The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-05-08

stepped forward.
"You see how it is, sirG / must obey
orders Put on the nippers, Perkins.
Perkins, with the dizziness OF long
practice, slipped the handouts on the
managers wrists and snapped them
there, before that gentleman rightly
understood what was happening.
you'll suffer for this, my meu."
said the enraged Mr.. Skeggs.
evil you order your carriage, sir
or do you prefer to walk down townG"
The general manager rang and or
dered the carriage.
He slept that night in a cell, all bail
being refused. He tried to bride the
authorities, but all these incidents hap
.pened in a country where money is
powerless to interfere with the ends OF
justice.
When his trial came off, there was
a tremendous array of legal talent on
the side of the prisoner. Celebrated
lawyers from the metropolis and local
counsel of the highest order defended
him. It was shown that, whoever was
responsible for the much regretted &C
cident, George L. Skeggs was as limo
cent as a lamb.
The operator had been at fault, and
the engineer had been reckless, SO they
were the guilty persons. The one had
disappeared and the other had been
killed, SO it was quite safe to lay the
blame on either. The block system
was conclusively shown to be en- un-
workable scheme, used only in be-
nighted monarchies and despotic coun-
tries, and entirely unsuited for the free
and enlightened people.
The general manager, it was proved,
had spent a long arduous life in max
ing railway travel safe. He had al
ready suffered more than any man
should have been called upon to endure,
because of his grief on account of an
accident he had been powerless to
prevent.
The eloquent Gen. Buncombe, from
the metropolis, gave the closing speech,
a speech that will not soon be forgotten.
1t was reported in full in the papers
next day. He drew a harro wing pic
ture of the general manager torn ruth
lessly from his home and friends and
consigned to a cold cell, bail being re-
fused, a proceeding, the general limited
darkly, that besides being u%nconstitu-
tional showed the animus Of his perse-
cutors. 1t was foreign capital that
had done this; INSCRIPTIONS persons
pecuniarily interested in the introduc-
ton of the vicious block system, as if
the people of this great and progressive
country needed to be taught railroad
ing by a parcel of ignorant foreigners.
The neutrality-suspicious. WESTMINSTER
piece and it brought tears to the eyes
of the jury. 1t was in every way
worthy of the great orator and Skeggs,
when he heard it, did not grudge the
tremendous fee he had to pay for it.
The judge summed up by telling the
jury that if they thought the prisoner
responsible for the accident they were
to bring in a verdict to that effect; if
they thought otherwise, they we're to
say so.
The jury were out ten minutes, and
the foreman, when they returned, said
the verdict was guilty"
The judge, with a few appropriate
words on the responsibility of a man
who became a millionaire by trafick-
ing with the lives of the public sen
fenced Skeggs TO prison for ten years.
Again money was Equandered to
prevent this so called harsh sentence
from taking effect, but, as 1 have be-
fore pointed out, this happened in a
country where rich and poor are equal
IN the eyes of the law, and where
money has no power to shield the
George L. skeggs served out his
sentence.
The effect of all this on the general
managers throughout that wonderful
country was marvellous. ALI devices
that could protect human life were
put on all the railways of the country,
The land become practically free from
hose happenings called accidents"
Railway travel became as safe as stay
at home.
1t may be stated that the incidents
above truthfully recorded, occurred in
)ne of the planet Mars, where the PEG,
pie are not a gigantic aggregation of
patient, long suffering fools, and where
human life is considered of more i'm
oortance than the supposed interests