Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-09

service TO continue the argument and
went staggering and putting out He
returned almost Immediately.
Conductor" he wheezed with sort
o. forced calmness, II thought bought
that upper berth 10 my scctionr
$50 you did, | replied.
And you told me you put it up?,
'sYes, sir"
you did no such thing!" he ex-
ella med. suddenly bursting into rage.
''thc internal thing has been down ali
night, ard is down now, and my berth
steaming like sweat box. Give me my
moacy backr'
"You looked into the wrong BERTH"
Ireplied | Il put that upper back my
self and nobody's touched it since"
II looked into section seven," he said,
furiously. 81 don't believe you ever
touched it,"
81 Just want to show you that you
don't know what you're talking about"
answered. leading the way back into
she car Here is your section. See. >
At this ! threw back the curtains and
stopped dumbfounded. The upper berth
was down, and, what was more, the wires
did not appear to have been touched.
Bliss started to say something in reply,
when I felt of sudden as though bull
let had gone through my heart. A hor-
rible thought had flashed across my mind,
too quickly to be shaped in words. The
blood came throbbing through my neck
in slow, bursting waves, and more like q
machine than man / stretched out my
arm and opened the curtains of section
FIVE The upper berth was shut.
had made mistake. In hideous,
moving tomb, swung, like Mahomet's
coffin. between heaven and earth, had
buried the girl alivel For moment it
seemed as though the arteries of my
throat would burst; my heart beat with
quick, sharp pangs; my skin had all the
icy contraction of sudden plunge into
cold water 1t was then that sort of
secondary intelligence seemed to work
within me, and, while my senses reeled
with fear and horror, impelled me to
push up the berth in the old mans Sec
tion and get away. scarcely knew
what 1 was doing, but Bliss noticed moth
ing and grumblingly crawled into his
berth, while hurried out to the plat
form.
Why did not open upper fivc2 Be-
cause realized instantly that the victim
was long before dead. In sleeping
car space is economical to the utmost ex-
tent. The swinging berth fits into space
like ball in socket. The elasticity of
the mattress and the slight figure of the
girl alone made it possible for me to
close it with her inside. I gave one hag-
gard look at my watch. An hour on a
half had elasped. She must have died
in the first three or four minutes.
stood on the steps and tried to
think, but l could not control my mind
In swift defilc it pictured to me the dis
covery, the blackened corpse tumbling
from the blankets, the stiff fingers clutch
ing at n3thingncss, the mothers shrek,
the CONSERVATION of the passengers, the
excited theories, the quick conception of
the TRUTH the search, the denunciatiou,
the awful machinery of the courts, the
! prison. By violent effort l surveyed
the situation from several standpolnts.
They all led to one conclusion-fight.
There was but one time when could
have taken the benefit of the accident
that was at once, when I made the dis
covery-and Ireallzed the impossibility
of explaining my hesitation. These
things passed through my mind like
flashes of lightning. There was not an
instant to lose. Mrs. Paxton might at
any moment awake and call her daugh-
ter. Just then the engine slowed up
tri6e. l saw indistintly in the gloom
that the ground was level, swung off,
and watched the dim outline of the
train, carrying its burden of sleeping life
and silent death, grow faint and fainter
and disappear into the night.
The place where / jumped was near a
water tank. presently made it out and
walked wide around it to avoid possible
watchman. / knew the lay of the land
in general way and that could not be
far from the little town of Mohawk Sum
nit. To get out of the country the
quickest way possible was my dominant
thought, and old Mexico suggested itself
at once. realized that l must avoid
the railroad with its accompanying tele-
graph lines, and started, as nearly as 1
could Judge, southeast. As ! walked
along cut the gilt buttons off my coat
and vest and threw them away. did
the same with my cap and tore the gold
braid from around the brim.
shall not go into the details of that
night, nor the many days and nights that
, followed it / was full of wild regrets
at the course / had taken and saw a
million defects in my plan With agony
l realized that my flight destroyed the
theory Of innocence could see dozen
ways that might have remained upon
the car now that it was too late. NV
| journey south was through innumerable
hardships, and the ever present and sick
ening apprehension of pursuit. In the
camps where hunger drove me it seemed
to me that everybody looked strangely at
me. II a man turned his head my heart
bounded with panic. Twice was lost
on the arid, sage grown plains and once
] wandered without water and burning
with fever for two days.
had $94 in my pocket when jumped
from the train, but when finally made
my way to Guaymas had less than fifty
cents. Then was forced to come into
town and go to work. Tan and tattcrs
had pretty thoroughly disguised me, but
! was still haunted with the fear of ar