Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1854-08-04

ming stick from beneath the boiler, the Seehng pitch
scaIded my hands, and the live embers burnt them
cruelty but hardly felt the pain, as hurled it fran
| tcay into the darkness.
| But did not stoop again. For as turned 10 con-
inue my vain labors another flash. one of those ln
gering, wavy, dancing flashes, which seem 10 larry
as if deghting TO gaze upon the horror they cause,
once more lit up the scene. | trust that death will
eface its horror from my mind. know that nev-
forget it this side of the grave. The shrek
of my companion, which was still ringing in my ears
no longer surprised me. no longer wondered al his
mad leap from the engine 1t was the excess of my
terror alone which prevented my following his ex-
ample. | now no longer cared for the murderons
speed of the locomotive, no longer thought of my
own danger. All misgivings, all fears for mvself
were swallowed up and merged in vast, shudder.
ing ndescrbable horror For there. just before me,
upon the boiler, with bis lips parted into fendish
grim with lis eyes wide open and staring upon me,
and the glare impartng lifelike glow 10 its stony
features-there, within reach of my palsied hand,
even as shrunk back in fear to the farthest
limits OF my moving prison, sat gory hideous, and
mar IIed HUMAN HEAD!
You smile, gentlemen continued the ugly man,
with melancholy Dir, 'and it seemed to me that il
should herr the story told by another, you
now doing in a quiet room, with firm floor beneath
my feet cheerful IRE before me- dropping his voice
low that could hardly hear him. it is different
thing in wild night alone, and with a sudden and
awful death impending over you
| Keep moving, stranger said the man in the red
| II
Pass 10 the second head
1T could Of course, pursued the ugly man. with
out needing the untmely jet, be but few minutes
or perhaps ond>, before ihis terrible drama must
conclude; but prisoner ever longed for free Inm
/ rs did for the fuaI Crash. which knew would
end my lie and torment together. ! made no further
efforts TO stop the locomotive. | was hardly aware
that it still tearing mady though fighter-
ed, ike myself, as lis ghast!y burden The lightning
sill flashed at intervals and il UNI mated The Clayrv
dld ms To Sc
thing. For through the pirchy darkness and tie
binding ram il gi"reI upon as had bthell il at
! first Nor do consider thi- i'm guatiou think
that terror had III rpened my vision that. thou IN
all el was wrapped IN lmpenetrabie gloom, ! coutf
It's CLASSY eye balls, lis pallid cheeks and rs
b 0odV, gruning mouth.
! have since leaned-I do not think that knew it
at the tina, all this while the firewood in the
tender behind blazng furiuu>lv. II had
caught either by spark from the engine Which Is
more probable, from the burning stick which had
so hastily tossed away. But, said do not know
tha, | was aware of il if had been. it cou'd not
have added another pang of terror 10 my heart and
| only mention it now incidental element in The
horror of nv situation, and also from the fact tkat
the unusual light alarmed the watchers at the station
putting them upon their guard, prevented any de,
sructIon OF life on my arrival.
can never bring myself to believe that so short IL
time elapsed as know must have passed, before this
| awful vision ceased II seems TO now, and al
ways when | recall that dreadful night, though |
/
der not daring to take my eyes from the spectral
face. paralyzed and crazy with fright my hair like
reeds, and sweat bursting from every pore. During
all this time had, know that never regarded the
incident any olher than supernatural. If it had
occurred to that it was nothing but what seemed
dead head, perhaps, possibly, might have rallied.
But there was something SO hesh that stony
gaze, alone visible through the murky night, that
earth and early accidents alike forgotten by me.
! Heavens thought |, is il TO last forever Am |
dead and are these the torments of the damned =
Will this torture never have an end
| The end at hand. ! shot past brilliant
ylighted streets, whose brightness made the corpse
glare still more hideously npon me. heard shouts
of fear and warning, but they could distract my
attention. | caught gmpses at the alton Of groups
of agOnized and horror stricken faces what were
they to the distorted features of the HEAD before me
A crash feeling of death like sickness and when
awoke my midnight ride had been the rounds of all
the newspapers, and been forgotten.
The ugly man arose and ad usted his crutch, as if
10 leave.
Pray, Sir said little, silent man from the cor
ner, in excited manner, and speaking for the first
time, was that the engineers head I?
i 'Oh no. answered the narrator, with an air of
relief, as though he glad his tale ended,
learned, when got we'll enough to talk and ask
questions, that the engineer crawled into town about
dawn of the following day, weary, torn, and bleed
ing. but without any permanent injuries. The head
belonged to poor maniac who had often attempted
the strangest forms of suicide, and that evening
uown into cattle ditch keeping his head above the
surface oflhe road. The cowcatcher as he probably
intended it should do had his head cIeanly and
smoothly off, and had thrown it so high that it
) lodged and struck where first saw it. His body
afterwards found unmangled in the ditch be-
meath. And that, neighbors, is the way came TO
be the wreck you see me-
That's right smart yarn now stranger, said the
man in the red shirt, and suppose likely enough 10
happen some OF them Hio rails but on the Little
River Road stop down 10 Little-River when I'm
to home-1hey don't ollo,0 no dead heods
MARRIED MEN.-So good was he that now take
the opportunity of making confession which | have
often had upon my lips, but having hesitaed make
from the fear OF drawing upon myself the hatred of
every married woman. But now [ will run the risk
so now for it-some time other people must un-
burden their hearts. | confess, then, that | never
{ find loveabe or more captivating than
\ some, never perfect, in my eyes, as when he is
married, when he is hush md. and the father of
family, supporting in his manly arms his wife and
children, and the whole domestic circle, which on
his entrance in'o the married state close arould him
: and constitute part of Ills home and world He is
not merely ennohe by his position bat he il actu.
q al beantihed by it-ihen he appears 10 me as he
crown Of creation: and ii is only such man this
itat Is dangerous to me. and with whom | am in
clned 10 fall in love But hen property forbids it.
s And Moses, and all European lrgi>tors. declare it
10 be sinful, and all married women wnu d der
4 Il Il sacred duty 10 stone me Nevertheless cannct
= prevent the Thing 1t is So and it cannot be Other.
wise ard my only hope Of appeasing those who are
excited against Is in my future confession that 10
II !oVe ah~rts nae 80 pleasantly the contemplation Of
4 no happiness makes 50 happy as that between
: married people 1t is amazing to myself, because IL
seems to that /, living unmarried, or matchless
have but little 10 do, But IL ts so and ALWAYS wa