Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-19
BenniSOn Bros

where the snow banks were the most
treacherous, and just in this part of the
track was where the broken rail was re-
ported. Every time the engine struck
a curve it seemed as though it was i'm
posi- BILE for the small tlanges to hold
the engine to the rails. The cars were
rocking violently. Tire train was lurch-
ing frightfully. The passengers were
rudely awakened from their slumbers
by the train striking a snowdrift. The
speed of the train was so great that the
train broke the drift easily and was
soon roaring through a snowshed. How
the fireman labored. His shirt was wet
with perspiration, for the hungry fur
mace consumed the coal so quickly that
the stack belched fire.
AWAITING DEATH.
The passengers having been warned
of the impending danger, had dressed
themselves. The women were wiring
ing their hands in despair, strong men
were trembling and the thought of every
person on the train was of the man
whose hand rested on the throttle of
the engine ahead. Would he be allie
to outrun the pursuing train and break
all the snow banks, or would the rear
train dash into the coaches and kill all
the passengers? Who was their engin-
were all thrown up, few daring men
clung on the platform and glanced anX-
iously back. The conductor started sud-
denly as he caught a glimpse OF the
driving wheels of the rear train. They
were fully ten inches larger than those
on the engine ahead With hand
tightly clenched ON the throttle Ed
wards eye rapidly swept the track. He
was good engineer, for even under
that awful strain he had presence of
mind to shut off his steam in order to
save it when running down grade with
out brake pressure and never once while
running did he allow power to take the
place OF speed, "a fault of most engineers
under excitement. At this time the
snow began TO descend, and in the Pc
culiar light that settled on the earth,
caused by the snow, Edwards saw some
thing in a backward glance he took that
made his blood freeze and almost caused
his heart TO cease beating. On the top
OF one of the cars of the rear train was
the tall white figure OF a man gesticu-
lating wildly, while he could see white
/ form in the cab. A terrible thought
| flashed through his mind-the train the
| train, the peculiar condition-lt was the
| phantom train.
THE SPECTER STILL GAINING.
|
the broken rail, he dropped the lever
another notch, and then as quickly as
possible, but cautiously. he opened the
| throttle valve. His trained ear caught
every sound his engine made and under
| the intense excitement he once thought
he heard the pistons grinding and the
axle pound. What a wild ride it was
in the night. 1t would be i'm
possible to pass broken rail at the ter
rifle speed they were travelling. He
was leading the race by about two hun
dred yards now, and as his train. ap
preached point where the track re
versed and ran parallel, he nerved him
self for the trial. He rounded the
curve safely, and started, and was NOV
ing back on the serpentine curve with
the rapidity of lightning. AS he
passed the other engine he saw two ex-
tremely white figures in the cab. The
specter engineer turned a face TO hin
| like dough and laughed. The ghostly
! fireman reached for the cord and agair
series OF short sharp whistles sounded
On the train plunged into the night
roaring through snow sheds and owe
iron bridges that trembled beneath the
sudden shock. SO fast was the traiI