The morning call., 1890-07-08
AN ENGINEERS PRESENTIMENT.
How q Terrible Wreck Was Prevented
by Dying Man.

by n Dying Man.
A number of railroad men sat in the ro-
tunda of the Lacede the other night ex-
changing "reminiscences. The conversation
gradually drifted into stories having su-
pernatural tinge, and among these was the
following, related by well-known con-
ductor:
"Some years ago." he said. Sin the town
Of Garrett. in Northern Indiana, the head
quarters Of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
roads Chicago Division, there lay sick an
engineer named Boardman. He was wildly
delirious and his rawlings took serious
aspect at times. One evening he was told
that Engineer Moses had been called to take
out his engine. No. 10, ON en- extra run,
following No. 8. Engine ~ was the pride
of the road and of its engineer, then so Sc
riously sick. 1t had not been sent out be-
fore, the foreman of the round-house wish
Ing to crafty the wishes of its engineer,
but on this occasion it was necessary. as q
special train containing an opera company
had to make Washington in twenty hours.
a run of S53 miles from Chicago, and no
other engine on the Chicago Division was
equal to the speed demanded by the COM
pany
"Boardman. lying in his bed. was sud-
denly gifted with supernatural power.
and in his rawlings would say:
"Hicksville! Hal How she spins! Runs
up the st. Joe grade like the wind! Twen-
ty-two mile; one stop for water, one stop
for railroad crossing, and thirty minutes
gomez
"Then he would be quiet as the grave for
a moment.
'Holgate! Listen at her spin! She's
got the crossing. There she goes. Defiance
to Holgate was like step to her
" His watchers looked at one another
Could he have the power of second-sight to
watch the movements of the train? One of
the boys was sent to the dlsDatcher's office,
but few blocks away. Before he returned
Boardman had called out water-station
and said:
-Four minutes lost. Why couldn't she do
without water? All, hal Watch her pound
sand now! Isn't she beauty?'
THE man had returned from the telegraph
Office ana in whisper told the watchers
that he had followed the train correctly.
A feeling of awe came over the boys. The
sick engineer was in seeming trance.
His breath came slower aud more labori-
Gus. The boys crowded nearer and were
about to raise him in tho bed so that he
could catch his breath easier, and the fam
lily were called, when he sat erect, looked
wildly about him, and cried:
"'Tiflin! Red light Stop for orders
My God!' Here he held up his hand as if
reading an order. Train No. second five,
engine No. III. Prepare to meet thy God.
20. K. CoCKRELL.'
"Then he sank back in the bed dead.
The Mortified boys stood amazed and speech
less. 1t was a presentiment. One rushed
forth to the dspatcher's office and cried to
the east-end man:
For Gods sake, Dizzy, stop second five
at Republic.
"Quick over the wires the call went, and
was answered, and then this message;
Stop second five There was wait of
GREATNESS anxiety, when the news came
back: Second five is stopped. Conductor
wants to know what for By this time
the story was known in the dispatcher's Of
fee and the answer was sent to Republic:
Had terrible presentiment Tell con-
ductor to proceed cautiously to Chicago
junction.
" Hardly had the answer gone when At
tica called up and said:
stop second five at Republic. First five
ditched mile west of here; engine and
three cars off. Cow on track. Engineer
killed by jumping
And the man who had saved probably
five score of lives lay corpse at his home
with his Borrowing family surrounding
him. The opera company made up purse,
which, together with the life insurance he
had carried, made the engineers family in
dependent for the rest of their lives."-St.
Louis Globe Democrat.