The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-23

LET Observation WIN eNieh slN" ''N"'
Survey mankind from China 20 elH'
iiemark each anxious toli. enoh e@sef sUL',
And watch the busy scenes of crowded A1e'
The Boston bound express that LETT
Providence at $3.50 yesterday after
noon was swingng through the
bit of woodland just beyond
Attleboro, hen the short, harp shrek OF
the locomotive whistle gave an indehn-
able warning OF something the haCtsI
Then he traia slowly came 10 aslahurt VI
The converse tion among nc passengers
ceafed with he stopping of the train.
Faces We're turned toward the windows
and some OF the " indows We're ppsDed up
and folks looked out and up ana down
the track.
The train had almost run into some
thing, prCbably Maybe an obsirnct ION
was ahead. soilie stray cow had insisted
on crossing ne track, perhaps.
But, pretty soon, trainlhCn were seen
hurrying back over the c.noer path Le-
tween the tracks. There Was something
on the track few RODS back there'. lS
looked like a human body.
A number OF the men IN the car hurried
out to the platforms. Some or them
leaped to tho ground Pretty soon
the folk in the car knew that
somebody had been run over. dow they
knew il was mystery. Naoody seemed
10 sell IL, but everybody in the car voiced
il oil at once.
"Guess it's worth seeing, anyhow" re-
marked a young fellow breaking away
from the Jolly group which mad been
storytelling, laughing and talking all the
way along. And he followed the c0rious
folk out TO he platform and then jumped
TO the ground.
Down the track was a little crowd OF
men looking at something between the
tracks. The young fellow made his way
toward the crowd. Other men
were hnrrying hat way More
were coming back. The men would work
themselves eagerly into the group, look
down at the ground, aud then work them
selves out again and walk slowly and
soberly back TO the train.
When the oung fellow reached the spot
very few men remained there. One OF
the trainmen stood aside wiping his
hands with his handkerchief. What he
wiped from his hands was blood.
On stretcher lying between the tracks
was body. 1t was woman's body. The
trainmen had neatly arranged the old
worn dress about it aud laid one of
the hands over the bosom. Tho
was no dirt upon the dress and the hand,
Drowned with exposure and grimy with
hard work, looked still warm and full OF
life. The body, even, seemed still pull
sating.
But the body was hesdless.
Where the head had been was now an
indescriba bic mass of coarse coal black
hair and blood.
One of the men picked up an old straw
bonnet that the woman had worn and
futd 1t over the mass of hair and blood,
and turned away.
The headiess boGy had been a living
woman when the whistle first shrieked.
Now ii was dreadful corpse that men
hurried to look at and hurried to get
away from.
There were hurried footsteps from
across the track and voice spoke, "That's
mothers dress!" Then a man in rough
clothes and boy reached the spot.
'It's my wifel" cried the man hoarsely.
And he coupled the exclamation with an
oath that sounded strangely enough.
"It's my wife" he repeated and repeated
the oath. Then he looked at the form on
the stretcher and with quick movement
lifted the straw bonnet. One of
the trainmen cried out to him There's
nothing there !" and attempted to hold
the mans hand, but the bonnet was lifted
quickly and the man dropped 1t again
with gasp.
The train backed down and the passen-
gers got aboard again. Some of the train
men remained with the body
and somebody said they were
going 10 take it TO Attle-
boro on hand car. The young fell
low who, with the others, had left
tho train to learn what was up,
came back to his seat but he didn't have
much to say and wasn't disposed to tell
any moro stories or laugh much.
paragraph, little paragraph, reports
the fatal accident in today's news
papers. IL didn't amount to much from
a "news" standpoint with wars
going on all over the earth, politics,
football, affairs of Importance 10 COM
merce ana trade, the workings OF big
interests, the telling OF episodes
that daily make an influence on the world,
or of fires and murders and terrible ac-
cldents that the world must know about
That headless body on the stvotcher lying
between the tracks had been nobody in
particular in life, and her living or her
dying were of no particular Importance.
And not even the manner OF her death is
of any great novelty or interest.
~ INV