The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-21
in her garden, the church people refusin

to let her lie In censecrated ground.
For week after 900 was repaired she
run like charm. Then they put her back
on our run, and Pete took her again. We
started out the first night with heavy
train, and bein front brakeman my place
was on the cars next to the engine. 1t
was raw and foggy, the kind of weather
to make a man feel nervous in spite of
himself, especially when goin through
these mountains. was thinkin of this
when 1 heard Pete blow for brakes, or
rather as if there was somethin on the
track. l edged over to the side of the box
cars between which I was standiu. and
holdin on to the grab irons tried to see what
was the matter. just then I felt a soft
bump and saw somethin tumble down the
bank. That's an animal, thought 1, but
when the train stopped and we all went
back to look for it not thing could be
found.
"'Thats mighty funny said Pete
'I'm sure hit cow
"'Cow?' said the fagman. why, there
amt COW within 20 miles of here since
Granny Whittaker's was killed
"Then the same thought seemed to strike
all of us as the fireman remarked that this
was the exact spot where the old woman's
COW had been killed. Nobody wanted to
seem afeared, but we all hustled back to
the train, not sayin word exceptin Pete,
who begun cursin the old woman, her COW
and COWS in general. All of a sudden the
underbrush ratified, and there stood Gran
ny Whitaker.
"Now, I'm not tellin you fairy tale, or
maxim anythin up. I'm just tellin what
I saw, and don't mean to try to explain
4 I, a. %ho al b,.1
been dead for weeks, pointin her finger at
Pete. Then she disappeared as quick as
she come.
"Grabbin lamp, Pete rushed into the
woods and searched all around, but not a
sign Of a human bein could be found.
tell you that frightened us all but Pete.
He swore 1t was trick, and that he'd get
even with whoever was tryin to fool him.
"Next night the same thing happened,
exceptin no one but Pete tried to find the
mysterious COW or the old woman, who
appeared at the ditch the same as before.
Kissed and vanished The third night Pete
and although it was against the rules did
as he wanted for to tell the truth was
afeared to stay by myself.
night. We were nearly an hour late gettin
started, and before we had gone ten miles
coal car jumped the track, causin 40
minutes delay. In tryin to yank it on a
drawhead was pulled out, and we had to
rig up chain couplin. Then somethin
beneath the boiler worked loose and Pete
tinkered at it 20 minutes before he made
repairs. OF course all this didn't improve
his temper, and By the time we got on a
steady run he was grumblin and cursin
pretty lively.
nWell, when we reached that stretch of
track where we'd killed the COW there was
the brute on the ties as usual, only old
Granny Whitaker was standin beside it. I
saw that as plain as see you sittin on
that keg this instant. Pete was crazy mad,
and instead Of reversin he ripped out a
curse, put on a full head of steam, and
the engine give a jerk which nearly
knocked me off the tank. I reckon we
were goin so miles an hour when the pilot
struck em.
"Zipl Bump! The cow went f1yin down
the bank. Then Pete give yell. Lookin
past him, saw somethin crawlin over the
pilot and steam chest. 1t was Granny
Whitaker. Maybe wasn't scared. She
reached up and grasped the sand rod and
turned her eyes on Pete. God, how hor-
rible she looked!
"Then she beckoned to him, and would
you believe it, he got up and crawled out
on the footboard toward her. The fireman
and me was paralyzed We couldn't say a
word or move finger. The engineer
moved slowly toward the old woman, and
she stepped backward, seemin to influepce
him by her eyes, Back, back, on to the
steam chest, then on to the pilot and then
around in front of the boiler out of our
sight she led him. A second later we
heard yell
"That broke the spell, and between the
fireman and me we shut off steam and
blowed for brakes. The terrific speed at
which we were moyin caused us to 60 a
considerable distance before we stopped,
but as soon as the train slackened we
jumped off and run forward. Pete wasn't
there. We didn't think he would be. We
found him a mile back, and there wasn't
a whole bone in his body. The next day
engine 800 exploded within so feet of the
spot where we found Pete.
"Now, as I said, saw these things with
my own eyes, and I'M not tellin you any
yarns, but the downright truth. Some
time if I get chance I'll tell you about
another spook, but guess you don't want
any more tonight"
did not.-ChicapO Tribune.