Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-11-27
A VERY FAST TRAIN.
THE STORY WHICH WAS TOLD BY
THE TIMID PASSENGER.

A Time When 1t Seemed as IL the Train
Got Scared at Something - Running
Though a Rainstorm-sunset I'm the
East.
az was lately on train observed the timid
passenger, "that went so fast it was danger
Gus to LOOK out of the window, as you were
likely to have your eyesight broken off and
carried away. Why, the very farmhouses
looked like the street of q village, they came
SO fast, and the hind car wheels touched the
rails only once in a while. There was not o
particle of noise to be heard, because the
train got far ahead Of it, and people along
the track said the noise kept about mile
back, while the dust didn't have time to get
up and dust until the train had got far away,
and the way it then got up and busted was a
warning. It just seemed as If the train had
got scared at something. and the passengers
all thought there was great danger OF the
coaches running over the locomotive. The
telegraph poles were not visible and the very
sunbeams did not have chance to get in the
windows, and, of course, the shadow Of the
cars kept something like mile and quar-
ter in the rear.
AHEAD OF THE SUM-
"Our watches got all out of time; as we
few westward SO fast that we got clear ahead
of the sun, and if we had kept on at that rate
around the earth we would have been surely
half day younger, and If we had continued
going around we would have soon been in the
middle of last year
"The friction of the air took all the paint
off the outside of the cars, and hats were
sucked up through the ventilators. If you
had dropped book it would not have touched
the floor until it had reached the back of the
car, while flies were dashed against the rear
end of the coach and killed.
"Of course the people could not see the
train at all, and were continually driving
into it at the crossings, but they didn't know
any better before or afterwards. 1t was
thought that lightning struck them, as they
didn't know what else it was, and people
along the line said the train left a tunnel in
the air which did not fill up for half an hour,
while the air was hot from the friction If
you would foolishly point your finger out of
the window at anything it would be taken off
as slick as knife by the solicited air.
THROUGH A STORM
1--WE went through terrible rainstorm,
but not drop touched the train. 1t didn't
get a chance, and several bolts of lightning
went for us, but fell short. The rear brake
man fell off the car, but the suction kept him
following right behind, and they reached out
and pulled him in all right, but quite dizzy
headed At one place bridge had been
washed away, but that did not interfere at
all, for we jumped the chasm and went on as
If nothing had been wrong
"The most wonderful thing about it was,
that night we witnessed tho phenomenon of
the sun setting in the east, sight never be-
fore witnessed, we had travelled so much
ahead of it. People living along the track
maintained that it was a cyclone that had
passed and houses were unrooted by the dis
turbed atmosphere. The rapidity with
which we went was quite alarming, especially
when we were not in a hurry, but catching
hold Of the front seat and holding back with
all our might did not seem to do any per-
ceptible good. A man fired revolver at a
venture and hit mule half mile up the
track That was the fastest ride ever Took
"A. w. Belaw in Detroit Free Press