Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-10-18
HOURS OF TORMENT.
TRAIN DISPATCHER TELLS STORY
OF HIS LAST trick"
OVERLOOKED AN ORDER
Expected That a Terrible Collision
Would Result-Mental Torment
While Waiting for News That
Came Not-Thrlling Tale of Actual
Experience.

There were four of them and they
were seated in the corridor of the Mid
land hotel the other evening, smoking
and talking over the experiences of
their younger days. All of them were
railroad officials whose names are
familiar the land over. None was less
than so years old and all had reached
the age when the hopes and ambitions
of life have either been realized or
laid carefully away, like faded flow
ers, never to be looked at again, per-
haps, except with regret. But the
they had watched each other climb up
the ladder step by step, steadily, per-
severingly, until the top had been
reached and the long-delayed and we'll
earned reward had come.
1T is very easy to get into the
wrong department of a railroad" said
one of the group, portly man with
hair that was snowy white 81 made
that mistake in the very beginning of
my career. Went into the operating
department and 1t required one of the
severest lessons of my life to teach me
that / didn't belong there. Let me tell
you about it. The first position of i'm
portance that ever held on railroad
was as dispatcher on one of the
western roads, in the hottest country
the sun shines upon in this hemis-
phere today 1t happened in Arizona.
The heat was so intense that to sleep
was utterly impossible until nature
became exhausted. During the day the
thermometer frequently registered 100
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
Frustrated. And many hearty laugh
ingIy at the thermometer with the
mercury up to the highest point, after
which they would send scores of tele-
grams to friends in the east describing
the heat.
Forgot the Extra Train.
Il was working what we called the
third trick from midnight to
o'clock in the morning. Our office
controlled nearly 500 miles of track.
We had three mountain ranges on our
division, and every railroad man
1,,.<.x,,r ,,,l,o +1,o+ ,,,aopc ~ n dicpatoho ar
1t was necessary to split all our freight
trains into several sections to cross
these mountains, and as we had only
a few telegraph Offices, and those we
did have were far apart, we had to do
some pretty close figuring to prevent
delay of trains. This sort of work is
sufficiently trying in a cool climate; in
land where everyone was constantly
on the verge of collapse it was rend.
cred doubly hard.
Zone night in August l went on
duty as usual at midnight and received
the transfer of everything on the di.
vision. We opened a new train sheet
at ~ o'clock, and, after checking of
with a blue pencil all the trains that
had reached their destination, | placed
this new sheet over that used the pre-
vious day. There was an order on the
book to run regular westbound water
train ahead of time for point al
about the middle of the division. and
at / o'clock / started it out. l must
have been half asleep when l gave
that order to the operator, for l neg
lected to do what every dispatcher
does, what | had done always before
issuing running orders-I failed tt
look at the old train sheet. Had
done so l might still be a train dis
patcher instead of general manager
Now all of you know that a train run
ming ahead of time has the rights o.
an extra only. Ten minutes after re
ceiving the report of the departure o.
that water train ! glanced at the ole
sheet. What l saw sent the blood t
my head with rush. for away up il
one corner OF the sheet l saw that al
extra was coming east. / had sense
enough left to call up that station
from which the water train had JUS
departed, in the hope that it might
have fingered in the yard and might
still be stopped by the switchmen. But
it was too Iate. What could l do
There was not another night office or
that part of the division and train:
were rushing toward each other with
nothing to warm them of the wreck
that knew must occur.
Il have heard of mems hair turning
white in single night and have
read of others being driven mad under
conditions more favorable than those
through which lived for two hours
that August night
1t was becoming interesting. Sew
eral outsiders moved their chairs
closer to that of the speaker and the
4 clerk so far forgot his dignity as tc
join the group.
A Dramatic Recital.
For 120 Minutes continued the ex
dispatcher, Il lived over every small
lest detail of my life. / followed those