The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-01-22
SIGNAL FLASHED IN
NICK Of Time.
Exciting incident In the Life
of a Railroad Man.

he ucliu uUONC lACSS PoSSAu6 eA
and III tell you. I've been u railroad
1uan. all. my life and in some bad
smashes. but the: thing that bothers me
most. even today, many years after IL
occurred. was one in which l was in
no personal danger whatever.
l was station agent in u little towx
Oh the A.. v. and Y. railroad. The sts.
ton was ut one end Of n bridge acrass
Il narrow. but deep. river. In low VA
ter it was rather a gorge than a stream
One wild night when the rain had been
pouring all day | noticed that b wa
ter was up to the stringels. l took my
lantern and went on to the bridge,
Going part way across | felt a trcnn,c,
that one Of the piers was weak.
Then ! began to think In a hurry.
No train would go over that bridge
without going down. | was SO terror
stricken that for ON time. though {
was familiar with the time Of every
train. | couldn't for my life rememher
from what direction the first traiE
would come. but by an effort I coz
trolled myself. and it came to me fhsf.
in fifteen minutes one was due at tic
station coming from across the river,
while from the other direction none
was due for more than two hours. Tie
thing for me to do was to cross lhr
bridge and signal the first train.
nvor Tho tin. hnnnO fh Vvhich tina uc1-
ter w"., boiling against the stringera.
| ran as rapidly as if | were on Il dir,
road. could think of nothing but 4
train load of people dashing OH to iii%
bridge and plunging into water Eor1I
feet deep. AS soon as | had passed de
the bridge | sped down the track SO
that | might head Off the train as far
as possible from the danger. l had
gone only IL hundred yards from slh:
bridge and was tearing along like mae
when suddenly l tumblcd into Il cattle
guard. l was pretty badly hurt, sAt
this was not what troubled me. NJ
lantern fell to the bottom Of the excz:
walton and went out.
CROPPED for the lantern. but couldn't
find it. suppose was too excited +"
look carefully. But | gathered my
faculties and hunted on till | got r..
The next question was how to reusiE
1t. | felt in oil my pockets and mt taS
found one match.
Talk about the value Of u drop a.
water to one dying Of thirst. n crua
of bread to one furnished: ! doubt IL
either water or bread could ever seem
as valuable to any n as that match
seemed to ME. How was ! to strike IL
without danger of it's being blown osa
before | could relight the lantern
There was no. protection near. and T.
hadn't time to go hunting for any. &
knew the train would pass the spot
where | was In less than ten mt0ute..
and l must relight that lantern wtth1n
that time. However. ] had the good
sense to first put a greater interval '6e
tween me and the bridge before tak1nx
any other action and AN on u quarter
Of q mile. stopping In q cut bali =
dozen feet deep. There ! 4 witt
one match In my pocket with which
to save the lives Of a whole train toad
of people and only about five minutes
in which to start q fame,
Somehow by this time | had gathered
my faculties completely. determines
that nothing but a complete diving
from my mind Of the situation ~euts
enable me to plan. and with a surems
effort mastered my excitement .anA
became perfectly cool. Then Z ION
sidered by flashes Of thought the bes3
way to proceed. Should I attempt ~
relight the lantern directly frsn ahe
match or try to light a dree felt Is
my pocket and found 4 few scraps n
paper-news clippings-and some da-
ters. There was also 4 lead peucf.
Taking OF my coat. | set It up IN the
middle Of the track In tent-lke faahhG.
though the wind forced me to hold 90
to It to keep it from being blown ;awaE
1 next crumpled the bits Of oewseapes
and laid them on the tie. which. thouKk
wet, wa not much 10 contact vita tie
paper. My. next move was to cramf's
the letters and lay them on the .eN
pings. All this ] did. holding the GUS
in position. Finally I split my iea8
pencil into strips.
! had now taken every possible PIE
caution to secure a blaze and wss
ready to strike my match when l heard
the whistle Of the approaching train.
Calling up all my resolution to viii
stand acting hastily. took out ~
match and scratched 1t IN my sieese
At the same moment a fresh gust e
wind came. and I had no sooner iistE:-
ed a corner of one Of the bits Of pap1
than the match went out.
How ] kept the blaze from going s0
also by putting n bit OF paper on To-
Of another. finally taking q piece Of tie
lead pencil and securing such . da0e
10 I dared put into the lantern 10 new .
mystery to me. for I did It In 4 howtG
wind and rain and with the trata oae
mile away. Nevertheless I succes1sc
and. examining the top down O On
lantern. signaled. without thirty 90
omds to spare. Then. when I hAA e.
planned matters to the engineer, Idass-
ed away to signal the next train de
from the opposite direction.
The bridge went down before mscor
ing. but no one was injured BY its 81
lapse. Indeed. l was benefited, 19 6