St. Landry democrat., 1893-05-13
SOMEWHAT STRANGE,
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Queer Facts and Thriliin; Adven
lures Whlch Show That Truth Is
Stranger Than Fiction.

| Queer Facts and Thriliin, Adven
lures which Show That Truth l.
Stranger Than Fiction.
! III is not often that an engineer stays
| on his seat in the face of a collision if he
has chance to jump" said an old rail
road man. "When he doesn't jump it's
because he hasn't time. l remember
once when an engineer was metaphors
| cally frozen to his scat, | was on the
engine at the time See these gray hairs, -
land he pushed back his hat. II got
| them all in about two minutes 1t
/ happened on the Indianapolis division
of the Pennsylvania line. I was in
| charge of the fast mail train No. 7, and
| Charley Mann, as good an engineer as
ever took hold of throttle, was hauling
| Us. No. is fast train, anyhow, but
| that II yht We were late out OF Columbus,
and l tell you we were splitting the
wind. Having nothing else to do
climbed over to the engineer and asked
Charley to Let me run her awhile, aud he
pushed over to give me room. Every
thug went rs lovely as May day dance
| until we started down the hill. Sudden
ly red light showed up ahead of US on
the track. The awfulness of That minute
| can never describe we are gone,
Charley.' | yelled to the engineer behind
me. There's a flat Car ahead of us.
See that red light "Chariey saw it and
started to get down. | yelled to him
not TO do it; that we might escape death,
but if VIC jumped from that engine,
running at least eighty miles an hour,
we would be killed sure. | shut of the
steam, and, throwing on the air brake,
began plugging her The wheels re-
versed but she rode over the sand as ii
there was none on the track. Charley
chung to me with wide-starins eyes, and
| honestly believe he was praying.
Nearer. nearer VIC rushed to that fatal
Highland dashed past it. Soon we had
stopped. and called the fireman to go
back, with ME and ascertain what it was
lie could not move, and when l pulled
him from his seat he was as stiff as !.
poker, and it was several seconds before
he could utter a sound. The poor fellow
was paralyzed with fear, and it was a
long time before he recovered. What
was the red light doing there? A fool
agent had come up the track to flag a
train following us and had left his red
light near the rails. When | meet MIN I
never felt 50 much like numbering o
man in my life"
A PECULIAR accident in which cow
and fast-hy;ng locomotive figured
prominently happened on the Metro
poiitan Branch Baltimore and Ohio rail
road, near Terra Gotta, a few days ago.
The locomotive, the Chicago limited
engine $40. p;loted by Peter Yaeger, tie
famous EAST runner engineer, noted
for his thirty eight minute trip from
Baltimore to this city with fire engines
ut the time of the Patent Office fire, was
on one of his fast runs When nearing
this place two cows were on the track
AS the second one got off it was caught
in cramped position at the end of
standing box Car and was struck by the
locomotive in such way that Its tail
was cut off as cIeverly as could be within
three inches of its body and thrown a
hundred feet away, leaving the COW
otherwise unhurt. The tail is in the
possession of Alexandra johnson, the
Baltimore and Ohio yardmastcr. lie
has been railroading for twenty-five
Years, but says this was something phcn-
omenal and vows he will send it with
its history to the worlds fair if he can
find place for it. The owner of the
COW has already claimed damages. but
whether for the value of the tail or COM
pensation for his trouble in keeping
flies Off the unfortunate animal during
the coming summer is not yet known to
the officials of the railroad.
SIR WILLIAM DALEY, the noted Eng
Iish specialist in aurat surgery, makes
public a remarkable series of facts re-
garding the influence of emotions upon
the senses. He mentioned lady who,
standing before the toilet table aud look
ing through the door into the dressing
room, saw in a mirror the reflection of
her husband in the act Of cutting his
throat. From that moment she was alb
so!utely deaf. Similarly a sudden loss
hearing happened to young married
lady who was suddenly brought face to
face with her dead husband at time
when she believed him to be quite we'll
and when she was going to meet him
after long absence. On various occa-
sions Sir William Daily has noted the
remarkable effects produced upon the
hearing by emotional influences, not
only by great mental shocks, but by
mental strain. He has known not only
sudden grief, but also overwhelming joy,
instantly to make person quite deaf
has known the sense of smell to be lost
by strong emotional influence and with
this the sense of taste.
FRENCH lovers sometimes resort to
bold expedients to circumvent the law
which forbids marriage without consent
of the parents of both the bride and
groom, even though the couple be each
Fifty years old a case before the courts
is that of the sun of distinguished
General and the daughter of wealthy
Martinique couple, who had separated.
The father of the bride gave his consent,
but the mother refused A clause Of the
law provides that if parent has disap-
pcared and four persons swear to the
fact consent may be waived. The groom
produced four persons who sworc that
his prospective mother-in law was now
here to be found The marriage then
took place privately A friend who
met the mother the other day, informed |
her that she had a charming son-in- law.
Indignant at the trick played on her,
she asks the courts to declare the marriage |
void and punish all concerned.
WHEN the Government relief boat |
paid it's semi-monthly visit to the light
house at Roches Douvres. on the Breton
coast, some weeks ago, the officers found
one of the two lightkeepers in half