Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-03-05

IGHaG WAS Stranger ~ yUu. 1ueu ku0W{
that the man whom had seen was Martin
Kroller. He had escaped from the hospital
at Stettin. You must get him off some
how"
The whole fearful truth was now open to
me. The speed of the train was increasing
every moment, and knew that few more
miles per hour would launch us all into des-.
truction I called to the guard, then made
my way forward as quick as possible. T
Teached the after platform Of the after ten
der, and there stood Kroller upon the engine
board, his hat and coat off, his long black hair
floating wildly in the wind, his shirt unbutton-
ed at The throat, his sleeves rolled up, with
pistol in his teeth, and thus glazing upon the
fireman, who lay motionless upon the fuel
The furnace was stuffed till the very latch
| of the door was red hot, and the whole en-
CINE was quivering and swaying as though
it would SILVER in pieces.
:'Kroller! Kroller ~ cried, at the top
of my voice.
The crazy engineer started, and caught
the pistol in lsis hand. Oh how those great
black eyes glared, and how CHASTITY and
frightfui the face looked.
'.Ha! ha hap he yelled, Economically,
glazing upon me like reused lion.
'sThey swore that [ could not make it
But see! see! See my new power See my
new engine [ made it, and they are jeal-
Gus Of me made it, and when it was done
they stole it from me! But [ have found
it! For years I have been wandering in
search Of my great engine, and they swore
it was not made. But have found it! [
knew it this morning when [ saw it at
Dantzic, and was determined to have it.
And I've got it Ho no no !-we're on
the way to the moon, I say! By the Vir-
gin Mother, we'll be in the moon in four
and-twenty hours Down, down, villain
IF you move I'll shoot you"
This was spoken to the poor fireman, who
at that moment attempted to rise, and the
frightened man sank back again.
Heres Little Oscue right at handp'
cried one Of the guard.
But even as he spoke the buildings were
at hand. A sickening sensation settlea
ON nas-lllsaassst alks,szzs.z,sszzzii.
gone now. The houses flew By H.
lightning. knew if the officers here had
turned the switch as usual, we should be
hurled into eternity in one fearful crash. I
saw a fash-it was another engine-I clos
ed my eyes but still we Numbered on -
The officers had seen our speed, and know
ing that we could not head up in that dis
lance, they had changed the switch, so that
we went on.
But there was sure death ahead, if we did
not stop. Only fifteen miles ahead was the
town of Schwartz, on the Vistula, and at
the rate we were going we should be there
in few minutes, for each minute carried us
over mile. The shrieks of the passengers
now rose above the crash of the rails, and
more terrific than all else arose the de-
moniac yells of the mad engineer.
''Nlerciful heayens!'' gasped the guards
man, ''there's not a moment to lose. But
hold" he added, ''let's shoot him."
! At that moment tall, stout German stu
dent came over the platform where we stood,
and we saw that the mailman had his heavy
pistol aimed at us. He grasped heavy
stick Of wood, and with a steadiness of nerve
which [ could not have commanded, he
hurled it with such force and precision, that
he knocked the pistol from the maniac
hand. L saw the movement, and on the in
slant that the pistol fell, I.sprang forward,
! and the German followed me- [ grasped
the man by the arm, but should have been
nothing in his mad power, had been alone
He would have hurled me from the platform.
had not the student at that moment struck
him upon the head with a stick of wood,
which he caught as he came over the tender
Kroller settled down like dead man,
and on the next instant [ shut of the steam,
and opened the valve. AS the freed steam
shrieked and howled in its escape, the speed
began to decrease, and in few minutes
more the danger was passed. AS I settled
back, entirely overcome at the wild emo
tons that had ragged within me, we began
to turn the river, and, before I was fairly |
recoved, the fremen had stopped the train
in the station-house at Schwartz.
Martin Kroller, still insensible, was tax
en- from the platform; and, as we carried
him to the guard-room, one of the guard
recognized him, and told us that he had
been there about two weeks before. -
HE came,o said the guard, "and swore
that an engine which stood near here was his.
He said it was one he had made to 60 to the /
moon in, and that it had been stolen from
him. We sent for more help to arrest him,
and he fed
s'Well," I replied, with a shudder, II
wish he had approached me in the same way;
but he was more cautious at Dantzic.''
At Schwartz we found an engineer to run
the engine to Bromberg; and having taken
out the western mail for the next northern
train to take along, we saw that KrolIer
would be properly attended to, and then
started on.
The rest Of the trip we ran in safety, /