The Topeka state journal., 1906-04-14


whether The Dispatcher s
story, is true it may be well to
state frankly at the outset that
this tale in its inexplicaiole psychology
cal features is q. transcript from the
queer things in the railroad life It
IS based on an extraordinary happen
ing that fell within the experience of
the president Of q large western rail-
way system Whether the story. sug-
EestiVe from any point of view of
mystery, can be regarded as a demon
straftOn of the efficacy Of prayer may
De q disputable question. In passing,
however. it is only fair to say that the
circumstances on which the tale is
based was so regarded by the dis
patcner himself and by those familiar
with the circumstances.
"A hundred times if once the thing
had been, on appeals for betterment,
before the board of directors. It was
the one piece OF track on the noun
tain division that trafnnen shook their
heads over-tle Peace river stretch.
To run any sort of a line through that
canyon would take the breath Of an
engineer. Give him all the money he
could ask and it would stagger Wet
more himself. Brodie IN his day said
there was nothing worse ia the Andes,
aud Brodie. before he drifted into the
Rockies. had seen, first and last pret-
ty much all Of the Chilean work.
But cur men had the job to do with
one-half the money they ded-tae
lines to run. the grades 70 figure, the
cu1Verts to put in the fills to make,
the blasting to DO, the tunnel to bore.
the bridge to build in a limit; that
was the curse OF 1.-THE limit And
they did the best they could. But 7
VIII be candid-if a section and eleva-
ton Of Rosamond's bower and a sec
ton and elevation of our Peace river
work were put Up to stand for prize
at civil engineers cakewalk the de-
cision would go. and quick, to the
Feaoe river track There are only
eight miles of it. but our men would
back it against any eighty on earth for
whipping curves, tough grades. william
ol1s approaches and railroad tangle
generally.
The directors always have promised
10 improve it, and they are promising
yet, Thanks to what Haley taught
them, there's a good bridge there now
pneumatic caissOns sunk to the bed.
It's the more pity they haven't eIirni-
mated the dread main line curves that
approach 1t through a valley which
hrief as a canyon and Che mauvaises
terres rolled into one single proposi-
tion.
Yet we dc lots of business along
that stretch Our engineers thread
the cuts and are glad to get safely
through them. Our roadnasters keep
up the elevations. hoping some night
the blooming right of way viii tunl-
BILE into perdidon. Our dispatchers.
SLuDF4n2 uEl9tGF shaded lamps. think OF
It with their teeth clinehed and hope
there never Will be any trouble on
that stretch. Trouble is our portion
and trouble We must get but not
there. Let it come, but let it come.
anywhere except on the Peace
It was in the golden days OF the bat
tered old Wickiup that the story opens,
when Blackburn sat IN the night chair
the days when the old guard were still
there. before death and fame and cir
al
rnanders and left only US little fell
lows. forgotten by every better fate
to tell their greater stories.
Haley had the bridges then. and
Wetmore the locating. and Neighbor
the roundhouses, and Bucks the super
intenoeney. and Callahan. so he claim
ed. the work, and Blackburn had the
night trick
When Blackburn came from the
plains he brought a. record clean as the
book Of life Four years on q station
key, then eight years at Omaha. dis
patching, with never a blunder or a
break 10 the eight years. But it was
at Omaha, that Blackburn lost the wife
whose face he carried IN his watch. I
never heard the story, only some ru-
NOR of how young she was and how
pretty and how he buried her and the
wee baby together It was ali Black
burn brought TO the West End noun
tains-his record and the little face in
the watch They said he had no kffh
or kin on earth besides the wife and
the saby back on the bluffs Of the Mis-
souri,, and so he came on the night
trick to US
then. but I remember the crowd. Who
could forget them They were iolly
good fellows. Sometimes there were
very nigh jinks- don't mean any
body drunk or that sort but good to-
baceo to smoke and good songs to
sing and good stories to tell, and Lord
how they could tell tffen And when
The pins sIippeds as they would. and
things went wrong, as they VIII. there
were clear heads and pretty wits and
stout hearts to put things right.
Elackburn, as much as I can re-
member always enjoyed it.. bat in d
different way He had such times a
manner Ike nobody elSe'@a Silent
beaTniIlg manner When Bucks would
roll e great white Panhandle yarn over
his fresh linen shirt front and down
his cool, clean white arms. one Of
them always barred to the elbow. sand
ing his points with the ash og san
Francisco cigar, and Neighbor would
begin to heave from the middle IN
like q h8pp0pCtamus. and Callahan
WOaid laugh his whiskers full of dew
and HALEY would yell with delight
and the slaves in the next room would
double up On the dead at the story.
Blackburn would sit with his laugh all
ia a smile. but never a noise or a
word He enjoyed 1t all. no doubt Of
that. oaly It was al tempered. ree4-
on, by something thaA had gone be-
fore At least flats the way 1t now
strikes me and I watched those big
feIloRs pretty ciose-t1le fellows who
were to turn while I was growing up
au1cng them into managers and Dresf-
dents and nlagnates and some Of them
from every doy catch -as-eat teh-can
men with the common aIkaIi ffeekine
their boots into dead men for whom
marble never rose white enough OF
high enough.
Blackburn was four years at the
VVickfup on the night trick It wouIdnft
have seemed natural to see him there
IN daylight. It needed the yellow
gloom OF the old kerosene lamp in the
room, the specked, knotted. warped
arnoky pine ceiling losing itself in