The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-01-25
WATCHERS OF THE CABLE.
BY DENIsoN HALEY cI1Tr.

Ou (dn always bCAi, oot0 "a 3
Jim Callahan, as he climbed with bis
waste and oil can among the valves
and cogs of the sleeping machinery
"just what kind of stuff there is in a
man until he's face to face with dan
ger. Then you can find out. !"
listened as the head wiper for the
Power Street Railway clambered
among the giant wheels and long
leather belts in the engine room OF
the power house. Callahan has been
in the service thirty years and he
has wiped in the power house ever
since his car ran away down the Long
Hill ten years ago and he lost his
strong grip arm il the collision. By
some .whim of chance he has faced
death so often that the younger men
and the cold cable road are always
glad to listen to him.
So l asked Jim Callahan to con-
tinue. His one good hand polished
the suction valves and governors as
he talked, until they shone like bril-
liant stars under the yellow fame of
the lantern.
"You see," the old wiper went on,
ST was thinking Of the Farrelleys.
There were two of them, and the
company knew them as old Tim Far
relley and young Tim Farrelley; and
finer pair of men never signed on
the rolls.
"Old Faarelley came out of the
East early in the eighties, and about
a month after he applied was given a
car on the night run. The first three
months after he was signed on, Far
relley and 1 relieved each other, and
sort of interest sprang up between
us, with car 265, our car, as basis
for il.
IT liked old Farrelley from the
very first run he was always SO
CHEEKY and cordial, and he had sense
of duty born in him. Before leaving
the car at night he would always wipe
and adjust the brakes and he was
often tagged out, too.
"Then, as the months passed, the
big strike came on, and we all went
out together. 1t was nearly four
months later before the bosses let us
go back to the barns. The first car
to go out after the long fight was old
265, with Tim Farrelley in the grip
mans box.
'But it seemed as though some fate
was conspiring against him. For 4
few weeks later 1 was put on the
night run regularly, which was just
before the cable snapped and my cal
slid back down the Long Hill. crush
ing into 265, which Farrelley had
braked on the level intersection o
Sutter street.
"It was hard of the unkind fate tha
the car behind me should have beer
Tim Farrelley's. When he returned
to the barns from the hospital he wa:
on crutches, and it brought the tear:
to our eyes to see him hobble dowr
into the engine room. AS for myself
this is what the collision cost me. >
The wiper pointed to the stub of al
arm.
"The company stood by Tim Far
relley," continued Callahan, and h'
was made cable watcher.
Somehow l always thought they
might have been kinder to him. Fol
watching the cable is worse on th'
nerves than gripping in fog. Jus
to sit night after night and watch th'
long wire cable come rolling in owe
the grooved wheel and go rolling ou
again below, your eyes always fas
tened on its writings, looking fol
possible breaks-well, Tim Farrelley
could not stand it long.
80 one day he told Monohan, th'
superintendent, that he was all in.
"'But the boy he said, can th
boy have my place watching till h
is old enough to brakel'
"Monohan hesitated at first, thel
he asked, Has he your old nervel'
Livery bit of it I declared the oil
man.
"The men doubted it at first, whel
old Farrelley brought him round t.
the power house. And Monohan,
dare say, wanted to take back hi
promise, but he was afraid of break
ing old Farrelley all up, so the bo
was put to watching the cable.
"Those were the days before tn
torn strands of the wire rope were re
corded on the patent instrument, an
the watcher had to sit hour after hou
and watch the cable as ii came sing
ing in over the wheel. 1t was veal
ing task. A bad tear may not com
but once in five years and when W
saw young Farrelley pcrched on hi
stool, his keen blue eyes studying tn
wire rope that flew in and out of th
low, black shaft like crazy snake
we wondered what he would do whe
the test came.
THE young fellow was 1.-THE
yellow haired lad not yet twenty
with saIlow, clean cut face, and "
wondered as we looked at him If b
was made of the same stuff as b
father.
''It was over a year before the te:
came. Young Farrelley had begu
to show marks of the strain.
''I was wiping then, and often /;
night, when the machinery was rur
ming we'll, I would stop at the cab
room and chat with young Farrelle.
His blue eyes had lost their old keel
ness. He usually sat close to tt