Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-04-14


done WITH" holding up to me thin
leather string, about the size of small
whip-lash, and used by drovers as bel;
around their waist, and also to hopple IN
unruly OK, or to tie the legs of calf.
AS we left the drunken man, the doctor
said; "That brute has crep, up behind the
| Kentuckian, when in the darkness of the
tunnel, and throwing this strap around his
throat, has jerked his head back and
broken his neck at once. The body had
then fallen forward against the door while
the murderer accidentally caught the bell
rope in his drunken grasp, and so
pulled it,"
As we passed the next station threw
off a telegram to our headquarters, asking
for some police to be on hand on my ar
rival, and as we came into the depot a
force of men surrounded the cars, while
we went into it and made the arrest. The
drovers were still sleeping their orgies of
when we entered the dead Kentuclcian ly-
ing in the corner just as we had left him.
We arrested the Missourian on charge of
murder, aud also his friend who sat by
him as an accomplice, as it did not seem
probable that the drunken fellow could
have passed out of his seat and into it
again without awakening his companion.
and testified strongly against the prisoner
as to the quarrel and the threats he had
used, and the doctor swore that the neck
of the murdered man had been broken by
a sudden jerk, and the mark made on his
throat by just such strap or thong as
was found in the grasp of the Missourian.
The prisoner produced good testimony
as to his character, and his counsel fought
bravely for him. He showed that the
thong was in use by every drover, and
that each man in that car had had one or
more on his person. The words he had
heard, "Ill kill him." from the murder
er, meant what he would do and not what
he had done. He showed the Missourian
to be wealthy, of good character, and of a
peaceable disposition, except when in his
cups, but it vas all of no avail, and the
wretched man was sentenced to be hung
in. six weeks from the time of his trial
went to visit him several times in his
condemned cell, and somehow or other
the declarations of innocence the fellow
made to me shook my belief in his guilt,
although had witnessed strongly against
his trial, and at last l found myself fully
confirmed in my new belief OF his entire
innocence. l could see no way to save
him, however, and five weeks of his time
Ou GdTJu udu DJ, anu JtJ GuG LuJb-
terry was as great one as ever.
One morning, about that time, was
running the same train, only as it hap
pened, we had no particular drovers' car.
In the last car was our superintendent, a
tall, lean Yankee, fully six feet two inches
in hight, and of about the same hight as
the murdered Kentuckian.
1t SO happened that he occupied the
same seat as the Kentuckian had done, and
l was also in my old place in the baggage
car. When exactly in the same place in
the tunnel, just when the engineer had
put on steam to carry us through, the bell
rope again ratified, and the engineer whis-
tied for the brakes. Springing to my feet,
| ran to the rear car, firmly persuaded that
now | could solve this mystery. Reach
ing il found the superintendent sitting
back in his seat, and hoisting his hand to
his throat while he gasped for breath.
One or two passengers were attempting to
be of some use to him; but he could only
moan and hold tightly his throat.
AT last he recovered sufficiently to take
his hand away, and then l saw the slight,
livid blue mark which l had seen before,
in most exact similar position on the
neck of the Kentuckian. AS the superin-
tendent got over the shock, he proceeded
to tell US of how he received the mark
and its fearful effects. He had been
asleep, and was awakened by the train en-
tering the tunnel. Half asleep and half
awake he stepped to the car-door and
stood looking, or trying to look through
the door window.
Suddenly, and without any warning, he
felt rope slipped under his throat and at
that moment the engine giving jerk, he
fl,Y.rxx yiraIa int f.f he
car.
The mystery was solved at last. The
train, as | have said, entered the tunnel at
slow rate of speed, and without the use
of steam, the grade at the entrance fore
ing the cars together, and giving them suf-
ficient headway. At this time the bell
rope, which, of course, has to be much
longer than the length of the train when
the cars are close together, to allow of suf-
ficient length when they are drawn out to
the fun extent of the car-couplings, hung
loosely and in festoons through the car,
and both the Kentuckian and our superin-
tendent being tall men, and standing just
where the longest festoon would be, near
the forward door, the rope slipped under
their chins, and the engineer suddenly
putting on steam, the jerk threw them from
their feet, and, as in the case of the drunk
en- Kentuckian, who must, in his drunken
ness, have gone to the door for some pur-
pose, was sufficient to break his neck and
cause death.
carried, myself, to the doomed Nilsson.
rian, the news of his pardon for crime,
by the way, he had never committed But
such is the justice of our laws, and he joy.
fully accepted that solution of the mys-
terry.
Each Christmas I receive from him the
best and fattest of his drove, and he writes
me frequently, congratulating himself on
his escape from the gallows.