Omaha daily bee., 1915-10-10
WILL NOW DELVE IN MYSTERY
Engineer Quits the Cab and the
Throttle to Take Up Study
Of Telepathy.
BELIEVES IN GHOsrLY THINGS

BELIEVES IN GHOsTLY THINGS
After thirty years at the throttle in
the service Of one OF the great trunk
lines going out of New York, Sylvester
p. Ames, locomotive engineer. retired re-
Gently and prepared himself to loaf away
the remainder OF his life. says the New
York Sun.
| He found II impossible to loaf. however.
and yearned for a hobby or something
else that would compensate him for the
| loss Of rattle and roar so long a part OF
his existence. friend suggested a study
Of telepathy, in which he was deeply en-
crossed. Ex-Engineer Ames took the tip,
went to the public library. surrounded
| himself with the works Of Lodge and
Podmore and other kindred authors and
soon became known as telepathic fans"
The other evening an old-time friend
called at the Ames flat in Brooklyn and
! thought to spend an hour or two In a
/ game OF cribbage Of which the old en-
| gineer was at one time very fond. No
use Ames was surrounded by a wall Of
books covering the subject Of thought
transference. Authorizations, haunted
houses and phantasms.
/
railroad, hoping to get Ames away from
the spirits He got him away-but In an
odd fashion. The old engineer closed up
his books and turned to his friend with
the following;
Life in Engine.
do you know. Bill since l have been
/ studying these telepathy books I'm more'n
ever convinced that locomotives are alive
the same as we are alive. l always had
a notion that way. but l used to keep 1t
| TO myself for fear that folks would laugh.
But when l read the statements of rep
utable people who've seen ghosts and
one in particular where a woman's pet
mare let her know by a vision that bad
shoe had played havoc with her hoof,
feel certain that inanimate things as well
as animate things think and feel.
when was running the old sos l
often noticed that just before we met
and passed the S27 my locomotive would
act in a peculiar way. 1t wouldn't run
so steady. Sort of nervous in It's drivers
II and the S27 were turned out of the
shop the same day and they were put on
the same run. only working In opposite
directions.
so, as 1 tell you. whenever !. on the
Ss. neared the S27 coming the opposite
way noticed a queer quiver all through
II. When we got within a quarter of
a mile of each other the S26 Kissed and
chugged a blame sight more'n she ought
! to and so II kept up till we had passed
/ each other, when my locomotive settled
down to its regular common-sense aver
age way Of behaving.
Talk with Each other.
4 " know now aipca 1--WE rad thnaa
books. that sos was just sending a mes
sage to s27 through space. 1 remember
wrote letter to Pete Riley. the man
If so acted. asking him-of course In a
Joking way, as 1 didn't wasn't to be joshed
If 81 acted queer on nnn at any time.
He answered me, and sure as you live,
he declared that ST acued like an old
fool dummy or switch engine whenever
he neared and passed me on the linee
Without a doubt these locomotives were
communicating with each other.
Yes. sir, the books make a lot of
things plain that just seemed unezplain-
ably queer In the old days. / recall that
whenever on stormy night old S26 pulled
us into the terminal right on the tick Of
the clock as per time table 1 used to
swell up with sort OF gratitude toward
II. Often when nobody was looking at
the END OF a trip through the rain or
the snow, with the cuiverts Just ready
to burst over the tracks, I've gone up
alongside that old engine. making be-
lieve I was going to oil her I'd look
around TO see If any one was looking,
and II there wasn't I'd pat the old loco
motive on its boiler. the same as you'd
pat fellow on the back. And I'd whis-
per:
TuwaaI aka
"'You turned the trick fine, old girl.
turned it fine. You're the stuff all
right
And do you know, although there was
no reason at all for II. old S2s would
thump in its exhaust twice as loud as
It had been humping. Yes. sir. thump
twice as loud. 1 wasn't sure what Il
meant then, but now l know 1t realized
that was praising It and wanted TO
send me a message that II was tickled
over the praise. never would have
been sure, though, II It hadn't been for
the ideas these books have set going in
me.
Haven't you ever felt warm toward
things they say aren't alive, just be-
cause they have been OF service to your
/ have. Bill. many tiiHe.
Yes. and no doubt that old cribbage
deck OF cards Is sore because you don't
handle II any more" said Bill as he took
his leave.