Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-18
swift Gil IS
FIXED To
DERA|L
LIVER
Attempt to Send Fast Passenger
Train into Ditch at Hampton,
Ga, Is Thwarted.

Engineer Tom Rsgsdale. driver ~
Dixie Flyer, Train No "a. at his room,
No. 101" Whitehall street, "Wednesday
afternoon told hor he foiled most
astounding attempt at wholesale muir
der when he discovered a switch that
had been split to derail Dixie FLYER
No. 20 at Hampton, Ga, and send it
crashing into high embankment at
800 o'clock Tuesday night.
only by the engineers keen-sigiit-
edness was the wreck averted. The
switch had been broken open. Small
cubes Of steel had been placed 90
either side of the tapering rail to pre-
vent the wheels Of the on-cominz
train from resetting it automatically,
and destruction had been made dou-
bly, sure by the tearing off of the
switch light.
As the Flyer runs 60 miles an hour
a this point. coming down a small
grade, a bad wreck was inevita bic,
Striking the split switch. the engine
with its train of vestibuled coaches
would have hurtled the tracks and
plunged into a high embankment Ia
the left. carrying its passengers to
death
Trap Carefully Set.
The carefulness with which the
death trap was plar ned showed that
the perpetrators had made their ca
culations with expert eyes. They
aimed at but the one grim end for
the flying train.
BY the strong headlight on his en-
CINE, Engineer Ragsdale discovered
the trap which was set for the other
train just Is minutes before It was
due.
Il was driving westbound at a
speed of IS miles and hour" said the
engineer. when l approached Hamp-
ton. Neither aof the fiiers stop there.
As hit ten switch COR the sidetrack
st the west end o. the Hampton
yards. I noticed that the switchught
at the east end was not burning.
This popularity made me look
closer By the light of my engines
headlight l caught flash OF the opaa
switch. 1t was set not against NV
train but against No. 50, which was
due to pass over that spot within Is
minutes
Instantly l threw on brakes and
brought my train to a halt after TX
of my coaches ha~ rassed over the
switch. My fireman and 7 ran back I.
examine the switch, thinking its be-
ing open was due to carelessness.
Dogs Put on Trail.
We found that the lock had been
broken. The switch had been open ii
halfway ard steel cubes placed on
either side to ~revt its moving froer
its position. Also the light had be n
torn off its post and extinguished.
We later found 1t over in a cotton
field.
No. IS was then almost due to HI:
this switch At this mt it goes 3
a rate of g. miles an hour. The ones
who fixed that switch made a death
trap from " men II "oLlu nave DS9n
almost impossible Tor any passenger
on the train to have escaped"
Appalled, at the gravity of the at
tempt, officials of the Central of Geor
gia Railroad, which receives the
Dixie Flyer at Atlanta and carries -
Georgia, a-e securing the
State for the guilty persons Detec-
t!ves with bloOdhounds secured from
the Fulton County Police picked up
their trails at the broken switch.
Rain Tuesday night has made the
work Of the bloodh InCs difficult
Sheriff l.. D. Hudson, of Spaldlng
County, together with mis- men, Is
aiding the railroad detectives.
This attempt is the fourth made to
do injury to Train No. 95 in the past
four months in this section. Detec-
tives have taken this fact TO work on
and believe the plotters live near the
scene Of their activities and have
taken this action as te,. result CT
some illfeeling they bear against the
railroad.