The Wilmington daily Republican., 1895-09-28

nNow, I'm not teIiin you fairy tale, or
maxim anythin up. I'm just tellin what
saw, and don't mean 70 try to explain
It, but there stood the old woman who had
been dead for weeks. pointin her finger at
Pete. Then she disappeared as quick as
she come.
"Grabbin lamp, Pote 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 Pcto.
He swore 1t was q trick, and that he'd get
even with whoever was tryin to fool him.
Next night tho same thing happened,
exceptin no one but Pete triod to find the
mysterious cow or the old woman, who
appeared at the ditch the sainc as before.
Pete fired a pistol as her, but she only
bissed and vanished. The third night Pete
asked me to ride In the engine with him,
and although IL was against the rules did
as ho wanted, for to tell the truth / was
afeared to stay by myself
Everything seemed to go wrong that
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 1t on a
drawhead was pulled out, and we had to
rig up a chain oouplin. Then somethin
beneath the boiler worked loose, and Pete
tinkercd at 1t 20 minutes before he made
repairs. OF COURSE all this didn't improve
his temper, and. by the time we got on
steady run ho was grumblin and cursin
pretty lively.
well, when we reached that stfetch 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, ]
SAW that as plain as l see you sittin on
that keg this instant. Pete WINS crazy mad
and instead of reversin he ripped out
curse, put on a full head of steam, and
the engine give jerk which nearly
knocked me off the tank. reckon we
were goin SO miles IN hour when the pilot
struck 'ein.
Zip! Buinpi Tho cow went flyin down
the bank. Then Pete give a 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
"Theu sho beckoned to him, and would
you believe II, he got up and crawlcd out
3 on the foo.board toward her. The fireman
and me was Earalyzed. We couldn't say a
word or Toyc finger. Tho engineer
moved slowly toward tho old woman, and
she stepped backward, seemin to influence
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 ouI
sight she led him. A second later we
heard "a yell.
That broke tho spell, and between the
fireman and me we shut off steam and
blowed for brakes. The terrific speed nt
which we woro movin caused us to go 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. Wa
found him mile back, and there wasn't
whole bouo in his body. The next day
engine goo exploded within so feet of the
spot where we found Pete.
Now, as said, saw these things with
my own eyes, and I'm not tellin you any
yarns, but the downright truth Some
time II 1 get chance I'll tell you about
another spooi, but guess you don't want
any moro tonight"
I did pot.=ChicaRo Tribune.