Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1857-02-17
"Kroller! Kroller!y i

"Krollerl Krollerl' ! d q the top Q
my voice. at lss itar
The crazy engineer staI md caugh
the pistol in his hand. O .eR those grea
black eyes glared, and ho0 'ightful ant
gbastly the face looked.
"Ha! ha! hap he yell enoniacally
glaring upon me like q fot. hon, ''the,
swore | could not make ||'t. Bee see
see my power! See my 1s ! made
it |! and they were jealous |ne. 1mad'
it, and when twas done ihe Ioie it from
me. BusI've found III I new ii wher
(. / saw it this morning al Dant and ! was
determined to sbaYe;it, And 70 rot it
EHol ho hol we sfe off to the oon, say
BY the Virgin Mother, wen b Is le moor
lin four and twenty hours | Do& down,
/ RillaiAl # yoa i. aYe I'll shoot JJd
This last was addressed to the poor fire.
man, who at the moment attempted to rise;
and the frightened man shrunk back again
"Here's Little Oscure, right ahead,''
said one Of the guard.
But even as he spoke the houses were
at hand. A sickening sensation settled
upon my heart, for ! supposed we were
gone now. The housesfew bylike light
ming knew if the officers here had
turned the switch as usual we should be
hurried into eternity in one fearful crash.
saw flash; it was another engine; ]
closed my eyes but still we Numbered on.
The officers had seen ourspeed, and know
ing that we could not haul up at that dis
tance, they had changed the switch, so that
we kept on.
But there was sure death ahead if we
did not stop. Only fifteen miles ahead
was the town of Schwetz, on the Vistula,
and the entrance, near the bank of the riv-
er, was short curve in the road. AT the
rate we were now going we should be
there in few minutes, for each minute
carried US over a mile (! The shrieks of
the passengers now arose over the crash
of the rails, and more terrific than all else
arose the demoniac yells of the mad en-
gineer. 3
"Merciful heaven!" gasped the guard
man, 'tbere's not moment of time to
be lost. Schwetzis close by! Ifyou dare
not go, I'll go myself he added. Let's
shoot him."
At that moment a tall, stout German
student cam } over to the platform where
we stood, and he saw that the madman had
his pistol aimed at us. He grasped a hea-
Wy stick of wood from the tender, and with
steadines of nerve which | could not
have commanded, he hurled it with such
force and precision that he knocked the
pistol from the maniac's grasp saw the
movement, ana on Tlc iliss IL ynas-tilc piis-
tol fell, / sprang forward and the German
followed me. | grasped the man, but /
should have been a mere infantin his mad
power had | been alone. He would have
hurled me from the platform had not the
student at that moment struck him with a
stick Of wood which he had caught as he
came over the tender.
Kroller settled down like dead man,
and at that moment / shut off the steam
and opened the safety valve. AS the freed
steam shrieked and howled in its escape,
the speed Of the train began to decrease,
and in few moments more the danger was
passed; and as settled back entirely over
come by the wild emotions that had ragged
within me, we began to turn The curve by
the river, and before was fairly recovered
the fireman had stopped the train in the
station house at Schwetz.
Martin Kroller, still insensible, was ta-
ken from the platform, and as we carried
him into the guard room, one Of the guard
recognized him, and told us that he had
been there about two weeks before.
"He came," said the guard, "and swore
that an engine which stood near here was
his. He said it was one he had made to
go to the moon in, and that it had been
stolen from him. We went for more help
to arrest him, and he fed"
"Well," 1 replied with shudder, IL
wish he had approached me in the same
way" But l was more cautious in Dant-
zig. " ' '.-' ~
At Schwetz, we found an engineer to
run the engine to Bomberg, and having
taken out the western mail for the next
northern train to trke along, we saw that
Kroller would be properly attended to and
then started on 'a "
The rest Of the trip we run in safety,
though / could see that the passengers
were not wholly at ease, and would not be
until they were entirely clear of the rail
road. A heavy purse was made up by
them for the German student, and he ac-
cepted it with much gratitude; and / was
glad Of it, for the currentof their gratitude
TO him may have prevented far different
current which might have poured upon my
head for having engaged amadman to run
arailroad train. H8 a5a es
But this is not the end. Martin Kroller
remained insensible from the effects Of that
blow upon the head, nearly two weeks,
and when he recovered from that he was
sound in mind again. His insanity was
all gone. saw him about two weeks af-
forwards, but he had no recollection of me.
He remembered nothing Of the past year
not even his mad freak on my engine.
But remembered it, ahd l remember it
still; and people need not fear that shall
everbeimposed upon again by crazy en-
gineer. ~ lu.
!. q !. -.
The National Kansas Committee held a
meeting in New York on Monday last.
The report of the Secretary states that
ninety Thousand dollars have haan anhsnri.