The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1892-07-02
HAUNTED FOR HIS CRIME.
Terrible RetributiOn Of an Engineer WI
Ditched a RfvalSs Tru1u

W btttU6
Terrible RetributiOn Of an Engineer Who
Ditched a Rivals Train.
MY God, helpl There's Dickson's
engine coming again. See his ghost9
Oh, she's coming. comingl Helpl
helpr"
The sentence is uttered by ex-En-
gineer Henry Shantz nearly every
day. After being in a frenzy half a
minute he falls to the ground in a
faint.
Shantz lives with his brother John
on a farm between Fenton and Kirk
wood on the banks of the Meramec.
He is a hopeless maniac and has been
so for two years. His history ex-
plains it.
Sixteen years ago Henry was an
engineer on a Union Pacific locomo-
tive. Among his railway friends was
one George Dickson and the latter's
fireman, Allison. Dickson and Shantz
got into a dispute over a game OF
cards, and whenever they passed
each other after that Dickson and Al
lison would taunt Shantz and call
him a thief and a coward. One day
in Denver matters came to a climax.
Shantz got into a rage and swore he'd
get even with his enemy within
tw~enty-four hours.
He left Denver for the west in
charge of an express. He learned
that Dickson and Allison would fol
low him on a lone locomotive within
fifteen minutes. About fifteen miles
out of Denver, at the Geyer gorge,
was a switch that ran a track down
a slope, which stopped abruptly at
the brink of the gorge. This siding
was rarely used and the switch was
locked.
Shantz saw his chance to get
even" with his taunters in a ter
rible way. He slowed up, and with
the excuse to the fireman that he
would go back to see if the switch
was sound, rushed back, broke the
lock and turned the lever from right
to left, SO that Dickson's locomotive
would 60 down the siding and smash
down the gorge. He then returned
to his engine.
Within twenty minutes there was
an unearthly shrek in the valley, a
tremendous crash and Dickson's en-
CINE had smashed down the gorge and
was dashed into a thousand frag-
ments hundreds of feet below.
Pieces of flesh and bones was all
that was left of Dickson and Allison.
The affair attracted great atten-
ton at the time. Shantz was at once
inspected, and the combined facts
that Shantz threatened to get even"
ind that he stopped at the gorge
convicted him. He was sentenced
lightly, however, going to the Den
YER p%enitentiary for ten years. In
1886 he was released.
No one knew where he was after
his release, until one morning, two
years ago, he knocked at the door Of
his brothers house. He was very i'll
Ind for two months raved like a
mailman. He has improved at times.
but he is a hopeless maniac.
While wandering about the yard
he will suddenly rush into the house,
yelling, THAT locomotive is coming
straight toward me. It is coming;
)h. for Gods sake, take me awayi
Dickson is steering it to run directly
over me-
After his faint he will describe his
phantom engine.
1t had Grape all over it," he says.
Dickson, with a white shroud owe
his shoulders, had his skinny hand
On the throttle valve, and he uttered
loud curse on me before he blew
off steam. Allison tainted me like
he used to do. A demon sat on the
cowcatcher with his arms open to
grab me-"
He will then go into his and
tremblingly go to his bed. At night
he walks to and fro, looking out OF
the window at intervals, and then,
drawing back, would shrek: "Oh,
that headlight is coming round the
bend 1t has a monster blaze!" Then
he will crawl under his couch and
remain there for hours. st. Louis
Chronicle.