The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1915-03-06
SIGNAL FLASHED IN
NICK OF TIME.
Exciting Incident In the Life
Of a Railroad Man.

closer 10 that won't have to boiler to
be heard above these passing trains.
and TN tell you. I've been q railroad
man all my life and In some bad
smashes. but the thing that bothers me
most. even today, many years after It
occurred. was one In which vas In
no personal danger whatever. ~
] was station agent In q little town
OH the A.. v. and Y. railroad The sts.
ton was at one end Of a bridge across
u narrow. but deep. river. IN low wa
ter 1t was rather gorge than stream.
One wild night when the rain had been
pouring all day noticed that the wa.
ter was up to the stringers. took my
lantern and went on to the bridge
Going part way across l felt tremor.
and. after hunting for the cause. saw
that one of the piers was weak.
Then ! began to think in hurry.
No train would go over that bridge
without going down. was 80 terror
stricken that for some time. though
was familiar with the time Of every
train. ! couldn't for my life remember
from what direction the 6rst train
would come. but by an effort con
trolied myself. and It came to me that
In fifteen minutes one was due at the
station coming from across the river.
while from the other direction none
| was due for more than two hours. The
thing for me to do was to cross the
bridge and signal the first train.
Over the ties. beneath which the wa
ter was boiling against the stringers.
I rim as rapidly as II were on dirt
road could think Of nothing but q
train load of people dashing on to that
bridge and plunging into water forty
| feet deep. AS soon as l had passed on
the bridge l sped down the track 80
that might head Oh the train as far
as possible from the danger. bud
gone only hundred yards from the
bridge and was tearing along like mad
when suddenly tumbled into cattle
guard was pretty badly hurt. but
this was not what troubled me. My
lantern fell to the bottom Of the exca-
walton and went out.
CROPPED for the lantern. but couldn't
dnd It suppose l was too excited to
look carefully. But gathered my
faculties and hunted on till got It
The next question was how to relight
1t. felt in all my pockets and at last
found one match.
Talk about the value OF q drop OF
water 10 one dying Of thirst a crust
Of breAd to one famished! doubt II
either water or bread could ever seem
as valuable to any one a. THAT match
seemed to me. How was to strike 1t
without danger Of its being blown out
before could rellght the lantern1
There was no protection near. and
hadn't time to go hunting for any.
knew the train would pass the spot
where I was in less than ten minutes.
and must relight that lantern within
thur time. However. had the good
sense to 6rst put a greater interval be-
tween me and the bridge before taking
any other action aud ran on quarter
Of mile stopping In cut half a
dozen feet deep. There ! was. with
one match In my pocket with which
to save the lives of whole trim load
Of people and only about 6ve minutes
In which to start a flame.
Somehow by this time I had gathered
my faculties completely. determined
that nothing but complete driving
| from my mind Of the situation would
enable me to plan. and with a supreme
effort mastered my excitement and
became perfectly cool. Then ! con-
sidered by flashes Of thought the best
way to proceed Should attempt to
relight the lantern directly from the
match or try to light Ore? felt in
my pocket and found few scraps Of
paper-news clippings-and some let
tiers. There WAS also lead pencil.
Taking of my coat. l set 1t up In the
middle Of the track In tent-like fashion.
though the wind forced me to hold on
to It to keep 1t from being blown away.
next crumpled the bits Of newspaper
and laid them on the tie. which. though
wet. was not much in contact with the
paper My next move was to crumple
the letters and lay them on the clip
pings All this l did. holding the coat
In position. Finally I split my lead
pencil into strips.
I had now taken every possible pre-
| caution to secure blaze and was
ready to strike my match when heard
the whistle Of the approaching train.
Calling UP all my resolution to with
stand acting hastily. took out my
match and scratched 1t on my sleeve.
At the same moment a fresh gust of
wind came and I had no sooner light
ed corner Of one Of the bits Of paper
than the match went out
How I kept the blaze from going out
ALSO by putting one bit Of paper on top
of another. finally taking piece Of the
lend pencil and securing such a dame
as dared put into the lantern Ia now
mystery to me. for did 1t in a bowling
wind and rain and with the train not
mile away. Nevertheless I succeeded
and. examining the top down on the
lantern. signaIed. without thirty sec