Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-01-27


~. p,es,. Drssa Of Retr;bution for
- nagsa9e 7osser Gomez True.
some years since q poem upon the
fate Of baggage man who smashed n
trunk loaded with dynamite attracted
considerable attention among the trav-
cling public, but It remained for an
agent upon q Yazoo and Mississippi
Valley train TO actually encounter that
fate. He is J. p. Henry Of this city.
baggage agent for the road and also
express agent for the American Ex-
press Company. He now lies in bed on
South Main street with a buckshOt In
Zach leg. cut over the left eye, bruise
IN the chin, a piece Of zinc in his foot.
and some twenty or thirty small shot III
different parts Of his body. And with
all Of this he Is happy that he is alive.
That the trunk was loaded Mr.. Henry
will make affidavit and put in a photo
graph of bis skin as evidence. but no
one seems to know what 1t was loaded
for or with. The missiles would be ef-
fective for either bear or flies.
Mr.. Henry runs on the train from
vicksburg to this city, and when the
train pulled into Alligator Lake, eighty
ave miles south Of the city, at 1:2O
o'clock Saturday afternoon, the porter
at the depot pitched an ordinary look
ing trunk into the baggage car. There
was only one other piece Of baggage in
the car, AID soon after the train pulled
ont Mr.. Henry caught hold Of the trunk
and was edsing 1t to a convenient place
in the car when there was a terrific eX-
plosion. The lid few up and struck
him in the face, knocking him 20 the
floor with the remains of the trunk on
top Of him. While he was falling he re-
ceived three small shot in the right arm
and any number Of them in both legs.
together with a large ball in each leg.
one being about the middle of the left
csls, and the other just above the right
ankle. He was conscious enough when
the mail agent rushed In TO tell the lat
ter to pull the bell cord, as the mass of
rubbish had taken fire from the expio-
sion. The postal clerk aided Mr.. Henry
In extricating himself until the conduc
tor and brakeman came to their assist
aDce. Under instructions the latter
threw the remains Of the trunk out OF
the car door from fear that 1t might
contain some other explosives. The
tralnmen were afraid to make an exam
trunk. but as it went out Of the door
there could be seen box Of caps for
an cld-fashioned muzzle-loading gun,
lots of smoking shells, brass musi-
clans horn and lot Of clothing. II
could not be seen whether or not there
WAS gun In the outfit.
There was only one passenger to en-
ter thetrain from Alligator Lake. He
WAS a negro. and was ticketed for
Jamestown. 1t was to the same place
that the trunk was checked. but when
the trainmen went to the negro for in
formation as to the contents OF the
trunk he declared that he had no trunk.
when the train arrived al Ciarksdale he
left 1t and failed to return. None now
doubt that he owned the trunk and
knew what was in 1t.
From papers left in the car after the
explosion it was learned that the owner
OF the trunk was a negro preacher by
the name OF Y. T. Jones. and that he
was member of the Epworth League
and several other orders, but no trace
has been gotten of him since the explo-
sion. Should he be caught, he would
be dealt with according 10 the law.
Judge Fentress, counsel for the road,
in discussing the matter, said that il
Mr. Henry should die the owner of the
trunk would most certainly be guilty
of manslaughte But while his in
juries are painful, they are not serious.
He is resting easy. and will be out as
soon as the wounds from the bullets
shall have had time TO heal up-Mem
phis Commercial Appeal