The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-02-14

|
and before the roadmaster could stay
him the fearless iagman swung hInself
round and dropped from the train. BY
the time he had regained his feet and
found his flag the light engine, utter,ng
wild shrek, dashed by him. The en-
gineer, to avoid running by red dag,
turned his face to the fireman's side and
refused to see the danger signal. Now
he was near enough to whistle the other
engines "down" and the engine men
pulling the passenger train shut off, and
when the driver of the light engine saw
a chimney of white steam shoot up from
each of the forward locomotives, he
knew they had quit and slowed his own
machine accordingly. When they had
come up to the train the operator ran TO
the rear OF Nos, shouted, Lap order,
back up," and hurried over to the head
end. The roadmaster reached for the
rome and signaled the engineers to back
up.
The drivers opened their throttles and
whistles and began to jam the train
back.
! The driver of the light engine reversed
at once upon dropping the operator, pick
ed up the flagman and was now backing
Z
/ His fireman, still at the switch, let him
i in ON the siding No s dropped i'm after
him, and just as the operator and con-
I ductor had forced the stubborn rails
:. back to the marin line, the presidents
Especial crashed over the switch.
!. Not soul ON board the special knew
I7low near they had been to death. Their
orders read to meet No. at West
! q, 81, SD 10 piv0
Just as the daring driver of the special
engine had expected to find her.
j THE conductor of No. s, with his two
engineers, the roadmaster and operator,
wasted five minutes reading checking,
comparing and examining the orders they
Ehad received. They were all signed ST.
H. c." by the trainmaster himself. The
thing was plain--he had given lap order,
but had discovered his mistake in time,
by the fortune that had left the light
engine at Westcreek, to prevent an awful
disaster He was a good fellow and they
were adj glad he had saved himself, al
though the incident might work to his
enrharra ssment when he came up for
promotion Incidentally they We're glad
that they were alive.
TO appreciate the mysterious part Of the
tale, the reader should understand the
value of tlme-not OF hours and min
utos on single track railroad. 1t will
be remembered that Goodlough discover
ed his mistake at 9.27. No. 8 was due
to pass WeStcreek at %, and 9:29 the
superintendent had seen the trainmaster
collapse 1t will be remembered also
that No 8 was two minutes late, but
the MAN who had sent the lap order did
not know it, and his nerve would not
last until he could find it out The or
der to hold No. S-the order which pre-
vented the collision and doubtless saved
many lives-was sent at 9:31. 1T was
signe1 with the initials of the traTnmas-
ter, fut at a time when that gentleman
was dead to the world and had been so
for two whole minutes.
No man was in a better position to
know these facts than the superintend-
ent, who was the only man in the dis
patcher's office at the moment when the
mysterious message" flashed over the
wire, and whose business it was to in
yestigate the whole matter. As the In
yestigadion proceeded the superintendent
becaune intensely interested IN the mys-
terry. For q while he kept the matter to
himself. but these things will out, and In
| less than a months time the "myster-
ious message became the leading topic
in shops cabs, way ears and boarding
houses To say that the clocks were at
yarience would not satisfy a railroad
man, for they had taken time ut a. m.
only q half hour before the message
| In time the story Of the mysterious
message" came to the ears OF the pres[
dent at Boston, and as his life had been
saved by the sending of this wire, which
amounted to almost a miracle, he set
himself at once to the task of solving the
mystery He belonged 10 q certain So
Getty whose members delight to delve in
things occult, and they were not long
in accounting for all that had occurred.
Tt fell out later that the treas
urers clerk was also member of
the Boston society TO. which the presi-
dent belonged
The days work in dispatcher's office
is divided into three tricks. The first
| trick man works from a. III. until p.
m, the second from that hour TO the end
Of the day, and the third man works
the death trick'in which nearly all
the ugly wrecks occur-from midnight
till morning.
''You may go now" said Mr.. Creamer
to the girl, when the second man came
in and took his trick at o'clock.
"Shall I-come-back in the morning"
asked the girl, with some embarrass-
ment.
''Yes," was the answer, after a mo-
ment's thought.
BY a sort of unwritten rule the first
trick man had stepped to the post Of
train master when that industrious but
lover-zealous officer had fallen.
"Whose initials shall / put to this or
der?" asked the GIRL sending her first
message on the morning Of the second
day.
''Your own." said Mr.. Creamer, and
the receiving operator at Livingston Won
dered who the new dispatcher could be.
Every night, after midnight, the operat
org along the line would ground wire