The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-04

from Fairview: What's the matter
with you fellows at Holly Springs ald
M, anyhow? No runaway locomo-
tive has turned up down this way
st was a blessed relief, and with 1t
and idea flashed into my mind. The
mysterious driver had stopped his
iron horse, or he had been wrecked
somewhere on the track, and the
through mail was coming with early
morning. | ran to the section-master )
house, woke MIN up, and gave him
a hurried explanation, and in a few
moments we running down the
line On a hand-car. AT the distance Ct
about 10 miles we came upon the en-
CINE standing on the track, painting as
if wearied by its wild jaunt over
gloom-clad hill and dale, but deserted.
Where was the bareheaded, p~ale-taced
man in the brown coat? There was
no life there, but the throb Of the
heart Of that great mass Of mecnan-
ism.
Whats that?' cried the section
master and, looking down the track,
I saw, miles away, another great blink
ing fiery eye plunging out Of the dark
ness. Another locomotive? No; bur
Ill cIiS1uS III CIloC W Yang
ing the train-dispatcher and two OH
cial-looking personages, whose miss
ion was O explained. The lOcOmo-
tive had been runaway with by a lun-
attic escaped from the State asylum,
who, it was afterwards ascertalEed,
had been seen lurking around the
yard at NJ, and had seized his OppoT-
tunity. He had been tracked by the
officers in search of him, and a wo-
man on the highway had told OF CIV
ing a poor tramp an old, CASTOR
long brown cOat-as much TO rid II
him as in charity, for he was a Wild
looking fellow, and h was AFRAID or
him.
And now began the search for the
Door fugitive. The light Of the a n
terms plainly showed where he had
leaned into the soft soil of the ditch
from the cab, where he had clambered
up the opposite bank, and made his
wav across a field of young corn
The trail was never lost, even 20
the verge of a dense swamp, n the
men plunged; all the next day, ana
the next, it was surrounded and ran
sacked, but the jungle held its prey,
and no one came upon a trace 4" tne
~distraught wanderer.
Poor creature said one of the Off
GERS of the asylum, he is lying III
there dead, doubtless; he was weak
and ailing, and subject to heart dis
ease
THAT'S a first rate story said /.
"Is hat all?'
Well, no." replied Mr.. Blank, care
fullv Tipping the ash from his cigar
into the little bronze dish on the Ia
BILE, the strangest part Of it is 10
come.
"A short time after these exciting &C.
currences | was promoted to a more re
! sponsible post with the anne railroad
company. about one hundred m..es
Distant; and, as I had become &C
ouainted with hat section, and had
| acquired a kindly feeling for the peo-
| rle. I subscribed for the FairvieW
Era.
cone day, about five years later,
| when | opened my Era, just come IN
! on the mail, | read a remarkable story,
| to the effect that John Watkins. a
| farmer living between Holly Springs
| and Fairview. was out hunting a .ot
Of his hogs which had run Wild IN
the swamp. Making his way, Win
| great difficulty, down into the bayou
he climbed the slanting trunk OF a
large water oak, that he might looh
| over the surrounding bay trees and
~gallberry bushes, and survey the STU
alton.
"Watktns nearly fell backward to
the ground in sheer terror; for there,
| half standing, half sitting in the mol
low of the great decayed tree, the
erinning lace close to his, was the
| skeleton of a man. At the tree were
the fraved remnants Of an old brown
| coat, and. scattered here and there,
the stamped buttons worn in the cloth
| ing of the inmates of the asylum"
At last the mystery of the maniac
| wild midnight ride was revealed. PooI
| wretch! Fleeing from pursuit; his pc
| nighted mind wrought TO a pltch OF
| frenzy as steam and steel whirled MN
| on through the hours of the night;
| the cunning OF the mad man driving
| him from the open to the solitude OF
forest and swamps; wearled out VIII
the frantic efforts of the night, the
bruised heart carried him TO b shelter
Of the oak and then stopped. Inc
| elements sported with him, and the
birds of the air circled about him, Du1
God had already taken him home.
AS Mr.. Blank and I walked out OF
the dining-room the black waiter
whose eyes were the size of saueers
heaved a big sigh, and began plllns
I'd the dishes. l was not the only
auditor.
Fayetteville, April 25. J. H. NJ.