The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-25
BELIEVED MAN FOUND ON TRACKS
 WAS MURDERED Great Mystery Surrounds Man Run Over By
 Train BULLET IS FOUND
 IN HIS FOREHEAD Engineer of Train Thought He Had Killed Man Until Undertaken Dis covered Bullet-Coroner
 Brasher's Views

One of the greatest mysteries in it's history Is now facing the police force Of Birmingham Last night, the eve of the fappiest holiday of the whole year, faint clews were found which point to the murder of prosperous looking, well dressed man. Yet, even his name is not known and the shrouds of mystery sur round the case so closely that it seems doubtful if the dead mans name ever will be known.
 Not knowing in what manner death had occurred, workmen employed by the Louisville and Nashville railroad brought the body of an unidentified stranger to the undertaking establishment of Shaw x Son yesterday about noon. They claimed that the man had been sitting on the track, near Hardwood station. the second stop after Oxford, about IA miles south of Birmingham, and that he had been struck by the local Louisville and Nashville passenger train, due in this city at 11:4O a. m.
 Run Over By Train The engineer of the train was positive that the man was killed by his train, but when the body was examined at the morgue a large bullet was found im- bedded in the middle of his forehead. The bullet was about three-quarters of an inch long and was very thin, evil dently not coming from rife. The skull had been fractured by the shot and Coroner Brasher stated last night that death must have been caused by the bullet.
 The engine of the passenger train had mangled the tower part of the body and both legs were found to be broken below the knee. Whether the man had been struck in the forehead by stray bullet from revolver, stunned by the blow and then fell on the track, or whether he was murdered and the body placed on the rails, is still a mystery. The engineer of the train said that the man was sitting up when the train struck | him, and if this is the case, the body must have been propped up if the man had been murdered before hand. The dead man appeared to be about 5 years of age and was very well dressed. He wore dark gray suit with the mark of firm in Pueblo, Col, on the inside, 1 $5 Knox hat that had been bought in Tacoma, Wash, a fine pair of kid gloves and a pair of Clapp shoes. His under | clothing and shirt were of the finest ma 1 terial and his hands showed no signs
 of hard labor, but were soft and white. | He also had a number of gold teeth. l He was about five feet, six inches in l aierJaf obo Some of the Mysteries | The idea that the man was murdered and robbed is refuted by the fact that 15 jewel Waltham watch was found in his pocket. There was a pocketboole with about 50 cents in change in it and a | ladies glove also in his pockets No pa- pers that would identify the man could be found, and one of the mysterious fea- | lures of the case is that all of the laun- dry marks on the collar, shirt and un- derclothing had been cut away. The place where his name had evidently been marked in his hat was also scratched out.
 Coroner Brasher said last night: There is no doubt in my mind but what the man was murdered and the body placed on the track by the murderer The bullet in the skull would have caused instant death, and as there was no weapon of any description found near the scene. suicide would have been impossible The man was murdered and the body placed on the track in an effort to hide the deed, and the perpetrator of the deed was a mighty clever fellow, for I believe it was he who destroyed the laundry marks and other means of Identification Coroner Brasher left this morning at 6:20 o'clock for Hardwood, where he will continue his investigation into the case.