Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-05-22
And the Unfortunate Conse-
quenCes that immediately
Followed.

A colored man in town, whose name
we failed to obtain, was the victim a
few days ago ola dream under very
peculiar circumstances. He has been
employed for many years by the rail
roads to run with stock Ears from
Memphis to New Orleans, and is as
we'll known to conductors and other
employees as any brakeman
On the morning Of the 18th inst, as
train No. 6 approached New Orleans,
this cOlored man 1--WE will call him
Tom for convenience snoozed rest
leSSly in the caboose. lie had been
in the habit Of investing a few spare
nickleS and quarters in great punches
OF bananas and other tropical fruits,
with the green lizards and tarantu-
las thrown in. On his return here
he always sold out at a fair profit.
just before he left here the last time,
he heard Of the Memphis banana
quarantine, and as he snoozed in the
snOozing car, the bag of silver in his
pocket and the catfish lunch on his
stomach rested heavily. The con-
ductOr and brakesmen also snoozed
and snored il the snoozing car. 1t
was just before day. The engine
pulled heavily, and the long
gray moses moved like fu-
nereal plumes in the leaden clouds
Of steam that chung to the earth.
All nature seemed bound in the spell
Of a nightmare. Tom was dreaming
dream, and an awful dream it was
that he reeled off his intellectual
cylinder. A frightful railroad acct
dent was going on in his brain and he
wa fighting it out all alone with a
wrecked and burning train across his
heaving chest.
Suddenly Tom sprang to his feet
with a terrible yell and shouted
Murder, murder, we're killed we're
killed the train is of the track r.
With a wild bound he sprang through
the open door and fell headlong in a
green scummed lagoon. At this in
slant the conductor and brakeman,
hearing the alarm, started half awake
and Sprang also from the car.
They snoozed no more; they we're
wide awake. Three men, like fools,
stood in mud and water up to their
waists and the train went laundering
on. The cloud Of vapor slowly raised
in the moss Of the live oak forest and
the deep-tOned bullfrog resumed his
tuneful prophecy that day was 0 0 tc
come.
What the halifax did YOU
say the train was off the TRACK
for, you black Liberian2" said the con
ductOr as he removed q rich plug o.
Louisiana soil from his mouth.
Yes, what'd We doo'it for?" muir
mered the brakeman as he fsheI
the wet dirt out Of his bosom,
Fore God | dreamed it, massa.
said Tom as he unhitched a mud tur
tie from one leg and felt around wit
the other for a missing boot.
Come out Of there you lying hip
popOtamus," they jointly exclaimed
well teach you this is no dream"
By the time Tom had clambered u
the bank they were ready for hiu
Tom pleaded the civil rights bill, pu
in a demurrer that he was a pure dem
ocrat and had voted the national tickC
in 1878, and all hat sort of things, bu
they overruled all his motor
quashed his application for a chang
Of venue, refused to admit him O
bail, Squelched the habeas corpu
declared martial law, and proceedt
before proceeding any nearer New D
leans to bung up his eye, Aatten 0,
his nose, tear of his shirt. loosen h
teeth irrigate his epidermis, crop b
earn, puta beautiful twO,story mansal
roof on his head and otherwise di
a~rrsngehis toilet. 1t wasaregularW Viii
akef outrage, witnessed only by mocc
sins, snakes, bull frogs and owls.
Aftsr. that they tramped into Il