The sun., 1897-03-21
A TELEGRAPHER'S STORY.
THE CLOSE SHAVE THAT CAME or
SLEEPING ON DUTY.
Rniiroad station Hhe Had Been Evadina
the Rules ana was Instructed 60 HELD =
Gertn,u Trnin-A Long Hour OF Surpanses

Fredicament OF Night Operator at = lensHy
Railroad station whe HAD Been Evadina
the Rules ana was Instructed 90 Held =
Certnin Train-A Long Hour OF suspenses
Telegraph operators are usually rcmnisceno
fellows, and the veterans among them delight In
telling their experiences. OF course, some OF
their stories may be trlflo exaggerated, bus
they generally possess at least one unique feae
turc-they are based on something that hap
pcned over u stretch OF wiro perhaps 100 or 200
miles in length. Occasionally one reads OF an
extraordinary adventure OF nm operator at .
small and lonely railway station out West, or Of
pcrious cxpcncnces in war times and the i'm
preston has become quite common that telegy
raphcrs stationed on this side Of tho Rocky
Mountains seldom have other than tho mose
commonplace. routine existence. with nothing
In II OF more than passing interest. As regards
the operators for railroad companies, that sup
position is wrong. Within twelve hours ride OF
this city there scores OF railroad telegraph
offices where an operator Is employed day and
night TO look after both the telegraph and the
station. On many Of the roads in New England
the night stations are u dozen or fifteen miles
apart and some of them are aquartcr or q half
OF mile from the nearest dwelling house. Az
these places night operator is on duty from
in the evening till next morning. SuN re-
porter CHANGED to meet recently IA veteran key
ploy OF railroad running through Maine and
New Hampshire and up to the White Mountains.
This operator sometimes found himself in .
pretty tight box, and his account Of one experis
ence illustrates the close shavcs that railroad
telceraphcrs have now and then.
Station H. where worked" he said, "is q
night station on n singlc-track railroad in New
Hampshire. g, the nearest night telegraph sta
tion north of it, was eight miles away. and n,
a. l. I,,t IL,
summer was solely that of operators in winter
also looked after the fires in the waiting rooms.
There seldom much opera ting to do at night,
and II was always easy to keep awake until
o'clock. when usually ate lunch. Even at that
hour the time didn't pass very slowly in sum-
mer, but on cold and stormy nights in winter.
when had to stay constantly indoors, the great
est effort was needed TO keep from falling
asleep. After o'clock all the trains that passed
were freights, and there were half dozen
south bound and as many moro north bound in
the course Of the night. 1t was part Of my duty
TO note the time that each Of the trains passed
my station and report 1t at once to head.
quarters, at A-the same rule applying to all the
operators on the line That was one OF the Gus
toms which made it dangerous for an operator
to fall asleep, II only for Eve minutes. Another
thing that annoyed him and often made him
swear was The roll call. This consisted in the
H calling each Office the line every half hour,
beginning with the one nearest his own. The
station that failed to answer a roll call had Q
black mark placed against it at A, with o record
of the time when the call was given. At firSo
the roll call made all the boys look sharp and toe
the line, but they soon found q way to cheat It.
THE main wire running through II was con-
siderably more than hundred miles long; and
on a wire Of that length it is quite impossible
fora Of ;to tor-,, 60 tan t,rf h.
sound which Of two or more offices not more
than twenty-five miles apart is doing the tele-
graphing unless the sending operator signs hfD
station call Knowing this, several Of the owls
on the line arranged to take turns with each
other in answering tho roll. For example, tho
operator at would answer my calls between
the hours of and 8. and would attend to hiD
was 1 to bsfi,e the train dsspatcher. we thought,
and the exchange of duty between us was kept
up for long G time IN fset am9ss too e
an incident that took place during the winter oe
sS Which n for fey nssT G1s tho mar
Through freight No. 24I. north bound, was
due at my station at 1:35. and was scheduled
scarcely ever behind time, and the two trains
cold and stormy; tully, three feet of snow had
While While a high wind wa was piiins it in big drifts
across the track. On night IKE that the inces-
sRsgsh ssP .ns coupled gut With Sou
was VAS more than my weary frame could resist.
fell asleep, knowing. OF course, that would,
roll calls After what seemed to me about like
| twenty minutes, but what was really more than
% s taS @1 nh 5es Clicking
"'Qk 10 was being made with great rapidity,
the call for my ott1oe preceding it. / knew -
. answered the call. and the command came
'% = Hold Hold No o.? 2sl iiIn' for orders
$50. K.,' said /, and Immediately hung th0
Then came to my senses and looked at my
""'FW "TWenty.nve minutes past 8 And had
heard mot no train in almost three hours Had No
24I got pasti wondered. found that It had
ally ally took about afty minutes. ! knew tho storm
would probably delay the train somewhat, but
No. 2s4 reported from p. and knew she had 10.
ceived orders to meet No. 241 somewhere be.
What ii No, e4l had got by me and was Try.
ing TO reach = for tho down freight In that
hs nS ep e
citement was increased by the repeated calls %
| the train dispatcher TO ask If No. 241 was In
"'Not yet answered. trembling lest my
hopes were in vain
| on the platform and listened. Not a sound could
| he heard above that OF the wind, and engfne'a
| headlight wouldn't have boon visible ton rods
| away.
| Invent back, grounded ono of tho wires -
as TO cut out office, and called g, hoping .to
| find whether No. 2ll had reached thore. Ne
| answer. Then ! remembered that from 3 TO
was G's time TO bunk on and knew 1t was use
| less trying TO get him.
Ton minutes more, and tho freight had nsa
| arrived.
"'Suro it hasn't gonor asked tho train de-
spntcher excitedly, as though doubling mo.
"'Sure,' said j.
"For Gods sake. don't let it got by your -
urged.
| "Well. o'clock camo, and my courage w1S
giving way. could sec how two hours or %
| might be needed for freight to go twelve miles
| on such night, but three hours and over. b
| slow run had never boon known on tho road.
| what was ts be donei To admit my unoegs
| tainty meant the loss OF my Job, and TO brave u
out any longer seemed almost criminal. In my
| despair finally decided TO tell tho train de-
| spatcher the plain truth. that had boon aaleeD
| at my post, and that No. 24l probably wept py
| more than an hour ago. The fact would be