Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-25

tured the awful horrors of such a calamity;
listened to the walls and shrieks of the
mangled and dying, and saw in imagina-
ton the crushed and bloody corpses inter
mingled with the debris of that terrible
wreck. Then my brain seemed to collect
my scattered senses. While thus engaged,
the young operator came up and coolly iE-
quired: Well, old man, have you found out
what tagged you for?' shook his hand
in grasp that nearly crushed 1t and re-
piled: I knew something awful would hap
pen tonight; but tell me how it all oc-
curred?
1T was short story, briefly told.
Whiie smoking his pipe to help pass
away the time and almost involuntarily
the wires, he had heard an order for extra
north. Conductor Grey, to meet the mid
night express at Ringtown. Some time
after this he heard the operator at Port
Clinton tell the dispatcher that owing to a
hot box Grey would probably be thirty min
utes late in getting out. 1t was now about
o'clock, and he was just getting his good
night from the operator at Danville "a
mighty pretty young thing she was, tool
when the dispatcher broke in with an order
Tor the midnight express to meet extra
north, Conductor Grey, at Onakake. 1t was
no uncommon thing to cancel train order,
and while he listened, quite as matter of
habit and not of interest, 1t soon passed
from his mind. When, however, the night
express whistled for Ringtown 1t flashed
upon him that he had not heard anything
extra to meet the passenger train at Ring
town. He flew for his red lamp, which he
quickly lighted and swung across the track
just as the express appeared over the brow
of the hill.
who was to blame? Well, now, I don't
care to answer that. When the superin-
tendent had US up on the carpet the dis
patcher furnished his order book, and there
at Onakake to flag and hold north, Con-
ductor Grey, for ORDERS which was under
lined to show that it had been repeated
back. and had the usual operators o K
in the left-hand corner.
The operator Swore point blank that he
had not received such a message, conse-
quently he couldn't have repeated it back.
Grey and l were all right, for orders
were straight, and we took out our runs as
usual the next day. The Onakake operator,
poor devil, was fired, but between you and
me l thought him innocent. and believe to
this day that that third trick man doctored
as Dooley used to say, It's hard to beat
the gang, and the dispatcher was not even
censured.
THE officials suppressed this affair as
much as possible, and l doubt if a half
dozen of the 300 passengers on the mid
night express ever knew how near to eter-
nifty they were on that awful Friday night.
What became of the young operator at
Ringtown, and who was he? Well, now,
IN tell you. and it's Gods truth. He is
fast working his way up the railroad lad
der, and will some day get to the top. Just
now he is agent for the Santa Fe, at Trini-
dad, and his name is j. 2. Flynn (now
chairman of the Colorado-Utah Traffic As
sociation).''
A long, shrill Shrek from the old '63'
as she went laundering down Anderson
hill caused me to start and grasp the re-
verse lever, in order to keep my seat, and
rubbing my eyes, looked out at the dane
Ing lights, and l knew that we were in the
La Junta yards.
But the story of the midnight express;
was it real, or a dream that grew out Of
the thrilling narratives of life on the rail,
with which my friend of the footboard had
been RECALLING me? Who can tell? l can't.
for Murphy had gone and the hostler had
already taken charge of the old ''6'."