The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-13
TILE DISPATCHER

back to il fpr 800 day. You have really
no idea Of how it wears on a man. Some
stand it better than others, but it wrecks
every ones nerves sooner Or later.
When 1 was appointed night dispatch
er on this road, thought was the big
gest man in Missouri / took TO smoking
15 cent cigars and wearing IS hats. bad
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 a 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 be delayed, and 1t S
often a case of Hobson's choice. The
trainmen who wait curse the dispatcher
into the middle Of purgatory 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. i wondered
how in thunder should ever get the pas
eengcr train through without delay. There
seemed TO lie a train on every side track
over the whole length of the road and
moro between stations. worked like
ptaESl ~ vas AL too OiN ecys u 'D~~ N~N
known as single orders, when each
train received separate order, which must
be sent to each one concerned singly. You
will easily see how in the rush of business
a single order might be incorrectly trans
mitted and trains leave stations under
conflicting orders, which would certainly
bring them together unless corrected.
Nowadays the most progressive roads all
use orders Sc worded 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 tine,
and we worked on the perilous single or
der plan.
"A double header left the foot OF the
mountain about midnight, holding an or
der giving it the right TO Summit. Abont
b minutes ahead of 1t was a fast freight.
The latter had an engine numbered 4s7,
and the double train had engines 342 and
327 You must remember was working
every minute trying to keep the freiShts
out of the way of the night passenger
trains.
along toward morning n train was
ready to go DOWN the mountain, and :
gave the order to run wild and wait for
engine 427 at Summit. In some way or
other the double train following slipped
my memory completely. l have thought
since l must have got mixed on the two
numbers, 427 and 327. At any rate, when
the operator at Summit reported the two
trains leaving, it came over me With the
suddenness and pain Of galvanic shock
that l had given what we call a lap order
THE horrible feeling that seized me
often makes me shudider when think Of
it now. My hand fell from the key, limp
and nerveless. Something seemed TO cast
blur before my eyes SO l could not read
the orders before me. The blood rusheu 10
my head, and my temples beat like TIP
hammers. But only for a second. Like
flash / seized the key and asked the oper-
ator to stop the down train. 1t was TOO
late. It had gone Then l tried TO reach
the double train, but it, too, had passed:
the last telegraph office, and l knew no
earthly power could prevent those trains
from striking hard, far the grade is nearly
90 feet to the mile up there.
Il sent for the chief dispatcher immedl-
ately and told him the situation he was
an old hard at the business, and an ALTAR
of this kind fretted his nerves almost to
tho point OF insanity. He added nearly
100 per cent to my agony of mind lie
would sit down and look the train sheet
OVef ana seem I'd O6NOuE tnt
with his eyes, then jump up with ses-
ture of despair and say, BY gosh, that
too bad Then he would pace up and
down the floor, repeating to himself:
That's too bad, too bad They'll strike
rs sure as the world, returning always to
pore over Tie train sheet and order book
/ 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 into the river,
20 feet below.
II felt absolutely certain that some OF
those men would be killed. Had both
trains been single the drivers might posi-
bly, sea 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 IS
fate. It has become fashionable nowadays
to dtsceheve in a physical hereafter. l
don't know anything about that but Go
knew that il 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 q
snap. The chief looked ut Inc with per-
fectly Understandable expression and went
to the switchboard without word. We
both knew without telling what IL meant
The trains had struck. aad the piled up
wreckage had broken the wires down. We
tested fof the break and soon located is
half way 1r the mountain. / gave up the
last particle OF h1pe az this, and only
waited in kind of dull wonder TO learn
the extent of the casualty.
The 80 er~i6minutes that elapsed after
the wire failed until we got the official re-
port Of the accident seem TO me NOW as
misty Is dream. l worked away at tho
wire mechanically, guided only by the
= force of habit, snd using the circuits as
they were mado up By the chief. He kept
fussing as the switchboard In a perfect
misery of nervousness.
AT length the Summit operator called,
and my heart beat almost audibly as 1 an
swered him, for l knew from his trem-
ulous sending that he had received the re-
port. think he must have undsrstdbd my
feelings. for the first words he telegraphed
almost crazed me with qualification. Be
fore sending line OF the formal report he
told me, There's nobody hurtf l gave up
rjRht then and there and said: Mr.. H.,
you'll have to take the rest of this report
can't and xeG up and wens home
1T seems the engineer had seen the
headiieht ana jumped. and the men ON the
first engine Of the double header, after Civ
ing a sharp whistle for brakes, shrieked to
the following crew to jump and kept on
shrieking after they struck the ground ana
until the engine passed them. The warn
Ill hnr d. fr.et