Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-09-28

again ana. now, 70 grahlIy one man 2 |
jealousy and hatred and punish one
man, hundred innocent men and wo-
mon in the passenger train were to be
sacrificed.
AS the goods-train came on rafting
and roaring through the cutting, the
driver and stolSer, all unconscious Of
the imminent peril in which they were,
stood on the footplate watching the sig
nails aud the line in front of them. A
glance ut the signal. as he caught sight
OF it, showed Duffy that it stood at clear.
His eye then wandered downwards to-
ward the rails, when suddenly it was
arrested by dark object lying on the
other line.
"Thats surely man lying on the
up-line, Tom" he remarked to his fire
man. laying his hand upon the regu-
lator
Good God, SO it isT' cried Tom, in
great excitement
Without another word the steam was
shut of. the link-gear reversed and the
brake applied; for the two men knew
that the up-express was due in three
minutes, and that If the man who was
lying on the line-who might be un-
conscious through drink or through
having fallen over-was left there, he
must inevitably meet with a terrible
death
AS the train stopped with shock
and humping of buffers and clanking
of coupling-chains and along its whole
length, Duffy jumped down into the six
foot way with the engine lamp in his
hand. Bending over the huddled-up
form, he held the light above the
blood-covered face and peered into it.
A few seconds elapsed before Duffy
moved, and Tom, wondering why he
knelt so long looking into the uncon-
soious mans face, jumped down beside
them and asked: "Is he dead, Duffy"
"Yes," answered Duffy. raising his
head as if he had just wakened out OF a
dream.
"Who is heP" continued Tom.
Armstrong, the smith"
At this moment the brakesman OF the
train came along to see what was
wrong; and after Tom had explained
the matter to him, they lifted the dead
man and carried him to the van. Duffy
and Tom then returned to the engine,
and were just about to start the train to
advance to the station and see what
could be done with Armstrong, when
Tom caught sight of some one running
along the line with lamp in his
hand.
"Whats upP" cried Duffy.
'Who can this be, and what can he
be wantingP" asked Tom.
At this point the man with the lamp
approached the engine; and when he
had come within the light of the fur
mace, the two snen recognized him as
the signalman. 'It's a blessing you
noticed itr' he cried, painting with the
exertion of running so fast.
Noticed whatP" both men on the
engine exclaimed, simultaneously,
Something's wrong with the signal.
It's standing at clear just now, and yet
the levers right for danger. / heard
you passing it without slowing up, and
then l noticed the signal was wrong.
I'm glad you saw the train in front in
time to pull up.
us there a train in 'front.'" Duffy
asked.
There is. The seven twenty-seven
passengers blocked there by truck
thnt went off the rails"
| All at once the whole matter became
clear to Duffy. Armstrong had been
trying to wreck the train, and had APP
parently fallen down into the cutting
when putting the finishing touches to
this trap for his enemy. Although
Duffy thought this perfectly plain, he
did not breathe a word of his thoughts
to those around him. Was not his
enemy lying dead in the vanP He
would let bygones be bygones.
mo, hs didn't notice that" he said
to the signal-man. 1--WE stopped be-
cause We saw man lying on the up
line"
Here the signal-man climbed on to
the engine, and the up-express went
laundering past, creating a miniature
and momentary hurricane as it went.
'It'ssArmstrong, the smith" added
Duffy. 'Hes dead"
lis that SOP" the signal-man ex-
claimed, and then lapsed into silence,
feeling unable to say any thing appro-
pirate to the circumstances.
"Tll go up with you and see what s
wrong with the signal" Duffy said to
the pointsman after pause.
Reaching the signal, they found the
cord, loosened it from the trellis-worl1
Of the signal post and let the counter
weight fall again. 1t had not sug-
gested itself to the signal-man that any
connection existed between the dead
man on the line and the mysteriously
lowered signal; but in spite of Duffy Is
reticence, the cause of tho accident be-
came perfectly apparent to him when
he saw the cord attached to the signal
counter-weight, and put that fact and
the fact OF Armstrong; being found
dead on the line together.
If ever any thing was providential,
said the signal man, as he and Duffy
returned to resume their respective
duties, this is. Here's man that in
tends to wreck your train; he falls
over the embankment just when he
gets the thing arranged; thenyou come
on seemingly to a certain smash, wher