New-York tribune., 1897-08-15
4 SPECTRAL TRAIN.
IT HAS BEEN RUNNING ONCE \ YEAR FOX
TEN YEARS.
From The Washington Star.

From The Washington Star
speaking Of things" remarked a fhllaue'-
phia drummer Il had strange thing happen "
me aiout Il month ago in Georgia 1t didn't cX-
actly happen to me, either, but it was IN my
hearing. | had attempted to drive across cou,'
try to catch II tran at Il station Whlch couiu
not have reached otherwise. except by a lohs
and tiresome detour over miserable piece oi
road. and when railroad in Georgia IS pau II
is bad with any sort of an adjective for en-
phass you choose. II twelve miles, ana
through a mountain zap and it was nearly
dark when started wound up by getting iost
and going the Lord knows where. tlli struck a
very fair two-story house that looked IKE IL
might have been summer hotei once upo" d
time. ;,
II asked the man who responded to my call
how far it was to the railroad. and he told me
ten miles and ] had better light and stay an
night / lighted and after a bite Of cold bread
and meat and 4 drink Of nOonshne went 10
bed tired enough to have slept on a picket
fence. It was then II o'clock, and about two
hours later ! was awakened from my SUMMERS
by hearing a train whistle apparently a hie OF
less away. ard then rumble alorS, coming nearer
and nearer unit! suddenly it stopped, ana l
heard no more. / was too sleepy to give II nuch
thought and rolling over, went to sleep aSalh.
wondering why my host had told me II was Ten
miles to the railroad, unless it Was TO deceive me
out of the price Of night : lodging. .
I'm the morning at breakfast l mentioned thc
fact to him. and he laughed IN an uhcaS! hillu 81 81
a way and assured me that ii was ten nliles 10
the railroad; ] would think it was three tine3
that after had driven over to It, Inc noisc l
heard. he said. was probably the VIM py" n itio
down the chimney and banging droul!u ''Ic
house which was old and open IN many places
| hadn't any more to say. and went on my way
to the railroad. reaching ther" III three houis,
and noticing all The way that an Ola roauDeu
with the, ties and rails still on it in places lay
near the wagor road all the way to the station;
AT the station while waiting for my train,
cot talking to the station agent, who was Il
bright. sharp chap and incidentally asked INN
about that railroad train. He locked at me
quick as a wink and asked me the PARTICULARS
".If's = hant.' he said Last night was the
night il always comes When the road was
first built here there was a branch that run
back up in that country TO iIdc" aDUu. ~, w. f
or three miles beyond that house. to a klnd OF
a summer resort up there, mineral springs ana
a waterfall. Excursions for day USED 70 go
there trom towns down the road from mere anu
up the other way. Ten years ago to-ilSht an ~
cIIrsion was coming back from there, ana just
about the neighborhoOd Of that house the ehSi-
nocr saw an obstruction the track that was
going to throw the whole shebang over the banh.
and Whstlng dOWnbraics and cutting ms engine
loose he went straight for 1t and Knocked IL OH
the track. OF course he and the engine went
with il. and neither of them was ever al! iiioIe
use after that racket; but the train was saved.
and that was enough for a man to DE i0r' pc
cause there were two hundred women and chlI-
dren in the excursion.
Nj was shown that some Of the people in
the neighborhood had attempted to wreck the
train and it spoiled the excursion business
There was coal on the branch that Kept the
last nine or ten miles Of it in operation for
few years longer. but there never was another
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 II
and stop one night IN every year. for the last
ten years have heard il, and so has the man In
that house and YOU are the oaly other man who
has that ! know Of. because his nearest neigh
Dor is three miles away and nobody ever
gets in that ncghborhood to stay all night.
suppose / would not have been there
IL he had not asked me friend to
come UP on one of the anniversary nights and
hear it, 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 forgotten about it, for really the subject
hasn't come to my notice for four or five years.
and you can wager money | never went back
there TO listen to it any more I'll be blamed II
couldn't see that engineer and his engine Whirl-
Ing to destruction the night stayed there. be-
cause | knew what TO expect and sat up to wait
for it with every nerve at its highest tension.
Darn queer kind of n ghost. amt it?'
II told him thought it was" concluded tho
drummer "and when | suggested to him that
| might perhaps tell the story to someone else
and it might get into the newspapers he laughed
and said that was just the same keeping it
a dead secret. for nobody in that reighborhood
Il a. a