The Wilmington Daily Republican

A Telegrapher's Experience,

He Dropped Off to Sleep, but Was Not Conscious of It,

Said the telegrapher: "Jones was night operator at a town near Altoona on the Pennsylvania railroad. He had lost a great deal of sleep and was very tired. The night wore along and trains were few. It was hard to keep awake. Finally the operator in the signal tower next to the west reported No. 4, the express, passing east. The track was clear and Jones pulled the white signal and waited for No. 4. He had almost fallen asleep when he was aroused by the roar of the train as No. 4 swept past the white signal. He saw the red lights at the rear of the train as she disappeared around the curve, and he reported her to the operator at the signal towers next east and west. Then he waited to hear that she had passed the towers east. Three or four minutes was all it should have taken her to reach that tower, but he waited long after that and no word came to him. He called up Smith, the operator there, and asked him if No. 4 had passed. Smith said 'No.' They talked over the wire and concluded that she had broken down or been wrecked between the two towers.

"At about that time the train dispatcher called up and asked anxiously where No. 4 was. Jones said that she had passed his tower, and Smith was sure that she had not passed his. Everybody was wide awake now, for a lost train is a serious thing on a railroad! The dispatcher thought that she might have slipped past without Smith seeing her, but the towers all along the road beyond declared she had not passed them. A freight going west was stopped at Jones' tower and the conductor was asked if he had seen No. 4 between the two towers. He said that there was no sign of her.

"Then the perspiration began to stand out on the operators and dispatchers. The track between the two towers lies along the river. A high stone wall supports it. The only possible explanation seemed to be that No. 4 had gone over the wall into the river. She could not have gone up into the air. Nearly an hour had passed. The river seemed the only place where she could be. The freight conductor received orders to uncouple his engine and run back slowly. He ran back past two towers, but could see nothing of No. 4 on the track or in the river. There was not even a displaced rail where she could have gone over the wall. Then he was ordered to run slowly west to see how things looked there. About half way between Jones' tower and the one west of him the express was found, with a broken cylinder head. She had never passed Jones at all. Jones had dreamed it, although he declares to this day that he was wide awake all the time. Jones was in bad repute for a time, but he was not discharged, as he was a good man and his mistake had not caused a wreck." -Pittsburg Commercial Gazette