Wichita eagle., 1889-05-29
WAS TT MURDER
An English Railway Stokers Ter
rible Adventure.
Chambers Journal

rlDi6 Adventure.
Chambers Journal
have thought IL over and over, and can
not come to any definite conclusion. Was
justified in killing the man? If was,
am a benefactor to some Of my fellow
creatures; II was not, am murderer.
My readers shall have 81 opportunity Of
Judging, and hope their judgment may be
lenient. Sorae years ago was well of,
and received the education and bringingup
OF gentleman; but partly through my
own folly, and partly through unfortunate
speculations, gradually lost all my capt.
tai, and about two years ago l found my
self penniless, and saw starvation grin
ming at me within measurable distance.
Then l determined TO attempt no longer to
keep up appearances, but to try and earn
bare existence in any walk of life that was
open 10 me- After some fruitless efforts
and good deal of the ''hope deferred"
which ''maketh the heart sick,n obtained,
through the kindness of q gentleman con.
nected with the Great Junction railway,
the position OF stoker. ] never was given
TO drink, so that was well enough able to
fulfill the lowIy duties Of my position. /
am now station-master; and it is during
my few hours of leisure that prepare this
corning public.
1t is a great point for stoker to be on
good terms with the engine-driver, and !
generally found little trouble in making
friends with my nearest travelling COM
panion.
On the day when l went through the
most disagreeable experience Of my life, l
was travelling from Padlington to Cow
chester on the well-known--to railway en-
ployes-engfne named pluto" She is
tine outstanding, bold sort of engine and
when IN good temper, does her work right
well. The engine-driver on this occasion
was man named John Morgan. l had not
often travelled with him before only two
or three times, and | never could get on
comfortably with him. He had been many
years in the company's service, and bore
an excellent CHARACTER for steadiness, but
was considered rather taciturn. He seemed
to be always in the sullzs, and was, sup
pose, of a surly temper. Before we started,
he hardly answered any remark ] ad-
dressed to him, and seemed more surly
than usual. Once when I took up a cloth
to brighten one of Pluto's taps, he called
out to me in a savage tone: Let her
alone, can't you. I'll make her travel to-
day without your bothering."
l made him no answer, as l did not see
the good of having quarrel in the small
space we Were confined 10. The tram was
TO start at twelve noon, and before that
time we on the engine were all ready; but
it was a quarter past twelve before we got
the signal TO move There was such a
crowd of people of ell classes on the plat
form that room could hardly be found for
them in the train. However, at last the
head-guard gave US the signal, and Nor
gan turned the handle, and we moved slow
~ and steadily out of the station. When
we got well out into the country Morgan
turned 10 me and said, shortly: more
coal.n
Now, in my opinion, no more coal was
wanted, as there was quite enough in the
fire to keep up the usual speed However,
as a stOker, was only an underling, and
must obey reasonable orders. SO l stocked
as hidden, and then curiOCsly watched to
see if the engine-driver would turn on full
speed. He did nothing of the sort, but
sat with his back to the boiler and began
70 talk to me quite affably. Amongst other
things, he said he was quite tired of this
perpetual travelling, aud that he meant to
look out for wife with little money, and
never set foot on an engine again. There
was nothing at this time peculiar in his
manner, except that he was more talkative
than usual, and he would now and then
turn half-round to the engine and call out:
Get on, old girl, get ont" We had before
US a run Of an hour and half, and by that
time we were due at Blinton, a big junction,
Rt which every train must stop; so we had
plenty Of time to talk.
About an hour after leaving Padlington,
Morgan stopped suddenly in the middle of
sentence, and said: "Wen, l must get to
work now" Then no opened the fire-box
door and called out to me: "More coal"
lexpostulated with him, and pointed out
that we were going at n high rate of speed,
and would not need more coal before Bin
ton; but this seemed to excite him terribly.
''Shovel it I'M" he rOared, with an oath;
SIN going to make her traveln
To paclfy him, took up sbovelful, and
managed to upset good deal Of it before l
reached the fre-boX.
You clumsy foolr' he called out; 'here,
give il to me;n and snatching the shovel
out Of my hands, he cranmed on as much
coal as be could get in.
was beginning TO getalarmed; and look
ing out oven the well-known country-for
j had Travelled that journey many and
many time bef0re-I saw that we were
much nearer to Blinton than we ought to
be at that hour. However, I thought it
did not much matter for the line was sig /
nailed clear in front of US. and the dam
age done was as yet, simply a little
waste OF coal. In few minutes our speed (
increased enormously, and calculated we
We're travelling at the rate of seventy miles F.,
an hour. l thought il was time 10 remou-
strate, and turning to Morgan / noticed (
that the indicator showed full speed 1
called his attention to the fact and begged /
HIM to reduce the speed, or we should run /
into B!inton without beng able to stop.
"Ha, hap he cried in reply. "Stop! I'm /
never going 10 step againl ! told you I'd 4
make her travel, What do you want &c /
stop fori Get on, old wench, get onl"
Then he burst into hideous peal Of laugh |
ter.
a cold sweat OF absolute terror broke |
rut on me as realized the state of things. |
Here was raving maniac, a far |
stronger man than myself, n charge !
of train fun Of people. I oi. my |
lips and clenched my hands. and tr.ei |
60 collect my scattered ideas and decide |
what was best TO be done. Meanwhile
Morgan sat on a rail near the boiler |
Rourishing shovel aud shouting uproar.
iously. The train rushed on with incred-
isls speed. not steadily and evenly. but /