The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-07

The stories by Frank H. Spearman
and Cy Warman, of railroad life, are al
ways thrilling and they are truthful to
the letter as they are written by rail-
road men: for both of these men served
| their time on the business of railroading
| in the west.
| OF many man who handled the tnrot-
tie or the telegraph key and who had
! under his hand the lives of thousands
| of persons day. Spearman and War
man have told OF these in the language
of the road: plain and straightforward
| IN convincing manner, and still it has
been hard in many instances to believe,
! or rather, to comprehend the full force
and meaning. None but railroad man,
whose time in the service had been of
sufficient length to bring him face TO
face with all the terrors of a life SO
fascinating, can comprehend. None but
the train dispatchers understood the
stories of the terrors that confront the
luckless dispatcher who sends two
trains together; none but the dispatch
ers and the railroad men understand
that the strain of the train dispatcher
is the Strain That Kills.
Railroad men in Topeka can, but they
do not, recite two stories of the utter
wrecking of lives spent over the dis
patcherS key. One of the Chief Dis
der him, the Second Trick Man.
The Chief Dispatcher had worked up,
like all the rest. from the messenger boy
period to the head of the list in the di-
vision and then to the desk of chief.
The Second Trick Man had followed him
in the same manner until he was fill
fiedged dispatcher with all the RESPONSE
bilities, the pay and the same Strain
That Kills.
They worked there. almost side by
side, IN the same office. They 'perspired
from the radiated heat from the old
shingle roof, SO near overhead, in the
summer and were nearly suffocated by
the same little blast soft coal stove in
the winter.
Everyone knew them The Oldest en-
gineer and oldest section boss to the
newest messenger boy talked OF them
as the Chief and the Second Trick Man
and they all liked them. There were
newspaper cub reporters, too, who are
now special correspondents and editors
of large papers in the east, who knew
them in the days when they were new
at the business and when they were
scared at the higher railroad officials,
the Brass Cellars, as railroaders called
them But these cub reporters knew
that the Chief and the Second Trick
Man were approachable. OF course the
Second Trick Man could not talk to
them while he was bending over his
key and watching the train sheet. but
off duty he helped many a disheartened
reporter to a good story.
The Chief had time, now and then,
during office hours to drop a hint or
two as to news and he never forgot to
do it. They, the Chief and the Second
Trick Man, knew all the business that
went over the wires and all the gossip
of the yards. They knew that there was
much that was private and that they
could not tell. They betrayed no con-
fidence owed the company but they were
not secretive nor surly. They knew
stuff that it did no harm to tell and
FThara'S q
cub who remembers them both, in the
days when he plodded through the mud
and cinders and rain or the dust and
wind and dirt of the yards looking for
stuff that was printable.
But that's not the story The text is
the Strain That Kills. The Chief hung
to his desk hour after hour day after
out until he was worn out. Worn out
just like the big MOgul engines that do
their work, putting and straining, until
they are burned and worn out and are
sent to the scrap heap to be old iron
and newer engines of later models take
their places. So it was with the Chief.
Gradually, then suddenly, it was ap-
parent that he was a wreck, physically.
Worn out in the service. He had to
give up the desk and turn the work
over to man younger in the work who
was not worn out, but who will be in
time.
The company was not wholly un-
grateful, although there is mighty little
gratefulness on the part of the railroads
after the claim department reports, in
cases of accidents, ETC., that the COM
pany is free from responsibility. But
in the case of the Chief the company
did look after him. That is they re-
tired him from the position of Chief at
$3.50 month, or more. and gave him
a place as flagman at small crossing
where he is still on duty, receiving as
compensation for his services $1.10 a
night, but that is all they are worth.
1t wasn't long after until the Second
Trick Man found himself on the list of
those destined for retirement. The
hand and arm that had licked over the
wire thousands and thousands of train
orders, with never break and never an
accident, was going back on him. |
Telegraphers cramp was developing. |
He was losing all control of the arm
and hand. And then, soon after the re- |
tirement of the Chief, the Second Trick |
Man was booked to 60 He was looked |
after, so to speak, and from the posi- |
ton that paid him over 800 a month, |
with eight hours work, he was sent to |
a little station up the road to be station |
agent "a hours in the day with small |
check at the end of each month.
And so the Chief and the Second Trick |
Man were victims of the Strain That |
Kills. They said never word. They /
knew only too we'll the truth that they |
were incapacitated and they sent their |
last order over the wire, pushed back |
their chairs in turn, handed the train I
sheet over to a younger man and walk
ed out of the office-wrecks-
But there's many railroad man and I
many a newspaper man who remem-
bers them and they wish that the Chlef
and the Second Trick Man will end
their days with the reward of rest anu
be free from cares. They were mighty I
good men to many Topeka reporter,
this Chief and the Second Trick Man. /
The Need of Navy.
A reasonably strong and thoroughly I
efficient navy is indispensable for the /
United States Not that this country /