The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-06-23
SMITH AND LEE ADMIT
DlTCHING TRAIN
Continued from Page One)

abnut LOO !yardsffrom where it went
off the rail. .Issaw the flash as II
went over. ::IShan was not with me-
When the train ,tippled over Shan
went back to his, wagon, and l went
thexe too, but Isgot to the wagon t"n-
/ beard the screams of the people
Tbs engine made an awful noise
when it left the track. l could see
the wagon, too. / heard the screams
Of tine imqple. Htdo not know who
put the lantern an1t. I did not take
lhe tools up on the. hill. The tools
We're somthing like a wrench of some
description. !Thsre were two pieces.
Henry had these two pieces. They
wens in Renry's wagon when l first
saw them.
81 walked over from my house to
the foot of the steep hill. Shan never
told me at first that he was going to
wreck the train, thut when we got
over I'D where the tracks were he said
he Was going to tear the tracks up.
When I Saw him tear the rail loose
and throw the iron around up on the
other rail with the bar, / left there
and went up on tn. hill. I was about
Is OF ~ feet from him when he tore
the ran up. After the wreck l met
him. He said to mr., Well, I tore the
thing mp, and I said you will get into
trouble about it, too. He said no,
they Will think it wrecked itself.
Shan told me if the police and detec-
tives said anything to me about it,
just to cuss them out.
Told His Wife Of What He Had Done
ct told my wife abUut what was
done out at the place. Shan came
to me a little time after dark and told
me he wanted me to go over where
he used to live, that he wanted to see
a friend. He said, / just want to see
him, because I hate to go oNer there
by myself. On the way he changed
the way he was going and said,
Let's 20 over this way, and we went
over to where the tracks were. Then
he told me about tearing up the
rails. Shan had the two bars or
wrenches. / saw them before he tore
up the track. 1t did not take him
very long to remove the rail. 1t
took him less than Is minutes to my
recollection. Some kind of a train
passed when we were even with Bar
nett Thompson's place. / could not
tell what kind of a train it vas be-
cause we were in behind the timber.
This passed while we were on the
road going toward the tracks.
81 seen the crazy fool was going
to tear up the tracks and I got away.
I have heard Shan say he used to
railroad. He must have had the
spikes already up. it did not take
him long to do it. No one in the
crowd had any whisky that night.
If they did I never smelt any of it.
Coming back. when l met Henry and
we were in his wagon, he said, you
see. 1 done tore it up. :.
81 told my wife as soon as I got
home. She said, Lord God, | wish
YOU hadn't of went. I did not tell
my little girl. Henry lit the lantern
right near the track. I don't re-
member whether Henry put the
light out or not, but if it was not
out it was down in the cut. l told
Henry later that some people had
gotten killed and he said, l don't care
anything about them Shan, Henry,
Archie Lee and l were the only ones
there that l know Of. I did not see
any one but Shan Henry at work on
the rails. Lee and l did not touch
the rails.
"Amos Smith,"
Archie Lee signed the foregoing
statement as correct.
Bouquets for Everybody
81 cannot find words of praise suf-
fcient to say what l think of the fine
work done by Chief Eagan and his
men," said Chief Welch. at goes
without saying that l am proud of
my, boys. l must say that I have