Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-08-14
STRANGE PRESENTIMENT.
How a Terrible Railroad Wreck was Pre-
vented by a Dying Man.

A number of railroad men sat in the ro-
tunda of the Laclede the other night ex-
changing "reminiscences. The conversa-
ton gradually drifted into stories having
supernatural tinge, and among these was
the following related by wellknown con-
ductOr:
Some years ago." he said, ''in the
town of Garrett, in Northern Indiana, the
headquarters of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroads Chicago Division, there lay
sick an engineer named Boardman He
was wildly delirious and his lavings took
a serious aspect at times. One evening he
was told that Engineer Moses had been
called to take out his engine, No. 712, on
an extra run, following No. 5. Engine
712 was the pride of the road and of it's
engineer, then so seriously sick. 1t had
not been sent out before, the foreman of
the round-house wishing to crafty the
wishes OF the engineer, but on this occa-
sion 1t was necessary, DIS a special train
containing an opera company had to make
Washington in twenty hours, a run of 853
miles from Chicago, and no other engine
on the Chicago Division was equal to the
speed demanded by the company
''Bordman, lying In his bed was sudden
" gifted with a supernatural power, and
in his rawlings would say:
" Hicksville! Ha! How she spins!
Buns up the st. Joe grade like the wind d!
Twenty-Five miles: one stop for water, one
stop for railroad crossing and thirty min
utes gone!'
Then he would be quiet as the grave
for moment.
Holgate! Listen to her spin! She S
got the crossing. There she goes Def
ance to Hogate was like a 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 dispatcher s
office, but a few blocks away. Before he re-
turned Boardman called out water sta
ton, and said:
-Four minutes lost Why couldn't she
do without water? All, ali! Watch her
pound the sand now. Isn't she beau
typ"
The man had returned from the tele-
graph office and, in whisper, told the
other watchers that he had followed the
train correctly. A feeling of awe came
over the boys. The sick engineer was in a
seeming trance. His breath came shorter
and more laborious. The boys crowded
nearer and were about to raise him in the
bed, so that he could catch his breath
easier, and the family were called, when
he sat erect, looked wildly about him and
crieC:
''Tifinl Red light! Stop for orders!
My God! Here he held up his hand as If
reading an order. Train No. second five,
engine No. 7l2. Prepare to meet thy
G cd. $50. K. COCKREIE..
Then he sank back in the bed. dead.
The Mortified boys seemed amazed and
speechless. 1t was presentiment. One
rushed forth to the dispatcher's Office and
cried to the east-end man:
For Gods sake, Dizzy, step second five
at Republic.
Quick over the wires the call went, and
was answered, and then the message:
Stop second five There was a wait of
breathless anxiety when the news c1me
back: Second five is stopped. Conduc-
tor wants to know what for By this
time the story was known in the dispatch
er's office, and the answer was sent to Re
public: Had a terrible presentiment Tell
conductor to proceed cautiousl to Chicago
Junction
Hardly had the answer gone when At
tico called up and said:
Stop second five at Republic. First
five ditched mile west of here; engine
and three cars off. Cow on track Engi-
neer h lied by jumping
And the man who had saved probably
five scores of lives lay corpse at his home,
with his sorrowing family surrounding
him. The opera company made up a
purse, which, together with the life insur-
ance he had carried, made the engineer s
family independent for the rest of their