Back to more positive suggestions, I've been googling (Google-- my prosthetic memory) for the name of a story and an anthology. The story I was thinking of is The Man Who Came Early-- which is in this anthology available for free on archive.org
http://www.archive.org/details/bestf...tasya008838mbp
The collection is The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Time-Trav...dp/0345460944/
http://www.ebooks.com/ebooks/book_di...asp?IID=210384
Which made me think of The Flight of the Horse:
http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Horse-L...dp/0345334183/