Incidents of Travel in America TRAGEDY OF THE KAIL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 295, 1 September 1888, Page 4

Incident s of Travel in America

TRAGEDY OF THE KAIL.

Ik the year 1871 I staited from New York for California with a company of artists engaged to play a season on the Pacific Slope. Among the leading membeis was a very beautiful and clever young actress, poor, pietty Minnie Walton, whom everyone lemembers, and her husband, a wellknown playwright and manager. O»r course was all plain sailing enough till we reached Chicago, but from there till the end of our journey we met with adventures and mishaps quite enough to la&t a man his lifetime, thouuh he were greedy of accidents by flood and held as Livingstone or Burton. On our second night out irom that mushroom city, we rushed into a fiery furnace, extending for miles round, in lines of flaming fences, and billows of heaving flame. A praiiie lire ! rushing, tearing, roaring on every side, as if sent from Hades to devour the train and all its contents. The engine, put to its full speed, bounded and flew over the track, till all on board thought that we must be thrown off the rails and knocked into immortal smash. The cars swayed and jumped till it was. impossible to keep ouv seats without holding on to the arms of the chairs, and always the tiery flood surged and billowed on every side. It was a fearful race. Fast as we flew from the pursuing demons behind us, we were met by legions of attacking fires in front, and cohorts of flames darted their blazing tongues at us on each side, as we tore through the midst of red-hot vapour that surrounded us. On, on • sped the tiain, the engine belching out great gasps of smoke as the fireman crammed the fuel into the mouth of the furnace, and on ! on ! rushed the pursuing demon of fire, eager for his prey. All the windows Mere closed,and the heat and emoke weie intolerable. Shrieking women, frantic men, and wailing babes, made a noise yet wilder and more terrible than even the awful loar of the fire. All hope was lost, and we gave ourselves up to despair — when, suddenly, without a moment's notice, the air cleared — the insufleiable heat gave place to a delicious coolness. The red glare faded into the whole&ome haze of the twilight ; tho hard tearing patter of the wheels on the hard road changed into a deep rumbling. We were on a bridge ; crossed a wide river, and were &aved ! We sped on rejoicing. But ill-luck had not done with us yet. Next day, while steaming smoothly along, and eating our midday meal in the restaurant car, we all felt a kind of soft thud, as if the wheels had gone over a lump of indiarubber, and immediately the rope was pulled. The bell rang violently, and the train slowed down to a stop. Out Aye all rushed to see what was amiss, and behind, about twenty yards off, we saw a bundle of rags lying on the track. Off rushed conductor, brakesman, and passengers — only to reach a pretty child, ten years old at the mosl, literally cut in two by the deadly glide of the re rnorselees engine. The sight was pitiable. Her face was calm ; no signs of fright were upon that white foiehead, over which the golden hair rippled softly. The shock had been too sudden, too unforeseen, and the child had died eve she knew she was in danger. And now down the steep path by the side of the track cainc a woman, wild with anguish, for from the door of her shanty she had seen her child rush out of the chapparal in chase of a butterfly, and « the ruthless train cut her down before any-

ono could cry 'stop/ The engine driver had reversed his engine, but the momentum of the train carritd it on, over the girl, spite of brakes and brakesman. The agony of that woman was terrible to see. She was the wife of the pointsman, and lived alone in a rude cabin on the brow of the hill, with that only child for the solace of her long, dreary hours of solitude ; and now We could not endure her sorrow, so, making up a purse, we left her to her weeping. No one was to blame, so there was no fuss made about the matter. The victim was only a poor pointsman's daughter, of no consequence to the world, and so — she passed out of men's minds as soon as the train was well under weigh again. And so we glided on, leaving, as we thought, Danger and "Death behind us. But it was not to be. As the train passed Pino, a station among the mountains, redolent of the scent of pines, and fragrant with cedars, I was sitting engaged in a pleasant chat with Minnie Walton and her hu°band, in the after rotunda of the car, where smoking was allowed. After awhile, the lady lett us to pay a visit in the next car, where some friends of hers had a state-room. Mr L and I stayod on, to finish our cigars and our conversation, and were quietly enjoying ourselves, when suddenly the negro porter jumped at the bell-door, and pulled it violently. 1 Golly, massa !' cried the nigger, ' dar ain't no car astern of dis one. De rest ob the train done gone and busted off, sirah.' We rushed out of the door and saw — the load, but nothing else. The couplings had broken, and half of the train was gone. L made no more ado, but leaped off thf end platform, at the risk of his neck. After a \ rudent interval, I followed him, and we ran back over the line as fast as feet would tly. Presently we came up to a car turned over on its side, with a strug^ ling mass of humanity striving to get out of the windows, and a strong smell of roast flesh pervading the air. VVe helped the poor devils out as best we could, especially the fellow who was frying under the stove, and fii.m whose arm the aforesaid smell proceeded. He died after we got to San Francisco. We searched everywhere ior Minnie Walton, but she was not in that cai . Never shall I fovget the agony in her husband's face. We hurried on, and saw another car overturned on the very brink of a precipice 1,500 feet deep. As we rushed to it, we weie aware of a lady supported by two men coming along. ' Fred !' cried the wife. ' Minnie !' shouted the husband, and the two rushed into each other's arms in a dramatic tableau, such as was never equalled on the mimic stage.