Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-01-23
WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY A MAN m
A SHORT SPACE or TIME.

A story Showing the Remarkable Swift
ness with which the Mind Works when
u Is Supposed to be Taiins a Bost-How
Long It Took to DO Ten Hours Work.
A few evenings since a number Of
newspaper men were in an Office await
ing the arrival Of a gentleman who was
to call together a meeting that they had
been directed to report for their respec-
tive papers.
A number r. 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
ne had done in o dream.
1T was" said he, Gin 1868 that after
q hard days work / reached home and
lost nc time in retiring. CHANGING at
the clock as turned off the gas I noticed
that it was Just 10 minutes after mid
night.
Shall / tell you at this point how long
| was dreaming or tell first what l did
In my dream? That you all may better
appreciate what was done, / will 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
en%deavoring to put into presentable
shape the facts Of a trial that had taken
place in the district court, when in came
L. 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 90 OF 60
people killed, and / don't know how
many injured George E. Barnes, at
that time n 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 a 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 hat l 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 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 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 l went into a
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 l started, and
the way those horses flew over the road
was a caution. When the scene Of the
disaster, some distance beyond San LIE.
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 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 posi-
BILE outcome in each case. Now, any Of
you who have had experience in gather.
ing information Of hat 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 tx
them all.
"Then there was the obtaining of data
about the dead. Anumber Of them wer,
well known residents of this city, other,
were from San Jose, so it became neces
sary to obtain enough to give each a de
cent obituary notice. In addition to thiI
it became a part Of my duty to get th'
statements of passengers, so as to de
sci1be their feelings when the train de
rallied and went over on its side down
little gully and be able to write up thu
narrow or fortunate escape of each
Then there were railroad officials to in
terview, and, AS you all know, they ar
the hardest kind of people to obtain fact
from.
"Well, it took nearly three hours t
get all the matter that was needed for
sensational article that was to appea
under a half column scare head. Thel
there was the ride back to Oakland set
Element with the livery stable man, VIII
swore that he would never rent a team
to a newspaper man again, a rush in
hack to the ferry landing and tie trip t
this city. Without waiting to get any
thing to eat / made my way to the ofic
and at once commenced to write up, tel
ing every one who came to ask for do
tails to let me alone. / did not write i
copper plate style, and for that matter
never did, BIT / wrote and kept on writ
ing until / had enough to fiji what woul
make about four full columns of The Ca.
of the present day and wrote that bi
scare head. AS | handed the last lin
to the foreman to set up heaved a sig
of relief and exclaimed, Thank gooC
ness, that's doner That is my dream.
"At that moment felt a hand On m
shoulder. jumped from the bed an
r heard my wife ask, What are 20
dreaming about? lit the gas, locke
at the clock and discovered that it VIZ
III minutes after midnight, or, in 9th,
D words, that in my dream Of less tina
two minutes l had performed all that
have related.
D II have f. lred on the time it woul
Q take mo TO d whit l did in that dreal