover
at A. Bidding my friend good
night, who was now completely Gained
down, l boarded the sleeper and soon
went rolling toward life and civilization
Two weeks later / came across a
country paper from the vicinity in
! which my adventure with the ticket
agent took place, and l noticed this
article:
"Much to the surprise of his friends,
John Huss, the popular and trusted
station master of D., last week re-
signed his position. and has now, we
, learn, removed to New York. We wish
him much IcceSS i'll his new quarters"