Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-03-05

SSll ll ll disp a tcherf 2
- What's themat.
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 it; with the man
who sits shut in brick walls and hung
In Chinese puzzles. his ear glued to
receiver ana his finger fast to key
and his eye rlveted 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
a brigadier does in lifetime? For In.
stance" asked Callahan, In his tired
way, whats the matter with Bucks"
Now, I myself never knew Bucks. He
left the West End before went on
Bucks is second vice president-which
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 ont t err. yet Not Of General Su-
perintendent Euc.is, which lie came to
be, nor OF General Manager Bucks.
| On the West End he is just plain
Bucks. bat Bucks on the West End
means Whole lot.
'lie saved the company $300,00O that
night the Ogalalla train ran away"
mused Call"han. Callahan himself Is
assistant superintendent now.
"Three hundred thousand dollars Is a
good deal of money. Callahan" I OBJ
| jected.
"Figure It out yourself. To begin
with. fifty passengers lives - that's
| $4,000 apiece. isn't it," Callahan had
cold blooded way Of figuring pas
senger's life from the company stand.
point 1T would have killed over fifty
passengers II the runaway had ever
struck 50. There wouldn't have been
enough left Of 80 to make decent fu-
neral. Then the equipment. Mt least
$4,000. But there was whole lot
more than S3C0OOO in it for Bucks"
| "How so?'
"He told me once that II he hadn't
saved 50 that night he would never
have signed another order anywhere
on any road"
| "Why?'
"Why? because after It was al over
he found oct that his own mother was
aboard 50. Didn't you ever hear thati
Well. sir. 1t was Christmas eve. and
the year was 1854"
| Christmas eve everywhere. but on
the West End II was just plain Dec.
"a.
High winds will pre"al for ensuing
twenty-four hours. Station agents Will
use extra care to secure cars OIL sid
ings. Brakealen must use care t6
avoid being blown from moving
trains"
That is about all Bucks said in lis
bulletin that evening-not IL word
about Christmas or Merry Christmas.
In fact, If Christmas had come to Nc.
Cloud that night they couldn't have
held it twenty-four minutes. much less
twenty -four hours-the wind was too
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 division-the 1O1-and only one
man on the whole West End-Bucks.
Bucks was assistant superintendent
and master mechanic and trainmaster
and chief dispatcher and stOrekeeper-
and a bully good fellow. There were
some boys In the service, among them
Callahan. Callahan was seventeen.
with hair like sunset and mind
quick as IN air brake. 1t was his
first year at the key. and he had a
night trick under Bucks.
Callahan claims 1t blew so hard that
night that 1t blew most Of the color
out OF his hair. Sod houses had sprung
up like dog towns In the buffalo grass
during the fall. But that day home
steaders crept into dugouts and smoth-
cred over buffalo chip fires. Horses
and cattle huddled into friendly pock-
cts little out of the worst Of 1t or
froze mutely In pitlless fence corners
on the divides. Sand drove grltting
down from the Cheyenne hills like a
storm Of snow. Streets Of the raw
prairie towns stared deserted at the
sky Even cowboys kept their ranches.
and through the gloom Of noon the sun
cast a coward shadow. 1t was a
wretched day, and the sun went down
with the wind tuning into a gale and
all the boys In bad humor. excepl
Bucks. Not that Bucks couldn't get
mad, but It took more than cyclone
to start him.
No. so. the California express. was
late that night. All the way up the
valley the wind caught her quarter
Ing. Really. the marvel Is that out
there on the plains such storms didn't
blow our toy engines clear off the
rails. For that matter, they might as
well have taken the rails. too. for none
Of them went over sixty pounds. Fifty
nine was due at II o'clock. 1t was
half past IL when she pulled In and on
Callahan's trick. But Bucks hung
around the office until she staggered
up under the streaked moonlight as
frowsy a looking train as ever choked
on alkali.
i
There was always a crowd down at
the station to meet So She was the
big arrival OF the day at McCloud even
II she didn't get In until II o'clock at
night. She brought the mail and the
express and the landseekers and. the
travelling men and the strangers gen.
orally. so the McCloud livery men and
hotel runners and prominent citizens
, and prominent loafers and the city
marshal usually came down to meet
her. But It was not so that night
The platform was bare. Not even the
hardy chief Of police, who was town
watch and city marshal all combined.
ventured out.
The engineer swung out Of his cab
with the silence OF an abused man.
His eyes were full Of soda. his ears
i. full of sand. his mustache FULL Of burs
and his whiskers full Of tumbleweeds.
The conductor and the brakemen
climbed sullenly down, and the bag
gageman showed open his door and
slammed trunk out on the platform
! without n nretense of sympathy. Then