Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-12-13
NO NEED OF A SMASH-UP.
An Old Timer Gives n Safe Plan for
Railroad Telegraph Operators
Who Are Sleepy.

idiot" said William James. an old
timer, relates the New York Sun.
when 1 was a youngster 1 was In
charge of a station down in Pennsyl-
vania. I went to sleep on duty be-
cause couldn't keep awake. Trains
met there every hour or so and l
was the only person to run the bust
ness at that point. 1 went to sleep
and slept six hours and there wasn't
any smashup or the slightest POSSIBLE
ity of one so far as my station was
concerned.
II was IS years old when I applied
for Job to Superintendent Robert
Pitcairn, Of the Philadelphia & Erie.
BY the way, he's In England now max
ing big coal contracts for the Penn
sylvania people. He took me on inn
mediately and sent me out to Kane.
That was the place where DR.. Kane,
the Arctic explorer, once lived, and 1t
was named for him. Kane Is on top
Of a mountain with Wilcox at the bot
tom on one side and Wetmore on the
other. Oil 10 the great product there
now, but in 1885 the traffic was in gen.
sral freight Big trains met at Kane.
and for a small place the traffic was
considerable.
II was met at the station by big,
wild-eyed man, who said that he
guessed I was the kid that was going
to relieve him. He said he was glad
to get out, but he guessed I'd like the
work.
you'll have the night trick said
he, and you'll only have to be here
from six p. m. to seven a. m
II looked up with dismay, but he
was striding ahead into the station.
He instructed me in my duties; told
me of country tavern about two
miles away, then swung on to the
train that had been waiting 20 min
uteS for lunch and was gone.
"When the day man relieved me the
next morning, I put out for the hotel
and found it after tramping about for
two hours, and made arrangements
to stay there. The proprietor's wife
seemed to take a motherly interest
in me, and that afternoon when
started for work she had a bang-up
lunch of fried chicken and jam and
things.
swell, that night about II o'clock
I got hungry for that chicken and
hauled out my lunch basket. I had
just got things nicely spread out on
the instrument table when in came
fat engineer.
"'Hello, Kid said he, that's too
good a feed for you. tn give you
belly ache, sure's the world
"Whereupon, he put me on bench
sat on my legs and ate my supper
Then he got up, sucking his teeth, and
said:
"'See them woods over there?
pointing across the track. There
wasn't anything else In sight. We'll
them woods is 10 miles long an Is
miles wide an chuck full o. berries.
Com eat y'lself e death
"He walked leisurely out to his en-
CINE and went to the lunch shanty
Just below the station and ate up two
days salary before I discovered how
determined the keeper was to have
plenty of money to support his old
age.
"The next day didn't go to the no.
tel, but staid near the station and
plotted revenge. 1t was the custom
to telegraph up from Wilcox the num-
Der of passengers who wanted meals
at the Kane lunch shanty, and when
I got the first message that night
after vainly scheming all day an idea
struck me. The message read: six
suppers on 27.' I made it read 90 and
carried it TO the lunch-keeper, who
fairly danced with glee at the unex-
pected rush. He undoubtedly saw a
Fifth avenue mansion for his old age.
Just as 81 pulled in I rushed into the
shanty with a message purporting to
have come from Wilcox saying that
at the last moment 90 passengers had
decided to stay over night to take part
in local political celebration. Flynn
was furious and went to the conduc'
tor for confederation. The latter
heard with a grin the story Of the
26 prepared suppers and remember
ing his own experiences with Flynn''
prices on two or three occasions sim.
ply shrugged his shoulders and said;
allow en- l help it?'
"Well, the loss Of sleep that day and
the excitement did me. up. and about Il
o'clock I found I couldn't keep my
eyes open. 1 took the red lantern and
nailed the tin bottom to tie in the
middle of the track and went to tho
edge of the woods and lay down
When I awoke, the day operator, who
had been dragged out Of bed two
hours ahead of time, was getting thu
Philadelphia g. Erie system into op
Grafton again after a six-hours sus
pension of service.
"But there wasn't any smash-up anc
no lives had been lost and got jof
two days afterward at Titusville."
| naTTOOM ACNEMCT0NC