Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-12-06
ON THE TRAIL.

| I am a police superintendent il
a large iron-making town Of Eng
land, and for upwards of twenty
years have had the care Of a pop
ulous colliery district. The pecu
liar avocations of the people sup
Iply ample disguise for criminals il
hiding. Who would look for a run
away clerk in the black face an(
coal stained garments of collier
or in the guise of a laborer in the
iron she'd? 1t may be assumed
! therefore, that many a strange in
cident has come under my notice
in the course of so long service
and some of these / may occasion
ally present to the public. One
in particular I remember we'll, as
practically illustrating a remark
made in the Times on the convic.
ton of Muller, that crimes of a
conspicuous character are general
ly committed by the class that is
least suspected. o ! was called one
evening to quell a disturbance be.
tween several colliers and party
| of Irishmen.- The colliers, it ap
pears, maddened with drink, had
assailed the latter, driven them In
to a dwelling, and would speedily
have killed one or more, but for
the opportune arrival of the po-
lice. The night afterwards, re,
ceived note from the railway
authorities that a coal-train had
been thrown off the line by some
miscreant or other, who had placed
sleepers along the rails. Know
ing that colliers working at dis
tance invariably returned by these
trains, and remembering the strug-
gle of the night before, | at once
concluded this to be an attempt at
Irish revenge, and pursued my in
vestigations accordingly.
A few nights after, another
coal-train was thrown off the rails
as, in the former case, however,
without harm to the men; but
this second attempt spurred me
on, SO that certain suspected per-
sons were speedily in custody.
But | soon found that these were
not "my men," 1t is useless for
me to expatiate on the unerring
signs by which innocence invaria-
bly, asserts itself. The Irishmen
were violent in their cups, but
most certainly incapable of the
atrocious act of which they were
accused.
Scarcely had week. passed
when the whole neighborhood was
thrilled with horror. Alta distance
of twelve miles from the town
where | live, there was another
town, to which our tradesmen re-
sorted in numbers every Wednes-
day to market. In the evening,
the last train, as usual bore its
numerous passengers to their
homes. 1t was summertime,
and merrily dashed along the rug
ged bank of a mountain-river,
winding in amongst the hills.
But soon the picture was changed; |;
turning curve in full career, the
engine left the rails, and cutting
deeply into the embankment, rolled
on its side, fortunately having con-
tinued just a sufficient time in
progress to break the shock of the
carriages, There was an awful
cry of lamentation, a wild medley,
a hurried scene, men and women
seeking to Chamber through the
opening above the locked doors,
too intent on personal safety to
think of anything else. Most
were bruised, and all were fright
ened. While messengers were dis
patched to the nearest station, 9TH
ers searched along the route for
the cause OF the mishap. 1t was
soon found. The scene of the ac-
cident was a curve. and the a'aat
nearest to the y1oer had been tfolca-
bly gemoced. The miscreant-ior
it was soon seen that williams
hand had been there-had tortu-
nately been ignorant of mechanics.
He had taken up the rail by the
rayine-sor | have omitted TO ~ men- 7.
ton that there was a steep prec,-
Ippice at this point-and naturally
thought that the train, With Its
load of human life, would have
tumbled over. { The rail next to
the river was the ''safe" one, and
a., al q 1oy. m