Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-25
BY FRANK q. SPFAsMAN.
Copyright. 1900. by F. II. Spearman.)

.yhat's the matter with the dispatcher?
What's the matter with the man who tells
the engineer what to do-and just what 10
do? How to do It-and exactly how to DO
II? With the man who sits shut in brlck
walls and hung In Chinese puzzles, ms ear
glued to a receiver, and his finger fast TO
q key, and his eye riveted on train chart!
The man who orders and annuls and stops
and starts everything within five hundred
miles of him, and holds under his thumb
more lives every minute than brigadier
does In a lifetime? For instance, asked
Callahan, in his tired way, what the mat
ter with Bucks?'
Now. l myself never knew Bucks. He
left the West End before l went on. Bucks
Is second vice preSident-whfch means the
boss-of a transcontinental line now, and
very great swell But no man from the
West End who calls on Bucks has TO wait
for an audience. though bigger men do.
They talk of him out there yet Not OF
General Superintendent Bucks, which ne
came to be, nor of General Manager Bucks
On the West End he is just plain Bucks;
lot
HE saved the company 100000 that
night the Ogalala train ran away, mnsed
Callahan. Callahan himself is assistant su-
perintendent now.
Three hundred thousand dollars Is a good
deal of money, Callahan" l objected.
Figure 1t out yourself To begin with,
fifty passengers llves-thats $4,000 apiece
isn't it?' Callahan had cold-blooded way
of figuring a passengers life from the COM
pany standpoint "It void have killed over
fifty passengers If the runaway had ever
struck 80. There wouldn't have oeen
enough left of 80 to make decent funeral
Then the equipment. at least $4,000. But
there was whole lot more than 100000 In
1t for Bucks"
'He told me once that if he hadn't saved
30 that night he would never have signed
another order anywhere on any road
"Why?'
found out that his own mother was aboard
80 Didn't YOU ever hear that? Well, sir,
1t was Christmas eve, and the year was
1884"
West End It was just plain December "a.
High winds will prevail for ensuing
twenty -four hours. Station agents VIII use
extra care to secure cars on sidlngs; brake
men must use care to avoid being down
from moving trains"
That Is about all Bucks said in his bulle-
tins that evening; not word about CHRIST
mas or Merry Christmas. In fact, II Christ
mas had come to McCloud that night they
couldn't have held II twenty-four minutes
much less twenty-four hours; the wind was
too high. All the week all the day, all the
night il had blown-a December wind. dry
as an August noon. bitter az powdered Ice.
1t was In the early days of our western rail-
reading, when we had only one fast train
on the schedule-the st. Louis California
Express; and only one fast engine on the
diyision-the 101: and only one man on the
whole West End-BuckS.
Bucks was assistant superintendent and
master mechanic and traInmaster and chief
dispatcher and storekeeper-and a bully
good fellow. There were some boys IN the
service. among them Callahan. Callahan
was seventeen, with hair like sunset and
mind quick as airbrake 1t was his
first year at the key, and he had night
trick under Bucks.
Callahan claims 1t blew so hard that
night that it blew most of the color out OF
his hair Sod houses had sprung up like
dog towns in the buffalo grass during the
fall. But that day honest aders crept Into
dugouts and smothered over buTalo CHIP
fires. Horses and cattle huddled into
friendly pockets a little out of the worst
Of IT. or froze muteiy in pitiless fence cor
pers on the divides. Sand drove gritting
down from the Cheyenne hills like a storm
Of snow. Streets of the prairie towns
stared deserted at the sky. Even cowboys
kept their ranches, and through the gloom
Of noon the sun cast coward shadow. 1t
was a wretched day, and the sun went
down with the wind tuning into gale and
all the boys in bad humor-except Bucks.
Not that Bucks couldn't get mad: but 1t
took more than cyclone to start him.
No. 80, the California express, was late
that night. All the way up the valley the
wind caught her quartering. Really the
marvel Is that out there on the plains such
storms didn't blow our toy engines clear off
the rails; for that matter, they might
well have taken the rails, too, for none of
them went over sixty pounds Fifty-nine
was due at II o'clock; 1t was half-past IL
when she pulled In, and on Callahan's
trick. But Bucks hung around the office
until she staggered up under the streaked
moonlight. as frOwsy a looking train as
ever choked on alkah.
There was always a crowd down at the
station to meet 90: she was the big arrival
of the day at Mctloud. even II she didn't
get in until IL clock IT night. She brought
the mail and the express and the landseek-
ers and the travelling men and the stran-
gers generally: so the McCloud livery men
and hotel runners and prominent citizens
and prominent loafers and the city marshal
usually came down to meet her. But it
was not so that night. The platform was
bare. Not even the hardy chief of police,
who was town watch and city marshal all
combined ventured out.
The engineer sw ing out OF his cab with
the silence of an abused man. His eyes
were full Of sOda, his ears full of sand. his
mustache full Of burrs and his whiskers
full of tumble weeds. The conductor and
the brakemen climbed sullenly down. and
the baggageman showed open his door and
slammed a trunk out on the platform with
out a pretence of sympathy. Then the out
going crew climbed aboard, and in a hurry.
The conductor-elect ran down stairs from
the register, and pulled his cap down hard
before he pushed his head against the wind
to give the engineer his copy of the
orders as the new engine coupled up.
The fireman pulled the canvas jealousy
around the cab end. The brakeman ran
hurrtedly back to examine the air connec-
lions, and gave his signal to the conductor
the conductor gave his to the engineer.
There were two short. choppy shorts from
the 1O1, and 80 moved out stealthily, even
ly, resistlessy. into the teeth of the night
In another minute only her red lamps
cleaned up the yard. One man still on the
platform watched them recede; 1t was
Bucks.
He came up to the dispatcher's Office ard
sat down. Callahan wondered why he
didn't go home and to bed; but Callahan
was too good a railroad man to ask ques-
lions OF a superior. Bucks might have
stood on his head on the stove. and 1t red
hot. without being pursued with inquiries
from Callahan. If Bucks chose to sit up out
there on the frozen prairies, In a flimsy
barn of station. and with the wind howl
ing murder at u o'clock past. and that on
Chri-the 24th of December. 1t was Bucks
own business.
Il kind of looked for my mother tonight -
said he, after Callahan got his orders out
OF the way for minute. Wrote she was
coming out pretty soon for little visit"
Where does your mother live?''
Chicago. l sent her transportation two
weeks ago. Reckon she thought she'd bet
ter stay home for Christmas. Back in
Gods country they have Christmas Just
about this time of year Watch ont 10