The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-01-26
BY W. L. ALDEN.
(copyright, 1896, by W. L. Alden).

Copyright, 1896, by w. L. Alden).
do you mean to tell me-" I asked
the station-master, that you really
believe that a train has a ghost, and
that ghostly trains run over actual
railways at night?"
IF you were a railroad man." re-
piled my friend, you'd see the foolish
ness OF asking such a question: Do
I believe in ghost trains? You might
as well ask me if 1 believe in Pullman
cars. Why, mani every railroad man
knows that 81 st trains are liable to
be met with almost any night. ] don't
say that they are common, but I do
say that there are lots of men who
have seen EN-. and have just as much
reason believing in 'em as they have
for believing in any regular train"
Have you yourself ever seen a
ghost train?" I asked.
The station-master chewed his cigar
for moment in silence, and then said:
Seeing as it's you that asks me, III
tell you something that 1 haven't told
any man for more than ten years, I'M
less he happened to be an experienced
railroad man. You see, l got tired of
having people doubt my word, and in
Sinuate that I was a lUnatic, or had
been drinking too much whisky. You'll
perhaps think the same but what I'm
goin to tell you is a cold fact, and
there amt bit of lying, or poetry, or
political argufying, or any Of those
sort of imaginative things about it.
You know the road from here to
Tiberius Center? It's pretty near a
straight line but when | first came
into these parts. the trains used to run
from here to Tiberius Center by
7irrf1T IN do,
IL as originally laid out ran in
sort Of semi-circle, taking in half-a-
dozen small towns lying northwest of
this place. After a while the company
surveyed the new line, and bored the
big tunnel through the Blue Eagle
mountain The old line wasn't entire
~ abandoned until about two years
ago, but after the tunnel was finished,
there was only one passenger train
each way daily on the old line, and
freight train three times a week
I had a brother who lived up at
Manlius, town on the old line, about
40 miles from here. That is to say,
Manlius was his postoffice address.
but he lived in q house that was three
miles from the station, and there
wasn't any town of Manlius except
the station house, and a little shanty
that was used as a postofffce. l was a
Kind of a general assistant at this
hyer station where we are now, and
there not being very much work on
hand, / got two days leave and took
the train up to see my brother It was
just about a year after the new line
had been opened, and as the company
meant to abandon the old line, they
hadn' st put any repairs On it worth
speaking of, and it was about the
toughest road you ever Travelled over
L was little scared myself. though
as rule, ] never trouble myself about
railroad accidents, knowing that
they're bound to come. and you can't
help yourself There had beer. a, ter
rIble accident on that very road lust
before the expresses quit running over
It A train with a Pullman car full of
passengers, went off the track lust as
she had struck the bridge over the
Muskahoot river, and as the bridge
was over so feet high. and the river
was over 20 feet deep, nobody ever saw
hide or hair of that train, or of any
pooy connected with it, from that day
to this.
We'll, I got up to my brothers along
about or mebbe half-past o'clock in
the evening, and found him gone
away, and the house locked up. I ham
mered on the doors and tried the win
doWs till 1 had settled that there
wasn't any one at home. and that l
OculNl bleah IN, ana Lnen ! neanQ-
cred back TO the station. calculating to
pass the night in the wood shed, and
take the train back to Jericho the next
day. 1t had been showing hard. and
there was near foot of snow on
level let alone the big drifts that were
here and there. ] was pretty well fag-
ged out when [ got to the station.
which, of course, was shut up for night.
and if it hadn't been that / had a
quart flask OF whisky in my pocket, [
should have come near freezing to
death.
I went into the wood shed. and got
round behind the wood, where the wind
couldn't reach me, and after cussin' nv
brother for spell on account of his
having gone off and shut up his house. !
] made my preparations for taking
nap Just then ] heard the rumble of
a train. This naturally astonished me.
knowing as did exactly what trains
were running on that road. and that
there wasn't any sort of train due at
that station for the next Is hours. How
ever, the train kept coming nearer and