The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-19
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
; 4 gUgTIFIABLE E1QRDER.
STORY OF THE OVERLAND EXPRESS.
cLoNDESLEY JOHNS
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES oooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooo oooooOOoooooo
BY cLoNDEsLEY JOHNS.

Inc killing OF a human being IN Sell
ueAense is not murder; it is just1flable
homicide. Unintentional killing result
ing from carelessness is manslaughter;
homicide committed in a moment OF
anger is also usually claSsed as man
slaagnter-s Properly speaking, murder.
Is the premeditated and deliberate kill
ing OF enc or more human beings by
some person who is at the time re-
sponslble for his actions-i. e., sane
The penalty fixed by law is death, or
| imprisonment for life. Law recognizes
no such thing as justifable murder.
Elmer Ware was not threatened; he
was not attacked; his life was not
Jeopardized by the man he killed, nor
did he feel any anirnosity toward him.
The killing was deliberate, and pre-
meditated, though only for a few sec
onds.
The jury before which the case v $
tried had no authority TO Judge whether
the premeditated killing of an I'M
OFFENDING man could be juSti6able or
not, the jurymen's duty was simply to
decide whether or no Elmer Ware was
guilty of the crime of murder as
! charged; but the verdict rendered was
| Not guilty" 1t was Justice versus
Law
through certain mountainous re-
! glon IN the west runs branch line
/ Of Wen known railroad. At one end
/ OF the branch is a city of some 10000
! inhabitants, and at the other end the
| junction with the main line. For fifty
miles from the junction the branch is
all curves, grades, tunnels and bridges,
/ and then comes twelve miles of nearly
! straight track, laid on gradual down.
| ward slope.
AT the beginning of the slope there
! is q long curve; and sycamore trees
grow thickly on both sides of the
track. few hundred yards beyond
! the grove of sycamOres there is a
short spur, on which six or seven fiat
cars can stand at time A long shed
stands near, and blocks of brown
stone are scattered about.
Both shed and spur are on the
wrong side of the track, as the quar-
ries, three miles away, from which
the rock is hauled, are on the opposite
side; this is because the ground, being
a little higher on the east side, re-
quired less filling in for the spur.
The trains on the branch road con-
sisted Of two coaches, a baggage, mai
and express car, all in one, and ar
eight-wheel engine built for speed
SouthbOund, these trains whizzed
past the stOnecutter's shed at sixty
miles an hour; for that piece of track
!
time. The short trains never lost time
misunderstanding accidents-but
! they had to wait at the junction fol-
the arrival of the overland mail, which
was often late
Besides the two passenger trains
northbound and southbound-therew wa:
a freight every day; going up one day
and down the next. The northbounC
passenger passed the stone-shippins
/
on time to the minute; but the south
bound train, due at $3.50 in the after
noon, was often as much as an hour
late.
AS she whistled for the crossing only
on leaving the sycamore grove, il
would not give the rock haulers suffi
cient notice if they happened to bt
crossing at the time; and for this rea.
son the teamster who reached the
crossing after the passenger wa:
due, would stop his team and lister
for the train.
One evening the overland mail wa:
more than two hours late at the juno
ton; and this was the primary in
direct cause of Richard Young's death
The second cause was the teamster'i
careiessness in taking too much fo
granted, and his lack of presence o.
mind at the last moment; the thirC
cause was the heroism and GOODNESS
under the most frightful strain, o
Engineer Ware.
Young reached the crossing lat
that evening. He was in a hurry t
get his wagon to the shed, so that h
could unhitch and go home. 1t wa
more than two hours after train time
and the train had never been so late
so Young did not leave his wagon, a.
usual, and walk forward to listen a
the track.
YOung's wagOn-weighing two ton
itself-was loaded with seven tons o
rock The six horses pulled it bu
slowly along the level road, and whel
they came to the slight rise to tn
crossing they seemed hardly to crawl
To lash the horses at such time i
worse than useless, for then they vii
plunge wildly, while the wagon stop
J dead; only steady pull will keep
: moving.
When Young's leaders were on tn
: track his ear caught the sound of tn
singing of the rails. 1t fascinated hir
!; and caused a sort of paralysis to seiZ
upon his every muscle; even his brai
was numb: but he was acutely con
sciOus of one thing through it all-th
, f1endish humming Of the steel rails.
Something of the numbnesS left tn
Transfers limbs; he alternately tugge
2 at the lines, and lashed the wheelers
this delayed his progress
Suddenly the rails glOWed with vel
low light in the gathering dusk, an
the engine whistled for the crossing
Young became mOtionless again an
sat staring at the cleaning lines. tn
wheeler5 were on the track and tn
front of the wagon was over the mrs
rail.
There came a single sharp blast fror