The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-14
MYSTERY OF A CAR-ROOF

At the Railroad house, last evening,
says a Pueblo correspondent of the
New York San, Cor. Ferguson, an old
brakeman, took his turn as q story
teller in a crowd of railroad men as
follows:
You've all heard of Tom Farrelly,
who used to run on the Rio Grande.
Well, he told mo yarn one night,
about a month before no was killed,
that will remember as long as l live.
He was on freight going west, and
when about ten miles the other side of
Wagner he went on top of the train to
set some brakes for the grade there.
The night was dark and chilly, but he
ran along the cars until finally, in the
middle Of one of them, he stumbled
over something and came very near fall
ing off the train. Gathering himself
up as quickly as possible, he leaned
over and found q human body, still
warm, but evidently dead. He had no
lantern with him, but, running back to
the caboose, he got light, and, call
ing on the other boys to follow, he led
the way back again, almost breathless
with alarm. When he had got to the
car where he had seen the body he
stOppcu, luuhou saUanSiy alvuilu, "a
amined one or two cars ahead, came
back again, and in reply to the incred-
ulous remarks of his companions, pro-
tested that he had seen and felt q body,
but that it was now gone. Nobody
could explain the mystery. and Farrell
ly said he could see that they thought
he was little off. When he got back
to the caboose he told them all about
the matter, and the next morning they
examined the cars and found half q
dozen blood stains on the car designa-
ted. On the way back the boys all
kept u lookout when they passed the
place where the body had disappeared,
but nothing was to be seen. About
three miles this side of that point fell
low signaled the train and was taken
on. He had little to say, and on ar
irving at tho switch at Wagner he got
off and walked away.
1.-TWO nights later, on their trip
down the road, Tom went out again as
usual at the grade, and just as he was
setting brake he saw on the next car
ahead of him q dark figure crouching
over something lying on the roof. Tom
got scared, but his experience of few
evenings before had made him ugly.
and, drawing q revolver quickly, he
yelled out:
"'Who are your What have you got
therep'
Quicker than / can tell 1t, some
thing shot Off the side of the car, and
the man who had been bending low
breathed curse between his set teeth
and jumped from the train, which was
going at very moderate rate. Tom
ran back, firing his revolver as he did
so, until every chamber was empty, be-
ing responded to once or twice by the
figure that had been left behind. The
conductor stopped the train ct the foot
of the grade, but as he had to make
time it was deemed impossible to in
stitute search.
After that Farrelly got all sorts of
ideas and notions, and for long time
he would not take his run. He tried
In various ways to get change of,
but, failing in this, he told me the
whole story one night, and said he was
going back on his old run, and that II
anything happened to him could have
some sort of an idea what 1t was.
did not hear anything from him after
that until l was told that he had been
killed. and then thought Of his story.
"'Where did 1t happenr l asked.
"'Down on the grade the other side
of - was the reply.
"sHowp'
"'Nobody knows, except It Is sup
posed that he slipped while setting the
brake, and fell between the cars"
81 made up my mind that would
look into tho matter, and telegraphed
them to hold the body until l got there.
found poor Tom sadly cut up, but on
examining the remains found small
red mark In his back just under the
left shoulder-blade, and / pointed It
out with the remark that that was a
bullet wound. But the relatives would
not believe II. We didn't have every
facility for detecting crime in those
days that we have now, and though
nothing was done about 1t knew that
Farrelly had been murdered.
"Three months after that we got o
party of officers to take the Job, but,
though they discovered some suspi-
ClOuS slSuS I'LL tho fiCiulLy VI tu0 STduc,
nothing ever camo Of It. My own
theory Is that Tom caught some chap.
probably greaser, who was making
off with couple Of his victims, and
that 1t was the mans intention to get
them out on the road ways and bury
them In the sand or gravel somewhere.
I found out that the train stood on the
siding the other side of Wagner
awhile, and that 1t would be compare
lively easy for man to carry anything
to the top before the train started and
then jump off when tho grade was
reached. We looked over the ground
pretty well. but 1t was impossible to
tell one spot from another. The earth
was SO dry and soft everywhere that o
hundred men might have been buried
there, and with the earth smoothed
over little the place would have
looked natural enough. ! never doubt
ed that Farrelly was murdered, but I
couldn't make anybody else believe it. "
Ed Gillian, who has been on the road
since It was first opened said: II never