The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-06-17

magazines III his IldIlUs
"How hate this fuss and hurry =
he said, as he folded his plaid over hi
{ legs; chow [ hate this destruction O
all individuality When 1 was young
! the coach journey was a deliberate
quiet, affair-the traveller was recog
nized individuality. The coachmaI
and guard knew ycu, and chatted; thu
! hOstler chatted the insides and Outside
knew you, and chatted. There, wa!
interest in every village; the people
, came out to see you pass , the inn din
ner was amusing. Now you are "a mere
parcel sent by train. The pointsman
! the signalman, are mere machines, no
, cared for by you, and not caring fol
! you. WhiZ, rattle, battle, scream, hiss
, away you are flashed, and the only
thing to break the journey is the name
, of the station so pronounced as to bt
uninteIligible." -..
1 laughed, and limited at the anOy-
ances, delays and dangers of the ole
system-the oVerladen coaches, the eX-
Orbitant landlords, the endless fees.
Wei" ," he said, perhaps in future
age Of balloons or electric spark ex-
presses, people will talk of the delight
Of railway travelling. The past is al
ways praised in order to spite the pres
entU
zen we fell to reading. We had
scarcely begun before - Whirr THE
darkness of a tunnel fell upon us.
ait is always So" said my amusing
companion. q never began to read
in a railway in my life that we did not
pass through a tunnel before I had well
got through the first page"
My travelling cOm& niOn was an
extraordinary person. He had been
everywhere and seen q, rything. No
capital Of Europe but he knew inti~
mately.
"YOu seem surprised,n he said, " at
my having travelled so much, but when
[ was at Oxford / spent all my long va
cations in travelling, and dOing the
littleI was in the army, before more
serious cOnYictiOns induced me to enter
Onies.u
The Wears information seemed
! bOundless. He discussed the geology
| of DevOnshire and the mineraIOgy of
/ Cornwall. He had views on military
| tactics and artillery. He was interest
ed in engineering and chemistry, and
seemed quite cOnveTsant with all the
latest discoveries in the latter science.
81 went the other day." he said to
me, as it began to grow dark, to a
lecture on alchemy. The Professor ex-
pressed his belief in great discoveries
shortly to be made, il something that
would supersede coal and steam, in
aerial navigation, and in the tTansmu-
tatiOn of metals. But l tire you?"
Not AL"
He eX @essed his own and Liebig's
belief that the manufacture OfAdia-
mOnds and gold would soon be possible
by the merest tyTo.. He showed us
small Tubies that haS2een produced by
oh Cd
bound to the discoveries this thoughtful
man did not suggest-the principle of
beef and corn from the common earth,
gold and jewels from the very roadside
tiints gold would soon, he said, be of
no value; poverty would disappear
from the earth new manures would
turn the desert into prairies, and dosible
the resources of the world. II di-
culed steam he"
All thA was profoundly inter
but son Ow or other, weari
long day tagging about Lond0s
drOWsy, and the words of my col
ion seemed suddenly to changR
buz, buz, buz, buz, that kept
with the sound of the train
through Devonshire.
1 fell asleep, and a-dream
me. l was alCTc az night IN q -
carriage with E5st1an who thought
asleep. He stole toward the door, un-
hcked it quietly, with a railway key
from his pocket, and opened.
rifling my pockets (sonS
pbness prevented my crying
dragged me to the door
out in the darkness. The
- mat moment and some rust
ling mOvemenAin in the carriage awOke
me. [ scarce knew why, but. a
strange, instan& eOus caution prevent
ed me moving ut once opening my
eyes. At that u ent 1 felt a light
hand, with practfN scare, touch my
breast pocket, wheIS ~ money was,
and felt hot breath upcn my cheek, as if
some one was listening to my breathing.
Presently 1 felt the breath no longer,
nor the motion of the hand, and heard
my companiOn-fOr the breath and
hand were his, return to his seat. A
moment or two after, without moving,
l opened one eye, for an instant only,
and to my horror and surprise saw the
Vicar sitting at the further window
perfectly bald, and with a wig in his
hand-a pair of black mustaches and
a beard was on his knees, and he was
slipping a pair of large green spectacles
into shagreen case; a little bottle and
q small sponge were on the cushion by
his side
What did this mean? Was it posi-
bIe this intellectual, thoughtful clergy
man was, after all, only a common
swindIer flying from justice? What
should I do? Should l at once arouse
and denOunce him? No; he might be
armed, and might shoot OF stab me be-
fore I couId summon the guard or ar
rive at the next station. No. IresOlv-
ed to lie still, and wait until l could
either change carriages or inform the
police. The train ratified on, as if
bound to rush forever through illimita-
BILE space-On, on, through the yielding
darkness.
All at once a strange, medicated
smell spread around me, and before l
could open my eyes, q sponge, stepped
in chlOrOfOTm, was pressed chOkingly
tight over my nose and mouth. tried
70 resist, but | felt an irresistible faint
ness creep swiftly over me at the same
moment my watch and chain flew
from my pocket, and | was dashed
back contemptuOusly upon the seat
living corpse.
When | awOke [ was lying on bed
in the Exeter Hospital, faint, exhaust
ed, and scarcely able to move. The
doctor said had had so heavy a dose
of chlOrOfOrm that my reeON cry for q
long time seemed doubtful. [ need
hardly say had been stripped of every
thing by my friend, the Vicar, who
was q pressional thief of the first class.
About two years after that event, the
following paragraph met my eye in
Leeds paper:
STRANGE DEATH OF A THIEF
On Thursday a first-class passenger by
the night mail north, fell from a car
riage a few miles beyond Carlisle
and was killed on the spot. It is sup
posed that he was a professional thief
and having chlorOfoFmed and robbed a
/ fellOw-passenger, a rich manufacturer
from Bedford, W as trying to creep into
an empty secOnd-cIass carriage, the
better to escape at the first station,
Xyban ma LOST his hold o1,I foil tho fro -,