The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-08
70 Met HEAD ON HEAD
DISPATCHER TELLS OF THE. AGONY
OVER AN ORDER THAT
MEANT DEATH
A MISTAKE IN THE ORDERS
An Affair That Ended His Work as
an Operator, and Which
Happened I'm
Arizona.

There were four of them, and they were
seated in the corridor of the Midland
hotel the other evening, smoking and
talking over the experiences of their
younger days All OF them were rail-
road officials whose names are familiar
the land over. None was less than fifty
years old and all had reached the age
when the hopes and ambitions of life
have either been realized or laid care
fully away, like faded flowers, never to
be looked at again, perhaps, except with
regret. But the world had treated them
kindly. and they had watched each 9TH
er climb up the ladder step by step,
steadily, perseveringly, until the top had
been reached and the long-delayed and
well-earned reward had come
1t Is very easy to get into the wrong
department of a railroad" said one of
the group, a portly man with hair that
was snowy white. Il made that mistake
IN the beginning of my career. Went
into the operating department and it re-
Quired one of the severest lessons of my
life to teach me that 1 didn't belong
there. Let me tell you about 1t. The
first position of Importance that 1 ever
held on railroad was as a dispatcher on
one of the Western roads, in the hottest
country the sun shines upon in this hem
isphere today. 1t happened in Arizona.
The heat was so intense that to sleep
was utterly impossible until nature be-
came exhausted During the day the
thermometer frequently registered 120,
and l remember how we used to hold a
lighted cigar under the instrument just
as the overland passenger train pulled
In at noon with tourists almost pros
trated. And many a hearty laugh we
had, too, as they gazed wonderingly at
the thermometer with the mercury up
to the highest point, after which they
would send scores of kilograms to friends
in the East describing the heat
Il was working what we called the
third trick from midnight to o'clock
In the morning. Our office controlled
nearly 800 miles of track. We had three
mountain ranges on our division and
every railroad man knows what that
means to a Dispatcher 1t was necessary
to split all freight trains into several
sections to cross these mountains, and as
we had only few telegraph offices, and
those we did have were far apart, we
had TO do some pretty close figuring to
prevent delay in trains. This sort of
work is sufficiently trying in cool eli
mate; in land where every one was
constantly on the verge of collapse it
was rendered doubly hard.
One night in August 1 went on duty
as usual at midnight, and received the
transfer of everything on tile division
We opened new train sheet at u
clock, ana, after checking off with
reached their destina tion l placed this
new sheet over that used the previous
DAY. There was an order on the hook
10 run regular WeSt-bOund water train
ahead Of time for a point at about the
middle of the division, and at l o'clock
l started out L must have been half
asleep when l gave the order to the
operator, for 1 neglected to do what
every dispatcher does, what I had done
always before issuing running orders-I
failed to look at the old train Sheet. Had
done so L might still be a dispatch
instead of general manager. Now all
OF you know that a train running ahead
Oh time has the rights of an extra only.
len minutes after receiving the report
OF the departure Of that water train 7
glanced a the old sheet What | saw
sent the blood to my head with a rush
and dropped back in my chair help
less. for away up in one corner of the
sheet | saw that an extra was coming,
east had sense enough left to call up
the station agent from which the water
train had just departed, in the hone that
II might SUI be stopped by the switch
men But IT was too late. What could
/ ooE There was not another night
ONCE on that part Of the division and two
trains were rushing toward each other
WIN nothing TO warn them Of the wreck
that J knew must occur
have heard Of mems hair turning
white IN q single night and 1 have read
Of others being driven mad under condi
lions more favorable than those through
Wnich / lived for two hours that August
It was becoming Interesting. severa,
OUTSIDERS moved their chairs closer TO
Ihat or the speaker and the clerk SO
group. jim 'He
For 100 minutes" continued the az
9lSpatcher. I lived over every smallest
neIatl 9t my life followed those trains,
mentally over every inch OF the division
! hlCW Just ABOUT where they must come
together. 1t would occur on a sharn
curve curry, where neither would see the other
unu! 1t would be impossible to sion
could see the agony on the faces Of tho
engineers and the firemen as they caught
one hash of the headlights; and then
came the crash, the escaping steam The
grinding and creaking of broken tin1,ers
but ever all 1 heard the cries and gr0ans
OF injured men. and every one of them
was a friend of mine
For two hours I was Obliged In con-
tInue sending orders to fortv or f5ftv
oTai ms on other parts of the road. and
al eha A., Qne L was waiting for the mes
sage mat would contain the details Of
Inc coIIlslon; tell you, gentlemen land
mere the white-haired man rose to biS
T 1eeI, Stlr rec, by the reconection), II
an the world. I couldn't tell Won in an
hour OF all the thoughts that crow,1ed
70 my M mind as l worked and waited.
on H. an the men composing the crews
on Ihose trains were married; I knew
tIlelr wives and their children. had
grown up among them. And before tha
DIeak OF day, I thought, they would he
WIDOWS and orphans, and /. shonIS
never dare to look them in the face
me. Here the idea occurred to me- 0t thst
l must escape; it didn't matter whera
Went wanted only to go wlIere
stiould not be seen by those who Inav1
oi my criminal carelessness. Abo1it ,
CLOCK L had figured that in a few No
n.iehlS should know the worst Rw ~
tlme l was no longer ut to handle fra .ir@1
aa1 halthough had said no word to nv nv
canpoy, he knew that something wy Wy
wrong, and without consulting me q woi,s
the chIef dispatcher. remembered y 90 ~
ing johnny come into the office +beo
l may as well confess it, I Law dow,
on the counter, or some one nut noa
there The next thing I knew was tl,af
water was being dashed into my face ana
the chief dispatcher was saying: "Conoe
OLD man. it's all. right; they didn't hit
they met al Ludlow"
me climax was dramatic Every man
IN the party sat bolt upright to catch the
last sentences, for the voice of the gen.
eraI manager was husky with emotion
Il ,, never sent another train order in
my life; L never shall. That" said the
speaker, as he arose and motione6 RI
the clerk for his key was how | ran
trains and allowed them to arrange their
own meeting point. But then, as I said
IN the beginning, it hammered il, 4 1-;7o,,-,