The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-14

clear for us as soon as they head tn
| whistle
hour, when all of sudden Grizzly sing
out, Brakes; quicker'n lightning, anc
| reverse the enginep We came 10 halt
| and Gridley says to me: There was
| tramp lying asleep with his head on th'
| track. We've cut him INTO a thousand
pieces The MAJ was trembling, and
| began to understand that the drink ha,
been telling on him. Let her go, say
| can't be helped so in a few minute.
| more we were booming along again
old Gridley leaning out, streaming hi.
eyes ahead, and keeping his hand on tn,
| lever. Presently he signs out Brakes
| again, and brings the engine up with (
| jump. Another tramp, says he. VIVA
on the track in tnis way? Then | saw
| that Grldley had the horrors. and 1 wac
| mighty sorry that l had ever agreed &c
| come with him.
| later. Said Gridley, The whole blessed
| track is covered with tramps. [ can sel
| seven ahead of US now. With that ne
| seemed to get into sudden rage, ano
turns on his whistle, and says TO me
IN stop no more for them fellows. They
are doing 1t on purpose to hinder US, ST
that we can get caught Then ne pulled
her wide open, and we swung along th5
fires roaring and the whistle doing its
level best.
"Gridley kept looking out ahead and
muttering There's more of EN- said
he without turning to look at me,
There's more than l can count. Wo-
men, too. There lying, every one, right
Stralght across the track. There! l felt
her jump when she struck that fellow.
come here, Harryi and take this lever
for minute, while 1 take a drink This
hyer slaughter is more than l can stand.
I told Gridley to take his drink, ano
make sure that it was a big one, for /
saw that he had got the triangles pretty
pad, and hoped that whisky might pull
MIN through, till we should get quit OF
the southern road. 1t didn't do him any
good, however, unless it was to make
him more reckless than he was before.
He insisted on my showing all the coal
into the furnace that she would burn,
ana before long we were going a gooo
sixty miles or more
Now just before we got to the place
where the two roads run parallel, there
was siding that had been built to reach
a gravel pit. The siding began at
should judge, about two miles long. The
Montana Southern folks had taken the
alarm by this time, and a dispatch had
gone to. every station on the road, warn
coming. and telling them to stop her the
best way they could. The station master
at Pekin got this order just before we
hove in sight, and he thought of the old
siding. He got to work and turned the
rusty old switch that had been spiked
down, and when we came along We shot
for the gravel pit.
The track was mighty rough and ]
begged Gridley to slow her down, for l
thought every minute that we should be
off the track. But he would not listen to
me. That there massacre of the
tramps that he thought he had made ex-
cited him more and more, and now he
had taken to shouting and singing at the
s7aI ing from side to side, and jumping
almost clear of the rails when she struck
particularly rough place, and 1 don't
mind saying that l just went to saying
l could put on 'em.
TT had been cloudy night, but as
was praying for all / was worth, the
moon came out, and ] saw that lust
ahead of US the track came 10 an end,
and there was a deep hollow of some
sort. made up my mind that 1 had had
enough of that kind of railroading. Yell
ing to Gridley to jump. put the brakes
hard on, and went off into a ditch oil
the left hand side of the road. 1t was
full of briars, but the bottom
was the softest kind of mud, and didn't
sustain no mortal injury worth speaking
of. Before l could pick myself up and
get on my legs, the engine was gone. |
got down TO the edge of the gravel |
the least sign either of the Fanny or of |
Gridley. The bottom of the gravel pitt
was covered with water, but what was
b t6S found With 91 Sa9
been the reason why the gravel pit was |
abandoned. The Fanny Ellsler went |
down into that quicksand, and for |
aught l know she has kept sinking ever |
since, with Gridley's skeleton standing
n the cab with his hand on the lever.
We'll, came home and told the whole
story to the superintendent, and he.
knowing about the quicksand, knew |
here was no use in searching for the en-
CINE. So he told me to keep quiet about |
the thing, SO as not to give the Montana
people any satisfaction, which according
y | did, but after awhile the thing got
% be known, somehow or other as things
always will, no mater what you may
Much obliged to you for the story"
story, and don't exactly see where the
ghost comes in
81 haven't got to that yet" replied the
station master. "a year afterwards l
was down in the neighborhood of Pekin,
and as I was driving along IN a buggy,
come flying down the old siding and
plump into the gravel pit. Leastways /
saw it disappear just as it reached the
umping-off place. If that wasn't the
ghost of the Fanny I'd like to know what
t was. Moreover, the boys along the
Southern road told me that time and
ime again they had seen that same en-
zine come hustling along at sixty miles
IN hour, and disappear into the quick
iand. Now if that wasn't a ghost, what
vas it?'
ST won't undertake to say" said l.
only if there hadn't been another line
parallel to the old siding, and If that line
hadn't been in regular use ny ordinary
Healthy trains and engines, / might feel
little more sure than 1 DO now that
-ou was ghost, and not special en-
inc on the Southern Montana road"