Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-08-03
MO. NV.ALLACE, ]
Chasing a Phantom. :
Extraordinary Adventure on IA Ca!
madam RaiIroad-What =.
WAS 1T {?

, Correspondent DelrOlt1Iapnne.'s
, A few years ago (call it1S73 il
any one wants to be particular IA
bout it the Canada Southern rail,
road was being built. TheS5were
laying rails on the main iine, and
had ii finished about forty miles
west of St. Thomas. At the ur-
finished end were wild, reckless
gang of fellows who worked hard
all day and caroused to all hours
in the night in their boarding.
house on wheels. One night the
wilderness would re echo the sound
of several violins and the shouts
of laughter; the next all would
be silent, and a track of steel was
all that remained of the young
men-going west as fast as they
could. Old No. l, that now hauls
trains from AmhersLburg to Buffa
10, was the pioneer engine, and
kept the workers in supplies, and
shifted the sleeping and hotel cars
over the space finished during the
day, and as the distance increased
to St. Thomas, No l had to puff
along livelier over the half finished
track, but no accident eyer belel
it; it took things philosophically
and never went on "a bust. One
Saturday the engineer asked me
to take trip to St. Thomas, and
as | knew the condition Of the
track | bade a fearful farewell to
my friends gave a few directions
as to the disposal of my worldly
affairs and started.
There were three others on the
locomotive, whose names were
Tho mas, Richard and Henry; |
may abbreviate these appellalions
as | proceed with this sad narra-
tive. We logged along quietly to
St. Thomas, the only excitement
being running into a cow, and then
the excitement was monopolized
mostly by the cow 1t was dark
when We left st. Thomas, and the
night was wet. So we crowded
into the engine cab. We ratified
along through Canadian wilder
ness, and the engineer kept his
arm over the bell-rope and -lazilY
| pulled the bell to and fro, for the
track was unfenced and we had to
give continued warning of our
coming; besides, the engine was
running backward, as there was
no turn-table at st. Thomas. Be-
sides the ordinary headlight, there
was one perched on the top of the
cab which shone backward, and by
the light of this on the glistening
rails we now travelled. When we
struck into the forest primeval,
the woods were cleared away just
enough to allow the track to be
built, and the wet branches of the
overhanging trees scraped against
the engine, and the headlight IL
Illuminated a long arcade that look
ed like a green tunnel, and once a
herd of startled deer jumped a.
cross the track, one after another,
looking like the pictures that fol-
low each other in a magic. lantern.
Dick was just beginning to tell
how he chased a buffalo on the
Union Pacific, when Tom cried
out "There's squirrel or some
thing on the track; let's run it
down." A few rods ahead Of the
engine was some small animal,
jumping from tie to tie and run
ming about as fast as we were.
We all commenced throwing sticks
of wood at it, and succeeded in
missing it. The engineer laughed
at our efforts and drew on q couple
more notches of steam, but the lit
tie creature kept ahead. Some
times we got almost up to it, some
times it disappeared in the dark,
ness ahead but never leaving the
track; some fascination kept it
between the rails, running It's wild
race for life. The driver, with
his keen eye ahead, gave the en-.
CINE more and more steam, till
our pace became terrific Old No..
swayed to and fro like a ship in
a storm, the bell rang out of its
own accord as we rushed along
through the night, each Of us
clinging to some object in whose
stability we had confidence.
And still that strange object
kept ahead of us. Some one sug-
gested that it might have been a
ghost Turing us on to destruction,
but the driver resolved, like Ham
let, TO follow it, and probably make
| four ghosts where one would have
done just as well. So he threw
on all the steam the engine would
take, and then we fairly flew over
trnnIr nnmnra with the sneed of