The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-02-12
RAVENNA,, THURSDAY, FEB. H.. 1857,


from the engine. or which is more probable
from the burning stick which I had so hssli
y tossed 9waY. But, as l said, / do moi
know that was aware OF il: IL I had been
It could not have added another pang Of ter.
ror to my heart; and only mention it now
ms an incidental element in the horror or my
situstioni and also from the fact that the
unusual light alarmed the watchers at the
station, aud putting them upon their guard,
prevented any destruction Of life on my
ARRIVAL p grs tilD.4 mo1i apgqs z 20
lean never bring myselfto believe that
So short time elapsed, as j, kaowI must
have passed, before this awful vision ceased.
Il seems to me now, and always when !
recall that dreadful night, as though l must inu
have spent hours braced back against the
tender, not daring to take my eyes from the
spectral face, ,paraIyzed and crazy with fright,
my hnir like reeds, and the cold sweat
bursting from every pore. During all this
time, | know never regarded the incident
as any other than supernatural. Irh had
occurred to me that it was nothing but what
it seehed-a dead beud, perhaps, possibly,
| might have rallisd. But there WIS some.
thing SO helish in that stony gaze, alone
visible through the murky night. that earth
and earthly accidents were alike forgotten by
me. Heavens! thought /, is this to last
foreverl Am | dead, and GRE these the
tOrments Of the damned! Will this tol,ure
never have an endl ..,...,.
The end was even then at hand. / shot
past brilliantly lighted streets, whose
bfghtaess made the corpse glare still
more ,hideously upon me, heard shouts
Of fear and warning, but they could not
distract my attention. caught Gimp
ses ot the station Of groups OF ogonized and
horror.stricken faces. What were Hey to
the distorted features of the Head before me !
A crash, feeling OF death. like sickness, and
when Iawoke, my midnfght ride had been the
rounds Of the papers, and been forgotten.
The ugly man arose and adjusted his
csatch, as If to leave. n afar aFr~-r.
''Pray, sir" said little, silent man from
the corner, in an excited manner, and speak.
ing aloud, twas that the engineers headl"
ooh! no." answered the narrator, with an
air OF relief, Us though he was glad his tale
was ended, II learned when, got, well
enough to talk and ask questions, that the
engineer cru@ led into the town about dawn
ofthe Following day, weary torn and bleeding
with Ut any permanent injuries. The heat
belonged 10 poor manic, who had otter
| attempted the strangest forms OF suicide, ant
that evening, escaping from his confinement
had lowered himself down into cattle ditch
keeping his head some SIX inches above Iii.
surface Of the resd. The cow catcher, a
he probably Intended it should do. had Gu
his head cleanly and smoothly off, and hut
thro~n'itso high that it lodged and strucl
where j frat saw it. His body was after
wards found uumangled in the ditch beneath
And thnt, neighbors, is the way1 came 10 b.
the wreck you see me-" ,.,....... - .,.,sa.
"That's right smart yarn now, stranger
said the man'in tie red Shirt, .:and1 suppos,
likely enough to happen on some of then
'Hio rails; but on the Little River Road
stop down to Little River when I'm to hom
they don't ullow no dead heads."