N&W in 1908--Attempts to wreck

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
December 20, 1908

TOOK SPIKES FROM RAILS
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Three Successive Attempts to Derail Train Near Wytheville

    An attempt was made Thursday to wreck train No. 42 on the Norfolk and Western about a mile and a half west of Wytheville by placing ties on the track and taking spikes from some of the rails.  The ties were struck, but fortunately the engine was not thrown from the track, and cleared the obstruction for the train.
    Sheriff Brown was called on, and responded with his bloodhounds.  The trail was struck at once and followed without stop or hindrance for eight miles, when for some unknown cause there was a break and the trail was not recovered.
    Brown is very reticent about it, and further developments may be expected.  This is the third attempt to wreck trains in the neighborhood within three past successive nights.  Wednesday night the mail bag was stolen from the rack where it had been placed at Crockett's depot, a few miles from the scene of the attempted wreck, to be taken up by No. 42.  The next day the remains of the bag were found, it having been burnt, and again Sheriff Brown took his dog up, and after an eighteen-hour trail landed his quarry Thursday in the person of Harm Brown, who lives near Crockett.  Brown is now in jail.
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Gordon Hamilton
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