The Ordway new era., 1908-12-18
THE SIGNAL
MANS STORY
s,uIn Enjoyed His Electric Bath.

I'm the Otterkill valley said the 'alA
alive railroad telegraph operator
blowing smoke rings from my pipe
and jumping through them whch
heard the train dispatcher calling me
IN the wire. answered and he direct
ID me to put the bug against eNt'"
783 west, as he had orders TO siNu
en-.
"In that tower we had In addition
10 the ordinary semaphore signals
distant signal for westbound trains "s
they approached the tower rom
curve on down grade. 1t was oper'
nted bv an electric switch In the
tower
so when ! received the instructions
from the train dispatcher set me
electric signal and waited for the %"
to show. In few minutes | was sur
prised to see her come around inc
curve under full head OF steam, max
ing about 80 miles an hour with IA light
train OF course as soon as the engin'
eer saw the semaphoro at the tower
at danger he whistled for down brakes
and sailed her, as the railroad eN-
preston Is when the engineer Is com
PEELED to reverse his locomotive In
order to make sudden stop.
AT that they ran couple OF train
lengths by the tower and the conduc'
tor had to walk back about 500 feet
to get the dlspatcher's message. To
make n conductor cheerful, Just com.
pei him to walk a few extra feet for a
message setting out additional work
for his crew.
We'll, say. you would have had to
have shorthand specialist to get
down the shorter and uglicr words
which passed between the knight of
the throttle, the train crew and my
self. They averred that hadn't set
the distant signal at danger to warn
them what to expect whGH they came
In sight of the tower. just as siren.
uously maintained that had set the
signal. But what was my word against
seven or eight OF them?
The same thing happened several
times and got reported to the su.
perintendent as being lax In my
watchful care of the signals Wig.
orously defended myself and set forth
that the electric signal must be out OF
kilter. so they sent n lineman to
look II over.
We tested 1t thoroughly. the line.
man walking around the curve and
staying there while threw the signal
to danger and released 1t time and
again. II worked TO perfection.
"Of course 1t looked bad for me.
In the eyes OF the boss | was getting
to be an undesirable citizen and he
was rapidly taking shape in my mind
as n flabby person troubled with stony
degeneration OF the heart.
Notwithstanding the close inspec-
tion of the repair man the incorrigi.
bic signal still sulked. its balkiness
being particularly apparent Just after
dusk at night and along just before
daybreak in the morning In the
cleaning one evening ! set distant
signal in order to stop the Mountain
express. owing TO obstructed track.
The repair man happened to be In the
tower.
THE way that passenger came
around that turn was a caution. Hav-
ing high pressure air brakes, they
stopped without going great dis.
tance. This was the last straw for
me. Leaving the inspector in charge
of the tower. I ran around the curve
with a lantern to do a little inspecting
on my own hook.
Approaching the signal saw It
was at safety all right. I heard howls
of pain and then saw large bear
seated on the base of the metal signal
pole making frantic endeavors to free
himself. Hastily getting n gun. we
dispatched his bearship and thereafter
the signal was right up to snuff.
The way we doped it out was that
at some time or other the bear had
swum the Ocerkill creek and his way
taking him across the track, acciden.
tally his paw came in contact with
the electrical signal You know
dampness increases the strength of
an electric current and the bears wet
body, fresh from the creek, made a
fine conductor and he got an extra
heavy dose.
He rather liked the sensation. So
every night and morning. before retir
ing and after leaving his bed. Bruin
would swim the Otterkill and sit on
the signal for free electrical bath
His wet body had the effect of short.
circuiting the semaphore, rendering
1t locked at clear and imperative.
THE night he got caught the elec.
tric current became SO strong as 60
hold him In Its grasp. just the same
as you see people try to let go of
those electric machines which test
your electrical endurance, although
the motions he went through in trying
to free himself would have made one
OF those chorus girls doing salomy
dance look like wooden Indian af.