Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-01-18
ALL IN ONE DREAM.
WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY A MAN IN
A SHORT SPACE OF TIME.

"a Story Showing the Remarkable Swift
ness With Which the Mind Works When
1t Is Supposed to Be Taking Rest-How
Long 1t Took to Do Ten Hours Work.
A few evenings since a 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
Call representative, who narrated what
he had done in dream.
at was" said he, ''in 1868 that after
hard days work 1 reached home and
lost no time in retiring. Glancing at
the clock as turned of the gas noticed
that 1t was Just 16 minutes after mid
night.
''Shall 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, 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, I 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 terri
BILE railroad accident. There's so or go
people killed, and 1 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 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 that would have
to wait half an hour for the next boat.
The delay was vexatious, and then when
the ferryboat did move eastward it 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 team Of any kind at the
landing, so 1 had to walk to Oakland.
IA desire to make up for the time lost
urged me on, and l think the time made
from the landing to Broadway and
Washington street has never been beaten
by man. Near the corner l went into 8
livery stable and ordered pair Of horses
hitched up. There was a delay there
for the proprietor had his doubts about
the ability of the team making the trir
out and back. Finally I started, anG
the way those horses few over the road
was caution. When the scene of the
disaster, some distance beyond San LIE
andre, about IA miles from Oakland
was reached, proceeded at once tt
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 physician;
who were in attendance as to the posi-
BILE outcome in each case. Now, any oi
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 tx
them all.
/ "Then there was the obtaining Of dats
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 thil
it became part of my duty to get thC
statements of passengers, SO as to de
scribe 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 arr
the hardest kind of people to obtain fact
from.
-"Well, it took nearly three hours tx
get all the matter that was needed for
sensational article that was to appea,
under half column scare head. The1
there was the ride back to Oakland set
Element with the livery stable man, whC
swore that he would never rent team
to newspaper man again, a rush in ;
hack to the ferry landing and the trip II
this city. Without waiting to get any
thing to eat made my way to the offic,
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 woul'
make about four full columns of The Cal
of the present day and wrote that BIZ
scare head AS 1 handed the last lin
Ito the foreman to set up heaved sig
of relief and exclaimed, Thank good
ness, that's doner That is my dream.
i sat that moment I felt hand on M
shoulder, jumped from the bed an
heard my wife ask, What are yol
dreaming about? Lit the gas, locke
at the clock and discovered that it wa
171 minutes after midnight, or, in othe
words, that in my dream of less thai
two minutes l had performed all that
have related.
"I have figured on the time it woul
take me to do what did in that drear
and find that it could not be done in les
than 10 hours under the most favorabl
circumstances. San Francisco Call
Snontnne0us Enthusiasm.