The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-01-10
WAS TT MURDER?

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,
suppose, of a surly temper Before we
started one morning he hardly answered
any remark addressed to him, and seemed
wore surly than 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
we'll out into the country, Morgan turned
to me and said shortly tMore coalp'
Now, in my opinion, no more coal was
wanted, as there was quite enough in the
hire to keep up the usual speed However,
as stoker 1 was only an underling and
must obey reasonable orders. So stocked
as hidden and then ouriously watched to
see II the engine driver would turn on full
speed. He did nothing of the sort, but sat
with his back to the boiler and 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 little money and
never set foot on an engine again. We
had before us a 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 sentence and said, "Well, must
get to work now." Then he opened the
hrebox door and called out to mo, more
coall''
II lot mi k1l
out that we were going at high rate of
speed and would not need more coal be-
fore Blinton, but this seemed to excite
him terribly. "Shovel it inp' he roared,
with an oath. "I'm going to make her
travel -
To satisfy him I took up shovelful and
managed to upset good deal of it before
1 reached the frebox.
"You clumsy foolr' he called out.
Here, give it to mep' and, snatching the
shovel out of my hands, he crammed on
as much coal as he could get in.
l was beginning to get alarmed, and
looking out over the well known country
for had travelled that journey many a
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 I calculated we were trav
cling at the rate of 20 miles an hour. I
thought it was time to demonstrate, and,
turning to Morgan, noticed that the in
dicator showed full speed called his at
tention to the fact and begged him to re-
duce the speed, or we should run into
Blinton without being able to stop.
''Ha, hap he cried in reply. "Stopl
I'm never going to stop againl 1 told you
I'd make her travel. What do you want to
stop for? Get on, old wenoh, get on !"
Then he burst into hideous peal of laugh
ter. A cold sweat of absolute terror broke
out on me as I realized the state of things
Here was raving maniac, far stronger
man than myself, in charge Of trainful
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 off the line at every
yard. There was no doubt the man was as
mad as a mao could be, and he was also
master of the situation. made one effort
to reach the handle by which the steam is
turned off, but the madman was too sharp
for me. "No you don'tp' he shouted. He
brought his shovel down with tremen-
dous blow on the rail at my side, just
missing my head 1t was plain could do
nothing by force. Would stratagem be of
any use?
l looked out to the country. Time was
running short. We were not more than
90 miles from Blinton Junction, and If
we did not stop there the whole train
must inevitably be wrecked, and probably
not one passenger would escape uninjured
and but few with their lives. I looked
back to the train. Outside the windows
were hands gesticulating and frightened,
alarmed faces At the end of the train the
guard was viewing red flag. Something
must be done, and by me, or we should
all be inevitably lost I made up my
mind. turned to Morgan with a smile
on my face, and said: "Old boy. you
quite right. This is fine pace, but it
amt quite fast enough. Look herel" and
I caught him by the Arm and led him to
the side of the engine next to the double
rail "See," 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 seer"
The poor maniac stepped outside the
rail and leaned forward to look for the
imaginary train, when 1 gave him sud-
den push and he fell in heap on the side
rails and was killed ON the spot. With a
gasp of relief sprang back to the engine
and turned off the steam. 1t was not a
moment too soon. We were well in sight
of Blinton junction before had the train
properly under control I pulled up at
the platform all right, and then tainted
When I came to, was lying on bench
in the waiting room and the inspector was
standing over me, with his notebook in
his hand, prepared to take down my state
ment. What stated was, that the engine
driver had gone mad and that, to save the
lives of the passengers, l had knocked
him off the engine just in time to get the
train under control before running into
the station. This was corroborated by the
guard and several passengers, and the case
was brought before the solicitors of the
company. l gave my evidence at the in
quest and heard no more of the matter
until one day the passenger superintend-
ent handed me 10 sovereigns and a letter
appointing me station master at Little
Mudford 1t was evident the directors
condoned my conduct, and 1 hope that
my readers will agree with them, and, in
consideration of my having saved train
full of people, will acquit me of murder
and bring in verdict of justifiable homi-
cide.-New York News.
British Oficers' Attire.