Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-12-26
The Colonel's Tale.


| said young Johnson, where deliber-
ate suicide could be otherwise than
wrong; violation of the great Gu
itorial principle, Thou shalt not
M44I!"
The colonel hadn't been taking part
in the discussion. The colonel was
older than most of us. But this re-
mark of young Johnson's seemed to
start him to thinking, for he broke
in here with:
II don't quite agree with you,'' he
said, and long argument ensured. The
colonel Waxed eloquent in defending
his case, but most of the company
were against him. Then he took a
new tack.
"You have heard of Jack Savage.
boys he said: "He was little be-
fore your time, I know, but did you
ever hear the story of his life?''
There were none Of us who had, as
I remember, so the colonel had to tell
it. He began:
"Jack and were boys together. I
was his best man when he married. He
/ WAS al 1OVEs IL ORGI a AAc1A w etNos clAds
we'll, she Liked him pretty WELL too.
They were just as happy married
| folks could be-"
You see the colonel was married him
self, and thought it his duty to speak
cynically of married life before other
people.
Jack wanted to spend his honey
moon in a new way, SO they planned
it for an of-the-way resort up in
the country, and there they went
There was only one railroad anywhere
near the place.
1--WE heard from them while there.
They were in paradise. Which is a
way young married people have,' said
the colonel, in an aside.
But Jacks vacation came to an end;
they had to return. They missed the
regular train back to the city and had
| to take a slow old accommodation in
stead. Some fool left switch open or
something and the train ran off the
track and over an embankment.
''There were very few passengers in
the one dilapidated old passenger
coach, but there might just as well
have been 100, so far as Jack was CON
cerned, for the first sight that met his
eyes as he picked himself up out of the
dirt was his wife pinioned under the
wreckage of half a dozen cars. You
can imagine his frantic grief as he saw
| her lying there with a heavy truck
crushing her down, and on top of this
I'LL 1e -4o S7r0y,
Her head and arms were free, but the
rest OF her body held fast.
1.-The trainmen were to the rescue in
a moment. They worked like heroes
and began to clear away the wreck
age, but with a warning sound, it set
tied, and a groan of stifled pain from
the unhappy woman told them they
wrecking crew at the nearest city
some 20 miles away, had been tele-
graphed for, but the men said it could
hardly arrive in less than an hour.
"All this time Savage was at his
wife's side comforting her as best he
knew how. She threw her arms around
his neck and kissed him. Poor woman!
she evidently knew she had little long
er to live. Then there was another
ominous sound and the wreckage set
tied still further, and with moan she
tainted.
Jacks grief knew no bounds. He
tore around like a madman. He cursed
the trainmen one moment, the next i'm
plored them most piteously to help
him. They, poor fellows, felt his sor-
row, too, and found a spare rail along
side the track, pile of cross-ties was
placed under one end of it, and with it
as a lever, after several attempts a
portion of the wreckage was raised
Mrs. Savage opened her eyes just for
a moment. But that moment and the
expression in those eyes was enough
to inspire any man to do his utmost
They bore down still more heavily on
the lever, Neutrality-suspicious. of the
cross-ties slipped down out of place and
the wreekage dropped down again with
a crash!
Screams of agony burst from the I'M
happy woman's lips. It was an awful
thing Just to listen to them. The mer
stood dumb. They could do nothing
But Jack was at her side in an instant
"'Oh, Jack!' she cried, can't you pu
an end to this? It's killing me! The
pain is killing me! Put me out of my
misery, Jack! My Jack, beg of you
kill me! Kill me! I am dying b.
inches!'
cit was torture to stand helpless
by. 1t would have been kindness tx
have relieved her of the agony by kill
ing her. But he could not think o
such a thing. She might not be fatal!
injured. There was the hope Of tn
wrecking train. She might yet be res
cued.
"I can't! l can't! he groaned.