The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-11-01
AN EXCITING SCENE.
Shut Up in an English Railroad Car with q
Madman.

On my way from Wales to London
| met with one of the most exciting
scenes | ever witnessed. SAYS letter
to the Pittsburg Dispatch. We were in
n railroad train going at terrific
velocity. There are two or three loco
motives in England celebrated for
speed. One they call the Flying
Dutchman Another they name the
Yorkshire Devil. We were flying be-
hind one of these locomotives sixty
miles to the hour. There were five of
us-four gentlemen and lady in an
English car, which is different thing.
as most people know, from the Ameri-
can car-the English car holding COM
fortably only about eight persons,
four of them occupying one seat facing
four on the other. We halted at the
depot. A gentleman came to the
door, and stood a moment as if not
knowing whether to come in or stay
out. The conductor compelled him to
decide Immediately, he got in. He was
finely gloved and every way well
dressed. Seated, he took out his knife.
and began the attempt Of splitting a
sheet of paper edgewise. and at this
sat intensely engaged for perhaps an
hour. The suspicion of all in the car
was aroused in regard to him, when
suddenly he arose and looked around
at his fellow passengers and the fact
! was revealed by his eye and manner
that he was maniac. The lady in
the car (she was unaccompanied) be-
came frenzied with fright and rushed
to the door as if about to jump out.
foo inst In Il
made that death-leap impossible. A
look of horror was on all the faces and
the question was, ''What will the mad
man do next?n A madman unarmed
is alarming, but madman with an
open knife is terrific. In the demoniac
strength that comes to such one he
might make sad havoc in that flying
railway train, or he might spring out
of the door, as once or twice he at
tempted. 1t was a question between
retaining the fOaming fury i'll our com
panv or letting him dash his life out
on the rocks. Also it might be q
question between his life and the life
of one or more in the train. Our own
safety said ''Lethim 60" Our humanity
said Keep him oack from instant
| DEATH" aud humanity triumphed. The
| bell-rope reaching to the locomotive in
English railway trains is on the out
| side of the car and near the roof and
| difficult to reach. | gave it two or
three stout pulls, but there was no
slackening of speed. Another passen-
ger repeated the attempt without get
ting any recognition. We might as
well have tried to stop 4 whirlwind by
hnv--- 1-ito ctr yIhnn
| English engineer starts his train he
stops for nothing short of 4 collision,
! and the bell-rope on the outside edges
of the ear is only to make passengers
feel comfortable at the idea that they
can stop the train if they want to, and
as it is not once in thousand times
| anyone is willing to risk his arm and
! reach out of the window long enough
| to work the rope the deluSion is seldom
broken. To rid ourselves of our
! dangerous associate seemed impossible.
| Then there came struggle as to
| which should have supremacy of that
car, right reason or dementia. The
demoniac moved around the car as if
| it belonged to him and all the rest of
| us were intruders. Then he dropped
| il convulsions across the lap of one of
the passengers. At this moment,
when we thought the horror had
characterized, the tragedy was iutensi-
fed. We plunged into the midnight
darkness of one of those long tunnels
for which English railway travel is
! celebrated. Minutes seemed hours,
Can you imagine worse position than
| to be fastened in railway carriage,
| eirht feet by six in tunnel of COM
plete darkness, with maniac? May
the occurrence never be repeated! We
knew not what moment he might dash
upon us or in what way. We waited
for the light, and waited while the hair
lifted upon the scalp and the blood ran
cold. When, at last, the light looked
in through the windows, we found the
afflicted man lying helplessly across
the lap of one of the passengers. When
the train halted it did not take us long,
after handing over the poor unfortu.
nate for medical treatment to disem-
| bark and move into another car