The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-09-12

woods once more stretched away on
either side.
In a seconds time the fireman was
himself again, attending to his duties as
cool as ever.
Was there something on the track?"
ne asked as Bill dropped the signal cord.
1t was some time before Bill could
say anything, and then he told Watkins
OF the strange vision he had seen. As
ne described it the fireman grew paler
and paler and became greatly agitated.
| When Bill came to the scene where the
old man was murdered, Watkins was
picture of terror. He threw up his
hands and shrieked:
Great God! There is no escaped
With these words he sprang from the
cab, and Bill saw him tumble out of
sight in the bushes. The train was
going thirty miles an hour. Bill brought
her 70 stop as soon as he could and
backed down to where the fireman had
jumped on, expecting to find him dead
or badly hurt. Not.a trace of Watkins
could be found, except the broken
bushes where he had fallen. The woods
were searched, but the fireman had dis
appeared.
"Of course, Bills story, the singular
disappearance of Watkins, and the
mysterious circumstances connected
with it, created a sensation along the
road for some time, but the matter was
finally forgotten. A month afterwaTd
Bill went on his vacation. He took a
trip over into Ohio, and one day read In
Cincinnati paper that a young man
named Walters, who had appeared in
o! of the small Kentucky towns a
month before, confessed 10 having
rlnrHnra6 his nv1nfo Siv hafnrn in
that village, and given himself up to the
justice, was to be hanged for the crime.
Bill never could explain why, but the
moment he read the item his fireman,
Watkins, the murder he seen In his
vision, and the freman's disappearance,
came into his mind and connected
themselves with the confessed murderer
Walters. Bill found that he could get
to the Kentucky town in few hours by
rail, and he jumped on the cars and
started for the place. AS the train ap-
preached the place there was no need of
brakeman calling out Its name, so far
as Bill Sandusky was concerned. There
were the valley, the river, the hills, the
village, the willows, the old homestead,
the church spire and the green lane that
be had seen in his vision. There Was
the clump of trees where the murderer
bill had no trouble in obtaining a
look at the condemned murder Walters
ID his cell, and, of course Walters was
Bill's old fireman, George Watkins.
Walters was his right name. He had
shot his uncle, Just as Bill had seen the
tragedy that day from the Cab. The
murderer was an entire stranger in the
place. He had visited his uncle to Dor
row some money, which the old man
b ad declined to loan. That was the sole
cause of the murder. Walters said he
had struggled successfully for six years
against some strange influence that was
constantly drawing him back to the
scene of the murder and to a confession,
but, feeling that no human being knew
of his guilt, he had conquered the infu-
ence. He never passed through the
dark Kane woods. while firing for Bill,
that the whole scene of the tragedy was
not forced before him, and the strange
influence was hard to combat. When
the scene was revealed SO mysteriously
to the engineer, the murderer b lieved
that the terrible secret was no longer
his own. He gave up the struggle and
went INTERESTINGLY to his fate. He was
hanged three days after Bill visited him
but how does any one explain that queer
vision of Bills ?"-NeW York Sun.