The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-12-11

intendent kew as well as Gridley did
what was the IL ltter, but he would
always give him his three days, and
Gridloy would go away and get
drunk enough to satisfy him for tae
next months. He and i were great
friends, and many's the ride I've
taken with him on his engine, just
to keep him company, when I had a
couple of spare hours, and ] had a
good many of them at that time,
owing to not having any permanent
berth on the road, and just keeping
myself ready to fill in wherever
there might happen to be vacancy.
Zone morning Gridley comes to
me looking about as scared as ever
I saw a man look. What's the mat
ter?' says /, beginning to fear that
some serious accident had happened
on the road.
1.-The Fanny is lost, says he.
"'What do you mean?' says /.
Has your mother been dying again?
If that's the case, I'm sorry, for she
died last time only six weeks ago
"'I went into the engine house at
Spartanville this morning, says he,
speaking slow and dazedlike, and
the Fanny wasn't there. You know,
she goes into the engine house every
night at 1880, and last night / put
her in as usual and stopped while
the fireman banked the fires. When
we left, there was nobody in the
place, and, as you know, nobody new
er goes near it during the night.
This morning at 5:15 went down to
bring her out, and she wasn't there.
The fireman had been about five
minutes ahead of me, and he was as
much astonished as I was. Well, we
easy enough found that she wasn't
anywhere in Spartanville, and then
we inquired after her by telegraph.
There wasn't a blessed station on the
road that seen hide or hair of her.
The superintendent has started ON a
special from Athensville and is go
ing the whole length of the road to
see if there is any sign of her hav.
ing been taken out and ditched, but
he'll never find her.
"'What on earth do you cal late
has become OF her?' said /.
"'There was always something
queer about that engine, said Grid
ley. You know what queer ways
she had, such as you never knew
any other engine to have. It's my
belief that either she wasn't genu-
inc at all, but just the ghost of one,
and that she's gone back to where
she came from, or else, if that isn't
what is the matter with her, she
has been stole.
Flows a man going to steal a
locomotive?' says l. DO you cal late
that some chicken stealer got into
the engine house at night and car
ried the Fanny off under his coat?'
emo, l don't, says Gridley, but
mebbe some of those chaps of the
Montana Southern road has got tired
of hearing us brag about the Fanny
and has come up here and carried
her off.
Carried her off in q bag or q
wheelbarrow?' says /, for I thought
Gridley was talking nonsense.
Didn't you ever hear how Tom
Sharpe-him that was superintend-
emit of the Confederate railroad dur
ing the war--came to Harper's Ferry
one night with about 400 yoke of OK
en- and dragged a dozen locomotives
belonging to the Baltimore and Ohio
road off across the country till he
struck a Virginia railroad? What's
been done once can be done again.
"There was no use talking to Grid
ley about the thing, and so / let him
have his own ideas. AS far as was
concerned, didn't have any ideas
whatever on the subject. Ididn't be-
lieve that the engine was a ghost,
for / had made too many trips on
her not to be sure that she was good
honest steel and brass. And didn t
believe that she had been hauled
across the country by OK teams, for
in that case her tracks would have
been left ON the road, and there
wern't no track visible anywhere.
The thing just seemed to me to be a
big mystery, and when things a
mystery the less you think about it
the better. However, l couldn't help
thinking about this thing, for the
whole road talked of nothing else
for the next week. 1t even got into
the Chicago newspapers, where. of
course, everybody thought it was
only reporters lie. The superin-
tendent spoke to me about it him.
self, for happened to meet him
down at Tiberius Center when he
was on the search for the Fanny,
and could see that it was his belief
that she had been stolen. 1 told him
fair and square that it was a mystic