Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-04-13


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
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, "rll 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 q
peaceable disposition, except when in his
cups, but it was 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 l had witnessed strongly against
his trial, and at last / found myself fully
confirmed in my new belief of his entire
innocence. / could see no way to save
him, however, and five weeks of his time
on earth had rolled by, and yet the mys-
terry was as great one as ever.
One morning, about that time, 1 was
running the same train, only as it hap
pened, we had no particular drovers' car.
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,
l ran to the rear car, firmly persuaded that
now could solve this mystery. Reach
ing it l 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 saw the slight,
livid blue mark which 1 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
was thrown violently into corner of the
car.
The mystery was solved at last. The
train, as have said, entered the tunnel al
slow rate of speed, and without the use
| of steam, the grade at the entrance fore.
ing the cars together, and giving them suf:
fcient 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
fcient length when they are drawn out to
the full 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, neal
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 anG
cause death.
carried, myself, to the doomed Nilsson
rian, the news of his pardon for crime
by the way, he had never committed. Blu
such is the justice of our laws, and he joy
fully accepted that solution of the mys
terry.
Each Christmas receive from him tn,
best and fattest of his drove, and he writes
me frequently, congratulating himself OF
his escape from the gallows.