Preaching the Gospel on Railway Trains.
The young man on the front of the engine in the foregoing illustration
was my sister's son. I give here an extract from the account of his
death June 7, 1890, as published at the time in the daily of
Huntington, Ind., where it occurred:
KILLED BY CARS.
A. C. Hoffman, a switchman in the Chicago & Atlantic yards, was
run over and killed this morning.
He was employed at night and about 5 o'clock this morning went to
the coal dock to run down two cars that had been unloaded there.
The track is very much inclined leading from the dock and it
requires that brakes be set very tight. When the cars started
down the track Hoffman ran from the rear end to the front of the
head car to set the brake, but in doing so stubbed his toe and
fell from the car to the middle of the track beneath. The car was
running rapidly and no sooner did he strike the track than a
brake beam of the car struck his right leg near the hip,
fracturing the bones and bruising it otherwise. That threw him
over and the flange of a wheel struck the lower part of his back,
tearing the flesh all off clear to his backbone, exposing it to
sight.
Hoffman was picked up and taken to the Arlington house, where he
boarded, and Dr. L. Severance, the railroad surgeon summoned. He
did all in his power to make the injured man easy and alleviate
his pain, but it was out of the reach of medical skill to save
his life and at about 10 o'clock he died in awful agony.
Hoffman's mother and brother live in Lincoln, Neb., where the
latter is a physician. He also has a sister in Elkhart county,
this state, all of whom have been telegraphed the sad news.
He was a good switchman and more than ordinarily intelligent.
It is a most distressing accident. The young man was here among
strangers and died surrounded by the friends of so short an
acquaintance but who did everything within human power to save
him or make his end one of peace. His injuries were fatal though
and nothing short of death would relieve him.
"ALL ABOARD!" So shout the railroad men, year in and year out, daily,
hourly, their cry is to get on board the train. I often think if we
preachers and mission workers were as faithful in _our_ work to get
people on board the old ship Zion, how many to-day would be en route
for Heaven who are on the broad-gauge rapid transit to the bottomless
pit of destruction. Will we not arise and shine for God as we have
never done before?
Over fifty years ago when I was a small child, I stood at a
flag-station waiting for the train. I was to go alone ON MY FIRST TRIP
by this wonderful mode of travel. It was just the grandest thing to
know I was really to ride on a railroad train--only four miles, yet I
often think of it after these twenty years of constant travel. Have I
ever had such a remarkable experience, going alone, too, and as there
was no station or ticket office, I was obliged to pay my fare on the
train. I had a silver 25-cent piece, and I sat down in the first empty
seat I came to and waited to see what next! Along came a tall man in
uniform and asked where I was going. I told him and handed him my
money. I remember yet how kindly that conductor looked at me,
hesitated a little and then handed me back my quarter, and let me ride
those four miles free. I have never forgotten that act of kindness on
the railroad, and during my pilgrimage I have been shown much kindness
by the railroad officials.
My work among railroad men has been greatly owned and blessed of the
Lord. Many of them saying, "You are the only preacher that ever speaks
to us about our soul's salvation." They often say I remind them of
their mothers who were good Christians.
The following by a railroad man will be of interest and profit to
all, and will doubtless have more weight with his class than anything
I could say here:
TO RAILROAD MEN.
BY ONE OF THEM.
Dear Boys: One time in my life these words came to me: "_Where
will you spend eternity?_" Then and there I turned my back on sin
and "set my face like a flint" toward God and heaven, and cried
to God for Jesus' sake to forgive me; and near the hour of
midnight while kneeling at my bedside I received the witness of
the Spirit that I was saved. Then and there I was "born again"
into newness of life. I was changed from a man of sin to a child
of God, and since then such wonderful joy and peace fills my soul
every minute of the time that I want to tell all of you about it.
Brother, isn't there in your breast at times an awful aching
void? Aren't there times when after trying every pleasure and
amusement the world affords, you just quietly sit down all alone
before God, and realize that it is all in vain? These things
don't satisfy; and there down deep in your heart is a longing
that is never satisfied, a hungering for something that will give
you complete joy and peace, and soul rest. Brother, there is only
one thing that will give you this complete rest, and satisfy
every longing of your heart, and that is salvation from sin.
Jesus died on the cross that you might be free from sin and live
through all the ages of eternity with Him in heaven. "If we
forsake our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." If we do the forsaking He
will do the forgiving, and then through His atoning blood we
become new creatures, and after we have received the clear
witness that we are adopted into the family of God and can truly
call Him Father, if we feel angry at times or have some desire
for the world and the things of it, we can come to Him again and
completely abandon ourselves to Him, our will, our life, our
desires, our time, our talents to be used for His glory, then He
will baptize us with the Holy Ghost and power so that it becomes
a pleasure to do right and all evil becomes distasteful to us. By
the power of the Holy Ghost He cleanses our hearts, and the
Comforter which is the Holy Ghost takes up His abode in us,
sanctifying us, causing us to live pure, holy lives. We railroad
men whose lives are in danger at all times should be prepared to
meet God, for one minute we are here and the next we may be
standing at the judgment bar of God to answer for deeds done here
on earth. Dear reader, are you prepared to do that? If not, make
this the time that you will settle this forever by giving your
heart to God, then if this little flame of life is snuffed out
you will be borne on angel's wings onward and upward through the
gates of pearl, over the golden paved streets of the New
Jerusalem up to the great white throne where you will see Jesus
in all His glory and majesty and hear Him say to you, "Well done,
enter thou into the joy of the Lord."
Let me tell you, brother, when the Lord saved me and gave me such
sweet joy and peace I told Him that I would never use beer or
tobacco in any form, for I knew it was displeasing to Him, for He
says, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you?" (1 Cor. 6:19). "If any man defile the
temple of God, him shall God destroy" (1 Cor. 3:17). "Cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit" (2 Cor.
7:1).
And, brother, perhaps you are a slave to tobacco. Many times you
have felt that it was a dirty, useless, expensive habit, and you
get thoroughly disgusted with it, and perhaps you quit it for a
short time, and then how surprised and disgusted you feel because
you find what an awful hold it has got on you. It is worse than a
spell of sickness to try and quit it, and you soon take it up
again, realizing as you do so that you are harboring something
that is stronger than you are, appetite; and although you are a
strong, robust man you have to admit that it is your master. And
when you go home to meet your mother, wife, sister, you notice
them shrink away from the breath made foul by the poisonous
tobacco. And the times that it almost destroys the taste for
anything else, and you use all the more of it till the
disagreeable "heartburn" warns you that the deadly poisonous
nicotine is eating away at the lining of your stomach, and you
are more disgusted than ever, but you can't quit without
torturing yourself.
Oh, how I loved my beer, plug of tobacco and pipe before I was
saved, but I quit them all--drinking, chewing, smoking, swearing
and all immoral habits, and I would have died before I would have
indulged in any one of them in the least; but the _desire_ was
still there; at times I wanted them. And seven days after I was
saved I was convicted for sanctification or a clean heart. There
were some Holy Ghost Christian people who told me there was a
place I could get in the higher or complete Christian life where
God through Jesus' blood shed without the gate (Heb. 13:12) would
cleanse my heart from everything that was displeasing to Him, and
would so fill it with love and the power of the Holy Ghost that I
would be _completely delivered from all desires that were wrong_,
from anger, malice, pride, love of the world, lust, jealousy,
etc., and take away the appetite for beer and tobacco. I found
God's Word taught it, and believed He was "strong to deliver,"
and that it was God's will, even my sanctification (1 Thes. 4:3).
And I cried to God to give me "a clean heart, and a right
spirit," and he answered my prayer. It was done instantly. I
arose from my knees with a sweet sense of complete deliverance,
and such joy and perfect peace filled my whole being that I
couldn't praise Jesus enough for it. From that moment I have not
had the least desire for those things any more than if I never
had tasted them, and the very smell of beer or tobacco makes me
sick. This is a wonderful, grand deliverance. Now I am as free as
the very air--saved, sanctified, and sweetly kept by the power of
God.
Brother, this is for you if you are willing to give up the
foolishness of the world for Christ. The joy that we have in one
hour in the service of the Lord is far greater than all the
pleasure the world can give in a lifetime. This power of the Holy
Ghost within us, this abiding Comforter fills us with glad
sunshine all the time, and there is constantly a power like "a
wall of fire round about us" warding off all evil.
Oh, it's glorious and grows better and brighter each day.
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchased of God,
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood."
Your fellow brakesman, in Jesus' name,
M. L. ODELL.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
TRANSPORTATION.
People sometimes ask me how I am able to get transportation on the
railroads. Well, in a few words, it is because I pray to the Lord to
have the way open to whatever place He wants me to go, and the
railroad men know me and of my work for suffering humanity, and are
glad to help me in it.
A KIND CONDUCTOR.
On July 17, 1903, I was on my way from Washington, D. C., on an
important journey, and the conductor told me the train I was on did
not stop at Sherwood, and I wanted to know where I should stop to get
another train that would stop there. He told me at Defiance, and when
we reached there I got off the train. Just then the conductor looked
out and called for a porter to "put that lady back on the train." I
was bewildered at this. He again called "put that lady back on the
train." I said, "Isn't this Defiance?" "Yes, but I shall put you off
at Sherwood." Who told that conductor to telegraph to headquarters to
get a permit to stop the train for me? God did it! That conductor will
never know how much his act strengthened my faith in God. Dear reader,
do you ever think of the hardships and dangers through which these
railroad men must pass? We put ourselves in their care without praying
for them. I seldom enter a train without praying God to protect the
railroad men and passengers, and give them His blessing. He does hear
and answer prayer. How often the dear Lord has heard my cries for the
safety of the trains!
Some of my
MOST INTERESTING GOSPEL SERVICES
have been held on railway trains. As I was once leaving Chicago over
the C. & R. I. R. R. at night, a request was made that I should sing
for the passengers. I was conversing with Mrs. Colonel Clark of the
Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago. As she was to soon leave the train I
said I would sing when she had gone. I sang some hymns, and then a
gentleman requested that I should ask all in the car who were
Christians to raise their hands. I did so and quite a number responded
to this, and he then asked all who had raised their hands to give a
word of testimony. He was the first one to speak and said, "I am a
Christian. The last thing before I left my home for Chicago was to
gather my wife and four little children around me and commit them to
God's care and ask for my safe return. I have for years been a stock
dealer and frequently come to Chicago. There is a young man in our
neighborhood who is also a dealer in stock, but being unacquainted
with the ways of the city, he did not like to go alone and as I was a
Christian came with me. When there is an opportunity like this given,
if I did not honor God and show my colors this young man could have no
confidence in me. I speak for his special benefit." He closed with an
exhortation to the unsaved to prepare to meet God and requested me to
sing again. Then one after another arose and spoke. It reminded one of
AN OLD-FASHIONED METHODIST CLASS MEETING. Prayer, testimonies and
singing continued till after midnight. The young stock dealer and
others were saved. Toward morning I fell into a sound sleep. I do not
know how long I slept, but when I awoke the sun was high and our car
was standing alone on the track. A lady passenger spoke to me saying,
"How could you sleep during that wreck?" "What! has anything
happened?" I said. "Yes, a wreck," she replied. The engine and other
cars were gone and they were clearing up the wreck. I heard from that
meeting years afterwards.
One night a meeting was held in the open air for the special benefit
of railroad men. I asked all who wanted to be saved to raise their
hands; then said, "Will you not give your hearts to God now?" One year
from that time while in meeting a man arose and said that he was in
the crowd that night, and raised his hand, and then at once looked to
God and was saved then and there.
TRAIN SAVED FROM WRECK IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
The Lord has often made known to me when the train was in danger. I
could see the plots laid by wicked men to wreck the train, and when I
have prayed, He, in answer to prayer, has delivered us from harm and
death. He says: "The very hairs of your head are all numbered," and "I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee."
At one time I had been in old Mexico and changing cars at El Paso,
Texas, I found a heavy trainload of passengers on the way east. I was
impressed all night of impending peril. I could not sleep, and walked
the floor of the car in silent prayer. I went to the young sister with
me and said, "The train is in great danger, and something will happen
unless the Lord delivers us. The text comes to me so forcibly, 'What,
could ye not watch with me one hour?' Watch and pray!" That night six
train-robbers had determined to wreck and rob the train. They had
stolen six horses and gone to a lonely place uninhabited for miles
about. They bound and gagged the section foreman and his men, then
took the switch-key and threw the switch to wreck the train. When they
saw the train passing on they tried to hail it with their lanterns,
but by some mysterious power of God their lights were put out, so that
the engineer did not see them. Then they tried to board the train but
were unable to succeed. It was a most remarkable occurrence. They
either did not open the switch properly and the train set it back to
its place, or the hand of God closed the switch. The newspapers
published quite an account of this incident, from which source the
above concerning the robbers was obtained, as they were caught and
made confession.
A TRAIN IN DANGER.
In July, 1889, I was on my way from St. Joseph, Missouri, to St.
Louis, having with me a man and his wife. About 1 o'clock in the
morning I awoke with awful fear upon me of some impending danger. I
told my friends that we must pray for God to save the train, and that
no power but God's could avert the coming disaster, whatever it might
be. Still the horror as of death was upon me, and later in the night
the train suddenly stopped. The train men ran out with their lanterns
and found that the engine had become uncoupled from the cars and just
in front of the engine was a pile of iron. The iron rails of the track
were set so that a wreck would have been the result if God had not
interposed. God thwarted the well-laid plans that had been made to
wreck and rob the train. This was in a lonely place where no help was
near, and the robbers would have the best of chances to rob the train.
On our return west a similar terror came upon me and I said, "Pray for
this train, or something will happen to it before we reach St. Joe." I
was terrified all day. Just as the train stopped at the depot our car
was wrecked. The front wheels of the car were turned around crosswise
of the track, tearing up the planks, rails and earth. Such a queer
looking wreck, and apparently no reason for it! Yet we had been
brought in safety to our journey's end and no one was injured.
IMPRESSED TO LEAVE THE TRAIN.
At another time after preaching at Canon City prison in Colorado, we
had our baggage checked to Leadville in the same state. We held
meetings on the train and some were moved to tears. When the engine
whistled for Salida a dreadful feeling of fear and terror overtook me.
Something seemed to say to me, "_Get off the train_." I felt it was a
command from the Lord. I told the friends who were with me what the
words of the Lord were, and said that we must leave the train. We
hurriedly left the train without waiting for another warning. I looked
after the train as it moved away and said, "I wonder why I had to
leave that train. Perhaps not till the judgment will I know." We went
on the street and held an open air meeting, and some one invited us to
hold a service that night in a church. We did so, and God poured out
his Spirit on the people. After the meeting we went out and visited
the saloons, and spoke to many about their souls. At about 11 o'clock
at night we returned to the depot and I asked the agent what time the
next train would leave for Leadville. He said, "I don't know. The
train you got off from was terribly wrecked twelve miles up the road.
The east-bound train crashed into it, and I have sent out two wrecking
trains already." I told him of my presentiment of danger, and how God
had impressed me to leave that train. He asked me to come into the
office and explain my impressions and talk to him. We did so, and
about 3 o'clock in the morning the wrecked train backed down to the
depot where we were waiting and we again got aboard. I told the
passengers as they looked at me as I came into the car, "The Lord
warned me of the danger and impressed me to get off the train." I have
taken the Lord as my guide all these years and He has never forsaken
me.
A TELEGRAM RECEIVED.
Waiting for a train where I changed cars I was invited to sit in the
ticket office, as the waiting room was uncomfortable. I was writing at
the agent's desk when he handed me a telegram, saying, "I think this
is intended for you, Mother." It was an announcement of the death of
one of my brothers, and was being sent to another town, having to be
transferred here, and the agent seeing my name handed it to me. I
could see the hand of God in this.
HELPED TO CARE FOR WOUNDED MAN.
Once on my way from Burlington to Ft. Madison, Ia., I told the
conductor I was impressed to go on that special train. When we were
about a mile out of the city, the engine accidentally struck a man and
hurt him badly. The man was put into the baggage car and as there were
no seats, I stood behind him and held his head, and after we had gone
twelve miles, warm water was secured and I washed the blood from his
head and cared for him until we arrived at the station, when they took
him to the jail, there being no other place for him, and there I
helped the doctor dress his wounds. Then I knew why I was impressed to
go on that train.
CONDUCTOR'S GOD BLESS YOU.
Once the conductor on a train said to me so kindly, as he assisted me
from the train, "God bless you; let your good work go on. I gave the
tracts you gave me to the trainmen--they needed them." How this
cheered me, for I had tried to preach to them on the train, and I
feared the scoffs or reproof of the railroad officials. How I do long
to help and encourage the railroad men--they are so loyal and
faithful, and have so much to contend with in their work. "Be not
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
A WOMAN'S FAITH ENCOURAGED.
On the way from Philadelphia to New York I was one day led to pass
quietly through the car giving out tracts. After seating myself, a
lady came and asked if she might speak with me about the work I was
doing. She said, "If I only knew God could and would heal a person
whose mind was shattered, I would give all that I possess. I am
troubled about my daughter's grieving over the death of her husband."
I told her God never fails to perform his miracles when we fully
believe and accept God's way of healing the body and soul. She seemed
much blessed and encouraged and kindly invited me to her home. "As ye
go, preach." How glad she was to find some one who would tell her
about salvation. She was a wealthy lady, as I afterward learned. We
became fast friends and she learned of healing in answer to "the
prayer of faith."
RIDING IN PARLOR CAR.
Leaving the Indian School in Indian Territory on one of the coldest
mornings I ever experienced, myself and sisters were driven by two
young Indian boys to a flag station. We were wrapped in warm blankets
and hurried to the railroad. We were in danger of freezing, as the
train was long delayed on account of the blizzard and snow drifts, and
we sought the only place of shelter--a freight car in which the
section foreman and his wife lived, where we shivered with the cold
until the train came in sight.
We were compelled to stop in the parlor car (a luxury that I never
indulge in) as platforms of the other cars were too icy to pass from
one car to another while the train was in motion. We were much
blessed, and I began singing, and praising the Lord. When the train
came to a station, we arose to go into the other car, but a gentleman
passenger called to the conductor and said: "How much is the fare for
these ladies to remain in this car?" He and his companion paid the
amount required and we were permitted to ride in the parlor car to
Topeka, Kansas.
My soul was so blessed that I felt I must go into the other cars and
hold services. We were invited to go to the diner with friends. When
we arrived at the station where dinner was served, one after another
of the passengers handed me some money. When we came in from dinner I
knelt down in the car, and was praying in silence, thanking God for
what He had given us, when I felt someone crush some paper in my
hands. I looked to see what it was and found it was a ten dollar bill,
given by the two gentlemen who had paid our fare in the parlor car. Of
course I was greatly surprised, and as Sister Taylor was kneeling by
my side, I said, "Sister, this must be in answer to your prayer. Did
you pray for money?" She said "Yes, I prayed for hours last night." I
said, "Why you should have been praying for souls." She answered, "I
knew you needed money, and no one was giving it to you." Thus God
hears and answers prayers and provides for the needs of his little
ones.
I give below a letter received from one of the gentlemen who gave us
the ten dollars who was a prominent business man in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania:
Pittsburg, Pa., March 25, 1899.
Mrs. E. R. Wheaton, Tabor, Iowa.
My Dear Madam: Your card of the 18th duly received and I was glad
to hear from you and to have your good wishes, but was especially
grateful for your prayers, for I believe in prayer. Do you
realize how much a busy man needs the prayers of God's people?
Brother M., my companion whom you met last fall in Indian
Territory, is well and I know will be glad to hear from you. I
will see him next week, D. V.
If you pass through our city on your trip East, and I know of it,
would gladly call upon you.
With best wishes for your welfare, and Mrs. Taylor's, too, I am,
Very truly your friend,
T. M. N.
The following brief extract is from a report of a service on the train
as we were in company with a number of delegates on their way to the
Convocation of Prayer at Baltimore, in January, 1903:
We left Indianapolis at 3:05 p. m., Monday. After we started
Mother Wheaton, who was with us, started up a song, then went to
the front of the car, and standing in the aisle she began
preaching to the people. She moved down the aisle still
preaching, taking about ten minutes to come through the car. This
she did several times, then went through the dining and palace
cars. As she told of her prison work, how God could save
criminals, we could see tears come into the eyes of the
passengers. A U. S. marshal sitting near us became much affected,
and made inquiry of Brother S. B. Shaw who the woman was, and
said he knew what she said was true, and said he desired to be
saved. A wealthy Mexican on the train, whose wife had recently
died while he was on a trip to Europe, was also brought under
conviction, and would have Sister Wheaton take dinner in the
dining car; also had Sisters Wheaton and Shaw take a berth in the
sleeper at his expense. I must not forget to tell you that
Brother Shaw gave us an excellent talk standing in the aisle of
the car.
FAVOR THE R. R. CO.
I sometimes have an opportunity to do a kindness for the R. R. Co., in
return for the many favors they do for me. At one time I reached the
railroad station at Fort Worth, Texas, before my train arrived. While
we were waiting for a Santa Fe train, an old lady who was evidently
not in her right mind and who had been sent by friends to go alone to
other friends who lived at a distance, of her own accord tried to
climb over one train to get to another and was injured. The injury was
caused by her own mental condition and through no fault of the
railroad men.
Before she left us, I wrote a little message of love and put it into
her hand bag with my name and address on it. In a few days I received
the following letter from her attorneys.
Fort Worth, Tex., November 21, 1898.
Mrs. E. R. Wheaton, Tabor, Iowa.
Dear Madam: We conclude from a kind and sympathetic letter you
wrote to Mrs. Harper, the old lady who fell from the platform at
the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway depot at Fort Worth, Tex.,
on Friday night, the 11th day of November, that you likely saw
the old lady fall. And perhaps you can tell us how she came to
fall and who else saw her when she fell. Mrs. Harper has employed
us to sue the railroad company for said injuries. She claims that
she walked off of the platform where there were no railings and
fell between two freight cars left standing on the track, left so
far apart that she could see the railroad car she wanted to board
between said opening so left. Will you please write us all you
know about the matter, and who else saw it, if any one, and where
such person or persons live if you know. By doing so you will
greatly oblige,
Yours truly,
WYNNE, MCCART & BOWLIN.
In reply I assured them that it would be utterly unjust to bring suit
against the railroad company--giving them the facts as far and as
fully as I knew them. I learned later that this ended the contemplated
suit.