The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-20

man and his followers on the westbound
run, and as they had paid us the par
ticular compliment of return trip, we
We're minded to give them the best of it
even against Number 1. which was always
rather sacred the sheet. This. l say,
was pretty generally understood; for when
il was all over there was no criticism what
ever on Blackburns intention of making
a meting-point for the two trains, as they
then stood, at O'Fallon's siding.
Between Ames and Rosebud, twenty
miles apart there are two sidings-O'Fal-
Ions, west of the river, and Salt Rocks,
east. There was no operator at either
place. The train that leaves Anes west
bound is in the open for twenty miles with
only schedule rights or a dispatchers It's
sue between her and the worst of it. At
1 O'Clock that morning Blackburn wired
an order to Ames for Number l TO hold at
OFallon's for Special 2O2. A minute later
he sent an order for Special 202 to run to
O'Fallon's regardless of Number l. AT
least, he thought he sent such an order;
but he didn't-he made mistake
When he had fixed the meeting point,
Blackburn rose from his chair and sat
down by the stove. l lazily watched him,
d l.
drowsily, he began to loom up in his chair
and to curl and twist toward the roof like
a signal column; then the front legs of his
chair struck the floor, and with start
1 woke. just as he stepped hurriedly back
to his table and picked up the order book
The first suspicion / had that anything
wrong exclamation from
Blackburn as he stared at the book. Put
ting it down almost at once and holding
the page open with his left hand, he plug
ged Callahan's house wire and began drum
ming his call. Galatians AYE, aye"
came back Inside of 81 minute, and Black
burn tapped right at him: Come down"
And 1 began to wonder what was up.
There was an interval; then Callahan
asked, whats the matter?"
1 got up and walked over to the water
tank for a drink. Blackburn again pressed
the key, and repeated to Callahan pre-
cisely the words he had used before:
'Come down."
His face was drawn into the very shape
of fear, and his eyes, bent hard on me,
were looking through me and through the
shivering window know it now-and
through the storming night, horror-set into
the canyon of the Peace river.
The sounder broke and he turned back.
listened a moment: but it was stray stuff
about time freight He pushed his chair
from behind him. still like a man listening
listening; then with an effort, plain even
to me, he walked across the office, pushed
open the door of Callahan's private room,
and stood with his hand on the knob, look
| ing back at the lamp. 1t was as if he still
seemed to listen, for he stood undecided
a moment; then he stepped into the dark
room and closed the door behind him, leav-
ing me alone and dumb with fear.
| The mystery lay, 1 knew, in the order
book. Curiosity gradually got the better
of my fright, and L walked from the cooler
over to the counter to get courage and
showed the train register around noisily. 1
crossed to the dispatchers table and made
| a pretense of arranging the pads and
blanks. The train order book lying
| open where he had left it under the lamp.
With my eyes bullying, 1 read the last two
orders copied in it,
&C. and E. No. /, Ames. No. /, Eng. 81,
will hold at O'Fallons' for Special 202.
&C. and E. Special, 202, Rosebud. Special,
| POP, Eng $780, will run to Salt Rocks re-
| CARELESS of No. l..
SALT ROCKSI I glared at the words
| ana the letters Cl the WOTuS.
1 re-read the first order and read again
the second. OFallon's for Number 1. That
was right. O'Fallon's it should be for the
Special 202, of course. to meet her. But
| it wasn't; it was the first station east
of O'Fallons he had ordered the Special
to run to. 1t was a lap order. My scalp
began to creep. A lap order for the Irv-
| ing special and the Number 1 passenger,
and it doomed them to meet head-on some
| where between OFallon's and the Salt
Rocks. in the Peace river canyon.
| My mouth went sticking dry. The sleet
| outside had deepened into a hail that beat
| the west glass sharper and the window
shook again in the wind. / asked myself,
| afraid to look around, what Blackburn
could be doing in Callahan's room. The
horror of the wreck impending through his
| mistake began to grow me; L know
what I suffered; / ask myself now what
he suffered, inside, alone, in the dark.
| Oh, you who lie down upon the rail at
night to sleep, in dispatchers hand, think
| YOU, ever, in your darkened berths of the
cruel responsibility on the man who in
the watches of the night holds you in his
keeping?
|
others may fall and stand again; not the
| dispatcher: a single mistake damns him.
| When he falls he falls forever.
Young as I was / realized that night
| the meaning of the career to which my
| little ambition urged me. The soldier, the
officer, the general, the statesman, the
President, may make mistakes, do make
mistakes, that cost life or cost ten thou
sand lives. They redeem them and live
honored. 1t is the obscure dispatcher under
the lamp who for a single lapse pays the
| penalty of eternal disgrace. L felt some
| thing of 1t even then, and from my boy S
heart, in the face of the error, I'm the face
of the slaughter, 1 pitied Blackburn.
Callahan's room door opened again
and Blackburn came out of the dark. I
had left the table and was standing in front
| of the stove. He looked at me almost
eagerly; the expression Of his face had
| completely changed. I never in my life
| saw such a change in so few minutes on
| any mans face, and, like all the rest, it
alarmed me. 1t was not for me to speak
| IL I had been able, and he did not. He
walked straight over to the table, closed
the order book, plugged Callahan's house
| wire again, and began calling him. The
assistant superintendent answered, and
Blackburn sent him just these words:
4