Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-11-16
A RAILROAD YARN.

Its about II years now since I han
die trains by wire, and would not go
back to it for 500 day. You have really
no idea of how 1t wears on a man. Some
stand it better than others, but 1t wrecks
every ones nerves sooner or later.
"When l was appointed night dispatch
er on this road, thought 1 was the big
gest man in Missouri. l took to smoking
10 cent cigars and wearing So hats. 1 had
a well developed case of swelled head and
showed it all over me. A few months ex-
perience with faithless operators, tricky
trainmen and arrogant superiors, however,
took the conceit out of me, and began to
realize just how big job it was to handle
heavy train wire and give satisfaction.
The fact is the man who can please all
hands has yet to be born. There are times
when some train must DO delayed, and it's
often case Of Hobson's choice. The
trainmen who wait curse tho dispatcher
into the middle Of puTgatory and back
again, and those who get advantage brag
about the run they made
lone night the road was fairly hot
with trains when | came on duty. l Won
dorcd how in thunder / should ever get
the passenger train through without de-
lay. There seemed to be train on every
side track over the whole length of the road
and moro betN cen stations. l worked like
q beaver. 1t was in the old days of what
are known rs Single orders, when each
train received a separate order, which
must be sent to each one concerned singly.
You will easily SEQ how, in the rush of
business, single order might be incor.
rectly transmitted and trains leave sta
tions under conflicting orders, which
would certainly bring them together un-
less corrected. Nowadays the most pro-
gressive roads all use orders so wordcd
that two trains or more receive them at
the same time, and thus the risk of error
is lessened. That system was hardly known
in my time, and we worked on the peril
GUS single order plan.
"A double header left the foot of the
mountain about midnight, holding an or
der giving it the right to Summit. About
80 minutes ahead of it was fast freight.
The latter had an engine numbered 427,
and the double train had engines 342 and
327. You must remember l was working
every minute trying to keep tho freights
out of the way of the night passenger
trains.
Along toward morning a train was
ready to go down tho mountain, and /
gave it an order to run wild and wait for
engine 427 at Summit. In some way OF
other the double train following slipped
my memory completely. 1 have thought
since 1 must have got mixed on tho two
numbers, 427 and 1927. At any rate, when
the operator at Summit reported the two
trains leaving, it came over me with the
suddenness and pain Of a galvanio shock
that l had given what we call lap or.
der.
Tho horrible feeling that seized me
often makes me shudder when l think OF
it now. My hand fell from tho key, limp
and nervelGss. Something seemed to cast
a blur before my eyes, so l could not read
the orders before me. The blood rushed to
my head and my temples beat like trip
hammers. But only for second. Like
a flash 1 seized the key and asked the
operator to stop the down train. 1t was
too late; it had gone. Then 1 tried to
reach the double train, but it, too, had
passed the last telegraph office, and ]
knew that no earthly power could prevent
those trains from striking, and striking
hard, for the grade is nearly 90 feet to the
mile up there.
II sent for the chief dispatcher immo-
diatoly and told him the situation. Ho
was an old hand at the business, and an
affair of this kind fretted his nerves al.
most to the point of insanity. He added
nearly 100 per cent to my agony of mind.
He would sit down and look the train
sheet over and seem to devour the fatal
orders with his eyes, then jump up with a
gesture of despair and say, BY gosh, that's
too badp Then he would pace up and
down the floor, repeating to himself:
That's too bad, too bad. They'll strike az
sure as the worldr returning always to
pore over the train sheet and order book.
l could have screamed with the awful
strain Of nervous suspense l confidently
believe that nothing but lack of courage
and the curious fascination kept me from
rushing out and jumping off the bridge
into the river, IS feet below.
II felt absolutely certain that some OF
those men would be killed. Had both
trains been single tho drivers might posi-
bly, see each others headlights in time to
| Jump, but | was sure the men on the Sec
ond engine of the double header would go
/ into the wreck all over and die as sure as
fate. 1t has become fashionable nowadays
to disbclievo in a physical hereafter.
don't know anything about that, but do
know that if mental torture be the lot of
those who sin in this life, after our ac-
counts are audited, l should prefer to take
my chances with the old fashioned style Of
punishment.
Suddenly both relays opened with a
snap The chief looked at me with per-
fectly indescribable expression and went
to the switchboard without word. We
both knew without telling what it meant
The trains had struck, and the piled up
wreckage had broken the wires down. We
tested for the break and soon located II
half way up the mountain. 1 gave up the
last particle OF hope at this and only wait
ed in kind of dull wonder to learn the
extent of tho casualty.
1.-The 35 or 40 minutes that elapsed aft
or the wire failed until we got the official
report of the accident seem to me now as
misty as a dream. 1 worked away at the
wire mechanically, guided only by the
| force of habit, and using the circuits as
they were made up by the chief. He kept
| fussing at the switchboard in perfect
misery of nervousness.
AT length the Summit operator called,
and my heart beat almost audiblya as an
swered him, for / knew from his tremu-
lous sending that he had received the re-
port l think he must have understood
my feelings, for the first words he tele-
| graphed almost crazed me with gratitude.
| RefOre spndino n line of the formal reDOTt