The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-05-07
WAS 1T MURDER2

rather taclturn. He seemed to be al
ways I'm the suIks and was, ! suppose,
Of surly temper. Before we started
one morning he hardly answered any
remark / addressed to him and seemed
more 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 well out into the country, Nor
gan turned to me and said shortly, |
More coalg
Now, in my opinion. no more coal
was wanted, as there Fas quite enough |
in the fire to keep up the usual speed.
However. as a stoker | was only an
underllng and must obey reasonable
orders.
About an hour after leaving Pad
dington Morgan stopped suddenly in
the middle Of sentence and said,
"Well, must get to work now" Then
he opened the fire box door and called
out to me, ''More coalw
! expostulated with him and pointed
out that we were going at a high rate
of speed and would not need more coal
before Blinton, but this seemed to ex-
cite him terribly. Shovel 1t ing' he
reared, with an oath. I'm going to
make her travel"
To satisfy him took up a shovelful
and managed to upset a good deal OF
It before reached the fire box.
''You clumsy foolP' he called out
Here, give It to mer' And, snatehing
the shovel out Of my hands. he cram
med on as much coal as he could get
In,
was beginning to get alarmed and,
looking out over the well known coun-
try--for / had Travelled that journey
many time before~saw that we were
much nearer to Bllnton than we ought
to be at that hour.
In few minutes our speed increased
enormously, and | calculated we were
travelling at the rate OF seventy miles
an hour. ] thought 1t was time to re
monstrate. and, turning 10 Morgan,
noticed that the Indicator showed full
speed, called his attention to the
fact ana begged him to reduce the
speed or we would run into Blinton
without being able TO stop.
cha, bar he cried in reply. "StopP
I'm never going to stop agalnl told
| You I'd make her travel. What do you
want 10 stop for? Get ON, old wench
get orr Then he burst into hideous
peal Of laughter. A cold sweat Of alb
solute terror broke out ON me as l re-
allied the state Of things. Here was a
raving maniac, far stronger man than
myself, In charge Of a tralnful OF peo-
pie. The train rushed on with incredl-
BILE speed, not steadily and evenly, but
with leaps and bounds that threatened
to cast the engine Off the line at every
yard. There was no doubt the man
was as mad as man could be and
was also master OF the situation. /
made one effort to reach the handle by
/ which the steam Is turned of, but the
mailman was too sharp for me. "No
You don'tg' he shouted. He brought
his shovel down with a tremendous
blow ON tho rail- at my side, Just miss
ing my head. II was plain / could do
nothing by force. Would stratagem be
OF any use3
| looked out at the country. Time
was running short We were not more
than twenty miles from Bllnton juno
ton. and II we did not stop there the
whole train must inevitably be wreck,
cd. and probably not one passenger
would escape unlnjured and but few
with their lives. | looked back to the
train. Outside the windows were hands
Resticulatlng and frightened, alarmed
faces At the end of the train the
guard was waving a red flag, Some
thing must be done and by me or we
should all be inevitably lost ! made
up my mind. turned to Morgan. with
smile ON my face. and said: "0ld
boy. you're quite right This Ia fine
pace, but II amt quite fast enough,
Look heref' And caught him by the
arm and led him TO the slide Of the en-.
glne next 20 the double rail- See" !
cried, "there Is another train coming
up faster than us, and she will pass MS.
We must SO faster. but let's see first
who Is driving her. Lean forward and
look. Can you seef'
The poor maniac stepped outside the
rail and leaned forward TO look for thS
imaginary train when gave him 8
sudden push, and he fell In a heap on
the side rails and was killed on the
spot. With gasp OF relief spranE
back TO the engine and turned or the
e'eam, IL was not moment too soon
re were well In sight OF Bllnton juno
ton before | had the train properly
under control pulled up at the plat
form oil right. aud then l tainted
When l came to- l was lying on q
bench In the waiting room, and the In
speetor Was standing over me. with his
! notebook in his hand. prepared 10 take
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