The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1907-03-14

.
The Gier, the first section and regu
lar passenger train, was checked OH
OF GAINESVILLE on time. Second 4, whicl
meant George McNeal, Dad, the sky
scraper and fifty loads Of wheat. re
ported out Mt $40. While we worked
on our time card Neighbor in the dis
patcher's office across the hall figured
out that the wheat train would enricl
the company Just $1,000, tolls ant
premium, "if 1t doesn't break in tive
on Beverly hill" growled Neighbor
with a qualm.
On the dispatchers sheet, which is {
sort of panorama, l watched the big
train whir past station after station
drawing steadily nearer to us. and do
ing It, the marvel. on full passenger
time. 1t was n great feat. and George
McNeal, whose nerve and brain were
guiding the tremendous load, was
breaking records with every milestone
They were due in Harvard at c
o'clock. The first 4, our hler, pulled In
and out on time, meeting 55, the west.
bound overland freight, at the second
station east of Harvard
Neighbor and l sat with the dis
patchers up in their office, smoking.
! The wheat train was now due from the
west, and, looking ut my watch, ]
| stepped to the western window. AL
most Immediately heard the long, pc
culiarly hollow blast of the skyscraper
/ t,,b;gtIipr e., fbn t,nnay. rrurI
"She's coming" / exclaimed.
The boys crowded to the window,
but Neishbor happened to glance to
the east.
"What's that coming in from the
junction, Bailey" he exclaimed, turn
ing to the local dispatcher. We looked
and saw headlight in the east.
"That's 90"
"Where do they meetY'
"Fifty-fivc takes the long siding in
from the Junction"-which was two
miles oast-"and she ought to be on 1t
iously, looking over the master mechan-
les shoulder. Neigllbor jumped as If a
bullet had struck him. "She'll never
take a siding tonight. She's coming
down the main track. What's her or
ders?' he demanded furiously.
Meeting orders for first 4 at Red
bud, second 4 here, rs ut GLENCOE.
Great Jupiter" cried the dispatcher,
and his face went SICK and scared,
they've forgotten second A."
They'll think of her long time
dead" roared the master mechanic saw
agely, jumping to the west window.
Throw your red lights! There's the
skyscraper noww
Her head shot that instant around
the coal chutes less than mile away,
and 50 going dead against her | stood
like one palsiod, my eyes glued on the
burning eye of the big engine. AS she
whipped past street are light caught
a glimpse Of George McNeal's head out
Of the cab window. He always rode
bareheaded if the night was warm, and
! knew it was he; but suddenly, like
flash, his head went in. knew why as
we'll as if my eyes We're his eyes and
my thoughts his thoughts. He had seen
red signals where he had every right
to look for white
But red signals now-to stop her-to
pull her fiat on her launches like
broncho? Shake a weather flag at
cyclone!
saw the fire stream from her driv-
ers. knew they were churning in
the sand. knew he had twenty air
cars behind him sliding What Of it?
Two thousand tons were sweeping
forward like an avalanche. What did
brains or pluck count for now with 80
dancing along like schoolgirl right
into the teeth of it?
don't know how the other men felt.
AS for me- my breath choked in my
throat my knees shook, and deadly
nausea seized me. Unable to avert
the horrible blunder, saw its hideous
results.
Darkness hid the worst of the sight;
it was the sound that appalled,. Chill
dren asleep IN sod shanties miles from
where the two engines reared in aw-
full shock jumped In their cribs at that
crash. Fifty.fve's little engine barely
checked the skycraper. She split II
like haDana. She bucked like fran
Tic horse and leaped fearfully ahead.
There was Il binding explosion, sud
den awful burst Of steam. The win
dows crashed about our ears, and we
were dashed TO the wall and floor like
lead pencils. A baggage truck, whip
ped up from the platform below, came
through the heavy sash and down ON
the dispatchor's table like n brlckbat,
and as we scrambled to our feet a
lower Of wheat suffOcated us. The
~ hea'ed, Freight cars slid into
"a depot like battering rams In the
height of the confusion an oil tank |
IN the yard took fire and threw yel-
low glare on the ghastly scene.
| saw men get up and fall again TO |
;helr knees. ! was shlyering and wet |
with sweat. The stairway was crush |
ed into kindllng wood | climbed out |
\ back window, down on the roof of |
the freight platform and so to the
ground. There was running to and
1ro, useless and aimless; men were be-
side themselves They plunged through
wheat up TO their knees at every step.
All at once, above the frantic kissing
# the buried skyseraper and the wild
'alling of the car thinks, heard the
'tentorian tones OF Neighbor, mounted
IN a twisted truck, organizing the men
It hand into n wrecking gang Soon
leople began running up the yard to
where the skyseraper lay. like another
samson, PROSTATE in the midst OF the
n had svFouohf IHorauaot |