In September, 1873, a conductor on the Chicago and Alton Railroad
started south with a freight train. He was to stop at a station a few
miles from Joliet and wait for the incoming passenger train from St.
Louis. He consulted his watch. That unhappy piece of mechanism told him
that he had time to reach the next station. He spoke to the operator of
the telegraph. That person could give him no information as to where the
passenger train was, and he, determining not to wait, pulled out. As his
train was still within hearing, the operator rushed to the platform
with the news that the passenger train had left the nearest station! The
operator knew that