THE SIGNALMAN ON THE MIDLAND.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5924, 1 September 1890, Page 4

THE SIGNALMAN ON THE MIDLAND.

'Ihuie •U-γ-jic'.i t'uly uriri;;: a million mmi cTr.i'luVL-l '::•■ va civ us capacities on the Ttail■ways of Gl-. .it Dutiiin.-ii iiumlji;;' oiiou.i:, if ihcy v.'uu: soldiers, to overrun Upon tbu intelligence, fidelity,

and physical condition of this vast array depend the lives of the multitudes who lire constantly travelling by rail. Any sudden and serious disability happening to one or them may result in a disaster which would put hundreds of families in mourning- Accustomed aa it is to safe and swift conveyance from point to point tho public scarcely realises this fact. Tho following brief narrative, which is strictly true, will therefore bo read with iuterest: — On the Midland Railway, twenty-three miles touth of Carlisle, there is a httlo station called Culgaith. Here there is v eignal-box in which Signalman Andrew A irtre is to be found on duty daily. As is tho" case with all other signal boxes, this one contains the lovers and tho usual complicated electric and mechanical contrivances for making and receiving signals. Mr. Acrgo in on duty nearlj every day, and takta his luncheons without leaving- his post. He is a sturdy man of thirty-five, in good health, and no complaint lias ever been made against him by the Company or by the public ; yet an incident occurred a fnw yoars .vo that came near depriving him of his position and his life. For some time he | had not felt well, tho worst and most dangerous phiiso of his indisposition bsinir a kind of giddiness that would seize him unexpectedly and, as he described it, "set everythiug to moving mid twisting round and round." The doctor told him frankly that it was a symptom of a still more radical complaint brouirht on by too much confinement, aud by his irregular habits of eating and sleeping, and that he had better abandon his work for a while, and try a change of scone. TT But this was easier said than done, 110 had afeimily to support, and couldn't afford tho luxury of a vacation. He knew no other business, and could not risk the loss of his place. Hie work was always done, however, no matter how ho felt. But it is only fair to say he had many anxious hours over it. His ailment, which he had discovered to be indigestion and dyspepsia, now set up more alarming symptoms. A physician at Appleby assured Agge thet there was serious trouble with his kidneys and bladder. "It in," said tho doctor to the Sigualmau, " the result of tho condition of your digestion. Your blood is poisoned by your stomach, and every organ of the body iH crippled by it." This was a miserable outlook for Agge, who went back to Galgaith with small courage for Ha work. lie took hold, though, as well as he could, and kept up until one morning several weeks afterwards. He was in his box as usual when of sudden a sharp pain shot through him as though he had been stabbed with a knife. Ho tumbled down on tho locker in the signal-box, and lay thero all the forenoon iv acute distress and agony. For tho time liis work was a secondary consideration. Unable to remain in that position any longer, he laid down and rolled on the rloor. Tho pain in his hips and back was so intense that he compared it to being cut with dull knives and pierced with hot irons. Agge was alone when the attack came, and as nobody except railway officials are allowed in the signal boxes, it was some time before his plight was discovered. Fiually, however, the stati iji-mucter camo in. the neighbors wei-'i summoned, aud tho Mifferiujr man \va-< put into a trap and tnkoti to his house, half a mil') away. There li» was ill for »•<•<■!: \ part of the time unconscious When I c physicians hud avowedly gut to the end i-f their resourres it w.is agreed that (!,..■ Signulm:m'-i end was only n m.-itter <■{ i very little time. This was the situation when a singular thins: Iriptii'iied. Two ov thn-u years bt>fore,"vhiiu \fjiro wns fueling tho earlier symptoms of lii-s divi:-..!L-r, he had taken a medii'im , that helped him ; μ-utinir better, ho put tin! bottle asHe, ttill h:ilf full, and forgot it altogether. Now, as he was almost in a dying condition, his memory flashed up one day, and he distinctly recalled where ho had put it. A search whs made and then it wts found. The prostrate Signalman began using it and, to the a«toiii-hini'ut. of neighbor;! and doctors, in a few days was able to get out of doors We may mention that the medicine was tho well-known preparation, Mother SeiiH's Curative tfyr::p, although to mlveniKp th , .* article is not the cliief motive for thi« little narrative. Asa matter of fact, 1 Siciial'iian .Aggn kept on doctoring himself with it, and it cured him, be its nature what it nmy. Hβ went buck to his box long ago, and thin jieiJent is printed in order that th<> render mrty know more of the ohriritcter and experience of n. largo and faithful body of public Servants.