The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-05-06
Mystery of the G. L. NJ. Rmlway.
By Solving Joyce Cleared Himself Suspicion
of Numbering His Superior.
p ~ .gr19a

and l will shut it after you. Be quick,
Peter, run, man; run for your life!"
Thompson closed the window after
him, lit his pipe and was busy sweep
ing the floor when the men rushed in.
At their first words he sank back in
his chair, gasping and trembling.
where is he? Who did it? When
did it happen?' he asked.
Consummate acting it was, and not
man that went back with him to the
scene of the murder suspected that he
had been there before that night. The
men did not say much at first, but
stood around the body examining it
with awe-struck faces.
where's Joyce tonight"
The words were the ones that the
man had been most dreading, and in
an absent minded manner he turned to
the questioner.
"Pete?" he replied. "Why, sent him
out on an errand to the lower yards
about o'clock, but did not know the
poor fellow had lost his job until later.
would not wonder if he was talking
to the men around the shops about
something to do there"
1--WE understand that Joyce made
some threats tonight when he was dis
charged"
How harsh and rasping the voice
sounded.
'Pete's been there, ever since, for
toll mi h 1oA 3y,hn 1X
a minute before you came in," he said.
"And another thing. Look at the long
red marks on the mans throat. Petes
hand could never fit those dents, not
on your life"
The men drew aside and stood hesi-
tatingly in the doorway, evidently re-
luctant for some reason to go out again
into the darkness. In a few moments
the railway surgeon came in and ex-
amined the body with puzzled look.
81 have seen many man killed in
my day." he said, at last, but | never
before saw a man who had been killed
in the way this man was.
II would have been here sooner, but
as l was passing under the railway
bridge at Elm street my horse SHE'D at
something l could not see, and had to
drive him back little way, and come
on foot. I never knew him to act that
way before"
The men went away together after
while, removing the body in an ambu-
lance.
1t grew colder with the morning
hours, and Thompson, lifting some
fresh Goals to the stove, heard a noise
at the window behind him. With a
cry of terror. he turned about to look
into the wild and panicstruck face Of
Joyce, who had crept up behind the
shanty and was looking in to see
whether it was safe for him to enter.
But his clothing was shockingly
torn, his face and hands covered with
blood and SCOT.
Something chased me on the way
back through the yards over the tops
of the fiat cars" Joyce said. Il hid
once under the old plough near the
water tank, and there it lost me-"
What was it," gasped the watch
man.
tits Satan himself. Bill. 1t did not
make any noise, but it kept up with
me all the time.
when I stopped it stopped, and
when l began to run it would run, too.
| I crept under train of boxcars, and
there it lost me. | could not see 1T,
| but l heard it breath.
"Merciful powers, Bill, it's time now
| for No. 4. Hear it whistling in the
| distance? Have they struck it, too?
"Shes coming through the yards
| now. Lord, see the stream OF fire, and
what does Wilson whistle that way
| for?
Hear that, Bill. The alarm whistle
is answering him. Is it fire."
The night was still intensely dark
and not sign of fire could be seen as
| the two men stood in the door of the
shanty and looked out. But way
| down the line they could hear the
shrill blasts sounding from the fiier as
| it passes through the outskirts of the
| place, sounding like human being
screaming in distress and mortal
agony.
Instantly all the telephones in the
place woke, and Thompson was busy
as he ran to and from the freight office
near by answering the calls.
"They all think it is a fire, Pete,
he exclaimed as he came in at last
dripping wet "But the yards are as
black as coal; indeed, you can't see the
second line of freights from here.
never see it worse, beats London fog
isn't that schreeching awful, Pete