The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-02-22

'
land I'll not sign any receipt of yours for
it either"
"Then III stay here till Clark gets in
sight," said Murphy.
White had the orders and had showed
them down in his pocket, and now, fairly
ablaze with wrath, was abusing Murphy
to the top of his bent. After nearly 10
minutes of heated wrangle White finally
signed the paper rendered by Murphy and
the latter signaled his engineer to go ahead,
leaving White standing by the side of his
train, still cursing him for laying him out
He caught on the front end of his ca
boose ms it pulled past him, and going
through the car and opening the rear door
he saw Whites train moving out on the
main track.
The sight for moment paralyzed him.
Was White crazy? No. In his TRANSPORT
of rage he had forgotten the order entirely
and was now facing certain destruction
This thought entered Murphy's head in
an instant: He will have to close that
switch-maybe can catch him yet.
He dropped to the ground from his now
rapidly moving train, shouting to his rear
brakeman on top of the caboose to back
up for him, and started Oh run to try
to catch Whites train.
Too late. Though he ran like q racer,
the excursion train WAS on the main track,
the switch set up and White himself, on
the rear platform of the coach, signaling
ahead with the bell cord, turned and shook
his fist at Murphy.
A collision was inevitable, and Just as
Murphy's train backed up and stopped he
heard one call for brakes, then an awful
crash In the woods just around the curve.
The excursion train, crowded to its full
capacity with human freight had met the
second section OF 10.
Murphy uncoupled his engine and leav.
ing his train OH the main truck, run
through the side track and down the hill
10 give his assistance at the wreck.
1t was horrible sight Both trains were
running Mt high speed and the wreck was
almost complete, and under the massive
boiler of the big passenger engine lny En-
gan, her engineer, MI unrecogniZn BILE mass
OF flesh and broken bones. Others were
in the debris of the wrecked coaches, and
as body after body was taken ont and laid
on the grassy bank beside the track the
more serious became the muttcrings of the
uninjured negroes.
Murphy was working with all the
strength he possessed trying to extricatc
the dead and wounded victims of his
brother conductors cnrclcssness when Il
big black hand was laid OH his shoulder,
and negros voice asked:
Boss, is you tic mans 'sponsiblo fur
disY"
The little conductor, recalling former
experience Of almost the same kind, turn
ed pale, but vigorously denied connection
with it.
WHATS dem orders see you all glib
Cap'n Whitc3 Dcy had somelin to do
bout dis"
Murphy tried his hest to explain, but the
Negroes intellect WAS unable to grasp the
meaning of the order, and then from out
the crowd that had collected another voice
was heard saying:
dis yer's dc second time dat mans
done dat same thing. He done run dat
wuk train las summer when g many OBJ
de boys was killed. Right yer's whar dey
hit together too''
1t was enough.
Murphy. alone and unarmed, in the mob
OF negroes, was to pay with his life for an
other mans carelessness.
No one had seen Howell since the COLI
sion occurred. Clark, the conductor of
the wrecked freight train, as soon rs he
had seen the magnitude of the disaster
had started on run to p, two miles
away, for help, and his brakeman as well
as the men of Murphy's crew, noting the
angry and excited gestures of the negroes,
"a they gathered around their conductor.
small number had taken the engine to
Sand Cut, hoping there to get reinforce
ments and return in time.
bcllcord from one of the coaches was
thrown over the limb of tree, and the
moose was fastened about the neck of the
seemingly doomed man when the switch
engine from P turned the curve haul
ing coach crowded to the doors with the
company's employees
Ellis knew the temper of these people in
cases of this kind, and he had come pre-
pared to fight If necessary. to protect the
innocent or to bring to legal Justice the
man who was at fault.
They were only just in time. One min
ute more and Murphy would have tasted
hemp. Even now the negroes were loath to
give up their intended victim, but the ar-
rival OF the engine from Sand Cut with
her tender crowded with men settled it.
The rope was removed, and under n pledge
from Mr. Ellis that lie should be tried by
law they returned to the care of the dead
and wounded.
Eleven were killed and over 80 wound
ed, and the cToner's jury, in an inquest
on the dead, placed the blame where it be.
longed-on White, the conductor of the ex-
cursion. Only Whites signature to the re-
ceipt for the order saved Murphy. Later
in the year the grand jury found an in
dictment against White for criminal care
lessness, but no one ever saw him in that
part OF the country again, SO he was never
brought to trial
The incident of the above story is an alb
solute truth, and one of the principal nc
tors in it is now in the employ of n rail
road in Atlanta. The accident happened
on northern road in June, 1888. The
names used are oil fictitious.-A. NJ.
Strong in Atlanta Constitution.