The Portland daily press., 1880-01-17
sit was the tramp. He stole the bar and

| fore it happened"
The coroner's jury called to consider the
| death of Thomas Starmore and others, killed
| at Barstow's siding on the night of the 18th
| of February, met at the switch-house and
| heard the evidence of the persons who were
| known to have been present at the time of
! the disaster. Even the tramp had been cap
tured. He was seen proWling in the woods
near the line, and had been caught by the
section master and his men. Every
one said the tramp had in his hand another
bar just like the bar found under the train
He admitted having stolen the bar from the
railroad company. He had seen the disaster
from the woods and had run away lest he
he caught. After some time he had come
back to find the bar he had dropped in the
woods in his fight. He had the bar with
| him when caught. He could prove all this,
because the bar was rusty from lying in the
snow.
The reporters of the Centrevile papers
who were present, called Mary Britton TO
| the telegraph that message might be dis
patched. One of them placed paper be-
| fore her.
ga tramp has been found who admits
| having stolen the bar, but it is plain he did
not use it. All the evidence goes to show
| that the engineer wrecked the train out OF
| spite to the president"
| These words Mary Britton sent off by
| wire to the whole United States, while her
| lover sat near, already in the shadow OF adj
vancing calamity. The operators who read
| off the words in distant cities heard every
| word distinctly, little knowing the terrible
| trial under which they were dispatched.
| Never in after life did she forget that mes
| sage.
"Gentlemen,' said the coroner, this case
| seems to warrant me in referring the whole
| matter to the grand jury for further exam
| nation
Weeks passed and then the trial came on
| at the court house a. Centreville. Samson
| Glider had been committed to answer
charge of wilfully wrecking train.
Mary Britton lived years in those few
| weeks. She could not believe that Samson
| had committed so great wrong. Yet ev-
| erything was against him. Track-layers'
| bars were abundant enough. He could east
| lv have found one about the place and with
| it have drawn the spikes from rail. Her
| mini went backward and forward over all
| this, hundred times in search of some
| thing to prove him innocent. She still at
| tended to her duties at the station, sending
and receiving messages. One morning, as
she sat thinking bitterly of the sorrow that
| invaded her life, her eyes fell upon an old
| newspaper under her desk, the Iron Trade
Review. She picked it up, opened it, and
| turned to the second page. All! why had
she forgotten those pictures? Strange black
| figures, etchings of iron, nature printed.
Given this slight clew. her mind leaped to
brave resolve. She would bring science to
loves rescue; how she could not tell. She
had vague idea of what might be done,
and asking her father to attend to the tele-
| graph she ran hastily out on the line, and
down the road toward the village. Stop
ping at certain little house, she found
| girl who was good operator, and at once
hired her to take her place at the station.
Before night she had taken every dollar
she had in the world from the savings bank,
and was on her way to the city. The cars
seemed to drag too slowly. Why had she
| fingered so long and Samson in danger?
| The day of the trial came on. All the tes-
timony that we know, and much OF less i'm
portance had been offered by the prosecu-
ton. The defense set up the previous good
character of the prisoner, and that seemed
all that could be said.
| Mary Britton had given her testimony ear
| ly in the trial; she had more to say, but was
| not ready to speak All the morning she
had sat in the crowded courtroom and
watched the clock, waiting for one brave
defender to come to her assistance. AT the
last moment she spoke to the counsel and
asked for slight delay. There might be
| yet other witnesses. The defence began to
| talk against time, and messenger was sent
to hasten the tagging aid.
The knight arrived pale, thin-faced
young man in glasses appeared and demanded
| to give his testimony. Behind him came
| marvellous array-men with strange tools,
| lanterns of singular construction, bars and
! rods of iron, and number of gentlemen,
who seemed to be prosperous merchants and
manufacturers. There came also an old
German Jew and farmer from Barstow's.
| The young man spoke to Mary Britton with
| INF, dafa { ha tpd wi
him for moment and then presented him
| to Samson's counsel.
| There was a slight murmur of surprise at
| this demonstration, and then Samuel Mayer
was duly sworn. He testified that he was
| an expert in metals, and had examined the
bar found under tho wrecked car, and was
prepared to prove that though it was used
in wrecking the train, it was not the one
purchased by Samson Glider With the per-
mission of the court, he would like to have
| the room darkened that with the aid of a
| lantern he might project some nature
| printed pictures of the iron used in making
| the bar.
The prosecution objected. What scientific
jugglery was this? The old lantern dodg-
| familiar in cases of forgery? The court
| overruled the objection, and the young man
| produced some pieces of cloth, which his
assistan+ ants spread over the windows, till
| the room became quite dark. A gas jet was
! lighted, and in the dim light other men set
up screen and lime-light lantern as for
| lantern projections. In wonderfully short
| time there appeared on the white screen
| strange igure-a cloud or blotch of dark
| ness.
Samuel Mayer then testified that at the
request of Miss Britton he had planned one
side of each of the two bars till smooth
| surface had been obtained. A portion of
this surface on each bar had been etched
with acid, and from this etching had been
obtained nature printed copies or prints in
ink. This well-known method CT etching
gave prints showing the disposition OF the
particles of the metal and also its quality.
These etchings, and number OF others
taken from other bars and rods made by the
different iron makers of the country, had
been photographed for lantern projections,
and with the permission of the court, some
of these would be exhibited to the jury.
The projection now ON the screen was from
the bar purchased by Glider and stolen by
the tramp.
Every eye was fixed on the singular pic
ture on the screen, and murmur OF APP
plause filled the room. Suddenly the picture
was removed and another put in its place.
1t did not require much attention to show
that this represented an entirely different
sort of metal.
''Ths, gentlemen" said the young man,
sis a nature printed etching from the iron
bar found under the car. have compared
these two etchings with number of others
obtained in the same way, from bars made
by all the iron men in the country, and [
find this ore corresponds exactly with the
Moorlow Iron company's metal. My assist
ants will place sample of the company's
iron beside this.''
At once another picture sprang up beside
the one on the screen. The two were alike.
Another witness took the stand-the presi-
dent of the Moorlow Iron company. He tes-
titled to the facts of the experiments and to
the results that had been obtained.
Another witness was called-the buyer Of
the railroad company. He said that the
railroad company had never used the Moor
low company's iron. The bar Glider bought
had been obtained of Ross, Duncan & Co.,
of Pittsburg, from whom the railroad bought
all its tools.
Another etching was projected, then an
other The two were exactly alike.
''The picture on the right" said Mayer,
sis Ross t& Duncan iron That on the left