Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1908-12-10
In a Signal Tower.

Z signal block tower on a rsilroa5
THESE towers are used TO oners,e ~,
levers controlling the semaphores which
arect the engineers Of passing trains
Ahey are raised high above the tracks
ana those located out In sparselv sat
tied country are lonely places. Al tina,
anne some Of the towers were worried
Oy women, and l was one Of these
women. Indeed, was a girl Of twenty
my duties were not onerous. had
tlIne for sewing or fancy work or mn
SIC, the latter of which / was varv
FOND. l had the night watch ana !
ana my colleague Of the day watch
Kept our quarters in spick and span
condition, with plants in the windows
indeed, everything to make the place
homelike. 'Ne
Our tower was some distance from,
any house, but was never lonely or
AFRAID. for at the approach Of danger
could lock myself In. and with arms
and ammunition the place had great
advantages for defense. But l never
thought Of defending myself for
could see no reason why should he
attacked.
one evening shortly before dark
was singing, accompanying myself on
my guitar. / did not hear n footsfen
ascending, and suddenly. looking back
OF me. | saw a man standing in the
room. He was quite respectfully dress
ed, but there was something in his
face / did not like. Bowling to me
deferentially. he said:
Pardon me for this Intrusion.
heard the music and was surprised
that 1t should come from a railroad
watch tower. am very fond Of
music, and your voice is delicious.
Would you mind my sitting here" TAX
ing seat. while you singY'
r. was not deceived by his smooth
tongue, but what could I do? must
meet deception by deception. l an-
peared flattered by his approva! and
continued my singing. though with a
trembling voice. The song was I'm
the Cleaning" It was very appro-
priate. but was not thinking Of the
cleaning. l was thinking how l might
outwit some nefarious scheme | was
sure the man had In view. 1t occurred
to me to play Miss Simplicity. AS soon
as had finished the song | began to
talk about music. how l dotted on It
and how l felt an immediate liking for
any ore who loved It, But the man
soon turned the subject to my work,
asking me all manner of questions
with regard to 1.-THE levers. the soma
phores and how | threw the trains
on to the right track
/ judged from this that he was there
rather with some object in view con-
nected with the railroad than myself
personally. made 1t appear that ]
was pleased to tell him what he wished
to know and talked necessarily in or.
der that might keep him on that sub
ject, hoping to stave off any intentions
he might have with regard to me.
''Now, suppose" he said, "a train
should come along. What's the next
trainT'
THE Bentford express"
well. you wish to put it on the
right track. What do you do?''
81 pull this lever"
"And If you wished it to take the
right hand track Of the Y. short dis
lance up the track. what would you
dor
81 would pull this lever" putting my
hand on another.
HIN. It's very interesting. What
simple system when you once know
It."
very"
He looked at the clock, rather nerv
ously, l thought. and listened, There
was a distant rattle Of train.
as that the expressT' he asked.
at have no doubt 1t is"
The expression on his face began t
change. The interested look he haC
thus far worn gave place to one OF res
olution. He walked back and forth
and | saw him put his hand to his hip
I was satisfied that this was TO max
Sure his weapon was In its prope
II
| place. though l did not see why b.
needed 1t for a girl like me. Perhap
he was going to shoot the engineer
When the train came within shor
distance OF the tower | stepped to tn
levers and put my hand on one OF then
Nv visitor stopped. evidently so as no
tn be seen from below.
mot that" he said from behind; mo
that one; the other. Throw the tran
on the right hand track Of the y.
heard a click and, looking bach
saw the muzzle Of a revolver pointin
at me. pulled the lever he orders
me to pull. and the train went thnnaei
ing by. :,
Taking a pair Of nippers from N
pocket. the man cut the wires connect
ing nv telegraph instrument with u
main line and. taking a piece OF u
wire with him. ran out and hurrie
down the stairs. locked the door ane
staggering to the window, looked oui
He was running after the train ID
turned and said: -,
aGoodby. sweetheart You sing liza
| a nightingale.