Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1888-10-23
How the Railroad Attorney Set
tied with an Orphan.

Five conductors. delegate. TO the
grand convention. nov in session. were
in the private office Of Qieen's last
nigh, telling their experiences, says the
Tsu,onis World. Their narations were
Ill interesting. bu, the Que ,ha, clush,
the ear Of the party Was the following.
told by conductor Tom Punehwa,er.
now Of the Chicago & Alton
81 VI. . baggage man then, fourteen
years ago. on the Lake Shore. ! ran
on the through express from Buffalo 10
Chicago. One night. cold one in ear.
ly March. We left Chicago with I've
eo.ehs. filed With passengers. mos, OF
them sIea,ioni.n. 10 my car there
"a. bu, little baggage. bu, among', !,
q corpse checked TO Buffalo. A We
ra,,lsd along. the nigh, dark aud stormy
without, my car dimly lighted within.
didn', feel any too comfortable With cof.
fn In my cat. Some baggage men that
I've known have appeared indihsreu, TO
. corpse In their car; bu, mus, confess
iha, one in my car always unsettled me.
aud made me sleep little for two OF three
night. that followed And this nigh,
especially ! fsl, particularly uneomfor'.
able knew that something dreadful
~oali happen. And sure enough IL did.
In the dim morning light, when We were
within twenty miles or 90 Of Buffalo. We
eollided with freight train. Both were
running a, frish,fal speed. Our train
-s completely wrecked. | found my.
.slf In field sixty yards or more from
the smash. How ! 10, there ] never
knew. But va. unhurt save for few
scratches. Fire broke out aud some Of
the cars bl.rsd up. Bu, a heavy rain
storm came on snd son the flames were
,s,insai,hsd. The people who escaped
did ,hsir be., 20 relieve the unfor,una,s..
"By o'clock in the morning We were
pretty well Strengthened up. The killed
outright numbered seven; the wounded
twenty. Before o'clock . ,pin load
Of doctors and railroad official, were on
the scene. They had come from Buffalo.
"shortly after the Aeeiden, bad been
attracted by the piieoas che. Of a young
woman. one Of the passengers. She
va, bewsilins her father. Her cries
were piercing. oh. where is dadl oh.
where /. my dear dsdr We learned
from her bewailmen,s ,hA, she had los,
her father in the wreck. We searched
N well a. We could and soon after the
arrival Of the doctors aud head officials
We found the body under rny car. i,
was down the embankmen,, where three
cars were piled one above ,hs other. An
old railway lawyer counsel for the road
spoke .oo,hingly to the girl. l,,oo. seem.
ed 10 have an influence over her, and AZ las,
we 20, her eAlmed. Ba, every now aud
then she broke oa, into pAroIysms Of grief.
The old lawyer spoke 70 her about acct
dents, that they eocld no, be helped,
that some were doomed 10 die In bed aud
some a, sea. and some by collision.
,hA, the railroad officials were sorry and
ready to make repAra,ion 10 the be., Of
their ability. The old fellow succeeded
90 well that he al las, 90, her quiet
Ba, could hardly restrain my indIgn..
ton when saw him produce pen aud
ink aud get the young woman to sisn
paper righ, there In the wet for IL Vas
now drrzling. ! knew whaitha, meant.
| had seen il done b'fore aud I've seen
/, done since. lie 20, her signature,
howeysr. aud she got from him a check.
as | snsrward. learned. for $500
lie got from her two railway tiekeis,
fret. ela.. ones thA, she bad 10 her puise
for herself aud father Bat her grief
did no, end easily. The body Of the old
man was put Ia temporary e,fhl and
placed on the relief trAia. The youas
woman went with il, crying al the way.
The old lawyer ordered me 10 accompany
her TO Buffalo. | did as he tod me
need no, sPia the yarn much lonser,
ba, six week, after that was married
70 the girl and sis weeks s,ill later I
was made conductor through the help
Of the old lawyer. Ny wife and lived
happy until her death three years sgo
Ga her deAihbsd she made confession.
'rom.' she .sid. do you remember the
nigh, Of the dreadful collision! told
her yes well, DO You know that the
corpse you had In your car that night
WAS dad, and that he had been killsd ty
a street car In Chicago the day before,
and tha, in the smssh.up he was thrown
ou, Of his eotha and away from its AZ
remember the corpse | recall how
peaceful he looked as We 90, him Gu,
from below the car. You bet | never
,old the old lawyer. aud never think
OF my wife but sl.o think Of the way
the old lawyer ehuekled as he said to
the general manager after be 70, the
girl TO sign: That's = cheap settlement;
In q court we'd have bad to pay $40,
0O0.' | still think he Was not as smart
a. he imagined. | think my wife was
. downright smart woman. like ell the
/ - A.