The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1904-02-25

Faster and faster the telegraph
past him. Jimmie's mind was working
faster than it had ever done in his
life. His orders directed him to wait
on the siding at Benson station for
the ~westbound passenger train to pass
and he knew that at any cost he must
save the passenger. Away off to the
farther side Of Benson he could al
ready see h faint line of smoke COM
Ing up from it, and he knew that IT
would arrive at Benson in just about
ten minutes. He figured that his own
train was going about a mile a min
ute and would reach Benson in seven
minutes. II no alternative offered it.
self he resolved to put on all brakes
when he got to the foot OF the hill
and deliberately wreck his W train.
There was a straight track for three
miles on the farther side of Benson,
and the engineer of the passenger
train would see the wreck in ample
time to come to a stop.
This plan. IL carried out, would prob
49, S-@a ca " u At
analysed the situation none the less
coolly because of that. Death is some
thing that engineers get accustomed
to facing. But IL he could only discov-
err some way of letting Nettie know
the condition of affairs 1t would be an
easy matter for her to throw the de-
railing switch after he had passed
and ollor~ the halr 80 the trait.
to come to a safe haven in the corn
field beside the track.
Down at the station Nettie heard a
sound which sent her rushing out to
the platform. Away up the hill she
could see a freight train coming down
at a terrific rate of speed. The whistle
cord seemed to be in the hands of a
in strange, unearthly shrieks. AS she
watched it something struck her as
being strangely familiar about the
way the whistle was sounding. All of
a sudden 1t struck her there was
method In the shrieks, and that. in
terpreted by the Morse code. they were
saying, "BN. BIN, BIN" her station
Cdll. lniS was tOlltiifuCQ lOI a Lew
seconds. and then began: Broke in
two Throw derailing switch when
first section Is past station" Three
times this was repeated. n then the
engine went around the curve at the
farther end of the loop, and she could
hear the whistle only family.
But she heard enough, and when
Jimmie's engine whizzed past the sta
ton with his white face pressed close
ly against the glass at the side of
the engine cab he saw Nettie standing
at the switch. When the last car IN
the part of the train which still re-
manned intact had passed the frog he
saw her throw all her weight on the
switch handle, and the signals told
him that every m of the cars which
were following him would pile them
selves ungracefully, but harmlessly. on
the soft earth of the cornfeld. Bring
ing his engine to a stop. he ran back
to the station and on to the siding In
ample time let the passenger train
pass him.
The train master examined Jimmie
very closely as to the necessity Of pill
ing valuable freight cars on useful ag-
ricultural land and passed the case
up to the division superintendent. He
examined the papers carefully, made
some notes on the bottom of them and
referred the whole matter to the sup
erintendent of motive power. When
Jimmie walked put of the office he
was a full fiedged engineer and had
been congratulated on his presence OF
mind. And the superintendent of mo-
tive power congratulated him again a
month later when the railroad lost the
services of the telegraph operator at
Benson station and Jimmie got a wife.