Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1908-05-15
PUT HIM TO
SLEEP
Strange Experience Of Veteran Tsle.
graph Operafor in tfss South

once, said the old railroad telegra
pher who gets about az close TO the
truth each time he talks as the Arctic
explorers get to the north pole on
each subsequent trip. i don't know
whether II was from sentiment or not
the banjo always being linked with
southern history. but anyway the
southern railway Of which am speak
ing was completely equipped With ban
10 signals for the operation Of trains
For 2 spell the banjo signals
around LinlithgO station got out Of
whack and seemed 70 be going 10 the
/ eternal fraukfurters. Just when some
fast special would be dashing through
: Linlithgo going z:40 on 2 plank read
! the pesky banjo signals would 90 keT-
slap 10 danger. bringing the fast spe-
I cial up On al iours. as IL were. Then
hades would be tapped around Linlifh-
+ go station with an eightinch pcsth0le
I auger while the engineer ventilated
. his views
The company sear signal experts
, ard testers Of ali kinds 10 try cut the
sulzy signals 70 no avail. After this
sassiness Of the signals had been go
ing On for a spell the night operator
on duty at Lialithg6 got subject TO a.
tacks o. drowsiness.
he just cou,dnE make his eyes
behave. Every nigdt about L o'clock
he would drop Of into the scundest
slumber
The company couldn't stand fer
any Little Bo-Peep in theirs So The
boss asked me if / wouldn't 20 down
to Linlithgo TO try and straighten mat
tiers ont
Il never Ike 70 thzow bouquets at
myself but I VIII say that had no
marks against my record As far IS
wakefulness was concerned ] was liz
tie Lord FauntlerOy on the job Never
theless. when I GOT 10 doing the
night work al Liniithgo my reputation
for alermess or duty went the
board.
Every midnight 7 would be ar
tackled by drowsiness. and before long
! would be making 2 noise Ike Phila
delphia- Then the first thing you know
I'd be holding up all the flower Of the
time card.
One thing 7 did notice. Every
morning we would ind cur stock Of
copper and zines. used in the gravity
batteries. all nibbled up. as If they had
been attacked by a mouse with some
sort OF shelter attachment inside The
plot certainly was thickening
q got a good sized mouse trap and
SET it near the storage battery closet. +
properly baited with cheese. This
drowsiness still came over me every
midnight. and the depredations on the
electrical stores confined undated.
The company was getting pretty
sore az me. was just about ready 10
pass up the whole thing and come
north when ran short Of ordinary
cheese 10 ball the mouse trap one
night and was forced 20 bait M trap .
with a piece OF peek-a-5oo. Open-work Z
Swiss cheese.
Along about 1880 my usual drOwsy .
spell came On 1 was just reeiting
'Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight. in .
my dreams, when 1 heard an awful
commotion out near my mouse trap
Struggling hard TO overcome the 4
sleepy feeling. which grew more over
towering Is drew nearer 10 the trap. f
I ran cur. and I can tell sou I was the
most surprised man y0u ever saw 70 .
find an electrical eel all twisted Up in
that piece Of Swiss cheese You see
the ordinary cheese never bothered F.
him al all. bu5 he attempted 10 crawl
through the holes Of the golfcourse .
cheese IN order TO get az The electrical +
stores aud got all tangled up
The mystery Of LinliJhgo station
was solved. You see q couple OF elee-
trio eels had wrigsied their way IRON
the ditch along the railroad into the
electric signal system. and after hav-
ing once gorged themselves on the
current which is so essential 10 their
system they Just couldn't leave il
alone.
Then they got wise to the storage {
closet up in the station, and wriggled
up there every night TO replenish the
dying electrical embers in their bodies
at the expense OF the company Inc
electrical currents they ex-
uded from their bodies had the same
effect as that new electrical anaes-
thetic the scientists are experimenting
with now 1t put all the operators
who worked at Linlithgo 10 sleep.
If that eel hadn't got tangled up
in the meshes OF that Swiss cheese
The mystery never would have been
solved. 1 guess that's about the most
peculiar and withal true electrical &C
,urrence on record.
say put in the tall cynical con
iuctor, there must be some OF them
sels gettin' in their fell work on this
division. for had to stop an wake up J
10 less than six operators in q dis (
ance of 40 miles last night"
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