Mad Erik

Pale, pop-eyed Erik Berggreen stood at the bar of a Swedish court last week charged with robbery, to wit: the theft of a number of watches, pieces of jewelry. As the evidence was reported, Swedish travelers for the past six months on the crack Norrland Express, between Stockholm and Narvik in Norway, tingled at the thought that they had been riding on a train driven not only by a thief, but by a madman.

In the witness stand last week appeared the hesitant fireman of the Norrland Express. Grudgingly he admitted that he had known for a long time that Engineer Erik was epileptic, had maniacal tendencies. First inkling of Erik's madness, said the fireman, came one night when the Norrland Express ran full speed into a herd of reindeer that had gathered on the track. Said the fireman:

"I jumped out with my knife to put the wounded deer out of misery* and called to Berggreen to come and help me. In a fit of rage he swung his big knife and said he was going to kill me first. I was too frightened to report the case."

The frightened fireman told of night after night when passengers of the Norrland Express roared north, wholly ignorant of the fact that mad Engineer Erik was rolling on the floor of the engine cab in an epileptic fit.

* Reported a Stockholm correspondent: "Flocks of reindeer often meet trains in the northern districts. The train personnel carries knives to kill the injured deer."

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