The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-03-21
ACCIDENTS.
Some Unique and Curious Ideas
About Their Cause.
Wonderful Coincidents-The Per-
sonallty of God and
the Devil.

perfumed cigar, when the man about town,
who had been in deep meditation, sud
denly spoke up:
81 see you had in the paper Thursday
morning an account of negro woman,
while ironing, accidentally igniting her
skirts and being painfully burned, and
this morning you have an account of an
other accident to another woman in diff
ferent locality of precisely the same
character. Don't you think it very
strange? Do you really believe they were
accidentsf I DON'T" and then the man
about town adjusted himself more COM,
fortably in his chair, opened drawer
handing the reporter the following:
Accidents, and storms, and cyclones,
and calamities which befall the human
family are curious things. Are they
merely chance happenings! Is there any
thing in all this world which just happens
by chance? Is anything permitted to
| fly at loose endsH"
81 don't believe it,"
"Have you ever noticed curious coin
cidents in what we call accidents? 1 will
call to mind some of them, as have them
| in my diary"
Some three or four years ago there was
an epidemic, 80 to speak, of locomotive
boiler explosions. For three or four
days and longer in succession the papers
contained accounts of them and all were
marvelously alike and unexplainable.
The railroad companies were charged with
over-working worn-out engines and the
responsibility for the accidents was placed
on them. Finally, as if to refute this
charge ,another terrific explosion occurred.
| The Baldwin locomotive works had just
turned out a magnificent locomotive. 1t
had been thoroughly tested in all of its
parts by every known modern appliance
known to science and was taken out on
the road for mile or two to see if the
rods worked smoothly. Everything was
found in perfect order and the magnif-
cent machine was run into the depot. The
engineer and the master mechanic and
the officials left it with but sixty pounds
of steam indicated by the gauges. A mo-
ment after terrific explosion occurred.
The wheels were blown from the axels and
the great engine was complete wreck"
WAS it an accident?"
II.
| "Some two or three years ago The
STATESMAN, as recorded in my diary, pub
lished an account of brakeman falling
from q train on the Texas and Pacific and
the cars, passing over his neck, severed
the head from the body. The next morn
ing, at another point on a different road, a
brakeman fell from the top of train
and had his head severed from the body;
and the next morning. another brakeman
on different road fell and his head was
severed. Some years ago yardman
here in Austin, coupling cars, fell and had
his knee crushed by the cars. The next
day at Palestine another yardman fell and
had his knee crushed; and day after, at
Houston, yardmsn had his knee horribly
msngled."
every remarkable coincideRts; were they
acoidents?"
1.-TWO or three years ago great cyclone
passed over part of Nebraska. At one
place dwelling was swept away all but
the floor. bureau was carried from one
of the rooms, in which two children were
asleep, and they and the bed on which
they slept were not molested. At another
place the drawers of bureau we're drawn
out and carried off and the bureau left
standing. At another place a
lot of ten penny nails we're
picked up and they were after
wards found sticking in an apple tree,as if
they had been driven there with ham
mer. Agreat cyclone some years ago
struck the Missouri penitentiary, demol-
ishing portion of the building and blow
down all the chimneys and part of the
parapet walls, while a lot of empty bar
rels on the rooof were not even moved. At
another place during cyclone a bureau
was carried from a demolished building,
and some distance off one of the draw
ers was found and its contents, including
lot of paper money lying ON the top of
the clothing, had not been disturbed. At
another place a roll of greenbacks was
taken from a drawer while nothing else
was molested, and the bills were found some
distance off, having the appearance of
having been placed in the mouth and
chewed."
"Were these strange freaks accidents
Do they happen by chance? could call
to mind scores of other such coincidents,
bat the above are all that are necessary
for my purpose"
".
"Now, hold that all these things oc-
CURED through the direct agency of some
intelligent power. 1 believe in personal
God and veritable, personal Devil. 1 be-
lieve God to be omnipotent, omuiscient
and omnipresent. That is, I believe He
is omnipotent in everything except over
the devil, and believe He will finally
overcome and subdue him forever and for
ever. believe He is omnipresent in His
power or through His agents, but not
in person. If God is an intelligent, all
wise persona being as believe he is
he can no more be in Austin in
person and in New York in person at
the same time than can any being he has
created. He cannot create two noun
tains without an intervening valley, nor
can he be in two places at the same time
in person. He is, 1 believe, absolutely
omniscient, except as to the plans of the
devil. He may know, if he desires, any
and everything going on in
any of the works of his creation, but
of the plans, intentions and schemes OF
the devil He knows nothing, and cannot
prevent them until they are set in motion,
and oft times great injury results TO both
, the material world and the human family
before his works are arrested. God, in
my opinion, kno IS or can know in person