The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-07-31
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THE PHA Tom TRAIN.
Singular and Thrilling Spook Seen by .
Night Telegraph Operator.
~, +ba 18TH dav of Ocfoher 1893

Singular and Thrilling spook Seen by
Night Telegraph Operator.
On the 10th day of October. 1888, I
operator at -, his, with hours
from Z D. m. to z a. m. On
this evening / had been read
ing "Robert Elsmere' and had read,
perhaps, twenty-five or thirty pages OF
the work, and had just laid aside the
book to reflect upon the work when :.
found it was nearly IL o'clock l All
swered call that one of the boys
Sprung" on me- After finishing up
this work looked out to see if every
thing was clear for the passage, saw
that all switches were in position, all
signals displayed, and was about to
turn to some other business, when I
saw approaching what appeared to be
a train from the west. l looked in the
other direction and saw another train
approaching. This surprised me, as
knew that there were no regular trains
due until 1885, and I had not heard of
any extras on the road that night. As
from the west was stock train, and
the one from the east was a light train
of only the engine, caboose and one
freight car.
Then I noticed that l could see
through the cars, that they were not
solid as an ordinary train. In mo-
ment they had come together right
in front of the window of the
Office, within ten feet of the
chair in which I was sitting. There
was not the slightest sound,
but 1 saw the engines strike and
stop; saw the cars piling up; saw
one engineer try to jump as he was
caught by the cars and pinned
against the boiler mead; saw
car double against the one that
had caught the engineer in the
same manner that the blade of
knife doubles as regards the handle;
saw brakeman caught between the
cars that doubled up; saw one of them
slide over OF across the other, forced
by the cars behind; saw the nameless
appearance of the man after this ac-
ton; saw a car fall against the water
tank and tip it over; saw a side rod
break and GO through the cab; saw a
portion of the boilerhead or front
detached and come with terrible
velocity toward the window; felt
the shock as it passed through
the window and by the chair in
which I was sitting; saw the sur
viving tralnmen as soon as the car
stopped begin TO carry the dead to-
ward the door of the waiting room,
through which they passed without
opening the door or making a sound.
I started to go into the waiting
room, when stumbled upon the body
of a man lying upon the floor look
coat the pin of Q. r. T., thereby pro-
claiming himself as an operator. AS
I looked 1 recognized the face of an
old acquaintance, and operator from
whom I had not heard for a long
time by the name of Frank Willard.
While I looked there came into the
Office two men, who picked up the
body, carried it TO the waiting room,
where I saw them lay it beside those
of seven others; but as | stepped for
ward to see who they were the entire
apparition vanished. | looked out of
the door, but there was no sign of a
wreck, the tank was as usual, but I
noticed a very strong smell of smoke.
I then went into the office; looked
at the clock, which marked 12: 03 a. %.
l sat down at the. key, called up the
train dispatcher, asked if there had
been a wreck near that place in
the last year, and he replied that the
night man had been killed there about
a year ago in collision. I asked my
relief in the morning the name of the
night man who was killed there,
and he replied Frank Willard,
and gave a good description of
the man as l had known him. He
also showed me copy of the country
paper, containing an article referring
to the wreck and giving the names Of
those killed, and noting the fact that
the wreck took fire and was burned,
with the exception of a couple of cars
that had been near the water tank
when it was tipped over, and were so
wet that they would not burn
I do not, or rather did not, believe
in the existence OF ghosts; but I think
that in this case there is proof that on
occasions the spirits of the deceased
visit the places of their leaving this
life, and appear as they did at the mo-
ment of departure. Detroit Tribune.