The Meeker herald., 1915-08-28
SIGNAL FLASHED IN
NICK OF Time.
Exciting Incident In the Life
of a Railroad Man.

railroad experience! Well. draw up
closer so that won't have to hOiler to
lie heard above these passing trains.
and III tell you. I've been u railroad
nun all my life and in some bad
smashes. but the thing that bothers me
most, even today. many years after 1t
occurred. WAS one in which | was In
no personal danger whatever.
| was station agent in n little town
Oh the A.. V and Y. railroad The sta
ton was ut one end of Il bridge across
Il narrow. hut deep. river In low WA
ter it was rather Il 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 felt tremor.
J and. after hunting for the cause. saw
| that one of the piers was weak.
| Then | began to think In hurry
No train would 80 over that bridge
without going down. | was so terror
stricken that for some time. though ]
| wuS 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 l con
trollcd myself. and 1t came to me that
IN fifteen minutes one was due ut 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.
! ran MS rapidly as If ! were on dirt
roud could think OF nothing but a
train load Of people dnshins on to that
bridge and plunging into water forty
feet deep As soon rs | had passed of
the bridge | sped down the track 80
that might head off the train us far
| is possible from the danger mad
gone only II hundred yards from tine
| bridge and was tearing along like mad
| when suddenly tuinbled into II cattle
| guard was pretty badly hurt. but
this was not what troubled me. MY
| lantern fell to the bottom Of the excn
Walton and Went ont
| .roped for the lantern. but couldn't
lind 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 Mt last
found one match.
Talk about the value OF drop OF
/ water to one dying Of thirst. crust
| Of bread to one furnished. ] doubt II
| either water or bread could ever seem
las valuable to any one as TINT match
| seemed TO me How was to strike II
without danger of its being blown ont
before could relight The lnntern
There was no protection near. and
hadn't time to go hunting for amy.
knew the train would pass the spot
( where | WAS in less than ten minutes.
and must relight that lantern within
that time However. | Ind the good
sense to first put II greater intervn! be-
tween me and the bridge before taking
/ ANY other notion and ran ON IL quarter
of IL mile. stopping in cut hnlf n
dozen feet deep There was. with
one match in my pocket with which
to save the lives of Il whole train load
| of people and only about five minutes
| in which to start II flhme.
Somehow by this time had gathered
my faculties completely, determined
| that nothing but a 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
sidcred by flashes of thought the best
| way TO proceed Should ] attempt to
! relight the lantern directly from the
match or try to light n fire? ! felt In
| my pocket and found few scraps OF
| pnper-ncws cippings-and some let
| tiers. There WAS also n lead pencil.
| Taking off my coat. | 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 II from being blown away
| | next crlimplcd the bits of newspaper
| and laid them on the tie. which. though
wet. WAS not much in contact with the
paper My next move WIS to crumple
the letters and lay them on the clip
| pings All this | did. holding the coat
| In position Finally split my lead
| Pencil INFO strips.
| ! had now taken every possible pre-
! caution to secure a blaze and was
| ready to strike my match when heard
! the whistle of the approaching train.
| Ca,ling up all my resolution to with
| stand acting hastily. | took out my
match and scratched 1t on my sleeve.
| At the same moment fresh gust Of
wind came. and had no sooner light
ed !; corner of one of the bits Of paper
| than the match went out.
How kept the blaze from going out
also by putin. one bit OF paper on top
| OF another. finally taking piece OF the
lead pencil and securing such flame