Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-01-15

WAtA euo ouS pAC1OA 0udU 40 poCuAAd1 W 0AA
demented persons and only ordered me,
now and then, in crisp words, to throw
fresh coal into the firebox The iron
wrench he held firmly, and every time
he gave me the command to throw on
coal he raised it threateningly. 1t was
necessary for me to calm him and dis
tract his attention, because my aim was
to get possession of the two large screw
bars which lay in the chest behind me.
There was no other possibility of saving
the train and passengers but to strike
Hausler down at the critical moment.
God knows it came hard enough for
me to fell to the floor, like wild beast,
man whom I honored and loved. But
when it was question of the rescue OF
300 human beings there could be no
room for hesitation.
Lundingsfelde was passed. We had
nearly l5 miles yet to make. and before
ms lay perhaps 20 minutes of time.
! shall never forget how frightfully
absurd, in spite of2the horror Of the sit
uation, I seemed TO myself when I ad-
dressed to Hausler the remark = -
1T is cooler than usual, this even.
ing"
Hausler cast look of distrust upon
me and was silent.
'You wife will be waiting for you ct
the station" I remarked as calmly -
possible.
''That's no matter!' he exclaimed.
~ shall run through, anyway. shall
run straight through, at one stretch,
into the North sea. shall not stop
again"
won't your wife wonder at it?'' I
asked as innocently as could.
''Of course she will wonder" said
Hausler, laughing. "But when she sees
Rothschild on the train she will wonder
no longer. She will know then that I
am going to drown him. Besides, we
shall return at once. She will only be
kept waiting half an hour
We flew past Groszbeeren without
lessening, in the slightest degree, the
speed Of the train. We were nearing
Grosslichterfelde. where, owing to our
being ahead of time, we might easily
find Berlin local standing on the
track. The train had been announced
from the last station. and the signal
"open" was up. Enveloped in thick
cloud of dust, which had been whirled
up by our wild flight, we rushed through
this place also. The engine, as it passed
through Herzstucke and Weichenkreuze,
seemed to make veritable leaps.
Like vision Lichterfelde, with it's
houses, flew past and we sped onward
toward the mighty Berlin station whose
hundreds of lights cleaned far ahead Of
us. e{
looked out toward the right and
thought could not be deceived when I
noted in the far distance the red light
of the danger signal for our train. We
stood on the verge of a catastrophe; in
a few seconds not only my own fate, but
that Of the 800 passengers behind me
would be sealed.
Plainly I saw-the signal ''stop" for
our train; the station was not free to us.
could feel that my hair was stand
ing erect on my head from fright and
apprehension. I became in certain
sense insane myself -s.,ss
With mad swiftness we were nearing
the danger signal. seized Hausler's
arm and cried with an awful voice in
his ear:
"Red ight!' (Roth icht.)
Hausler stared at me, and then cried:
"Rothschild! Where isAhe?"
"Red light, there aheadl' shouted
again, with all the force Of my lungs.
"Rothschild, there ahead /" said
Hausler, after me.
Then with a piercing yell he suddenly
broke away and swung himself out upon
the narrow little gallery which runs
along the locomotives boiler and is
provided with railing. He supposed,
in his madness, that his enemy, Roths-
child, was there in front of us and
wished to get at him. tore the heavy
screwbar out of the tool chest; then I
Sprang into the empty place. Idared not
shut of the steam at once, lest the train
should close up on itself like hand
harmonica, and fearful disaster be the
result. Gradually I pushed in the throt-
tie and noticed that the train was rum
ming slower. I turned on the steam for
the airbrakes and heard directly the
grinding and rumbling Of the brakes.
Then shut of the steam-the train
came to stop close to the danger sig
nal,
Again heard the piercing yell from
Hausler, who had crouched on the front
of the locomotive. saw him raise him
self and leap from the engine; then he
sprang up and ran shrieking away be-
tween the shining rails
Not a human being on that train had
any intimation of the danger which had
threatened u.s. Out of the station came
the Leipzig express headed toward us.
With this train, which was closely
packed with passengers, as is usual at
that hour of the evening, we should
have come into collision at full speed in
the station.
Our train received the signal to 60
ahead, and I steamed slowly into the
station. We arrived ten minutes ahead
of time. The inspector hurried up at
once with the conductor and demanded
an explanation; they were amazed to
find me alone, and WAS SO overcome by
all that had gone through in those last
few moments that could with difficulty
give them the desired information. Frau
Hausler was naturally surprised when
she did not see her husband, and I could
not keep back the sad news that he had
gone insane
was myself so broken down mental
" that remained off duty for several
days by direction of the road s physician.
When I reported for duty once more,
/ learned that Hausler, who was stark
mad, had been captured in the station
that same night, and the following
morning had been taken to a lunatic
asylum. The cause Of this outbreak Of
insanity in him was the loss of his en-
tire savings. He had intrusted them to
a small banker, and the latter had alb
seconded with all his deposits. ts.-Trans-
lated From the German For Short
Qf0rioc