The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-04-17
A CORRESPONDENT.
BY f. G. WILLIAMS.


as many nights it had ragged continu-
ously. Everything was buried in a
blanket of white several feet deep, ex-
cept the lake. It's CLASSY surface had
been kept free by the sweep of the
wind; but it had not been very cold,
and, except along shore, the ice was
not thick.
Bert Hill lived on the shore of the
lake on the outskirts of Lakeview. He
was q stockily built lad of about Is,
and very fond of outdoor sports. When
not in school he was nearly always,
during daylight, rowing, fishing, swim
ming or skating, as the season per-
mitted. His great ambition was to be-
come a newspaper man. There was
village paper in Lakeview, the Courier;
but 1t was only a weekly, and Bert's
IDEAS ranged above this.
What he had in mind was place on
the staff Of some big city daily. He
felt that if he could only have a start,
he was bound to succeed. The previous
spring he had graduated from the vii
lage school with honors; during the
GUNNER he had done some odd jobs;
but there was no place for him in Lake
view which promised promotion in his
chosen line.
1t was in the early part of the even
ing ON the second day of the storm that
Bert heard of bad accident that had
occurred on the railroad line, two miles
out of Lakeyiew. The express, going
west, had encountered snowslide in
gorge and been thrown from the track.
Several people had been killed and
many others seriously hurt. An engine,
which happened 10 be on a siding at
Lakeview, was at once dispatched to
the place of the disaster with doctors
on board. And now, SO he heard, they
were bringing the dead and the injured
into the village on a couple of fat cars.
Bert dashed of to the station. Sure
enough, there they were, the injured
being made as comfortable as possible
at houses nearby, the dead intrusted to
the undertaker's care, while the re-
naming passengers were slowly being
accommodated with shelter and food
by the village folks. Bert was very
much interested, and stood listening
eagerly to the stories told by the pas
sengers. A stranger was talking to the
telegraph operator.
Cant you get word through 2" he
was asking.
Not q word" the operator answered.
"Why, the railroad people would do
anything to send a message to the city,
but the wires are down. The connec-
ton was broken half an hour before
the accident occurred"
"When will it be fixed?"
"Not before morning, at the earliest,
and perhaps not then. It's 40 miles
to the city, and the line runs through
a lot of cuts in which the snow is deep.
Wen be lucky if the wires are working
by noon.
The stranger uttered an exclamation
of anger and disgust. sand there's no
chance of getting message through
In any other way?"
The operator smiled. "You see the
condition of things" he said. "How
many people do you think would try
driving or tramping through this snow?
Berton is the nearest town, and it's
eight miles away"
The stranger turned away, lit cigar
and began to smoke savagely. Bert ap-
preached the operator, who smiled
knowingly as the boy came up.
There, Bert" he said, there's one
of your profession, and he's in bad
fix. He has an account of railroad
accident and he can't get it through to
the city. He's a member of the Globe
staff and was on the train that was
wrecked"
Z Bert was all excitement at once, and
he regarded the stranger with curiosi-
ty mixed with awe. He felt a great
sympathy for the man, too, and by and
by, plucking up courage, he walked
over and spoke to him.
tits hard luck you can't get your ac-
count through" he said.
"Yes," answered the other, moodily.
cts splendid story Iwouldn't miss
making scoop on it for $50. But it
must be in the Office by 40 tonight, or
the chance is gone"
Bert did not reply, but sat down on
the short bench beside the man and
cudgeled his brains for way out of
the difficulty. If he could only devise
some plan to help the Globe reporterl
All at once he jumped to his feet. "I'll
take that message for you and tele-
graph it to the city," he said.
The man looked at him keenly. "You
will?" he said. "How?"
''I'll take it down and across the lake
on my skates-or at least I'll try. I
can. telegraph it from Pine Bluffs if the
wires to the city aren't down there,
too"
The man slapped him on the back.
"You're trump, youngster," he ex-
"I'll have the story ready in