The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-26
WAS II MURDER2

! was stoking on an engine, the driver
of which was John Morgan. 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 sulks, and was,
I suppose, of a surly temper. Before we
started n morning he hardly answered
any remark I addressed to him, and seemed
more surly thar usual. When the head
guard gave us the signal and Morgan
turned the handle, we moved slowly and
steadily out of the station. When we got
well out into tho country, Morgan turned
to me and said shortly, More coalI"
Now, in my opinion, no more coal was
wanted, as there was quito enough in the
fire to keep up the usual speed. However,
as a stoker I was onlyan underling and
must obey reasonable orders. So l stocked
as hidden and then ~curiously watched to
see if the engine driver would turn on full
speed. Heidi nothing of che sort, but sat
with his back to the boiler AUD began to
talk to me quite affably. Among other
things he said he was quite tired of this
perpetual travelling, and that he meant to
look out for a wife with a little money and
never set foot ON an engine again. We
had before us q run of an hour and a half
and by that time we were due at Blinton,
. big junction, at which every train must
stop. So we had plenty of time to talk.
About an hour after leaving Padding
ton Morgan stopped suddenly in the mid
die of a sentence and said, "Well, l must
get to work now" Then he opened the
frebox door and called out to me, More
coa1i''
I expostulated with him, and poll ted
out that we were going at a high rate Of
speed and would not need more coal be-
fore Biinton, but this seemed to excite
him terribly. "Shovel it ini" he roared,
with an oath. tI'm going to make hes
travel"
10 satisfy him took up a shovelful and
managed to upset a good deal OF it before
/ reached the firobox.
aYou clumsy fooli" he called out.
"Here, give it to mel' and, snatching the
shovel out of my hands, he crammed on
as much coal as he could get in.
] was beginning to get alarmed, and
looking out over the we'll known country
for I had travelled that journey many q
time before-saw that we were much near
er to Blinton than we ought to be at that
hour.
In a few minutes our speed increased
enormously, and calculated we were tray
cling at the rate of 20 miles IN hour. !
thought it was time to demonstrate. and,
turning to Morgan. l noticed that the in
Dictator showed full speed. l called his at
tension to the fact and begged him to re-
duce the speed. or we should u into
Blinton without being able to stop.
.sHa, hap he cried in reply. "StopI
Pm never going to stop againl I told you
I'd mako her trareI. What do you want to
stop for? Get on, old wench, get onFa
Then he burst in to a hideous peal Of laugh
ter. A cold sweat of absolute terror broke
out on me as I realized the state Of things.
Here was aTaving maniac, a far stronger
MAJ than myself, in charge of a trainfui
of people. The train rushed on with in
credible speed, not steadily and evenly,
but with leaps and bounds, that threaten
ed to cast the engine If the line at every
yard. There was no doubt the man was as
max as q man could be, and he wa also
master Of the situation. I made n effort
to reach the handle by which the steam Is
turned off, but the mailman was too sharp
for me. "No you don'tl' he shouted. He
brought his shovel down with a tremen-
dous blow on the rail at my side, just
missing my head. 1t was plain l could do
nothing by force. Would stratagem be Of
any use2
looked cut to the country. Time was
running short. We were not more than
80 miles from BIinton Junction, and ii
we did not stop there the whole train
must inevitably be wrecked, and probably
not ono passenger would escape uninjured
ard but few with their lives. | looked
back to the train. Outside the windows
were hands -gesticulating and frightened.
alarmed faces. At the end of the train the
guard was waving @ red flag. Something
must be done, and by me, or we should
al be inevitably lost. / made up ny
mind. I turned to Morgan with q smile
on nv face, and l said; sOld boy, you're
quite right. This is q fine pace, but it
amt quite fast enough. Look here!' and
I caught him by the arm and led him to
the side of tho engine next to the double
rail. See" I cried, there is another
train coming up faster than us, and she
will pass us. We must go faster, but let's
see first who is driving her. Lean forward
and look. Can you sees"
Tho poor maniac stepped outside the
rail and leaned forward to loo for the
imaginary train, when / gave him d sud
den push and he fell in a heap on the side
Tails anu NttS Eti4SQ Oll eilO Gl0H. ~ q
gasp Of relief / sprang hack to b engine
and turned eff the Steam. 1t was not q
too soon. We were well in sight
OF Blinton Junction heforeI had the trlin
properly under control. | pulled up at
the platform al right, ard then tainted
When / came to. ! was lying on a bench
in the waiting room and tde inspector vas
standing over me, with his notebook 10
his hand, prepared to take down my state
ment. What I stated was, that the engine
driver had gone ma and that, to save the
lives of the passengers, / bad knoaked
him OF the engine just in time 70 get the
train unGer control before running into
the station. This was ~corroboratcd by the
guard and several passengers, and the case
was brought before the solicitors Of the
company gave my evidence at the in
quest ard head no more Of the matter
ono day the passenger superintend
e1t handed me 10 soyereisns and y letter
appointing mo station master at Littla /
Mudford. Il was evident the directors
csnaoned say oondnct, and I hope that
rIy readers viii agrse With them, AID, II
consideration Of my aayi1lg saved q train
fol cf people, will aequit mo Of murder
ana bring iii d v~ertsiet Of 5~usfiflabIu koinis
York NeArs