Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-01-23
The A


-
ceived Notice OF His Death.
srYou ask IL / have ever had an nd.
venture on the railroad that would be
interesting to the readers Of Tho Age.
Well, you shall have it, although it is
something I would willingly forget;
but it seems impossible. Fifteen years
ago / was running on the East Ton.
nessee road, between Knoxville and
Chattanooga. The scenery between
these twopoints is grand in places, the
mountains being in sight nearly the
entire distance. | had left Knoxville
IN hour late one afternoon in Novem'
bar, and at London the telegraph oper
ator handed me an order to make up
the lost time, as there was a large
southern excursion on board who
wanted 10 make connection at Chatta.
nooga for Atlanta. had always been
ranked as one Of the coolest men on
Che road, as a man who never got ex'
cited, and i once ran over a burning
testle without a muscle changing.
Yet this afternoon | was strangely
nervous. For the first time in my life
discovered / had nerves.
"'Jack,' | said to the fireman, .
am all in a tremor. ] am not super
stitious, but | feel as if something was
going TO happen
Jack burst into a loud guffaw,
why, cap'n, you nervous; that is toe
good" and he laughed again.
~ said nothing else, but the uncom'
Portable feeling continued. | did moi
know il at the time, but / have since
found out that even the iron nerves OF
an engineer must break some time.
Jack, in the meantime, was piling uI
coal in the furnace. 'Cap'n. you are
cold lac remarked after n few min
utes' intermission. Well have a bet
Ter fire, and well be in Chattanooga
in a jiffy.'
THE grim November twilight hung
over the earth like a pail. We haf
passed Athens, and with only ffty-si,
miles 10 go TO reach our destination
For the first time since | mounted ar
engine | longed for the trip. | wa,
hooking straight ahead, where the iron
bands fardown the track seem TO unit
into a single rail, when | was startled
by an exclamation from Jack: 'Cap'n,
he screamed, look therel my God,
hook therer pointing with trembling
hand to the east, where in the
distance the mountains doomed up
grim and bare in their awful
grandeur. The look of horror on
the poor fellows face was indie.
scribable. But the sight | witnessed
rs l quickly turned my eyes 10 the
east was enough TO freeze the warm
blood which course through YOU
veins. for there, above the mountain
tops, with a terrible distinctness, sailed
q phantom engine drawing a phantom
train. The puffs Of smoke came re
gularly from the engine. | could see
the glaring headlight, the lights in
the coaches, all as plain as if the train
was running on the side track by us.
/ stood there watching the strange
sight, too amazed TO utter a word, how
long / cannot say, but suddenly il dis
appeared, AMI | was recalled TO myself
by several jerks at the bell rope made
by the conductor. i looked out and
saw that we were at Cleveland.
whats the matter with youi
asked the conductor, coming TO the en-
CINE. What do you mean by trying
to run by Cleveland that wayi Why,
man, you look as if you had seer a
ghost, he added aftera moment, catch
ing aglimpse Of my face. looked al
my watch and saw that it was exactly
6o'clock. We had made up half an
hour, and we pulled into Chattanooga
an hour later, only a few minutes be.
hind time. From the time Of the ap-
pearance Of the %apparition TO the time
we pulled into the roundhouse at Chat
tanooga Jack had not spoker-a word,
but there was a fixed look on his fac,
did not like. The affair was not dis
cussed between us Jack was strangely
taciturn, and, 10 tell the truth, | die
not feel inclined to talk about til,
strange sight see in the clouds.
There is not a great deal more Il
cell. The run to Knoxville the mex
day was made without anything oc
curing worthy Of comment, but or
the return trip to Chattanooga Friday,
two days after We had seen the appar
ition. at 5:57 in the afternoon and two
miles east of Cleveland, q wild freight
Numbered isto us. saw il too late to
do any good, but | reversed my en-.
CINE and tben-iumped. ! happened
20 jump on the right side and escaped
with a broken finger. But Jack. poor
boy, had chosen the wrong side. and
the immense locomotive crushed him
70 a jelly. | believe that the acci.
pont happened at the spot where Jack
first saw the phantom engine and Of
the minute, although two days later.
Poor Jack, the discoverer OF that won.
1erful sight the warning was evident.
ly intended for him.
II did not make another run on
6hat fated line. / asked TO be excused
from duty pending the investigation
made by officials into the accident,
and on the day the investigation was
sOncluded and / was exonerated from
blame / walked into the superinten'
dents Office and asked for my time.
"eyou needn't feel bad about tina,
accident remarked the superintend
sut, kindly.
"'I don't, / replied, but my nerves
IRE shattered and ] want to change my
location
II saw a smile on the superintend.
ent's face as ] mentioned my nerves,
but he gave me my time without a
word Ispent Eve years in the Rock.