Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1910-02-26

Anstetten 1t had picked up flve young
girls, three small groups of people
and four unhappy looking couples.
I'VE reach Linz in twenty minutes
do we not? They wait there fifteen
minutes for lunch"
TOO little time to eat, and toe
long to go hungry. However, as we
are a little late, the train will prob
ably not make so long a stop"
1--WE might at all events have the
heat turned off,"
Pardon me, my dear lady, but the
lever you were about to grasp is the
danger signal"
"Ah might have brought about a
strange result"
mot so dreadful, after all. AS you
see, It would simply be a penalty Of
fifty gulden"
Il hardly know why but always
think that would like to give the sig
nal once. just to see what would hap
pen.
That idea, fancy, occurs to most
of us; to me- at any rate, whenever 7
travel by train It is the same when
| cross a bridge, always wonder
what would happen II we're to jump
over; or If ] were to say something
unheard Of, something wildly sensa-
tional. when am out in society"
Il have the same feeling, precisely"
"Then-if you like, Frau Hofrathin
Two souls with but a single
thought'-let us put It to the test"
"But think of the consequences.
You would be arrested and impris-
oned. and then-imagine the panic of
our fellow passengers. BY the way,
could they tell who had given the
signal?"
Il rather think the machinery reg
listers that. But, really, this would
be the best possible opportunity, and
l am curious to the limit. There is
long stop at Linz, time enough for
the station master to prefer a charge
against me and for me to pay the
penalty, for that is all there is to 1t.
will simply tell him that I intended
to turn off the heat, and made a mis-
take. So" and before the young
woman could prevent him he had
pulled the lever.
A shrill whistle and a jerk, the
wheels creaking and groaning beneath
the grinding pressure of the breaks
another jerk, and the train stopped
Passengers rushed to the windows,
guards ran from carriage to carriage
Then suddenly followed a binding
crash
The local had, as usual, been de-
layed, and behind 1t came rushing on
the Orient express, which was due
in Linz a few minutes after the local,
and preceded 1t from there on. The
guards, startled by the danger signal,
thought only of discovering where
help was needed, and In the excite
ment and confusion no one had re-
membered the danger that threat
ened and no precautions had been
taken to flag the train.
Owing to the heavy, impenetrable
fog, and also to the fact that the
local had come to stop Just around
curve, the engineer of the Orient
express had first seen it when only
few yards distant, and though he
blew his whistle and applied the
brakes, the express dashed into the
train ahead at almost full speed Fif-
teen dead, more than forty severely
injured
The examination disclosed nothing
definite. So much was certain, that
the danger signal had been given. By
whom and why remained a mystery.
Some thought that perhaps a passen-
ger had seen the Orient express COM
ing, and had thought thus to avoid a
possible collision.
Edgar's friends wonder that he,
once the gayest of the gay, is now so
often sad and melancholy "You
know" they say. "he was in that ter
rible railroad accident near Linz, and
was the only one in the rear carriage
to escape with his life. That is why
he is always so unwilling now to
travel by train"