La Junta tribune., 1907-11-16

ter with the
m who tells the engineer what to do
a Just what to do; how to do 1t. and
nctiy how, TO do 1t; with the man
70 sits shut In brick walls and hung
Chinese puzzles. his ear glued TO
reiver and his finger fast 10 key
d his eye fiveteti on a train chart
b tnan who orders and anuuls aud
BPS and starts everything within 800
iles Of him and holds under his
umb more lives every Minute than
brigadler does In a lifetime: For In
sAce." asked Callahan. in his tired
f-what's the matter with BncIsy"
kfow. lnyseif never knew Bucks. He
II the West End before went OH.
pcks is second vice presi.ient-which
Pans the boss s-of n transcontinentai
he now and very great swell. But
man from the West End who calls
Bucks has to walt for an audience.
lpugh bigger men do. They. talk OF
IN out there yet. Not of General Su-
rintendeht Bucks. which lie came to
nor or General Managcr Bucks.
= the West End he Is just plain
aChs- Dht buthS on t!ic w est Iuu
eans whole lot
EfIie saved the company $50. 900 that
ght the ogalalln train ran away"
psed Callahan, Callahan himself Is
bisfant superintendent now
&Thrce hundred thousand dollars is Il
I'D deal OF money. Callahan" OBJ
eted
kI;,,,,r., II o,, ,.or-s.,s ~. l,a.,,,,
th. fifty passengers lives s-tlat's
pUo apiece, isn't III" Callahan had
55eold blooded way of figuring pas
54ger's life from the company stand
hit. 1T would have killed over fifty
tsengers if the runaway Ind ever
mex % There wouldn't have been
Dugh left Of - to make n decent fu-
fal. Then the equipment. at least
o.0O0 But there was whole lot
Drc than 500. .OCo in 1t for Bucks"
Elbow so:"
He toitl me once that IL he hadn't
red 30 that night he would never
fvc signed another order anywhere
any road"
Why"
Why? Because after 1t was all over
found out that his own mother was
frd -. Didn't you ever hear thatf
sir, 1t was Christmas eve, and
year WAS 1851"
christmas eve everywhere. but on
West End II was Just plain Dec.
High winds will prevail for ensuing
enty -four hours. station agents will
extra care to secure cars on SID
B. Brakemen must use care to
Did being blown from moving
lns."
hat Is about all Bucks said In his
letln that evening-nOt word
= but Christmas or Merry Christmas.
= fact. II Christmas had come to Nc
bud that night they couldn't have
Id II twenty-four minutes. much less
kenty four hours--the wind was too
gh. All the week. all the day. all
night. II had sbloun-ag December
nd. dry as an August noon. bitter
powdered Ice. 1t was In the early
t. BIS of our western railroadlug, when
4 had only one fast train on the
T. hedule tile St Louls-Caiifornia
= press-and only one fast engine on
divisiOn-the 1O1-and only one
hn on the whole West End-Bucks.
: Sucks was assistant superintendent
a master mechanic and trainmaster
chief dispatcher and storekeeper-
d bully good fellow. There were
me boys In the service. among them
llnhan. Callahan was seventeen.
a )tb hair like sunset and a mind
lick as an air brake. 1t Mas his
(st year at the key. and he had q
ht trick Under Bucks.
Callahan claims 1t blew so hard thnt
that 1t blew most OF the color
S6f his hair. Sod houses had sprung
like dog towns In the buffalo grass
bring the fall. But that day home,
eaders crept into duSouts and sInoth-
ed over buffalo chip fires. Horses
ID cattle huddled into friendly pock-
little out of the worst of It or
Pee inutely in pitiless fence corners
the divides. Sand drove gritting
wn from the Cheyenne hills Ike a
brm of snow. Streets of the raw
afrie towns stared deserted at the
". Even cowboys kept their ranches.
ID through the gloom Of noon the sun
st coward shadow. 1t was .
FETCHED day. and the sun went down
ith the wind tuning Into a gale and
the boys In bad humor. except
hicks. Not that Bucks couldn't get
I'd. but 1t took more than cyclone
stnrt him.
30, 50. the California express. was
be that night. AL the way up the
Hey the wind caught her quarter
gsweiReally. i the marvel II that out
are on the plains such storms didn't
pw our toy engines clear on the
ne. For that matter. they might n
1lshAve taken the rails, too. for none
them went over sixty pounds. Fifty.
pc was due at II o'clock. 1t wsi
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