Show v afi FLOYD GIBBONS t r 1 Adventurers Adventurers' Club r f ft f ti sr OJ 1 r R 1 r td 1 V tf JJ Between Two Deaths By FLOYD GIBBONS I Famous Headline Hunter D DID ID you ever h have he e a dream in which you were w walking across a railroad trestle and right when you were in the middle of the bridge without bridge without a ch chance nce of making either cither end end end-a a train came roaring at you and you had to jump I get that dream every time I eat cat lobster before going to bed and every time I wake up tip just before I hit But it actually happened t to Mrs John Fritz and thereby hangs a talc Lets Let's turn back the calendar a a. few years to when Mrs Mm Fritz was eighteen Instead of or the proud grandmother she Is today She lived then In the thriving Ing metropolis of out In Armstrong county Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Penn Penn- sylvania where the sleepy river flows The railroad trestle no longer spans the tite river rIver theres there's theres a footbridge today today but but Mrs Fritz has good reason to remember the old trestle that carried her Into the greatest adventure of ot her life It was one of those simple one track affairs without en even a guard rail rall or path and of or course it was forbidden to cross the thing on foot fooL Mrs Fritz had been hemming sheets for the Hyde Park hotel across the river on the sewing machine her mother had at home and returning with the bundle In a big laundry basket she took tooka a short-cut short across the trestle Her mother told her never to use the trestle but you know how that Is Besides all you had to todo todo todo do was to watch your step and not trip on the ties tics The space between the ties wasn't wide enough to fall through anyway So the future Mrs Irs Fritz stepped blithely on to the railroad tracks and thinking only of the extra GO CO cents she was going to earn she hugged her laundry basket close to her and tripped lightly Uy from tie to tie tic The wind was blowing a gale but she Just ducked her head and went right Into It It Incidentally If the wind had been blowing from In lu back of her this stor story would never have been told because she would have heard the whistle of ot the train coming behind her before It was too tO late Mrs Fritz Does Some R Rapid pid Thinking She was Just about In the middle of oC the bridge many feet above the swollen stream when her heart sud suddenly enly seemed to come right Into her mouth The bridge began to tremble tremble tremble-a a train was already on the structure structure structure ture I 1 Well sir Mrs Fritz says Its It's strange how fast a persons person's mind really works when there Is only a split second between you and sudden death The moment she felt the first quiver of the theold theold theold old wooden beams she made up her mind to Jump Instinctively she says she turned her head to look but had started to Jump even before belore that the that the big locomotive was right on top of herIt herit her herIt her her- It was v one death or the other and the choice was up to herthe herthe her herthe her her- the only question was would she have time to make It Looking back through ugh the years Mrs Fritz says It seemed as though some one else made the decision for her She wa was unable to swim and the river was deep and the current fast and yet et she never ne hesitated She clo closed ed her e eyes ejes es and Jumped I 1 Something tore at her ber shoulder- shoulder she felt a n blast of ot heat she heat she heard the shrieking of ot the brakes as ns the engineer frantically applied them them she she remembers too holding on n like grim death to the laun laundry ry basket as though that could save her her her-a a terrific ter rifle roaring sounded in her ber ears vaguely ears vaguely a thought flashed through her mind that this was the Hum of ot the Universe Universe the the beginning of ot the end 1 All this of course happened in a second It takes longer to tell but the mind works quick when Death Is Just around the tho corner corner or or Just over you and under you as It was with Mrs Fritz Mrs Fritz says sl she e thought thC she had fallen far enough to hit lilt tho the water and she braced herself for the shock She even eyen wondered how It would feel to drown and hel held her ber breath to keep the water out as ns long longas as ns possible Our Heroine Sits Down Very Hard Crash The shock came and what a 0 shock I Mrs Fritz says she thought the top of her head would wC fly right off and her teeth seemed to togo togo too go o a n mile mlle Into her Jaws But Dut there was no water around her she her she almost wished there was a little water to ease the pain she paIn she was dazed but slowly her senses came back and she began to locate the seat sent of or that pain It was right In her well her well I mean the seat of her trouble was In her seat that seat that Is well Is-well well you see boys and girls Mrs Fritz had landed In a sitting position and that's that She opened her eyes and painfully looked around and there she was sitting high and dry above the river on a cross crossbeam beam of the trestle She had hall straddled the big beam benm horseback fashion and was safe Of course the fall fait was somewhat of a shock sh but Mrs Fritz says she was young then and fairly well upholstered and what It If you did have ha to eat your meals of off the mantel for a week or so That was better than getting getting get get- ting killed Above o her on the trestle the train crew sorrowfully searched for the remains The They had found the victims victim's coat hanging on the cow catcher of the engine that engine that was the tearing sensation she felt felt and and they expected the tile worst The engineer leaned over the side and searched tearched the river with tear dimmed eyes Then he nearly fell Into the water In his excitement He brushed the tears from his eyes and cussed with Joy There was the victim sitting nonchalantly on n her beam beam beam-a a little uneasy uneasy un un- un easy perhaps perhaps but but with with her ber basket of laundry In her arms intact I Wow What a close shave sha I Congratulations Mrs Fritz They can never ne kill you No sir ree But Just the same Its It's too bad that you didn't think to get that laundry under you jou OU when you Isn't landed landed Isn't It p Service |