The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-04
Struck by an Engine al
 Mount MeigS.
He Was a Soldier of Fortune and Witnesses Say He Threw Him. self Under the Wheels.
 Had Travelled
 Widely.

Troup B. Hodges, formerly of Savan- nah, Ga, soldier of fortune, poet and
 writer. about 50 years old, was killed yes. terday morning, few minutes before o'clock, at Mount Meigs station by the | fast eastbound Western of Alabama mai train. It is thought that the tragedy
 was a suicide.
 Coroner w. H. Tice of Montgomer, County was notified and. accompanied by Trainmaster c. w. Johnson of the Wes- tern Road. went immediately to Mount Meigs. There the body of the man was found. horribly mangled by the wheels of the train. A number of she people of Mount Meigs surrounded the body, it had not been touched. The body was on the east side of the track and crushed beyond recognition.
 Coroner Tice immediately had the body removed and after few preparations. it was buried on the side of the railroad track. layman of a Christian church re- citing some passages of the Bible and leading the little audience in prayer
 A careful investigation into the trag- cry was made by Coroner Tice who re- turned last night from Mount Meigs.
 "I am nearly positive that Hodges com mitted suicide." said Coroner Tice '"The keeper of one of the stores at Mount Meigs said that Thursday night Hodges, who was shabbily dressed. slept in a barn adjacent to his store. Friday morning when he woke up, he went over to the store and bought nickels worth of ginger bread. He asked for some cheese to eat with it and said that the nickel he had just given the man was the last he had in the world. The store keeper refused him the cheese Hodges sat in front of the store for a few min- utes munching on the bread. Finishing 1t. he walked down the railroad track just out of sight of the station. He took his coat off. sat down on it and waited for the fast train. Finally with a shrill whistle it hove into sight. Languidly Hodges arose. The train dashed up to the station. The nerve that had carried Hodges through bloody battlefields did not desert him in his last act on sarth. NSth fire in his eyes he leapt forward directly under the wheels of the engine.
 Engineer William Hammel stopped the engine and he and Conductor w. T. billiard viewed the body. but seeing they were unable to do anything and that the body would be taken care of. proceeded on their run to Atlanta. I will not an nounce my verdict until they can be seen but I am almost positive that it will be death through suicide"
 The trainmen reported the tragedy tC the Trainmaster, c. w. Johnson of Mont
 gomery. He accompanied Coroner Tic' l to the scene of the tragedy He said h, was convinced t44dL Hodges had commit | ted suicide.
 On the roadside was found the coat O | Hodges, left there probably to establish | his identity as his body was terribl!
 mangled. A greasy wallet was found il
 the coat by the Coroner and the paper
 showed that perhaps neither Jason no tParsifa had more thrilling adventure
 or wandered through more lands than dit Troup B Hodges. The papers told tn
 story of some successes and final failur
 of the man. whose crushed corpse tha
 lay in full view of the little audience tha gathered in the country village Hodge
 had been a respected ans. trusted em Another paper was from a friend il | Savannah Ga. showing Hodges to hav been little more than a beggar.
 Among the papers were newspape | clippings. original poems, personal letters | passports. and a discharge from tn Boer army. The newspaper clippins wer | taken mainly from The Savannah Morn | ing News and were news letters an'
 editorials contributed by him on tn South African situation. From the clip pings it was evident that Hodges was al
 ardent Boer sympathizer. Some of tn
 editorials are strongly written and shov the author to have been a writer of m mean ability.
 The wallet also contains correspondent with F. w. Retz. State Secretary of tn South African Republic, These letter deal chiefly with efforts on the part O