The Portland daily press., 1895-07-11
ESPECIAL TO THE PREss.]

Island Pond, vt, July 10. There is a
report here that comes from the next
division, and which is sbelieved to be
well grounded that the fearful accident
on the Grand Trunk road at Graf ie's
Road, near Quebec, was one of the most
dramatic ever heard of in the his
tory of railroads on this side of the At
lantic, although it is said that there was
once similar occurrance in England.
1t is said, and generally believed, that
Peter Mcleod, the engineer of the train
that caused the accident was dead before
the accident occurred. When the train
rushed past the semaphore and into the
pilgrim packed train ahead, dead man
stood where living man should have
been, and death ran the train.
The left hand of Mcleod firmly grasped
the throttle, and his right hand the lever,
and he was in that way kept upright,
and the fireman, Richard L. Perkins
who was killed, could not have known
in advance of the accident
that Mcleod was dead. He could not,
judging from the place where his body
was found, and where he stood when he
met his death, have seen the dead face
of the engineer.
1t is said here that the medical exami-
nation made today of the body of Mcleod
fully established the fact that he died
from heart trouble. If this
proves to be true, as there seems
to be but little doubt will be the case, it
will clear up the mystery that otherwise
no man could hope to explain. Nc
Leod, alive, could not have rushed by
the signals without seeing them. Had
he seen them he would have halted his
train in time to have prevented the col
lision. Had he cried out, there is no
doubt that Perkins, the fireman, would
have heard him. Perkins would not
from his position have seen the signals
that could not have escaped the notice
OF Mcleod, and the position of the bod
les will be an important feature of the
evidence to support the medical theory
that Mcleod was dead when his engine
crushed into the Pullman
There was nothing in the position of
the body of the engineer to show that at
the last he knew what was about to
happen and yet had he been alive, rail
road men say, he must have had some no.
tice of what was coming. His face was
peaceful, and was not the face of man
who died facing known danger.
MCLEOD was une OLDEST engineer on that
division of the Grand Trunk, and was
a man who was trusted in the fullest de-
gree. His courage and presence of mind
had been many times tested, and had
stood proof against panics, That be, a
living man, made the fearful blunder he
must have, no one of his late associates
can be made to believe. If it can be
shown that Mcleod died before the col
lision took place, then the accident was
the act of God, and the Grand Trunk
may not be liable 1t is a most
interesting case, and if the generally ac-
cepted report proves to be true, will add
another dramatic incident to the long list
going. to show that 'struth is stranger
than fiction -
When last year during the fearfully dry
spell in the west, a train was destroyed
by fire, it was said that no novelist
would have yentured to have worked
such an incident into a story, and just
the same thing can be said of the dash
ing of great engine through the break
ing light of the morning, with dead
engineer standing with one hand on the
throttle and the other on the lever,
his dead face turned to the front and
the train, guided by Death. passing signals
and striking with awful effect another
train in advance.