The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-07-09

fully brilliant noon, tho spinshing Of the
water below, the Wind blowing softly, then
tho deathlike sil,noe again, rarely inter
rup p a even Y The distant note Of BIRD
with ittaspasAsbio fefrdf. AID th5 Ell ahIisl
Tho rails! Ny asntes tortured mo. could
not oScape tholn. The wooden beams of
tho bridge tremJled almost imperccptibly
| from tho washing Of the water. l inag-
ined l felt she approach of the train, and
my hair bristled. Tho wind sighed little
louder, fancied heard the dull painting
of the engine, End my heart stood still,
only to throb tho next instant with such
dreadful speed that the pulsations were al
most audible.
"There arc some things. gentlemen,
which are totally incomprehensible to INC.
Ono of them Is how survived that night.
Ono thought stood distinctly before my
mind. l must endeayor to work myself
into another position-if possible get into
the space between the rnls-if was not,
perhaps tho next moment, to become the
victim of the most agonizing death.
And l succeeded! / strained every
muscle, every sinew to tho point OF break.
ing. l writhed, twisted, painted, my
head seemed bursting, and, after trcmen-
hous exertion. which appeared to me to
last an eternity, though perhaps 1t was
only moments found myself In tho hol.
low between the rails.
"Was safe? had not time to consider
or rejoice In my new hope, for oil my vital
powers were concentrated in tho single
sense of hearing. In tho far distance
distinguished, at first vaguely, then more
and moro distinctly, tho regular, monoto-
nous, dull noise which Is produced by the
engine of moving locomotive. The aw.
full silence Of tho night merged minute by
minute into tho still moro awful, confused
jarring sounds, the rafting and groanng,
rumbling and painting Of the locomotive,
which was rushing forward at tho mad
speed Of American trains. A thousand
feet more, SOCIAL the terrors of the in
fernal regions assailed me, but not a mus
Gle moved. lay as If turned to stone
tried to shriok but did not even hear my
own voice How should it reach those on
tho trainp
"Now, for an infinitely brief space of
time, ! fancied that l saw bright light,
a blast of hot air famed me, then suddenly
darkness shrouded mo. heard thun.
dering roar as though the very heavens
wero falling.
"Close, very close, barely an inch above,
tho monster dashed over me. l was safe
Still hall unconscious, heard deafening
rumbling and Gathering and saw shadowy
masses fit by. There was another moment
of mortal dread; the hook of chain which
hung lower than the rest caught me, drag
gng mo along few feet, and finally tore
a large piece from the breast Of my coat,
releasing me; then every object danced
around me, tho moon, tho bridge and the
high bank whrlcd in giddy maze above
and below me, and my senses failed
when regaincd my consciousness,
found myself in my bed with familiar
faces around mo. To make the story |
short, had been picked up the morning |
after that terrible night by signalman,
recognized and taken to Auburn. A vio-
lent foyer kept mo for fortnight within
tho shadow of death, but my strong con-
stitution conquered. When, after my re-
covery, looked in tho glass for tho first
time, / saw what traces those moments
had left upon me.
The physician paused. His pallid face,
the expression OF horror In his eyes, the
perspiration which stood in large drops
upon his brow, showed how vivid must be
his remembranoes of tho scene and how
greatly the narration had exhausted him.
Gradually tho brcathloss anxiety with
which we had listened to tho story related
with such graphic power passed away and
cheerfulnoss returned.
Then we paced TO and fro for long
time in the moonlight, in the garden DO.
hind tho tavern, listening to tho doctors
tales of less narrowing experiences in the
young land of liberty, wonders and ati-
Translated From tho French by
Max Nordau For New York Herald