The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-08-27
HANGED WHEN TRAIN CAME.
1t Was Ahead of Time and the Engi-

1t Was Ahead of Time and the Engi-
neer Had an Anxious Two Minutes.
From the Chicago Record: There is a
branch Of the Burlington railroad
which runs down into the southwest
ern part of Nebraska, and along which
are strung several county-seat towns.
At the time to which reference is made
a man named Bruce Mattingly was
awaiting execution in the Jail of one OF
these towns, he having committed a
homicide which, according to the the
DRY of the jury, merited death. He was
a pretty bad man, but, as is frequently
the case with tough citizens, he had a
strong circle of friends who were dis
inclined to see Mattingly snuffed out at
the end of a rope. They interceded
with the governor after the regular
channel of law courts of appeal had
been run fruitlessly, but Mattingly's
reputation was against him, and the
governor would not definitely promise
to grant the desired respite. The sher-
If Of the county had announced that
he would wait until s o'clock in the
morning for any gubernatorial inter-
ference, and promptly at that hour, in
the absence of a notice of a stay, he
would launch Mr.. Mattingly into the
elsewhere. On the morning of the day
set for the execution the conductor of
Burlington No. 3 was instructed by the
trainmaster to pick up at this county
seat town the state fish commissioners
private car, which had been there for
some days, and carry it on to the ter
minal. The engineer, when told of the
order, suggested that it would be best
for him to run in a few minutes ahead
of card time, SO as to be sure to have
enough time to get away on the sched-
ule, for there was a strong competi-
ton in the matter of promptness on
that run, and for over three years the
train had not been behind. So, being
due at 8 O'Clock, the engineer of No. 5
rushed things a little and got in at 1855
thus having four minutes leeway to
pick up the commissioners car. AS
they pulled up at the platform a sound
of whistling and the ringing of bells
rose in the town, and from the high
board stockade around one wing of the
county Jail, which was just across
from the depot, a red flag 1uttered as
somebody hauled 1t up or it's temper
airy pole. The engineer asked what 1t
meant. Just hung Mattingly," cried
q man at that moment, breaking forth
from the stockade. Hung him prompt
at 8 o'clock. Bill was afraid a order
might come from the gov'nor, an as
soon as It was s he let him CO." But
1t isn't g." said the engineer. cts
three minutes to it." mo, it isn't. It's
8. Amt No. 3 in, an don't she git
here at 8 to the dot?" The engineers
heart jumped, and then fell down into
a deep well. do you mean to say you
hung a mar by No. 3's time instead OF
by watches or clocks?" he gasped. "Of
course. Why, watches an clocks va
ries. Take Any dozen watches among
the crowd in that Jail right now an
I'll bet there ain't no two alike in
pintin' out the time. But No. g.
and the man looked at the engineer in
eloquent silence which was immensely
expressive. The latter leaned against
the tank and pulled his own watch and
AoohOACu liz eyes uCFOuI upon II
He afterward said he lived a lifetime
in waiting for the two remaining min
utes to pass SO that the hour would
really be 8. Every instant he expect.
ed to see the operator come flying out
with an order to delay the hanging
and knowing that he had given the sig.
nal to execute the man four minutes
ahead Of time, he felt that if any sucE
notice were to come before 8 he woulC
be a kind of murderer. At last
seemed after years-the hands indicat
ed the actual arriving time of No. 8
and with a great gasp of relief the en-.
gineer climbed into the cab and wen
about the work of hooking on the com
m~issioner's car. 1t was ON time be
fore the engineer got around to a stat,
of mind where he could speak light,
of the incident, and to this day he ha'
never run SO much as four seconds
ahead of time. He says it isn't con
ducive to a mans peace of mind out II
that country, where they hang peopl,
by the railroad time card.