The weekly intelligencer., 1897-10-09

tired enough to have slept on picket
fence. 1t was then Il o'clock. and about
two hours later | was awakened from
my smmbers by hearing train whistle
apparently u mile or less away. ana
then rumble along. coming nearer and
nearer until suddenly it stopped, and
heard no more. was too sleepy to give
1t much thought. and, rolling over. l
went TO sleep again, wondering why nnl
Eost had told me il was ten miles to ths
railroad, unless il was to deceive me
out of the price of nights lodging.
''In the morning at breakfast mem
toned the fact tothim, and he laughed
in an uneasy kind of ii way and assured
me that it was ten miles to the railroadj
] would think IL was three times that
after had driven over TO it. The noise
l heard. he said. was probably the wind
blowing dowp the chimney and banging
around the house, which was old and
open in many places. l hadn't any more
to say. and went on my way 10 the rail-
road, reaching there in three hours, and
noticing all the way that an old road
bed with the ties and rails still on il in
places lay near the wagon road all the
way TO the station.
AT the station while waiting for mY
train, got talking TO the station agent,
who was a bright. sharp chap, and in
cidentally / asked him about that rail-
road train. He looked at me quick -
a wink and asked me,the particulars.
which told him.
Its a ha'nt.' he said. last night
was the night it always comes. Whea
the road was first built bere there was
a branch that run back up in that eoun-
tr.. to a place about two or three miles
beyond that house, to kind of a sum-
mer resort up there, mineral springs
and a waterfall. Excursions for a day
used to go there from towns down the
road from here and up the other way.
Ten years ago tonight an excursion
was coming back from there. and just
about the neighborhood of that houss
the engineer saw an obstruction on the
track that was going to throw the whole
shebang over the bank. and whistlinR
down breaks and cutting his engins
loose he went straight for il aud
knocked ii off the track. OF course he
: and the engine went with it, and neither
OF them was ever any mere use after
that racket: but the train was saved.
for, because there were 200 women and
children in the excursion.
at was shown that some OF the pso~
pie in the neighborhood had Attempted
10 wreck the train. and it spoiled the
excursion business. There was coal
on tho branch that kept the last nine or
ten miles of it in operation for a few
years longer, but there never was an
other passenger train to go over the
place where the engineer was killed.
That is to say. never another train that
anybody ever saw; but there has been
one go to the spot, or rather go to IL
and stop. One night in every year, for
thC last ten years. | have heard it, and
so has the man in that house and you
are the only other man who has that
krow of, because his nearest neighboF
is three miles away and nobody ever
gets in that neighborhood to stay all
night l suppose | would not have been
there II he had not asked me as friend
to come up on one of the anniversary
nights and hear it, so he could talk to
me about it and advise with me whether
to move away or stick it out. advised
him to stay, and had very nearly forgot
ten ABOUT IT. thc 1b~~iS~~
hasn't come to my notice for four or five
years. and you can wager money never
went back there TO listen to il any mora.
I'll be blamed il l couldn't see that en-
gineer and his engine whirling to de-
stIuction the night ! stayed there, be-
cause knew what to expect and sat up
to wait for it with every nerve at ita
highest tension Darn queer kind Of .
ghost. amt it?'
"I told him 1 thought it was" con-
clnded the drummer, "and when sng-
gested to him that might perhaps tell
the story TO some one else and il might
get into the newspapers, he laughed al d
said that was just the same as keeping
IL a dead secret, for nobody in that
neighborhood took newspaper or
could read one If he did."-Washington
Star.