The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1907-01-31

1t set master mechanics by the ears
! and made reckless ralSilicrs Of previ-
1 ouSly conservative tralnmcn. 1t made
| undyiug enemies Of rival supprntend-
| ents and mciplent pnrctics of jolly
| train dlspatchers. 1t shivered lis from
! end to end and stem to stern. hut 1t
covered l,0.d miles of the best steel in
the world Il, rather better than twenty
hours and blaze of glory.
MY word is out" said the president
/ IN his message to all superintendcnts
/ thirty minutes later You will get
/ your division schedule in II few mo
mentS Send no reasons for inability
! to make II. simply deliver the goods.
With your time report which comes by
/ by. NJ. s., | want the name ana rec
ord of every member of every train
crew and every engine crew that hauls
the ATcWiliams car" Then followed
/ particular injunctions of secrecy.
| Above all, the newspapers must not
! get it.
But where newspapers are secrecy
! can only he hoped for, never attained.
/ In spite of the most elaborate precau-
tions to preserve Peter McWilliams'
/ secret-woud vou hclieve it:--the even
| ing papers had half column, practi-
! caly the whole thing. OF course they
J had to guess at some of it, but for
| newspaper story it was pretty correct.
/ lust the same. They had to minute
I the time of the start from Chicago and
hinted broadly that the schedule was
a hair raiser something 10 make pre-
yious very fast records previnus very
slow records. And-hcre in Il scoop
was the secret-the train was to con
vey "A prominent Chicago capitalist TO
the bedside Of his dying son, Philip
McWillamS. in Denver. Further. that
hourly bulletins were being wired to
the distressed father and that ever
effort of science would lie put forth TO
keep the unhappy boy alive until his
father could reach Denver OH the spe-
cial. Lastly. ii was hoped by all the
evening papers TO fill out the half first
column scarel that sunrise would see
the anxious parent we'll on toward the
gateway of the Rockies.
OF course the morning papers from
the Atlantic to the Pacific had the
story repeated scare headed, IN fact |
and the public were laughing ut our
peoples logged refusal 10 confirm the
report or to he interviewed at all on
the subject The papers had the story
anyway. What did they care for our
efforts to screen Il private distress |
which insisted OH so paralyzing time
card for 1.026 miles?
When our own. the west end OF the |
schedule, came over the wires there
was Il universal Il vOciferous. kick. |
pispatchcrs. superintendent of motive
power. train MASTER everybody. pro, |
tested. We We're given about seven !
hours to cover 800 miles-the fastest |
percentage. by the way, on the whole
run
"ThS may he grief for young Nc
Williams and for his dad" grumbed |
the chief dispatcher that evening rs |
he cribbrd the press dispatches going |
over the wires about fine special but |
the grief IS not theirs alone"
Then he made a protest To Chicago. |
What the answer was none but him |
self ever knew. II came personal, and |
he took ii personally. hut the manner |
in which he went TO work clearing |
track and making Il card for the Me |
Williams Special showed better speed |
than The train itself ever attempted, |
and he kicked no more,
After all the row ii seems Incredible, |
but they never got ready To leave Chi
cag0 fili 4 o'clock. and when the Me
Williams Special lit into our train sys-
TEN 1t WAS Ike dropping Il mountain
lion into bunch Of steers.
Freights and extras, local passenger /
trains even. We're used to being side !
tracked. hut when ii came to laying
ont the tliers and Il whisper this) the
White Mail 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 hy the McWillams Special into Il
cooked hat.
From the minute il cleared Western
avenue it was the only thing talked
of. Divisional headquarters and car
tink shanties alike We're bursting with
excitement.
On The West End we had all night to
prepare, and al : O'Clock next morning
every man in the operating department
was on edge, At precisely 3:jS a. m
the McWilllams Special stuck its nose
into our division and FOley-pulled of
No. | with the 4tai-- was heading her
dizzy for McCloud. Already the Mo
Williams had male up thirty-one m,"'
utes on the one hour delay in Chicago
and Lincoln threw her into our hands
with sort OF There now, you fell
lows! Are you any good at all Oh the
West EndY And we thought we were.
Sitting in the dspatcher's office we
tagged her down the lile like "A swal-
low Harvard. oxford, GAINESVILLE. Ash
tOnand a thousand people AT the Me-
cloud station waited for O'Clock and
for FOley's muddy cap TO pop through
the Blackwood blu1S. watched him
stain the valley naples with stream
OF white and black. scream AT The juno.
tion switches. lear and crash through
the yards and Slide kissing and pant
ing up under our nose. swing ont OF
his cab and look ut nobody at all bur
his watch
We made IL $50 a. M. Central time;
the miles lVG; the minutes III The
schedule was beaten and that with tile
liG miles the fastest ON The whole