Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-07-22
THAT NIGHT OF HORROR!
THREE HOURS OF DARKNESS
LIKE A THOUSAND YEARS.
Gray Hairs sprouted as lie Hung Over the
Precipice-DayIight Changed the
situation, but lie Missed
His Train.


the uttermost agonies of fear for a
considerable time. only to find out
afterward that you hadn't been in any
! danger whatever?" asked the quiet
man / was riding with. We did not
know each other but long ride on
a railroad makes strangers sociable.
The New York Advertiser man said
he never had.
Il did once" said the quiet man.
'And somehow never could laugh at
the experience. altho Ugh it was COM
icdl ir one way. 1t doesn't seem very
| funny TO me. though.
Il was tho sole executor of an es-
tate some years ago and it became
necessary to get the signatures of all
! the heirs to n certain paper All
| signed readily enough excepting one.
| He was Vermont farmer He would
not or could not see that the proposed
! transaction was straightforward, and
he returned the paper unsigned so |
had TO go and see him. took the
! train for Bellows Falls and found
there that had TO drive about nine
miles to tho farmers house. over
particularly lonely mountainous road.
1t took more than two hours to get
there. and | noticed with great appre-
hension that the road looked danger
Gus in places. The horse | had was
good one. though. and learned long
time ago to trust II good deal TO
horse 1t was dark when i reached
the house, and | found tho farmer
crossgrained and out OF temper and
] had several hours struggle with him
before got his signature. In fact it
was longer than either of US thought
and when we had come to IN agree
meut it was one o'clock in the morn
ing.
He wanted me to sleep there, but
/ refused; telling him l must catch
the six o'clock express. He was amaz-
ed .Ye b'ain't goin TO drive back to-
night, be YEP he exclaimed but /
said | must and he let me go with
many cautions about the bad road.
There's one almighty nasty place
about three miles away. he said and
felt pretty nervous as | remembered
it 1t was where the road ran along
the edge of cliff forty or fifty feet
high.
However / borrowed a lantern,
hitched up. tied the lantern on the
axletrees and set out 1t was one OF
the darkest nights / ever saw and
before had gone a mile the light
went out. | suppose the lantern had
not been filed.
Just as thought must be at the
III hp1
/ toned the forward wheel struck
something and was twisted so violent
" that the axle snapped. felt my
self falling with the wagon, and
involuntarily jumped 10 get clear
! l Jumped too hard and instead Of
! landing on the level OF the road. as |
expected. | went fully five feet below
! it and. losing my footing rolled down
n steep bank for ten feet more. The
reins were jerked from ny hand and
the horse ran.
LAS | fell / realized that / had
! jumped on the side toward the pre-
cipice. and / scrambled like cat in
the effort to catch hold OF something,
but it was so dark literally could
not see my own hands and before |
could get hold of anything | felt my
self going over the edge. AS went
over however / caught something
with my right hand and when /
realized things l was swinging in the
air on that something.
'Of course / caught hold with both
hands at once and discovered that |
was holding on to n sapling. 1t wasn't
easy work for / had heavy overcoat
on and / am not strong man but some
how or other ] managed TO pull my
self up until got one arm over the
sapling. and then stopped to think
and get breath.
I'm the dense darkness ] could tell
nothing about what was under me, but
/ felt sure that l was dangling over
forty feet of clear space with Jagged
rocks at the bottom. / could kick the
face of the rock over which i was
hanging but could not with my feet
or knees find any protection what
ever. 1t was Irregular but smooth.
After 1 had almost exhausted my
self in trying 1 decided that my only
chance was to hang as | was till day
break. and then began some three
hours Of torture that can not describe.
/ had read OF people hanging in that
way till they were exhausted and then
dropping of without being hurt but
dared not try it though 1 was sorely
tempted after / had grown cold and
numb. so hung on.
Il got both arms over and put my
hands into my pockets for a hold and
then began TO calculate how long
could hold on. 1t seemed thousand
years before 1t grew light enough TO
see anything, and when it did found
there was no precipice within n
hundred feet of me. but was right
over solid ground. l had no trouble
at all in getting back into the road.
and walked TO Bellows Falls just in
time to miss my train"
That Settled It.