Sharp County record., 1888-02-16

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ties as hard ss I c0uld run. anl Just as
l reached the switch heard No g
blow for nv station. While was un-
locking the switch the engineer callei
for brakes. and then l knew he had
seen the light and would stop ]
pulled the bar over, and then picked
up nv lantern and ran back. reaching
the station just as the heavy freight
was coming TO = staud-stIlL
Ny purpose was to run down
and open the other switch and
thus let the runaway out on the main
track again, to run until her steam
went down. bat l had scarcely moved
4 hundred feet when heard her conf
ING. It was then too late, and | stood
on the platform to see her 90 past.
She was truly q runaway. She had
broken away from the accommodation
train, which came no further up than
c., and was coming up with . full
head Of steam and roaring. There
was gross carelessness IN bringing
about this accident, but /. was covered
up and kept out of print. We could
hear the runaway mile of, and we
could locate her as she came through
the woods by the shower ct sparks
fving from her smok estack On she
came, and as she struck the switch it
seemed as if she must 60 over. There
was 3 clickety-clash and bank, and
she righted and whizzed past Us like .
fiery arrow
We knew what would happen at
the other end Of the siding. There
was a field beyond, and when the
runaway left the rails she tore up
hundred feet of track. made splinters
of score Of ties, and plowed her way
into the field for quarter of a mile
and blew up Had she encountered
No. 9 on the main track, there must
have been a terrible smash-up. At the
speed she was going the runaway
would have climbed right on top Of
the train. After the explosion | en-:
tered the station and called for K
to give him the news, but he could not
be raised. could not get him until
the usual hour next morning, and then
Learned something which made my
hair stand on end. He had not heard
a word Of the matter! He was not
in his office when the accommodation
passed. and he had heard nothing
from C., the station above where
the engine broke away. l then called
for The agent at c., and it turned
out that at five o'clock on the after
noon previous he had met with an
accident BY which he had been made
delirious all night. When they went
for him to telegraph about the engine
he was in bed, and being held there
by nurses, and they did not even try
to make him understand what had
happened. As matter Of fact and
record, no living hand clicked tha
message to me. Every man on the
line was examined. but all denied it
l heard it and understood it, and
actel upon it. and it came from
K How do explain iI2 l neYT
could Ihave hal people tell ME It
was mind teIegraphing to mind, but
you can take any theory you wish /
was called for in the usual way un-
derstood fully what was being said.
and hurried out to do what have de-
scribed. The matter has been 3 pUz-
zle and q mystery for years, and ]
have no hopes of solution.
How did l lose my leg? Well.
there was a mystery about that We
had changed our time, and passen-
ger train passed my station at two
a. m. l awoke one night at one
o clock feeling that the upper switch
had been left open by the freight
train. LIGHTED my lantern and ran
up there, and sure enough it stood
wide open, and y death trap had been
set for the express. l closed it, and
was on my way back when three cars
which had broken away from the
freight several miles away, at the top
of a grade, came whooping down, and.
in trying to get out of the way, l made
a stumble and got my leg under the
wheels. l dragged myself into the
station and tried to call up the offices
above me. but could raise no one The
cars were missed. aud hunted for from
one end Of the line to the other, and,
strangely enough, they could not be
found. 1t was an odd thing to lose
cars in that fashion, and before they
got through searching men walked
over every foot of the line. 1t was six
weeks before they were found. They
had lef. the rails at curve near
steep bank, and hal gone over the
rocks into the deep river without leav-
inc trace. It was as if they had
been picked up and flung over by
human hands. Being loaded with
hardware, they had gone to the bot
tom, but the current rolled them along
until they finally showed above the
surface in bend When hauled out
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