Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-06-12

back, and BiackDurn. cropping into
the chair, took the message from the
night operator at Rosebud.
mo. 1 in. 2:0S a. M"
Blackburn answered him, and, strange
", with all the easy confidence Of his
ordinary sending. He sat and took and
sent like one again master Of the sit
uation.
ASK Engineer Sampson to come to
the wire," said he to Rosebud. Samp-
son, not Maze, but his brother Arnold.
| was pulling No. / that night.
Engineer Sampson here" came from
Rosebud presently.
ask Sampson where he met Special
202 tonight"
We waited, wrought up, for In that
reply must come the answer to all the
mystery. There was hitch at the
other end Of the wire; then Rosebud
answered:
sampson says he will tell you all
about It In the morning"
"That will not do" tapped the dis.
patcher. ''This is Blackburn. Superin.
tendent Bucks and Callahan are here.
They want the facts. Where did you
meet Special 202T
There was another wearing delay.
When the answer came 1t was slowly,
at the engineers dictati0n.
"My orders were to hold at O'Fallon's
for Special 202," clicked the sounder.
repeating the engineers hating state
ment. when we cleared Salt Rocks
siding and got down among the Quak-
ers was cutting along pretty hard to
make the canyon when l saw or
thought / saw headlight fash be-
tween the buttes across the river. II
startled me, for knew the 202 special
could not be very far west Of US. Any
way, made quick stop and reversed
and backed tight as could make II
| for Salt Rocks siding. Before we had
| got a mile l saw the headlight again,
and I knew the 202 was against our
order. We got into the clear just as
the special went by humming. Nobody
but our train crew and my fireman
knows anything about this"
The three men In front Of me made
no comment as they looked at each 9TH
er. How was Il possible for one train
| to have seen the headlight Of another
| among the buttes Of the Peace river
countryf
II was-possible. Just possible. But
to figure oace In how many times Q
vista would have opened for a single
second so one engineer could see the
light Of another would stagger a multi
| plying machine. Chance! Well. yes,
perhaps. But there were no sugges-
lions of that nature that night under
| the dispatchcr's lamp at the Wickiup.
with the storm driving down the pass
a. Il drove that night: and yet at
Peace river, where the clouds never
rested. that night was clear. Black
burn. getting up. steadied himself on
his feet.
Go In there and lie down." said Cal
lahan TO him. you're used up, old fel-
low. I can see tnat. I'll take the key.
Don't say a word"
mot a word, Blackburn" put In
Bucks, resting his big hand on the dis
| patcher's shoulder. There's no harm
done: nobody knows II. Bury the thing
right here tonight. You're broke up.
| Co I'm there and lie down."
He took their hands, started to speak.
but they pushed him into Callahan's
room. They didn't want to hear any
thing.
All the night 1t stormed at the Wicki-
nm. In the morning the Irving special.
flying toward Chicago. was far down
the Platte. No. was steaming west,
deep in the heart Of the Rockies.
Blackburn lay In Callahan's room. 1t
was 8 o'clock, and the sun was stream
Ing through the east windows when
Fred Norman opened the office door.
Fred could do those things even when
he was sickest. Have hemorrhagc
one day, scare everybody to death, and
20 back to his trick the next. He asked
right away for Kit. as he called Black
burn, and when they pointed to Gala
hans door Fred pushed it open and
went in. A cry brought the operators
to him. Blackburn was stretched on
his knees half on the floor, half face
downward Oh the sofa. His head had
fallen between his arms. which were
stretched above it. In his hands. clasp.
ed tight, they found his watch with the
picture Of his wife and his baby. Had
he asked, when he first went into that
room that night-when he wrestled, like
Jacob Of old. In his agony Of prayer
that his life be taken II only their lives
the lives of those in his keeping, might
be spared? do not know. They found
him dead.