The Greeley tribune., 1907-01-31

- WHAT'S the aa mat
ter with the
man who tells the engineer what to do
and just what to do: how to do it, and
exactly how to do 1t; with the man
who sits shut in brick walls and hung
In Chinese puzzles, his ear glued TO a
receiver and his finger fast to n key
and his eye riveted on train chart
the man who orders and annuls and
stops and starts everything within 500
miles of him and holds under his
thumb more lives every minute than
brigadier does in lifetime? For in
stance" asked Callahan. in his tired
way, whats the matter with Bucks:'
Now, l myself never knew Bucks. He
left the West End before l went on.
Bucks Is second vice president-which
means the boss-of transcontinental
line now and a very great swell. But
no man from the West End who calls
on Bucks has to wait for an audience,
though bigger men do. They talk of
him out there yet. Not of General Su-
perintendent Bucks, which he came to
be, nor of General Manager Bucks.
On the West End he is just plain
Bucks, but Bucks on the West End
means whole lot.
"He saved the company 100000 that
night the Ogalalla train ran away"
mused Callahan. Callahan himself is
assistant superintendent now.
"Three hundred thousand dollars is
good deal of money, Callahan" | OBJ
jected.
"Figure it out yourself To begin
with, fifty passengers lives - that's
5000 apiece, isn't it?' Callahan had
a cold blooded way of figuring pas
senger's life from the company stand
point. "It would have killed over fifty
passengers if the runaway had ever
struck 50. There wouldn't have been
enough left of so to make decent fu-
neral. Then the equipment, at least
$4,000. But there was whole lot
more than $500, 1000 in it for Bucks"
"How so?''
He told me once that if he hadn't
saved 80 that night he would never
have signed another order anywhere
on any road.''' - .,s.
"WhyT'
why 11CSuuoS oAtSA ~ w do diI oNCl
he found out that his own mother was
aboard 50. Didn't you ever hear that1
Well, sir, it was Christmas eve, and
the year was 1884"
Christmas eve everywhere, but on
the West End it was just plain Dec.
"a.
High winds will prevail for ensuing
twenty-four hours. Station agents will
use extra care to secure cars ON sid
ings Brakemen must use care to
avoid being blown from moving
trains"
That is about all Bucks said in his
bulletin that evening-not a word
about Christmas or Merry Christmas.
In fact. IL Christmas had come to Nc
Cloud that night they couldn't have
held 1t twenty-four minutes. much less
twenty-four hours-the wind was toe
high. All the week, all the day, all
the night, it had blown-a December
wind dry as an August noon, bitter
as powdered ice. 1t was in the early
days of our western railroading, when
we had only one fast train on the
schedule = the st. Louis California
express-and only one fast engine on
the dlvision-the 1O1-and only one
man on the whole West End-Bucks.
Bucks was assistant superintendent
and master mechanic and trainmastel
and chief dispatcher and storekeeper-
and bully good fellow. There were
some boys in the service, among their
Callahan. Callahan was seventeen
with hair like n sunset and a minG
quick as an air brake. 1t was his
first year at the key, and he had G
night trick under Bucks.
Callahan claims it blew so hard tha
night that it blew most of the coloi
out of his hair. Sod houses had sprune
up like dog towns In the buffalo grass
during the fall. But that day home
steaders crept into dugouts and smotk
cred over buffalo chip fires. Horses
and cattle huddled into friendly pock
cts little out Of the worst of 1t OF
froze mutely in pitiless fence corner.
on the divides. Sand drove grittine
down from the Cheyenne hills like {
storm of snow. Streets of the raw
prairie towns stared deserted at tht
sky. Even cowboys kept their ranches
and through the gloom of noon the sur
cast coward shadow. 1t was {
wretched day, and the sun went dowr
with the wind tuning into gale ant
all the boys in bad humor excep
Bucks. Not that Bucks couldn't ge
mad, but it took more than a cyclon,
to start him.
No. SO, the California express, wa.
late that night. All the way up tn,
valley the wind caught her quarter
Ing. Really. the marvel is that ou
there on the plains such storms didn'
blow our toy engines clear OF tn,
rails. For that matter. they might a,
well have taken the rails, too, for non,
Of them went over sixty pounds. Fifty
nine was due at II O'Clock. It wa
half mast 12 when sba nullad In and q,