BEDFORD WEEKLY MAIL BEDFORD, INDIANA FRIDAY, AUG. 10, 1900 RAILROAD RACKET Most of the workmen at the S. I. shops are working about three hours extra. Conductor J. S. STEWART has charge of train No. 2 at the gravel pit at Riverside. R. S. McVEIGH, Traveling Freight agent of the B. & O. S. W., was in the city on business Thursday. Walter G. OWENS is acting as General Agent of the Monon at Bedford during the absence of H. P. RADLEY. J. W. BATES is back on duty again as Express Messenger of the S. I. and "Big E" STARKS is braking again. Richard FISHER has taken a position as Express Messenger on the Monon, and went out on the B. & B. Thursday. John TUELS, of Washington, has accepted a position in the S. I. Shops, and will move his family to this city in a few days. Frank CROSS, of the S. I. shops, is firing on the yard engine in place of Zack JONES, who is working on the main line for a few days. The S. I. train west Thursday took an extra coach along to accommodate those who wish to attend the Elnora reunion, which last all this week. Arthur DRAKE, who had been firing on one of the big B. & O. S. W. engines, has gone over on the S. I. extension, where he will fire for the S. I. again. The S. I. is to build a branch line from Coalmont, where John R. WALSH, owner of the road, has just obtained possession of much coal land, to Clay City and beyond to tap the rich coal fields in that section. – Terre Haute Express. Brakeman Walter DRAPER, who had been confined to his home in this city for a few days on account of sickness, was able to return to his work at Riverside Wednesday. A consignment of melons was refused at the S. I. Wednesday, and the boys say that Frank HATFIELD bought the entire lot and put them on ice – and then did not get even a taste of one of them. Monon passenger train No. 4, due a 10:58 p.m. Wednesday northbound, was delayed two hours at Borden by engine No. 120, one of the big new engines, breaking down. "Battleship" engine No. 202 was substituted, and completed the run. Conductor George DIXON was overcome with heat at the sand pit near Mitchell Tuesday, and for awhile his condition seemed somewhat dangerous. He was brought to his home here last night and is better today. – Seymour Republican. The B. & O. S. W. has ordered its brakeman to precede all trains with a flag across I street near the depot. The City Council had ordered a flagman at that point, and the railroad company says this arrangement gives the public the same service and does not cost them so much. The Lafayette Call says Brakeman Eugene McCOOL, who had been included in the list of killed at the Raub wreck did not die, but is in the Lafayette hospital with a broken hip and severe bruises all over his body. He will probably recover. Postal Clerk Lou ERWIN was in the wreck and escaped injury, but his assistant had his shoulder dislocated. It was Lou's first wreck in a service of 10 years. There is yet about 12 miles of track on the S. I. extension this side of Terre Haute to be ballasted. A lot of workmen are busy inside the city limits at Terre Haute ballasting the track with cinders. It will take at least two or three week more of hard work to place the track in condition so that passenger trains can be run with safety. Conductor John BILLS, of Chicago, is spending a week at West Baden. Mr. BILLS is at present a conductor on the Monon running from Chicago to Louisville. He formerly was with the Monon for several years, but drifted off to other lines, but has now returned to his "first love." He is a unique character, friendly and sociable, and is an entertaining talker. "I have been a train dispatcher," said E. L. KILLEN, of Indianapolis, " and the life is a hard one. The responsibility is so great that a man tends to wear out because of the strain. I have had the cold perspiration come out on me all of a sudden when it seemed for a moment that a mistake had been made, and that two trains were sure to collide on account of a crossing of orders. I have worked for some of the largest railroads in this country, and I am here to tell you that train dispatching in any of its phases is not easy." Illinois Central Trainmasters, Chief Train Dispatchers and "trick" Train Dispatchers have had their salaries increased 10 per cent. There are between seventy-five and one hundred employees of this class on the system. Trainmasters here to fore have received about $150 a month; Chief Train Dispatchers $125 and "trick" Dispatchers $110. The company is said to have granted the increase voluntarily. The ordinary train dispatcher works in "tricks" of eight hours each, and his work is such that he must stay at his desk almost all the time. The new heavy express engines for the Chicago & Northwestern have some new features worth mentioning. They are of the Atlantic type, with wide firebox on trailing wheels forty-eight inches in diameter and the driving wheels are eighty inches in diameter. The working steam pressure is 200 pounds to the square inch, and the total heating surface is 3,015.88 square feet. A peculiar thing about these engines is the fact that hemp packing is used on the valve stem instead of metallic packing. This is an innovation which will be watched with considerable interest by railroad men. FIVE KILLED, NINE HURT Engineer Henry WHETSELL, who was so badly scalded in the collision at Raub Tuesday morning, died in the hospital at Lafayette 3:15 a.m. Wednesday, making the fifth death resulting from the accident. The others killed were Engineer Lewis RAUB, Fireman James HUDLOW, Fireman Thomas KRAFT, Brakeman Eugene McCOOL. Nine persons were slightly injured, five of whom were passengers. Brakeman KING, of the freight train, has been arrested at Lafayette, according to a dispatch from that city, which says: "KING was in charge of the switch and disappeared just after the wreck occurred. It was at one time reported that part of his body had been recovered from the debris, but this was disproved by his being discovered at his home in this city by the police, who were searching for him. He says he opened the switch and properly closed it, but in his excitement when the crash came he ran from the scene and came home. He was laboring under considerable excitement when taken into custody, but insisted that he had not been criminally negligent. In this assertion he is corroborated by Conductor CALLAHAN, of the freight, who claims to have seen KING close the switch. The only theory is that this could not have been done successfully, and the incoming passenger must have forced it out of place. The bodies of McCOOL and KRAFT were found at 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, and the body of Engineer RAUB at 3 a.m. Wednesday. The two former were badly mutilated, but RAUB's was in good condition.