The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-24
WATCHMAN KILLED
AT |. ( n. TRACKS
How He Met Death Not Yet
Determined
HIS SKULL is CRUSHED
Body Found Early Yesterday Morning
Near Twenty-eiqhth Street Cross
ine-Hat Was q Hundred
Yards Down the Track.

With the forehead crushed the dead
body of Thomas Eagan, Waterman for the
Louisville and Nashville railroad was
found yesterday morning at 4:SO o'clock
lying just off the railroad track near the
! Twenty eighth street crossing. As there
were no witnesses to his death and the
exact cause could not be definitely deter
mind. the coroner after hearing testimony
and inspecting the scene of the tragedy
Is of the opinion that the man was killed
by a passing train. Or. Pressly who
made an examination of the injuries, re-
ported that death was caused by accden-
tai fracture of the skull
One of the four white men arrested and
placed In Jail by agents of the road was
questioned by the coroners jury. His tes-
timony as to his whereabouts since his ar
rival in Birmingham last Friday being
corroborated by John Runlinger who
keeps the house where he boarded He
was ordered released by the coroner.
There seemed not the slightest connection
between him and the death of tie watch
man Nor is it evident that the other
TIN &c men arrested were in any way i'm
pboated
Brass Knucks.
The only circumstance which might be
construed to show that the man was mur-
dered is the finding of pair Of brass
kIlucks at not a great distance from the
body And the wound from which Mr..
Eagan died. crushed skull, it is said,
could not have been inflicted with these.
Waterman Gray of the Louisville and
Nashville testified that he saw Easan
Sunday night about $50 o'clock. and tnat
after coming to his SHACK" within about
100 yards of the place where the body was
found the next morning he went in that
direction. Gray said Eagan remarked
| that he was going back to meet No a.,
which was about due. That was the last
he saw of Eagan. 1t is his opinion, how
ever, that Eagan If he had been struck
by a train could not have been passed
unnoticed all night by the eight or ten
trains which come and go every half
hour. For this reason he believed that the
man had been murdered,
Another point which one of the agents
of the road dwelt on in his seeming en-
Geavor to prove that murder was COM
mitted was that the hat Of the dead man
was found a half block away from where
the body lay. This. It was said, on the
other hand could be accounted for posi-
bly, by the wind naturally created by the
passing train.
The roommate of the dead man testified
that the derringer pistol and a pair of
| lSnucks were the only weapons in possess
sion of the deceased when he last saw
| him. These were found on the body.
Further Investigation.
The eoroner's jury will meet again this
| morning at $50 o'clock. 1t will continue
| investigations and a verdict will prob
ably be rendered before noon.
| The deceased was So years old and had
been in the employ of the Louisville and
| Nashville only short time. The remains
will be sent today by Shaw & Sons to
| Fayetteville, Tenn, the home of the de-
| ceased.
Formerly Mr. Eagan was employed by
| the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad
company at Johns. Until short time ago
he boarded with j. D. Williamson of the
police force at 2S11 Avenue G. At the time
of his death he was living at Smith
field