DOWN THE MOUNTAIN TO DEATH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 16, 18 August 1893, Page 31

DOWN THE MOUNTAIN TO DEATH.

At four o'clock on the morning of November Bth, 1875, an express train on the Lebigh Valley Railway, in America, was on the top of a mountain, eighteen miles above the city of Wilkeabarre. Among the passengers were the President of the United States and several members of bis Cabinet, in a special coach. From this point the grade was very steep, and the road fall of carves. It was ths custom to keep the brakes set all the way down. It they failed, disaster wa» sure to follow. Within a minute after the train started, the driver noticed that something had suddenly gone wrong with the brake*. The train kept pushing the engine. He reversed, bat without checking the speed. Seeing this, the guard and one or two other train men jumped, and escaped with only slight injuries. The train now ran faster and faster, and a horrible death seemed waiting for all on board. The driver blew the whistle continuously to warn trains at the foot of the mountain of his approach. When the runaway passed Neacopeck station it was going at the rate of nearly seventy miles an hour, and the faithful driver stood at bis poit, bareheadtd, holding on, and still blowing the whistle. At the foot of the mountain all the trains had got out of the way except the rear end of a coal train which was just shunting. Into this the paesengar train dashed with a crash that was heard for miles around, knocking the coal cars in all directions. The passengers were badly shaken, and some were bmised, but none were killed. But where was the brave driver f From under the wreck of the overturned engine he was taken an liour afterwards, crushed and dying, but still able to speak. "Is the President safe?" he gasped. "Yes, and everybody else," was the answer. " Thank God for that," be said, and never spoke again. A splendid deed, truly, yet there is not a driver in a hundred who would not have stood to his doty with the same fidelity. Exposed to all sorts of weather, to constant danger, and laden with responsibility, the engine drivers have a commendable record, and deserve higher appraciation both by the companies and by the public. " I am an engine driver," Bays Bdward Roberts, " and have been: for eleven years. My health was always good until July, 1885. Then something came over me that I couldn't account for. I felt tired , Bleep 7, and languid. My Btomach felt sour and cold, my mouta tasted awfully bad, and my tongue was thickly coated. A disagree' able fluid came up into my month, and my appetite failed, No foodj however light, agreed with me, and I bad great pain after eating anything at all. In ten minutes my stomach would be all in a ferment, and swell like a balloon does when the gas is running into it I had also a miserable tightness around my chest and sides. Later on I had awful pain in my kidneya. I could not rest at night ; I had dreadful dreams, and would turn and turn in bed but found no ease. " As time went ou I got weaker and weaker until I could scarcely crawl to my work, but having a large family to support I struggled on aa best I could, when many another would have been confined to bed. As it was, my suffering was so great that I went to bed as soon as I returned from my work. For over four years I went on in this fashion, about half alive and half dead, obtaining no relief from the medicines the doctors gave me. I took six bottles of pepsine, but it did no good, neither did the seven bottles of a medicine we sent over and got from Dublin. " In May, 1890, a lady who called at my house, told me of medicine called Mother Seigel's Syrup, and recommended me to try it ; bo I got a bottle from Mr Wilson, at Drug Hall, Holyhead, and began taking it. In a week I felt better, my stomach was easier, and my food digested, and I grudaally gained strength. By the time I had taken six bottles I was strong as ever. 1 could eat anything and have kept well ever since. I have told of my recovery everywhere, and many of my friends have used the Syrup with benefit. I wish my experience to be published, and will reply to inquiries about my case, (Signed) " Edward Roberts, " No 9, Tyn Pwll Boad, Holyhead." What originally brought on this wretched attack of indestion and dyspepsia — which through lack of the proper remedy became chronic— Mr Roberts does not say, even if he knows. Probably the cause was exposure, and a hasty and irregular habit of eating. At all events he was fortunate in learning of Mother Seigel's Syrup before it was too late. We congratulate him ou this point, and are confident his fraok statement will be of use to others of his honourable and responsible calling. For one, the writer of these lines never lies comfortably back on the cushions of a first-class carriage on the excellent North-Western Railway without hoping (selfish enough, to be sure) that all il well in mind and body with the man who drives the iron horse.