HE TREMBLED AS HE VIEWED HIS WORK.
By E. Hilliard
Not long since I was making my way from the depot in the little village of Staples, Minnesota, to the house of a friend, where I was to remain overnight. It was in the evening, and quite dark. I had to cross the Duluth branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. As I neared the crossing, I noticed a crowd of men that had gathered, some of whom had lanterns, and they seemed to be searching as for something lost. Upon arriving at the spot, I noticed a pair of bobsleds, the forward one of which was crushed beneath the wheels of a flat car. As one of the men bearing a lantern passed on a little, I saw a horse lying upon the track with his foot cut nearly off. It was dangling from the leg by a piece of the skin. A man struck it several blows in the head with a heavy sledge, which put it out of its misery. I then turned back with the crowd that passed around the sleighs, and followed them a rod or so down the track. I never shall forget the terrible sight that met my eyes. Close beside the track lay a man. A part of the skull bone was severed from the head, scraped clean, and was lying by the side of the rail. It very much resembled a tea-saucer lying right side up. The brains were strewn in a straight line from the rail to his head. A man in the crowd remarked: “I would rather have given twenty-five dollars than to have seen the awful sight. It makes me tremble in the knees.” I learned afterward that the man who made the remark was a saloon keeper. After learning the particulars that occasioned the man’s death, I did not wonder that the saloon keeper felt and spoke as he did. It appears that the man who was killed was just leaving the village for his home. A stranger asked him if he could ride out with him. He gave consent, and they were soon on their way. The stranger, who gave me the particulars, said as855they neared the crossing, he saw the switch engine backing down some cars, and that they could not safely cross the track. He asked the man to stop his team, but the driver was drunk; his request was met with an oath, and the whip applied to the team, which resulted as stated above. The stranger escaped with a slight injury. The saloon keeper who said the sight made him tremble, doubtless knew that some of the liquor that caused the fatal accident was drunk at his bar. If that terrible sight of one victim made him tremble, how awful will be the feeling when all the victims of the saloons are gathered at the judgment seat of Christ, and the liquor dealers made to look upon the fruit of their work! “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken.” Hab. 2:15.