The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1893-06-29
WlNNSBOROS. c.. j G E.


night was nervous. What fsssz
frightful storm had madesa switch.
man careless, o: if a tai had been
, loosened by the settling Of the track
somewhere? On these fast trains a
Sman must relv on the vigilance Of the
Sanployes, for in order to make sched'
ie time be must run at. such speed
Dat often he cannot see a signal be:
37Ek re ne Is upon III. DuG 1 laukueu ~
yselr for my fears as I backed down
@ coupled on to the train l set
brakes and found everything in
od order By,and-by the little
Ng ABOVE my head changed SHARPLY.
with puff and hiss OF escaping
am we were of into the might and
10, rattling over switches, past
Il light and between loag lines of
g, till with roar and rumble, we
& led over the long iron bridge and
8 a,ly through the hills, waking the.r
sitHpering echoes with our shrill
$ nnte. Then I pulled the throttle
"!oe0en. and the clank and roar
z soon tiled into hum, for old 44s
& "aS ong her best and we. were
I nak,lnsafty miles "a hour" Ehe
. 11alSsni.es'was intense, save where she
s.'aa4lgn an electric device, cast its
10y toIoel olght into the gloom. Jim
- ss ISG Dig 'Ae and kept steam up to a
.su pressul. so tA:5 we fairly few
pas1 sleeplnglamlets and still farm
us Atpr first watering sta
lion made sue that all was work
3 4ne snoothl y, While Jim inspected
sse neadllght Ihe operator handed
out the orders, Which showed that:
ene road was clear as far as our ntext,
stopping place. On we went Tie
arSne:s grew more intense, if posi-
ks' "nlle the wind shrieked by. The
zee; ne @oceen nlinding, till moth
E could he distinguished around u.s.
''Suddenly through the mist and
rain ! saw looming right before US
} gigantic figure of woman wrapped
in long .hlac!. mantle: which seemed
: to futter in the wind. She waved
! great spectral arms about in Sswift,
!; twisting movements AsEI Stood
looking in horror, the fgureTanished;
with a final wave CT hsgazns /
was too much asto nishedand stupe'
fed even to make moFe9 my hand
toward the throttle. At44;that no.
ment Jim had been lending over the
Gre. As he loo .essslp Iexclaimed:'
'Helloa,- Fra shas u)? You
COX aszifaes see1Fa ghost!.sss1
dsdsnot ansWs s mind was 200;
full of that SCI cure I had seem
We we're now neaHrg Rock %Creek:
where there is aasest'e:o1er a deep,
stream. I felt more nervous than
ever We dashed around the curve
and whizzed by Rock Creek station,
which is only a mile from the
trestle. AS We passed glanced at
the steam gauge for an instant. A
,ry from Jim caused me to turn
quickly toward him. Ee sat T.gld.
his eyes large and staring. his Jaw
dropped, the very picture Of terror.
He pointed witt j shaking finger out
into the darkness. I turnel dnl
looked, and then l began to Shake
myself. There on the track was tn:
same hideous figure Of 4 woman, out
lined on the background Of light
from the engini. now motionlcSs,
now whiring in a witch dan e, but
all the time motioning US back.
"'Frank, gasped Jim, but scarcely
above a whisper, don't go over that
srestle Don't 20, for heavens sake!
Don't go till you're sure its SAFE" l
suppose | was pretty badly 5 ared
At any rate, l put or the air brake
for ali was worth. | couldn't have
resisted the impulse to stop the train.
AS we came to stop could hear
the roar OF the water in Rock Creek
right ahead. l stepped oat Of the
cab and met the conductor coming
up' What's the matter: What's
the matter he asked il. patiently.
felt decidedly foolic!h There was
20 gigantic woman to be seen now.
Nothing could be made out more
than few ieet away in the blingipg
storm Well said I, we've seen
something. l don't know what it is
seemed like it was great black
ghost that was waving its arms and
warning US not to 20 forward The
conductor looked at 1ne curously.
Are you crazy Frank?' he 50 d. i
should think you we're. But we're so
near the trestle we'll take look at
it, We took our lanterns and went
ahead, leaving Jim with the engine:
he looked scared ali over But we
hadn't gone five rods before we
stopped in horro.
j There at our feet lay a blacL
:hasm, tiled with the roar CT the
river, as, swollen with the spring
rains, it dashed down toward the
lake. The bridge was washed away!
Only few splinters Of wood and
twisted iron cluDg to the abutment,
while now, far out over the black
ness, that awful black figure Of a
woman danced again on the thin air,
relieved against the shaft of light
that the headlight threw. 1t WIS
flinging its arms about aS if in wild
ylce The conductor stared at the
chaslu and then at me. Was that
the thing you saw when you stopped
the train?' he asked 'YeS'-'Well,
It's something more tnan luck that
saved US tonight, Frank I'VE went
back slowly to the train. feeling very
queer and thankful, too can as.
sure you. Several Of TIL" passengers
had come running forward by This
time Among chem WAS q young
fellow from Chicago. about eighteen
years Old. who was smarter than The
whole OF uS. as It turned ont. Whru
this hoy saw the woman in black tc
tr-naI aud lnn. ed at the lncn,uOtiYa