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

Today 1 found him busy writing.
There were, besides ourselves, two en-
gineers, who lay upon the couches
asleep. Hausler wrote with a speed
which was not accustomed to see in
him. He nodded to me as entered and
went on with his writing. I thought
noticed that the letter upon which he
was engaged, and which already covered
at least three octave sheets, concerned
large sums Of money, and the name,
Rothschild, too, observed repeatedly.
Iasked Hausler whether he would not
take little something in the way Of re-
freshment. He was, as have said be-
fore, never inclined to be dissipated,
but he was accustomed to drink at least
one glass of beer and eat trifle, because
he did not get home for supper until II
O'Clock. Today, however, he refused,
explaining:
II have no money. shall, in fact,
have to go hungry. for I cannot eat
again. Everything is gone. quite gone. -
This manner Of talking naturally
struck me as strange. 1t was not intend
/ ed as joke, for Hauslef did not look as
if he could joke. But IL It was meant in
earnest 1t gave me cause to fear for
Hausler's reason, and the uneasiness
which had taken possession of me in
creased.
I could only stay in the engineers
room long enough to get bite to eat
and to drink glass of beer. Then had
to 60 back to my engine to start the fires
into fresh life and get up the pressure Of
steam. threw coal into the flrebox,
raked the fire until it burned briskly,
and had steam up again in short time.
When it came time to run across to the
track where we were to be coupled to
the Vienna express, sent the polisher
to Hausler, for the latter, contrary to
his custom, did not appear of his own
accord. he did not test the working Of
the feeding pumps and valves, either, as
was his won't. He seemed today to rely
entirely upon me and my conscientious
ness.
The train came promptly into Falken-
berg, little before O'Clock, and the
change of locomotives had to be made as
quickly as possible. This train was full
of passengers and had over dozen
coaches.
As far as Herzberg we ran at nor
NAL rate in 12 minutes Then to Juter-
bog we had Is minutes, schedule time,
and I noticed a constantly growing agi-
tation on the part of Hausler. He talked
to himself, flung out angry words which
sounded sometimes like curse, gestic-
ulated violently. with his hands and
seemed to forget entirely where we were.
Through the three intervening sta
tions to Juterbog we ran at a terrific
rate, with no slackening of speed. I
did not dare to call Hausler' s attention
to his gauge, for on this point he was
very sensitive, but when, before reach
ing the Juterbog station, we received
the telegraphic signal to slow up, and
Hausler did not mind it in the least,
stepped up beside him and turned the
lever little myself, for otherwise we
would not, under any circumstances,
have been able to bring the train to a
standstill in the station. Whereupon
Hausler closed the regulator himself
and kept his place doggedly at the step.
At 8 o'clock SO minutes we pulled
out of Juterbog and IA minutes later
drew up in Luckenwa!de. Contrary to
his department on the preceding trip,
Hausler had become very quiet, but his
face darkened perceptibly, and when,
shortly before coming to the station,
reached for the throttle, thinking that
Hausler would again forget to slow up
the train, received from him rough
push, and his voice was raised to almost
a scream as he called to me: What do
you want? That is my business !"
The stop of minute in Luckenwalde
was utilized by me to put on fresh coal.
Then we sped away again. Nearly 81
miles-that is, half the run to Berlin
now lay before us. Hausler was at his
post. Suddenly he laid hold Of my arm
and said:
"Did you see him?"
"Whom:'' asked. in astonishment.
"He looked out Of the coupe in Falk-
enbera," said Hausler. He comes
from Vienna, and I've got him this
time
"Whom do you mean?' asked, nat
urally surprised.
"Rothschild," said Hausler. "He is
coming from Vienna to carry of the
gold that he has stolen from me, and
now he intends to carry me off too. But
I've got him fast this time. Throw on
coal; we need steamt'
opened the door Of the firebox and
saw that enough coal had been put in.
"It is not yet time to throw on more,
Herr Hausler. +" explained.
In a rage he seized the chain, by
means of which one opens the self clos
ing door Of the firebox, and exclaimed
angrily:
"Shovel in the coal; I need more
steam. I am going to run straight
through Berlin, directly into the sea.
There I will drown Rothschild, and
then he shall not take my gold again.
Will you obey me or not?'
Hausler suddenly seized a double
screw wrench which hung convenient to
the engineers deck, raised it aloft, and
looked as if he would strike me down.
I threw On coal until Hausler cried:
Enough, for the time But look att
er the fire. I need 60 atmospheres pres
sure. We are going to run three hours
yet. without stopping.
Any man is likely to find it uncom-
Portable to be alone with person ID
whom he suddenly discovers traces OF
insanity. But the matter becomes some
what graver and more complicated when
one is in the company of a madman
upon an express locomotive which Is
forging ahead with a velocity OF 90
miles an hour. I will add just here
that did not trenible for my own lie,
but I thought with terror OF the aoo
passengers in the train behind u.s. VINO
had no suspicion Of the danger wnlcn
lowered over them. The engineer OUT
of his mind, as it appeared, STANDING
close on the brink Of insanity, and oe-
termined, under no circumstances. 10
bring the train to stop in the terminal
station at Berlin, but to forge aheao
with it-that is, to cause catastrophe
in which probably half the passengers