Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-12
The Lives Of q Train Load Of Passengers
Imperlsd.
NARROW ESCAPE OF The OPERATOR,
The Explosives Similar TO Those Used by
ths Anarchists
A FREIGHT TRAIN ALSO DERAILED.
The Railway Officials and POica EH-
cited.

afresh. this time in a new and dangerous
manner. The latest method is the use OF
explosives and an attempt to destroy the
property of the company which might
have involved the loss of life. A few mo-
ments before Il O'Clock last night James
Calvin, the night operator, was sitting In
the signal tower of the Lake Shore Com
pany at the intersection of the
main and stock yards tracks. The
tower ia thirty feet high, and IN
:. :, waaL;-~-- L,--L:eL A. ---I~L--, SO
nails and gates fora long distance along the
line of the road are turned. Calvin was
alone in in the top OF the tower and had
noticed nothing unusual, when he wuS sud
denly startled by seeing column Ofsmoke
arise ut one side of the structure. 1t was
bright moonlight, so that he was aware of
the nature of the cloud in an instant, and
a moment later his little room was COM
pletely filled with a binding smoke which
almost suffocated him. Calvin started to
rush down the stairs to investigate the
cause OF the unusual phenomena. As ne
reached the landing below
A DEEPENING EXPLOSION
took place. At that moment Calvin saw
the figure of a tall, slender man dart away
from the building, The man ran west
toward the stock yards, and WAS lost IN
the labyrinth of cars which cover the
tracks. When the explosion occurred
Calvin was thrown to the ground with ex-
treme forces and his hat was blown through
a window. Such was the force Of the eN-
plOsiOn that a number of tools were lifted
from the floor and crashed through the
window. Calvin did not lose conscious
ness, and after pulling himself together
rushed out ON the tracks.
Officers O'DOnOyan and CASTILLO were on
guard at the time ut the Root street cross
ing. They heard the defamation, and ran
toward the tower, where they found Cal
win, terribly frightened.
THE BOMB FOUND.
Then a search of the tower was made and
it was rewarded by Intending of a twenty
inch piece Of shattered gas pipe. Close TO
it was a package Of something which had
been soaked in some kind OF dark liquid.
Smoke was coming from il and bright
sparks were thrown OIL. A bottle contain
any what is supposed TO be an acid was
picked up near by. The door OF the signal
tower was aiar and the dangerous eNplO-
Sive had been thrown ont on to the floor,
The explosion shattered all the glass front
Of the house. In the cellars are the bat
teries used for the electric signals. There
were 100 battery cells in the room, and
Of these "a were broken. Not only this,
but the pneumatic tubes, also used in the
signalling, were torn and twisted, and the
whole system was utterly ruined. II will
take thousands of dollars to repair the
damage.
When daylight came another search was
made for
MORE Explosives.
There il u little shed at the rear Of the
tower. I'm this a small bundle, supposed
to contain another explosive, was picked
up. 1t WAS wrapped in paper and tied
with a black cord. 1t was soaked in some
substance. and was laid in a mattress. The
police were afraid to open 1t, and II was
removed 10 the Town Hall. Calvin had
only been in charge OF the tower 4 little
while, having relieved VIM. NeXiDS.
What makes the attempt more dastardly
is the fact that the outward bound paSsen-
.-. .-,,,, n ~ xaar .Ntra NJ tho NnVrn - fay
minutes after the explosion occurred. The
the theory of the police Is that that the
wrcckers hoped To blow up the tower, and
when the passenger train came along to
throw u switch and thus the train would
have plunged into the mass OF ears that
lined the side tracks. The explosion
would have done greater damage had the
door been closed after the package was
ignited.
There We're also
OTHER ATTEMPTS
at destroying property on the Lake Shore
road last night, one of which was success
full. the other resulting in the arrest of the
man concerned in the affair. About :
O'Clock last night the Lake Shore road re-
ceiyed from the Illinois Central a train of
t~wenty-eight cars. While these were be-
ing taken over the Root street crossing, a
switch was thrown after about half the
ears had passed, causing general wreck.
Fifteen of the carS were derailed, and al
though no loss of life or serious damage re-
suited, the contents of the ears were badly
shaken up.
ARRESTED On SUSPICION.
About midnight John Fagin, AL ex-
switchman Of the Lake Shore road, wa ar
rested at FOrty-Ihird street Just rs he was
about, it is charged, TO throw a switch,
with the purpose of derailing q train drawn
by engine No 532. The arrest of Fagin
was made by one of the PinkertOn officers,
who are still guarding the Lake Shore
tracks ut that point, the prisoner being
taken to the Harrison station and locked
up. Fagin was seen in his cell this morn
ing. His explanation of the affair is rs
follows: In company with "a man named
Murphy, who is also an eN-Lake Shore
Switchman, he WAS walking along the
tracks, and claims that neither of them
noticed the approaching freight train until
il was so close TO them that they were sep
arated by il. lie says that when arrested
by the PinkertOn officer he was looking
under the train, as it passed by, to see if
any harm had came to Murphy,
The Lake Shore officials, when they
heard of the attempt to blow up the signal
tower, were
GREATLY EXERCISED.
Superintendent AmSden Immediately went
10 FOrtieth street to make investigations.
Nhe officers of the road knew nothing Of
circumstances except what they heard
Irom meagre reports.
w. ii. Mcintosh, Chief of the detective
force OF the company, this morning said
that up TO yesterday the attempts to de-
stroy the property of the company had
been confined to points at some distance
north and south of the ~Forty-third street
yards. The pOlieeh had confined themselves
TO q surveillance OF the points at which
these attacks had been made and the signal
tower had been left entirely unprotected.
Mr.. Mcintosh further said that he was sure
he knew who committed the outrage last
night, and that he would have them all
under arrest within Is hours. He has sent
out all the available men under his super
vision and n Hefarmfpa1 aAr,r&4o ,o~-ok,-l