Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-05-03

times, even now, when i am wakeful at
night, that weird picture rises before
my eyes, and that wild voice rings in
my ears, until my flesh creeps and the
cold sweat starts out upon me. Then
see before me again-but will tell you
the story and you shall Judge for your
self. They say tt t learned men and
philosophers deny that such things can
be. Well, wish the wisest and most
skeptical of them all could have stood
in my shoes that night; 1t would have
given him something to think of for a
long time, at any rate.
! That winter was o bitterly cold one
and terribly severe on us railroad men,
exposed, as We always are, to the worst
of it at all hours Of the day and night.
Many q good fellow died Of colds caught
in the merciless storms of that year, or,
benumbed and stiffened in the icy
winds, missed his grip and rolled under
the wheels, and-well, only a train
hand gone! Who takes note of such
small matters?
I was firing on the heavy engine,
known along the line as ''Old S." She
was tough old bruiser and sometimes
obstinate as mule, so that, fire as you
might, you could not keep steam in her
boiler nor the hand on the gauge up to
the sixty-pound mark. But on the
whole she was trustworthy enough as
engines 60, and once get her in good
humor she would pound along at forty
mile gait as lively as the best of them.
My engineer, Shelly, was one of the
smartest and steadiest men on the road
an eye like q hawks to catch signals,
"a hand OF steel at the valve and bar,
cool and steady in danger and fearless
of death, as If he would sooner have
met it than not-which often suspect
ed was really the case. He was not one
of your rough, swearing, drinking fell
lows, but, as was plain to see, had
known better things than the hard,
coarse life of an engineer. He never
kept company with the rest OF the men,
though he was never offensive nor put
on lofty airs; but there was kind Of
reserve about him which seemed to keep
every one at distance without any eff
fort on his part. He had no enemies
and no friends. Those who knew him
best knew but little about the man him
self and nothing whatever about his
past history.
Thore had been some rumors Of ter
-rible tragedy in his life-the sudden
death of his wife, 1t was said, by vio-
1enee; but they were very vague. He
never referred to them himself, and no
.One else would have dreamed Of ques-
.tioning him. Even /, who had been
firing for him, riding by his side for
,many months, and for whom think he
felt as much friendship as he could feel
for any human being, would have as
soon, thought of putting my hand in the
blower as to have asked him any ques-
tiOns. And even to-day am really as
much in the dark as was then; for that
strange and terrible experience which !
am going to relate only deepened the
mystery.
The winter of 20 was a hard one. ~
have said, and, though early in the sea-
son, the night OF the 10th Of November
was one OF the bitterest Of the year.
Cold, gray ana quiet; no moon. no stars
and no clouds, only kind Of obscIrity
over every thing, In which objects were
partly visible, distorted and changed, so
that we had to keep sharper lookout
even than upon q dead-black night.
Tho run was long one and We were
carrying only two cars, one passenger