The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-27

with blood. There was no one to call on
for help; he just stuck to the crawl, grind
ing his teeth In bitter self-reproach. They
traced him. next morning when he was
past the telling of IL, and his struggle
looked the track of wounded bear. Drag
ging along one crushed leg and half-crazed
by the crack on his forehead Bul.head
climbed to the platform. across and
dragged himself to the door. He can tell
yet about rolling his broken leg under him
and raising himself to grasp the thumb
latch. Not until he tried to open it did he
remember it was a spring lock and that
he was outside. He felt in his pocket for
his keys-but his keys were gone.
There were no rules TO consult then. No
way on earth of getting into the office in
time to do anything: to drag himself to
the lunchroom, twice further than the sta
ton. was out of the question. But there
was a way to reach his key in spite of all
bad things. and BulIhead knew the way.
He struggled fast around to the window.
Raising himself with a frightful twinge
on one knee, he beat at the glass with his
| fist. Clutching the sash he drew himself
up with a hand, and with the other tore
| away the muntin, stuck his head and shout
ders through the opening, got his hand on
the key, and called the first station east,
Blaisdell, with the 10. Life and death that
call meant; the Is. the dspatcher's call
hanging over the key, stammering the 70
over the wire, and baptizlng the call in his
own blood-that is the way Bullhead
| learned TO be railroad man.
For Blaisdell got him and his warning.
and had No. 1 on the sidetrack Just as
| the freight tore around the west curve,
headed for Sackley. While it was all going
on Bullhead lay on the wind-swept plat
! form at Goose River with hole in his head
! that would have killed anybody on the
West End, or, for that matter, on earth,
except James Gillespie Blaine Lyons.
After No. 30 had passed so impudently
No. 1 felt her way rather cautiously to
! Goose River because the dispatchers
) couldn't get the blamed station. They de-
cided, Of course, that Bullhead was asleep.
and fixed everything at the Wickiup to send
new man up there on Three in the morn
| ing and fire him for good
But about 1 o'clock No. / rolled. bad
tempered into Goose River Junction, and
| Bat Mullen, stopping his train, strobe
angrily to the station. 1t was dark as a
| pocket inside. Bat smashed in the door
| with his heel, and the trainmen swarmed
/ in and began looking with their lanterns
for the night man. The stove was red-hot.
but he was not asleep in the armchair nor
! mapping under the counter the supplies.
They turned to his table and discovered the
broken window and thought of a hold up.
They saw where the night man had spilled
something that looked like ink over the
| table, over the order book, over the clip,
and there was a hand print that looked
inky on an open letter addressed to the
superintendent-and a little pool of some
| thing like ink under the key.
Somebody said suicide, but Bat Mullen
suddenly stuck his lamp out of the broken
window, put his head through after it,
and cried out. Setting his lantern down on
the platform he crawled through the
broken sash and picked up Bullhead.
Next morning it was all over the West
End.
"And Bullhead,'' cried everybody. That's
what gets me. Who'd have thought it of
Bullheadp
When they all got up there and saw what
Bullhead had done, everybody agreed that
nobody but Bullhead could have done it.
The pilot bar OF the short line mogul.
in swiping Bullhead numerically. had
|
had let a great light in the situation.
Whereas before every one else on the line
had been to blame for his failures, Bull
head now saw that he himself had been to
blame, apd was man enough to stand up
and say When the big fellows, Gala
han and Kenyon and Pat Francis, saw his
trail next morning, saw the blood smeared
over the table, and saw Bullhead's letter
of resignation signed in his own blood
manual, and heard his straight-out story
days afterward, they said never a word
But that morning, the morning after.
Callahan picked up the letter and put 1t
just as it was between the leaves of the
order book and locked both in his grip. IL
was some weeks before he had talk with
Bullhead, and he spoke then only few
words. because the nightman tainted be-
] fore he got through Callahan made him