Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1905-01-19

train. even at risk of dismissal ?
Would o
There was sharp whistle, and
without thinking Of hat or coat he
rushed out upon the platform. But
it was too late. Even as he threw
open the door and flung himself into
the storm that was slanting into his
face, there was a rushing, binding
glare from the east. He gave wild,
terrified look to the west; then, as
he saw another rushing, binding glare
scarcely two hundred yards away, tear
ing down upon the first at unchecked
speed, the full horror Of the impend-
ing calamity came over him, and he
sank weakly upon the platform. No.
rs average speed was nearly mile a
minute, and it usually carried hun
dreds of through passengers. At that
speed, against another going even half
as fast, would it be possible for sin
gle passenger to escape ahve2
Almost in the drawing of breath
the lights rushed upon each other, and
the operator covered his eyes with his
hands to shut out the awful sight.
One, two seconds passed then came
a crash and a tearing and rending
that made the very station and plat
form tremble.
Only for moment did the opera
tor keep his eyes covered through very
horror; then thought of those who
might be needing assistance brought
him totterine to his feet.
He had thought to see, almost in
front of the station, all the horrors of
a bad wreck. What he did see was
the rear light of No. 7, fast disappear
ing in the storm and darkness, it's
passengers reading and talking and
laughing, perhaps, all unconscious that
anything ususual had theatened to
break the monotony Of their journey.
But in the other direction, to the
west, three or four hundred yards
away, on the opposite side, WAS what
had made the crash and the tearing
and rending. A cloud of escaping
steam and fire. made it light enough
for him to see an overturned engine,
and upon and about it a number Of
broken, derailed cars. Even as he
looked, one of the cars caught FIRE, and
a tall column of fame shot toward
the sky. But the operator could on
ly feel relief. No. 7, the great train
of the road, with its hundreds Of
passengers, was safe. No other poss'
ible calamity to the road, as compar-
ed with that, conld matter much.
The passengers and trainmen from
the Hatfield local were hurryiDg across
and up the track, and at their head
was the boy switchman. Not until
he saw him did the operator under
stand how the escape had been made
possible. The Coast Air Line had
but one track /; but opposite the sta
tion was a spur of several hundred
yards on which freight or coal cars
were switched for unloading. The
regular side track, on which the Hat
field local was standing, was below
the station, on the same side. The
boy had switched the stranger upon
the spur, wrecking it as 1t tore away
the buffer at the end and plunged
from the track. And yet he could
not understand how the switching
had been done, for the trains had
seemed to,lap at that point.
Early the next morning a wreckiDg
train appeared and on the first reg
ulsr passenger train, Brodrix, the
manager himself, came. There was no
reason for his coming except that he
had not beer over this portion of the
road for some months, and it would
give him a chance, besides viewing
the wreck, to do a few other little
things that he had in mind. Brodrix
believed in having the very best as
sistants procurable; but, more than
that, he believed in knowing Just ex-
actly what those assistants were doing.
While other railroad managers sat in
their Offices or state diners, BrodriI
was pretty likely to be speeding over
his road, sometime in a passenger car,
sometime on freight if be was not in
a hurry, more often in the cab Of an
engine. During the whole tenure Of
his Office, the sumptuous private car
of his predecessor had not once been
removed from it's corner Of the car
house. When Brodri1 was in hur-
ry be called for the fastest engine on
the line and rode with the engineer.
Twenty minutes after his arrival at
the scene of the wreck he sent for the