The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1880-01-22
A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE.
A Railroad Superintendent Directed by a
Spirit Voice.

n DAANAAfh " y
Spirit Voice.
Aclrrespondent OF the Hartford Times
writes: l met Mr.. William d. Hilton
Of P~rovidenc,. the other day. He used
to be superintendent OF the Providenc,
and Worcester railroad, and he told me
some rather odd experiences OF his own,
which he gave me free permission to
publish.
Il think the most remarkable instance
OF supernatural interfererc % for the ben
eft Of humanity, which / have personal
knowledge Of said MI. Hilton, occur.
red when 1 was in the freight depart
ment Of the Providercs and Wolce ester
railroad. AS the tracks entered the de-
pot here, some few rods up the road,
there was @ combination OF switches,
which, if covered by q standing train,
could not be %rearrangfd, so that a down
train would, unless signaled to stop,
inevitably rush directly on to whatever
stood in the way. One night the freight
train, which always arrived in time TO
make its changes and get out OF the way
before the Shore line express should
arrive, was late.
There were but twenty FIVE minutes
to make all arrangements and clear the
track. This was no unusual roc 1rrence,
and as the signal red light at the mast
head was up and brightly burning, there
wa no apparent danger or anything TO
produo the slightest nervousness. The
delays very frequently occurred and
were thus provided for by the signal, l
remember very distinctly, however, that
on this &C ,asion l walked out to the very
end OF the depot platform, and that 1
certainly heard in my ear these words,
tw:cs repeated, and with impressive
distinctness:
Hilton, the light will go outI Hilton,
the light will go outl'
The sound was so positive, and struck
me with such strange power, that 1 in
stantIy looked at my watch, saw that the
Shore line express was due in three
minutes, grabbed the red lantern on the
last car OF the freight train, and ran up
the track with all the speed Of which /
was capable. Along 1 fairly few, im-
PEELED by some strange intuition that
there was danger, and never question
ing for an instant, as l ran, why I was
running, or what 1 ~ to do. Arrived
at the first end of the curve near the
Corliss engine works I stopped, and, for
an instant, turned and looked back at
the red light. 1t was burning, but in q
second it huttered a little, and sudden.
ly went out. A world OF emotions then
seemed to rush through my mind, for
the light OF the %on.coming express al.
ready illuminated the rails. l swung
my lantern round and round, shouted
and danced up and down tn my terrible
anxiety. 1t seemed a thousand years
before 1 heard the whistle for down
brahes.' The fate of that crowded train,
the horrible telesc oping OF the cars, as
they would inevitably crush into that
solid freight train, seemed to rise like O
vision of Hades before me. But ut last
the engine was stopped. Without indi-
citing to him his previous danger, 1
informed the engineer that the signal
had gone out, aud that l was stationed
to war; him, and started back to the
depot. When / got to the switch I
found the s%witchman running round and
round it, almost mad with terror, for he
could not light the treacherous lantern,
and had anticipated a most horrible dis
aster. When he saw me, and heard
that all wa safe, he put his arms about
my neck and he-we-well, he cried
like a child, and 1 believe offered up a
prayer OF praise and Thanksgiving. /
Immediately established a series of three
lights as signals, SO that nothing OF the
kind could possibly occur again.
We examined the light and C puId see
no possible reason why it should have
gone out. II was full OF oil, with q per-
feet wick, and there was no wind Llow.
ing, although, if there had been, it
should have remained burning, as it had
before through many a storm. Now,
what was il that spoke in my carp What
it tina forced me to sav9 that trair?
There we're ordinarily but two passen-
ger cars on the express, and this night
thero were seven, all full.