St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-04-02
AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE.
A CraZed Engineer on a Locomotive
Pursues an Express Train.

Southern Hotel, II an reminded of the
awful experience | went through once on
q southern road. had taken Il Pullman
| from Montgomery Ala, for Meridian,
! Miss, about 80 miles away The train
| left Meridian late ut night or rather very
early in the morning, uud | was dead
tired when ! boarded it and at once
| turned in. 1t must have been about )
o'clock in the morning when | awoko
| suddenly. 1t seemed to ne Us if there
| had been some terrific shock which had
caused my sudden arousul, but looking
| out OF the window the landscape flew
| past as usual and the train was evidently
| bowling along at its reguIu" 80 miles an
| hour. l was about to lay my head on
| the pillow again, when there came
| second violent shock almost throwing me
| out on the floor. | cot out OF my berth
instanter, and the first thing | saw was
the Pullman conductor and porter crouch
ing down in the rear part of the car
looking back over the track. | followed
the direction Of their guZc, or rather saw
what they were looking at almost rs soon
as | did them About % feet away in
the gray of the mornings doomed up
big engine that seemed to my excited
Imagination to be of monstrous size. 1t
WINS eoinino on rs ot every rutf sud
donlv il nn3 on q bnrst Of ,urcd and be-
fore we cou]d draw orr hrrnths the front
| of tho enpne struck onr ear with the fire.
mandons crash had felt before 'Thpn
tho rursnor checked nm and fell back t.
some distance a. before. ..What does
Il meon?" 7 asked the conductor and
porter. They were frightened nearly to
n white man than he ever had beforc in
his life. .,Whv, can't YOU seq" was
the conductors reply. Its a wild en-
g;na " Mo ono;nn:r had L.rntofnrn NOT
been visible, but now he came climbing
forward, over the foot-hoard, seeming to
retain his footing witheasc, as the snort
ingmonster rocked to and fro like ship in
a storm. He stood ON ton of the COW
catcher, lust below the headlight and
watched rs with sulleu face.
ITS GEORGE Peabody" exclaimed the
conductor. Peabody had been discharged
from the emnlov of the company a few
DAVIS before for drunkenness while on
dutv. and he WAS said to have gone off b
IN a nrolonrnd snrca Ue watched ia
with his sinister ewes from fine front Of
his engine his face never moving q mus-
cla h,3t sct with n sulIcn. determined
nnrroso Il aviJont,y tbo detprmi-
notion of insanity Thon he walked
h.cl "a his c,h Nv this time tho train
conductor tho hrokr omen and the porter
roro oil hack in +bn Pullman and thew
realized the situation at a glance.
uWo,vo oot 70 koan ahead of him that's
oil ), so;d ,ho tr,;r CONDUCTOR mud he Mt
a,oo ro,1 fnrworI ~ +bo enrino soon
+boro wos iork and we in
aroaSo1 o,r snnod tom miles an
how in faw minutes It was
nono 700 eoon for ne vo did
80 Tho n,ffa 81 smoke from the
smoke stacl, hobinl ns came faster. and
aao;r, 10 b;o onrr;na oomo ot ma like n
Lo++ar;nr RON, TLn maniac miscalcu-
Ia+nd ~ 1.-Two bnrarnr ond he co,ld
49, a,,;+o +o,,lb nc b,+ his iron steel
srnrtaa olnnr ia foot hohind unable to
oo1,a noaror 2yh;Ie tho engineer watched
. va With his dn1l owes from tho cab win
w. Us '''l snnn L;s Iood 5;sonncore1. and
| nhn-o mo ra++Io and roar If the train we
- conld hear him vicionslv shoyeIing coal
;r+'> tho f,,r1,ao, 1Lo o4fcct was soon
nercontible He looked at us again,
nnllad the throttle wide open, and again
his oncina humDni lis thpuph not nearly
50 hard as before. The conductor had
re+nrnod and os tho nnrino hit us he
I drew revolver. tic said nothing, but
= nu)led the door sl;rhtlv aiar and waited
9 Boon the head Of the maniac, with its
l long hair and sullcn face, appeared ut the
q cab window, The conductor raised his
: pun took good aim and fired. Tho head
3 was withdrawn. The speed of the
i locomotivo behind US continued
: unchanged. 81 don't know whether I
Q hit him or not, boys, but |
hope So" said the conductor,
v OTIS our lives against his. We've got on
i all the steam we con carry, and our GOALS
n nearly out" While this was going on
d we had shot through Marion and York
n like n cannon ball, catching but q
IL GLIMPSE of one or two scared faces of
@ earlv risers on the platforms as we flew
II mast We were nearing Meridian, and if
h we did not slack up in an hours timo
W +baro would he n collision. Fortunately
there was a clear track to Meridian as our
l. train was the fast express. For fifteen
If minutes we stood there straining our
, avcs in the growing lirht to catch Il
"a glimpse Of some sign Of lifo on the en-