La Junta tribune., 1907-08-10
:. 3. 3. =: :. ss

longs To men Ike SlF. MtN iihaihs.
( who own It when they need 1t. At
/ other times they let the stockholders
carry it-until they want 1t again.
Wen do what we can. Peter re-
piled the president. desperately amia-
BILE. .Goodby"
am giving you only an inklins OF
/ how II started. not word rs to how
| countless orders were issued and
| countless schedules, were Cancelled. not
paragraph about numberlesS trains
aba utloned In toto and numherless 9th
ers pulled aud hauled and held aud
annullsd. The McWilliams Special in a
| twinkle tore II great system into great
| splinters-
| II set master mechanics by the ears
and made reckless falsitiers OF preyi-
ousiy conservative trainmen. 1t made
I undying enemies OF rival superin'end-
! ents and incipient paretics OF jolly
trnin dispatchers. II shivered us from
end to end and stem, to stern. but II
| covered 1.O26 miles of the best steel In
| the world In rather better than twenty
hours and blaze OF glory.
my word Is out" said the president
/ III his hi'sSdsC w ou sufs'
| thirty minutes later. You will get
your division schedule In few mo-
ments Send no reasons for Inability
| to make 1t. Simply deliver the goods
| With your time report. which comes by
| by. NJ. s.. want the name and rec
ord of every member OF every train
/ crew and every engine crew that hauls
| the Mcwillnms car" Then followed
| particular injunctions OF secrecy.
! Above all. the newspapers must not
! get 1t.
But where newspapers are secrecy
can only he hoped for. never attained.
| In spite OF the most elaborate preciu-
/ tions to preserve Peter AIcwillinms
/ secret-would you believe itl-the even
| ing papers had half a column. practi-
cally the whole thing. or course they
had TO guess Mt some OF II. but for
newspaper story II WAS pretty correct.
lust the same. They had to II minute
| the time OF the start from Chicago and
limited broadly that the schedule was
| a hair raiser. something to make pre-
| vious very fast records previous very
slow records. And-here In a scoop
| was the secret-the train was to con
| vey prominent Chicago capitalist TO
the bedside Of his dying son. Philip
| McWfliiams. In Denver. Further. that
hourly bulletins were being wired to
| the distressed father and that every
effort OF science would he put forth to
keep the unhappy boy alive until his
father could reach Denver on the spe-
cinl Lastly. II was hoped by all the
At,, I,n1( Aput
column scare, that sunrise would see
| the anxious parent well on toward the
gateway of the Rockies.
| or course the morning papers from
the Atlantic to the Pncifc had the
story repeated-scare headed. In fact
and the public were laughing mt our
! peoples dogged refusal to confirm the
report or to he Interviewed Mt all on
| the subject. The papers had the story
anyway. What did they care for our
efforts to screen private distress
which insisted on 40 paralyzing a time
card for 1.026 miles?
| When our own the west end Of the
schedule. came over the wires there
was universal. a vOciferous. kick.
Dispatchers. superintendent Of motive
power train master. everybody. pro
tested. We were given about seven
| hours to cover 400 miles-the fastest
percentage. by the way. on the whole
run.
"rhis may be grief for young Nc
| Williams and for his dad" grumbled
the chief dispatcher that evening as
he cribbed the press dispatches going
over the wires about the special. "but
the grief is not theirs alone"
| Then he made n protest TO Chicago.
What the answer was none but him
! self ever knew. 1t came personal. and
he took II personally. but the manner
In which he went to work clearing
track and making card for the Nc
| williams Special showed better speed
than the train itself ever attempted.
and he kicked no more.
After all the row 1t seems Incredible.
but they never got ready to leave Chi
cnCo till 4 O'Clock. and when the Nc
williams Special lit into our train sys-
tenn II was like dropping mountain
lion into bunch OF steers.
FreIghts and extras. local passenger
trnins even. were used to being side
tracked. but when 1t came to laying
out the fiIers and II whisper thisl the
White Mall and the ManIla express the
oil began to sizzle in the journal boxes
The freight business. the passenger
traffic. the mail schedules Of whole
RAILWAY system were actually knock
ed by the Mcwilliams Special Into q
cooked hat.
From the minute 1t cleared Western
avenue it was the only thing talked
Of Divisional headquarters aud car
tlnk shanties alike were bursting with
excitement.
On the West End we had all night to
prepare, and at o'clock next morning
every man In the operating department