Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1915-04-16
SIGNAL FLASHED IN
NICK Of time.
Exciting incident In the Life
Of a Railroad Man.

The most eyentfuI Incident il lny
railroad experience: Well. draw up
closer 50 that won't have to boiler To
oe beard above these passing trains
and Ill tell you I've been a raiiroaa
man. all my life and in some lad
smasbes. but the thing that bothers n-
most. even to-day. many years after il
occurred. was one in which WAS in
no personal danger whafeyey
| was station agent In little town
Oh the A.. =. and 7. railroad The sta
don was at one end Of bridge across
a narrow. but deep. river In low Wa
ter 1t was rather d gorge than stream
One wild night when the rain had iss-en
pouring all day ! noticed that the va
ter was up TO the stringers. took my
lantern aud went on to the bridge
Going part way across felt treIu0r.
and. after hunting for the cause. s.,w
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 some time. though |
was familiar with the time Of every
train. couldn't for my life remember
from what direction the FIRST train
would come. but BY an effort ! con
trolled myself. and it came to me that
In fifteen minutes one was due at the
station coming from acruss 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
! ran as rapidly as If were Oh dirt
road. ! could think OF nothing but a
train load OF people dashing on to that
bridge and pluuginy into water fort!
feet deep As soon as had passed on
the bridge | sped down the track So
that ! might head off the train us far
us possible from the danger had
gone only hundred yards from the
bridge and was tearing along like ui1d
when suddenly tumbled into caitis-
guard | was pretty badly hurt. bat
this WAS not what troubled me Ny
lantern fell to the bottom VI the exca
walton and went out
! CROPPED for the lantern. but couldn't
nnd it. | suppose | was too excited to
look carefully. But | gathered my
faculties and hunted on till got it.
The next question was how to relight
it. felt In all my pockets and at last
found one match.
Talk about the value Of drop OF
water to one dying Of thirst. crust
Of bread to one famished. ! doubt 1t
either water or bread could ever Seem
as valuable to any one as that match
seemed to me. How was to strike II
without danger VI its being blown out
before I could relight the lantern!
There was no protection near. AMI
hadn't time to 20 hunting for any.
knew the train would pass the spot
where I was In less than ten minutes
and must relight that lantern within
that time. However. ! had the good
sense to first put greater interval be-
tween me and the bridge before taking
any other action and ran ON a quarter
Of q mile. stopping in cut half IA
dozen feet deep There was. with
one match In my pocket with wh."h
to save the lives Of whole train na'd
Of people and only about five minutes
In which to start flame.
Somehow by this time had gathered
my faculties completely. | determined
that nothing but complete driving
from my mind Of the situation would
enable me to plan. and with supreme
effort ! mastered my excitement and
became perfectly cool Then ! con
sidered by flashes Of thought the best
way to proceed Should attempt to
reIight the lantern directly from the
match or try to light a fire? felt In
my pocket and found few scraps OF
paper-news clippings-and some let
ters. There was also a lead pencil.
Taking Cd my coat. set II 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
I 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 crumP!e