The superintendent, his wife and daughter,
and a friend, were badly bruised, but none of them seriously injured.
The second trick man was not to be found immediately, so I worked until
four o'clock, and the impression of that awful day will never leave me.
Pat's personality was constantly before me in the shape of the blood
stain on the train sheet. It was a long time before I recovered my
equanimity.
The next afternoon we buried poor Pat under the snow, and the earth
closed over him forever; and thus passed from life a man whose character
was the purest, whose nature was the gentlest: honest and upright, I
have never seen his equal in the profession or out. I often think if I
had not gone over to the hotel that morning, the accident might have
been averted, because, perhaps, I would have noticed the mistake in time
to have prevented the collision. But, on the other hand, it is probable
I would not have noticed it, because operators, not having the
responsibility of the despatchers, rarely concentrate their minds
intensely on what they are taking. A man will sit and copy by the hour
with the greatest accuracy, and at the same time be utterly oblivious of
the purport of what he has been taking.
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