| Show I I oI I I I I I I I i t I Presidential train like that When a Preslcentnl lrin Jkc I which left Washington yesterday I the long Journey across starta on l continent r much more Is Involved than appears ontncnt on the surface In the load which such a train carries is Involved safety and tho welfare ot the possible sretY ael weltarc the Nation and It Is literally the chief business of thousands of men while the train Is on the road to see that It passes In safety and without r kind delays or inconveniences of any Before tho route of 0 Presidential train Is finally settipd upon there Is rin Intense rivalry among the reprcsenta ilves of competing railroads to secJurc It as an advertisement for their lines is Once the route ia J fixed the successful railroad omclalB begin a se180noC nerveracking strain and anxiety which does not cease until the train with its precious freight is delivered safely Into the hands of the company the lines of which form the next link in the journey tle the llrst place every division superintendent and practically every employee aver which the Presidential i Qer IraIn passed yesterday and last night > was notified days In advance of ls coming The exact minute of its departure de-parture and a carefully arranged schedule of Us arrival at and departure the line turo from every station on was sent out to every station agent WfS and section hand Beginning several hours before the train was due every l lore 1 foot of the track was carefully patrolled 4 by keel ycd men who felt the re 8pon lillY which rested upon them 1 If Piesident McKInley had sat up In I the observation car attached to the l I obseraton cl1 i I I I I 1 I I I I 1 I I K > I i l 1 1j j I I l Ii I i I I A Pilot Engine Travels Ahead t train he might have seen at Intervals of a few minutes mld1 night long the yellow lights of the lanterns of the sleepless sentinels who were to I guard his safety nnd assure hlscon 1 venlence upractically might almost be sid that the train passed tfejween two lines of watchmen 50 close are I theV together and so careful is their watch a Nor dpea railroad vigilance slop there That1 In fact is only the begInning be-ginning AH day and all night long a pilot engine runs I little in advance of the Presidential train to make sure that nothing has been overlopktfd which ould by any human possibility endanger Its safety Close behind the Presidential train J5 usually sent a second engine so that it Is cloaeiy l l guarded before behind and on b fjh sides Still other J precautions retaken re-taken Every station agent Is nortl fed that pu the night 01 the day when w1 the train istd = tran bearing the President ls > to pass hisstation he must1 be continuously continu-ously on duty He may not leave the responsibility to his subordinates He must personally attend to theaiange rents of the proper signals and aee to It with his own eyes that everything lhing possible Is done to forward the I train ith speed and safety It may pass his little backwoods station at sixty miles an hour but he must slay on duty and watch and wait until It flashes hy in the night and with n sigh of iclief he ca call up the next station on the wire and announce that I the Presidents train has gone by and the weight has been lifted front his shoulders Even w < k before the date of the journeys start the roadbed has been iS carefully Inspected by the higher officials 1 of-ficials of the several roads over which I the Presidents train 13 to pass and pss Improvements and alterations ordered A little later a second trip of Inspec tlon Is made to see that the orders previously given have been carefully and properly carried out When the Journey begins the real strain on the higher officials begins to grow Intense I They have In the first place selected their most experienced and ablest mqn to run the engine and act as conductor on the train They have provided free of charge a train made up of the finest private cars In existence They I I I I J I 2 9no of a Thousand Sleepless Sentinels Senti-nels 4 I have taken every posslle preliminary precaution Now they must see that tho actual Journey Is made without delay or Inconvenience of any kind When the train left Washington I I yesterday there were three Instead oC iwo men In 1 tile cab Ono of them of the engineer He was carefully Wo te leclcd an the pest man on the djvislon Tho second man wrts the fireman The a thIrd was thc mauler of transporta Ion Ho sat in the cab alongside JtiRlneer and the eyes of both w re ccnt red on the twin lines of rail he lore them They were watching to I make sure that none of their subordinates subordi-nates had made n mistake and to be certain that nothing lay in the way of thy Presidential special When the train passed from one dl vIsion to the next the transportation manager left the train and made way for the man who was responsible over tho next division Encl In one of the cars of the train other official passengers had an nnx Jassengels ious ride Whoever covers tho entire Ill 1 I L4i t I J cM tV Waiting for tho Presidential Train 15000 miles of the Journey might observe ob-serve at least thirty different men sitting perhaps in a seat In the smoking smok-ing car with slouch hats pulled over their eyes keeping careful track of I every incident of the trip They me the division superintendents each of I them with the entire burden and responsibility re-sponsibility of the Presidential train I on his shoulders until It passes safely beyond the limits of his territory When I such connecting points are reached the observer If life talked out on the platform would lE likely to hear n conversation like this Hello Ed Hello Rill Everything O K7 Yes thank God Hows 2G Waiting at Ccdarvllle Wish me the same luck Goodnight I Good-night K Then the train would pull out at forty for-ty miles an hour and another man would take the place in the smoking car Just vacated by the sleepyeyed man who has left the train at the diVIsion di-Vision terminus When n trafn carrying a King or Emperor es one of the great capitals capi-tals of Europe Itls always possible to stop every other wheel on the line and leave I the track perfectly free for the passage of the Imperial special But in l the Tinltcd lgrMeSLi rajlroad manager j man-ager has alsoj the problem of running the regular passengers trains andkeep hag the freight < tramsr novlng with as little delay as possible This greatly complicates the problem As Jo matter of fact few freight1 trains run on the I T 7 I fr j I The Autocrat of the ilj I I regular schedules i when the 1 Prtiden tla train Is moving < it8wheelsand the trafllc manager has troubles ofhls own for A day or iyo t aftar Jt hospassed Every train dispatcher on oaoh division di-vision lcnowH Chat Jthe Special has passed for sevecat days hy Jhe COIl plaints which Ortll ui frOm shippers of perishable goods ftVen if ofllclol notice I no-tice were JacUfng Ittls his hard task to see that overvbodyIs kept satisfied I even while thc Jlcma t pf the Presidential Presi-dential ttrflhh l compiled with I Is safe to any that traffic will be entirely upset on ocr ltph cl is traversed by I the train for at i least fortyeight hours i 1 C These same Strain dispatchers and their asslBtantsO in charge the difficult dif-ficult task of keeping l President and his movable Cabinet in constant communication com-munication with Washington Telegrams Tele-grams In the obscure Presidential cl phermay be thrown from tile tiitln at the most outoftheway station and staton nc there must always be on duty therea ran capable < handling the y rk in an intelligent way A mistake made by a night operator at Spolunk might possibly result In nn International difficulty dif-ficulty The resppnsjbillty which everyman every-man connected with ono of the roads over which the train will pass Tnay therefore be imagined After all Is said and done the man who Is chiefly responsible for UK comfort com-fort and in 0 large degree for the welfare wel-fare of the Presidential party rldeq In the last car of the train He is a colored col-ored man and he is In charge of the culinary department of the PIe lcen tial train Before hp b selected thc whole force of tlu road Is I ctuefuliy ecru United lie Is chosen as one niripng 1 a hundred and as C rule he feels not only the responsibility but the hon jr of his appointment I is told of the chief cook on a previous Presidential Journey that after an especially tine breakfast the President expensed a rloKlro tn ftftn 0 nil nniiirrn lllntr I n c OHM tjlls triumph Word was taken lo the magnale In his special car and he sent t back word that If the President desired to see him he could always be found in the kllohen I Afler Railroad presidents and superintendents have I done their bent the man who bus alutVKe of tho frying pans and kettlon can always make the trip of President or private citizen delightful otherwise other-wise us lie pleases |
