The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-04-02

starting on 4 rim to see what mad mans
impulse seemed to control the man at the
lever? The telegraph operator was rapid
in his movements, and when the engine
steamed past the platform on the track
that led to the county seat he delivered
to the man, whom he now regarded as 4
hero, the message properly sealed and
authenticated.
Good bless you he called after the
unknown, ''and save you from the gravel
train"
The road to the county scat was a
single track ana the gravel train sent out
to keep the road-bcd clear of drifts was
liable to be collided with upon any curve
by the engine running without schedule
or orders, but the stranger merely smiled
as he pulled the throttle lever further
back. The engine dashed up the track,
the engineer standing in the doorway of
his home and looking at it aghast, while
the station agent and train dispatcher
fastened to the telegraph Office to learn
the reason of the engines departure on a
''wild cat" trip.
The engineer rushed up to the platform
where stood the operator explaining to
the dispatcher how it happened that the
stranger took out the engine.
"But he will not get through" said
the dispatcher, "for be has no fireman"
eyes, he has, exclaimed the engineer,
"he's doin' the firin' too. He's just lettin'
her run, he'll lust fire and whistle"
And, as if to confirm the engineers
statement, the scream of the steam
reached their ears-the whistle shrieking
a frantic demand for a clear track.
At the Jail the Sheriff's jury were
drawn up in the corridor, solemnly wait
ING for the conclusion of the last con-
ference of the condemned with his spirit
ual adviser. The Sheriff restlessly paced
the tagging, while one Of the deputies
nervously fingered black cap and the
other toyed with the cords to be used
in pinioning the prisoner.
The Sheriff, wno had repeatedly looked
at his watch in way that seemed to
beg time to go more slowly, glanced at
it at last with heavy sigh and went to
the iail entrance for a final look toward
the telegraph Office. The deputy sta
toned there was not in sight and the
executive official turned with a heavy
heart to the prisoners cell.
"Come," he said, and the heavy foot
falls of the jury sounded dismally
! through the corridor.
"It is time" he said gently to the
prisoner, who courageously stepped into
the corridor and bravely faced the jury
while the deputies bound his arms and
slipped the cord of the cap over his head.
He was ready, but just when the word to
move to the yard was given, he turned
longing glance toward the main entrance,
as if he hoped to see his wife appear there
suddenly.
Slowly the procession moved, the
prisoner leaning on the arm Of the clergy
man, his back toward the main entrance,
his temples throbbing many beats be-
tween the footballs of his executioners,
who stepped heavily and in time with
him, as if to deaden to him the sound of
his own feet, which shufled in spite of
him, the nails in the heels of his boots
rasping on the stone floor.
And then came shrieking through the
corridor the whistle of locomotive
strideut scream on scream rising higher
each second and indicating that the en-
gine was approaching at terrible speed.
The heart of every man in the Jail leaped.
The prisoner stood still and his lips
moved as if in silent thanksgiving, for to
him the shrill sounds were trumpeting
his freedom. The Sheriff rushed to the
Jail entrance, q commotion rose among
the visitors who had grown cold in the
snow, and they began to crowd into the
Jail. The deputies momentarily forgot
the prisoner, while they contended with
the impatient and excited spectators,
forcing them back to the yard.
The conductor of the gravel train was
startled when the whistle penetrated his
cars with its cry for clear track, and he
was glad that he had reached with his
train the safety of the siding at the
county seat when he saw the engine leap
ing toward the town on steep down
grade.
The deputy stationed at the telegraph
Office ran out on the track to learn the
meaning of the terrible shrieking. The
operator ran with him, and the crowd
around the Jail stampeded toward the
station. The whistle ceased its screams
and man was seen standing between
the cab and the tender, as the engine,
with unabated speed forged toward the
! station.
The crowd stood still in silence as the
man lowered himself on the step to the
cab.
! "Heavens! he is going to jump" said
the deputy, and the crowd fell pell-mell
back out of the way, but every one
heard the man cry:
"Take this to the Sheriff"
He waved his hand in which he
clutched something yellow.
"A mans life depends on it." he
shouted again.
Then he jumped and rolled to the feet
of the deputy, who wrenched an envel.
ope from the grasp of his twitching fin.
gers. Without pausing to see whether
the man was alive or dead, the crowd ran
after the deputy, and no one looked
around when the engine crashed into the
dump and was totally wrecked.
The Sheriff in trembling, eager haste,
opened the envelope and read aloud the
telegram.