The Lost Special
The confession of Herbert de Lernac, now lying under sentence of deathat Marseilles, has thrown a light upon one of the most inexplicablecrimes of the century--an incident which is, I believe, absolutelyunprecedented in the criminal annals of any country: Although there isa reluctance to discuss the matter in official circles, and littleinformation has been given to the Press, there are still indicationsthat the statement of this arch-criminal is corroborated by the facts,and that we have at last found a solution for a most astoundingbusiness. As the matter is eight years old, and as its importance wassomewhat obscured by a political crisis which was engaging the publicattention at the time, it may be as well to state the facts as far aswe have been able to ascertain them. They are collated from theLiverpool papers of that date, from the proceedings at the inquest uponJohn Slater, the engine-driver, and from the records of the London andWest Coast Railway Company, which have been courteously put at mydisposal. Briefly, they are as follows:
On the 3rd of June, 1890, a gentleman, who gave his name as MonsieurLouis Caratal, desired an interview with Mr. James Bland, thesuperintendent of the London and West Coast Central Station inLiverpool. He was a small man, middle-aged and dark, with a stoopwhich was so marked that it suggested some deformity of the spine. Hewas accompanied by a friend, a man of imposing physique, whosedeferential manner and constant attention showed that his position wasone of dependence. This friend or companion, whose name did nottranspire, was certainly a foreigner, and probably from his swarthycomplexion, either a Spaniard or a South American. One peculiarity wasobserved in him. He carried in his left hand a small black, leatherdispatch box, and it was noticed by a sharp-eyed clerk in the Centraloffice that this box was fastened to his wrist by a strap. Noimportance was attached to the fact at the time, but subsequent eventsendowed it with some significance. Monsieur Caratal was shown up to Mr.Bland's office, while his companion remained outside.
Monsieur Caratal's business was quickly dispatched. He had arrivedthat afternoon from Central America. Affairs of the utmost importancedemanded that he should be in Paris without the loss of an unnecessaryhour. He had missed the London express. A special must be provided.Money was of no importance. Time was everything. If the company wouldspeed him on his way, they might make their own terms.
Mr. Bland struck the electric bell, summoned Mr. Potter Hood, thetraffic manager, and had the matter arranged in five minutes. The trainwould start in three-quarters of an hour. It would take that time toinsure that the line should be clear. The powerful engine calledRochdale (No. 247 on the company's register) was attached to twocarriages, with a guard's van behind. The first carriage was solelyfor the purpose of decreasing the inconvenience arising from theoscillation. The second was divided, as usual, into four compartments,a first-class, a first-class smoking, a second-class, and asecond-class smoking. The first compartment, which was nearest to theengine, was the one allotted to the travellers. The other three wereempty. The guard of the special train was James McPherson, who hadbeen some years in the service of the company. The stoker, WilliamSmith, was a new hand.
Monsieur Caratal, upon leaving the superintendent's office, rejoinedhis companion, and both of them manifested extreme impatience to beoff. Having paid the money asked, which amounted to fifty pounds fiveshillings, at the usual special rate of five shillings a mile, theydemanded to be shown the carriage, and at once took their seats in it,although they were assured that the better part of an hour must elapsebefore the line could be cleared. In the meantime a singularcoincidence had occurred in the office which Monsieur Caratal had justquitted.
A request for a special is not a very uncommon circumstance in a richcommercial centre, but that two should be required upon the sameafternoon was most unusual. It so happened, however, that Mr. Blandhad hardly dismissed the first traveller before a second entered with asimilar request. This was a Mr. Horace Moore, a gentlemanly man ofmilitary appearance, who alleged that the sudden serious illness of hiswife in London made it absolutely imperative that he should not lose aninstant in starting upon the journey. His distress and anxiety were soevident that Mr. Bland did all that was possible to meet his wishes. Asecond special was out of the question, as the ordinary local servicewas already somewhat deranged by the first. There was the alternative,however, that Mr. Moore should share the expense of Monsieur Caratal'strain, and should travel in the other empty first-class compartment, ifMonsieur Caratal objected to having him in the one which he occupied.It was difficult to see any objection to such an arrangement, and yetMonsieur Caratal, upon the suggestion being made to him by Mr. PotterHood, absolutely refused to consider it for an instant. The train washis, he said, and he would insist upon the exclusive use of it. Allargument failed to overcome his ungracious objections, and finally theplan had to be abandoned. Mr. Horace Moore left the station in greatdistress, after learning that his only course was to take the ordinaryslow train which leaves Liverpool at six o'clock. At four thirty-oneexactly by the station clock the special train, containing the crippledMonsieur Caratal and his gigantic companion, steamed out of theLiverpool station. The line was at that time clear, and there shouldhave been no stoppage before Manchester.
The trains of the London and West Coast Railway run over the lines ofanother company as far as this town, which should have been reached bythe special rather before six o'clock. At a quarter after sixconsiderable surprise and some consternation were caused amongst theofficials at Liverpool by the receipt of a telegram from Manchester tosay that it had not yet arrived. An inquiry directed to St. Helens,which is a third of the way between the two cities, elicited thefollowing reply--
"To James Bland, Superintendent, Central L. & W. C.,Liverpool.--Special passed here at 4:52, well up to time.--Dowster, St.Helens."
This telegram was received at six-forty. At six-fifty a second messagewas received from Manchester--
"No sign of special as advised by you."
And then ten minutes later a third, more bewildering--
"Presume some mistake as to proposed running of special. Local trainfrom St. Helens timed to follow it has just arrived and has seennothing of it. Kindly wire advices.--Manchester."
The matter was assuming a most amazing aspect, although in somerespects the last telegram was a relief to the authorities atLiverpool. If an accident had occurred to the special, it seemedhardly possible that the local train could have passed down the sameline without observing it. And yet, what was the alternative? Wherecould the train be? Had it possibly been sidetracked for some reasonin order to allow the slower train to go past? Such an explanation waspossible if some small repair had to be effected. A telegram wasdispatched to each of the stations between St. Helens and Manchester,and the superintendent and traffic manager waited in the utmostsuspense at the instrument for the series of replies which would enablethem to say for certain what had become of the missing train. Theanswers came back in the order of questions, which was the order of thestations beginning at the St. Helens end--
"Special passed here five o'clock.--Collins Green."
"Special passed here six past five.--Earlstown."
"Special passed here 5:10.--Newton."
"Special passed here 5:20.--Kenyon Junction."
"No special train has passed here.--Barton Moss."
The two officials stared at each other in amazement.
"This is unique in my thirty years of experience," said Mr. Bland.
"Absolutely unprecedented and inexplicable, sir. The special has gonewrong between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss."
"And yet there is no siding, so far as my memory serves me, between thetwo stations. The special must have run off the metals."
"But how could the four-fifty parliamentary pass over the same linewithout observing it?"
"There's no alternative, Mr. Hood. It must be so. Possibly the localtrain may have observed something which may throw some light upon thematter. We will wire to Manchester
for more information, and to KenyonJunction with instructions that the line be examined instantly as faras Barton Moss." The answer from Manchester came within a few minutes.
"No news of missing special. Driver and guard of slow train positiveno accident between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss. Line quite clear,and no sign of anything unusual.--Manchester."
"That driver and guard will have to go," said Mr. Bland, grimly."There has been a wreck and they have missed it. The special hasobviously run off the metals without disturbing the line--how it couldhave done so passes my comprehension--but so it must be, and we shallhave a wire from Kenyon or Barton Moss presently to say that they havefound her at the bottom of an embankment."
But Mr. Bland's prophecy was not destined to be fulfilled. Half an hourpassed, and then there arrived the following message from thestation-master of Kenyon Junction--
"There are no traces of the missing special. It is quite certain thatshe passed here, and that she did not arrive at Barton Moss. We havedetached engine from goods train, and I have myself ridden down theline, but all is clear, and there is no sign of any accident."
Mr. Bland tore his hair in his perplexity.
"This is rank lunacy, Hood!" he cried. "Does a train vanish into thinair in England in broad daylight? The thing is preposterous. Anengine, a tender, two carriages, a van, five human beings--and all loston a straight line of railway! Unless we get something positive withinthe next hour I'll take Inspector Collins, and go down myself."
And then at last something positive did occur. It took the shape ofanother telegram from Kenyon Junction.
"Regret to report that the dead body of John Slater, driver of thespecial train, has just been found among the gorse bushes at a pointtwo and a quarter miles from the Junction. Had fallen from his engine,pitched down the embankment, and rolled among the bushes. Injuries tohis head, from the fall, appear to be cause of death. Ground has nowbeen carefully examined, and there is no trace of the missing train."
The country was, as has already been stated, in the throes of apolitical crisis, and the attention of the public was furtherdistracted by the important and sensational developments in Paris,where a huge scandal threatened to destroy the Government and to wreckthe reputations of many of the leading men in France. The papers werefull of these events, and the singular disappearance of the specialtrain attracted less attention than would have been the case in morepeaceful times. The grotesque nature of the event helped to detractfrom its importance, for the papers were disinclined to believe thefacts as reported to them. More than one of the London journals treatedthe matter as an ingenious hoax, until the coroner's inquest upon theunfortunate driver (an inquest which elicited nothing of importance)convinced them of the tragedy of the incident.
Mr. Bland, accompanied by Inspector Collins, the senior detectiveofficer in the service of the company, went down to Kenyon Junction thesame evening, and their research lasted throughout the following day,but was attended with purely negative results. Not only was no tracefound of the missing train, but no conjecture could be put forwardwhich could possibly explain the facts. At the same time, InspectorCollins's official report (which lies before me as I write) served toshow that the possibilities were more numerous than might have beenexpected.
"In the stretch of railway between these two points," said he, "thecountry is dotted with ironworks and collieries. Of these, some arebeing worked and some have been abandoned. There are no fewer thantwelve which have small-gauge lines which run trolly-cars down to themain line. These can, of course, be disregarded. Besides these,however, there are seven which have, or have had, proper lines runningdown and connecting with points to the main line, so as to convey theirproduce from the mouth of the mine to the great centres ofdistribution. In every case these lines are only a few miles inlength. Out of the seven, four belong to collieries which are workedout, or at least to shafts which are no longer used. These are theRedgauntlet, Hero, Slough of Despond, and Heartsease mines, the latterhaving ten years ago been one of the principal mines in Lancashire.These four side lines may be eliminated from our inquiry, for, toprevent possible accidents, the rails nearest to the main line havebeen taken up, and there is no longer any connection. There remainthree other side lines leading--
(a) To the Carnstock Iron Works; (b) To the Big Ben Colliery; (c) To the Perseverance Colliery.
"Of these the Big Ben line is not more than a quarter of a mile long,and ends at a dead wall of coal waiting removal from the mouth of themine. Nothing had been seen or heard there of any special. TheCarnstock Iron Works line was blocked all day upon the 3rd of June bysixteen truckloads of hematite. It is a single line, and nothing couldhave passed. As to the Perseverance line, it is a large double line,which does a considerable traffic, for the output of the mine is verylarge. On the 3rd of June this traffic proceeded as usual; hundreds ofmen including a gang of railway platelayers were working along the twomiles and a quarter which constitute the total length of the line, andit is inconceivable that an unexpected train could have come down therewithout attracting universal attention. It may be remarked inconclusion that this branch line is nearer to St. Helens than the pointat which the engine-driver was discovered, so that we have every reasonto believe that the train was past that point before misfortuneovertook her.
"As to John Slater, there is no clue to be gathered from his appearanceor injuries. We can only say that, so far as we can see, he met hisend by falling off his engine, though why he fell, or what became ofthe engine after his fall, is a question upon which I do not feelqualified to offer an opinion." In conclusion, the inspector offeredhis resignation to the Board, being much nettled by an accusation ofincompetence in the London papers.
A month elapsed, during which both the police and the companyprosecuted their inquiries without the slightest success. A reward wasoffered and a pardon promised in case of crime, but they were bothunclaimed. Every day the public opened their papers with theconviction that so grotesque a mystery would at last be solved, butweek after week passed by, and a solution remained as far off as ever.In broad daylight, upon a June afternoon in the most thickly inhabitedportion of England, a train with its occupants had disappeared ascompletely as if some master of subtle chemistry had volatilized itinto gas. Indeed, among the various conjectures which were put forwardin the public Press, there were some which seriously asserted thatsupernatural, or, at least, preternatural, agencies had been at work,and that the deformed Monsieur Caratal was probably a person who wasbetter known under a less polite name. Others fixed upon his swarthycompanion as being the author of the mischief, but what it was exactlywhich he had done could never be clearly formulated in words.
Amongst the many suggestions put forward by various newspapers orprivate individuals, there were one or two which were feasible enoughto attract the attention of the public. One which appeared in TheTimes, over the signature of an amateur reasoner of some celebrity atthat date, attempted to deal with the matter in a critical andsemi-scientific manner. An extract must suffice, although the curiouscan see the whole letter in the issue of the 3rd of July.
"It is one of the elementary principles of practical reasoning," heremarked, "that when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum,HOWEVER IMPROBABLE, must contain the truth. It is certain that thetrain left Kenyon Junction. It is certain that it did not reach BartonMoss. It is in the highest degree unlikely, but still possible, thatit may have taken one of the seven available side lines. It isobviously impossible for a train to run where there are no rails, and,therefore, we may reduce our improbables to the three open lines,namely the Carnstock Iron Works, the Big Ben, and the Perseverance. Isthere a secret society of colliers, an English Camorra, which iscapable of destroying both train and passengers? It is improbable, butit is not impossible. I confess that I am unable to suggest any othersolution. I should certainly advise the company to direct all theirenergies towards the observation of those three lines, and of theworkmen at t
he end of them. A careful supervision of the pawnbrokers'shops of the district might possibly bring some suggestive facts tolight."
The suggestion coming from a recognized authority upon such matterscreated considerable interest, and a fierce opposition from those whoconsidered such a statement to be a preposterous libel upon an honestand deserving set of men. The only answer to this criticism was achallenge to the objectors to lay any more feasible explanations beforethe public. In reply to this two others were forthcoming (Times, July7th and 9th). The first suggested that the train might have run offthe metals and be lying submerged in the Lancashire and StaffordshireCanal, which runs parallel to the railway for some hundred of yards.This suggestion was thrown out of court by the published depth of thecanal, which was entirely insufficient to conceal so large an object.The second correspondent wrote calling attention to the bag whichappeared to be the sole luggage which the travellers had brought withthem, and suggesting that some novel explosive of immense andpulverizing power might have been concealed in it. The obviousabsurdity, however, of supposing that the whole train might be blown todust while the metals remained uninjured reduced any such explanationto a farce. The investigation had drifted into this hopeless positionwhen a new and most unexpected incident occurred.
This was nothing less than the receipt by Mrs. McPherson of a letterfrom her husband, James McPherson, who had been the guard on themissing train. The letter, which was dated July 5th, 1890, was postedfrom New York and came to hand upon July 14th. Some doubts wereexpressed as to its genuine character but Mrs. McPherson was positiveas to the writing, and the fact that it contained a remittance of ahundred dollars in five-dollar notes was enough in itself to discountthe idea of a hoax. No address was given in the letter, which ran inthis way:
MY DEAR WIFE,--
"I have been thinking a great deal, and I find it very hard to give youup. The same with Lizzie. I try to fight against it, but it willalways come back to me. I send you some money which will change intotwenty English pounds. This should be enough to bring both Lizzie andyou across the Atlantic, and you will find the Hamburg boats which stopat Southampton very good boats, and cheaper than Liverpool. If youcould come here and stop at the Johnston House I would try and send youword how to meet, but things are very difficult with me at present, andI am not very happy, finding it hard to give you both up. So no moreat present, from your loving husband,
"James McPherson."
For a time it was confidently anticipated that this letter would leadto the clearing up of the whole matter, the more so as it wasascertained that a passenger who bore a close resemblance to themissing guard had travelled from Southampton under the name of Summersin the Hamburg and New York liner Vistula, which started upon the 7thof June. Mrs. McPherson and her sister Lizzie Dolton went across toNew York as directed and stayed for three weeks at the Johnston House,without hearing anything from the missing man. It is probable thatsome injudicious comments in the Press may have warned him that thepolice were using them as a bait. However, this may be, it is certainthat he neither wrote nor came, and the women were eventually compelledto return to Liverpool.
And so the matter stood, and has continued to stand up to the presentyear of 1898. Incredible as it may seem, nothing has transpired duringthese eight years which has shed the least light upon the extraordinarydisappearance of the special train which contained Monsieur Caratal andhis companion. Careful inquiries into the antecedents of the twotravellers have only established the fact that Monsieur Caratal waswell known as a financier and political agent in Central America, andthat during his voyage to Europe he had betrayed extraordinary anxietyto reach Paris. His companion, whose name was entered upon thepassenger lists as Eduardo Gomez, was a man whose record was a violentone, and whose reputation was that of a bravo and a bully. There wasevidence to show, however, that he was honestly devoted to theinterests of Monsieur Caratal, and that the latter, being a man of punyphysique, employed the other as a guard and protector. It may be addedthat no information came from Paris as to what the objects of MonsieurCaratal's hurried journey may have been. This comprises all the factsof the case up to the publication in the Marseilles papers of therecent confession of Herbert de Lernac, now under sentence of death forthe murder of a merchant named Bonvalot. This statement may beliterally translated as follows:
"It is not out of mere pride or boasting that I give this information,for, if that were my object, I could tell a dozen actions of mine whichare quite as splendid; but I do it in order that certain gentlemen inParis may understand that I, who am able here to tell about the fate ofMonsieur Caratal, can also tell in whose interest and at whose requestthe deed was done, unless the reprieve which I am awaiting comes to mevery quickly. Take warning, messieurs, before it is too late! Youknow Herbert de Lernac, and you are aware that his deeds are as readyas his words. Hasten then, or you are lost!
"At present I shall mention no names--if you only heard the names, whatwould you not think!--but I shall merely tell you how cleverly I didit. I was true to my employers then, and no doubt they will be true tome now. I hope so, and until I am convinced that they have betrayedme, these names, which would convulse Europe, shall not be divulged.But on that day ... well, I say no more!
"In a word, then, there was a famous trial in Paris, in the year 1890,in connection with a monstrous scandal in politics and finance. Howmonstrous that scandal was can never be known save by such confidentialagents as myself. The honour and careers of many of the chief men inFrance were at stake. You have seen a group of ninepins standing, allso rigid, and prim, and unbending. Then there comes the ball from faraway and pop, pop, pop--there are your ninepins on the floor. Well,imagine some of the greatest men in France as these ninepins and thenthis Monsieur Caratal was the ball which could be seen coming from faraway. If he arrived, then it was pop, pop, pop for all of them. Itwas determined that he should not arrive.
"I do not accuse them all of being conscious of what was to happen.There were, as I have said, great financial as well as politicalinterests at stake, and a syndicate was formed to manage the business.Some subscribed to the syndicate who hardly understood what were itsobjects. But others understood very well, and they can rely upon itthat I have not forgotten their names. They had ample warning thatMonsieur Caratal was coming long before he left South America, and theyknew that the evidence which he held would certainly mean ruin to allof them. The syndicate had the command of an unlimited amount ofmoney--absolutely unlimited, you understand. They looked round for anagent who was capable of wielding this gigantic power. The man chosenmust be inventive, resolute, adaptive--a man in a million. They choseHerbert de Lernac, and I admit that they were right.
"My duties were to choose my subordinates, to use freely the powerwhich money gives, and to make certain that Monsieur Caratal shouldnever arrive in Paris. With characteristic energy I set about mycommission within an hour of receiving my instructions, and the stepswhich I took were the very best for the purpose which could possibly bedevised.
"A man whom I could trust was dispatched instantly to South America totravel home with Monsieur Caratal. Had he arrived in time the shipwould never have reached Liverpool; but alas! it had already startedbefore my agent could reach it. I fitted out a small armed brig tointercept it, but again I was unfortunate. Like all great organizers Iwas, however, prepared for failure, and had a series of alternativesprepared, one or the other of which must succeed. You must notunderrate the difficulties of my undertaking, or imagine that a merecommonplace assassination would meet the case. We must destroy notonly Monsieur Caratal, but Monsieur Caratal's documents, and MonsieurCaratal's companions also, if we had reason to believe that he hadcommunicated his secrets to them. And you must remember that they wereon the alert, and keenly suspicious of any such attempt. It was a taskwhich was in every way worthy of me, for I am always most masterfulwhere another would be appalled.
"I was all ready for Monsieur Caratal's reception in L
iverpool, and Iwas the more eager because I had reason to believe that he had madearrangements by which he would have a considerable guard from themoment that he arrived in London. Anything which was to be done mustbe done between the moment of his setting foot upon the Liverpool quayand that of his arrival at the London and West Coast terminus inLondon. We prepared six plans, each more elaborate than the last;which plan would be used would depend upon his own movements. Do whathe would, we were ready for him. If he had stayed in Liverpool, wewere ready. If he took an ordinary train, an express, or a special,all was ready. Everything had been foreseen and provided for.
"You may imagine that I could not do all this myself. What could Iknow of the English railway lines? But money can procure willingagents all the world over, and I soon had one of the acutest brains inEngland to assist me. I will mention no names, but it would be unjustto claim all the credit for myself. My English ally was worthy of suchan alliance. He knew the London and West Coast line thoroughly, and hehad the command of a band of workers who were trustworthy andintelligent. The idea was his, and my own judgement was only requiredin the details. We bought over several officials, amongst whom themost important was James McPherson, whom we had ascertained to be theguard most likely to be employed upon a special train. Smith, thestoker, was also in our employ. John Slater, the engine-driver, hadbeen approached, but had been found to be obstinate and dangerous, sowe desisted. We had no certainty that Monsieur Caratal would take aspecial, but we thought it very probable, for it was of the utmostimportance to him that he should reach Paris without delay. It was forthis contingency, therefore, that we made specialpreparations--preparations which were complete down to the last detaillong before his steamer had sighted the shores of England. You will beamused to learn that there was one of my agents in the pilot-boat whichbrought that steamer to its moorings.
"The moment that Caratal arrived in Liverpool we knew that he suspecteddanger and was on his guard. He had brought with him as an escort adangerous fellow, named Gomez, a man who carried weapons, and wasprepared to use them. This fellow carried Caratal's confidentialpapers for him, and was ready to protect either them or his master.The probability was that Caratal had taken him into his counsel, andthat to remove Caratal without removing Gomez would be a mere waste ofenergy. It was necessary that they should be involved in a commonfate, and our plans to that end were much facilitated by their requestfor a special train. On that special train you will understand thattwo out of the three servants of the company were really in our employ,at a price which would make them independent for a lifetime. I do notgo so far as to say that the English are more honest than any othernation, but I have found them more expensive to buy.
"I have already spoken of my English agent--who is a man with aconsiderable future before him, unless some complaint of the throatcarries him off before his time. He had charge of all arrangements atLiverpool, whilst I was stationed at the inn at Kenyon, where I awaiteda cipher signal to act. When the special was arranged for, my agentinstantly telegraphed to me and warned me how soon I should haveeverything ready. He himself under the name of Horace Moore appliedimmediately for a special also, in the hope that he would be sent downwith Monsieur Caratal, which might under certain circumstances havebeen helpful to us. If, for example, our great coup had failed, itwould then have become the duty of my agent to have shot them both anddestroyed their papers. Caratal was on his guard, however, and refusedto admit any other traveller. My agent then left the station, returnedby another entrance, entered the guard's van on the side farthest fromthe platform, and travelled down with McPherson the guard.
"In the meantime you will be interested to know what my movements were.Everything had been prepared for days before, and only the finishingtouches were needed. The side line which we had chosen had once joinedthe main line, but it had been disconnected. We had only to replace afew rails to connect it once more. These rails had been laid down asfar as could be done without danger of attracting attention, and now itwas merely a case of completing a juncture with the line, and arrangingthe points as they had been before. The sleepers had never beenremoved, and the rails, fish-plates and rivets were all ready, for wehad taken them from a siding on the abandoned portion of the line.With my small but competent band of workers, we had everything readylong before the special arrived. When it did arrive, it ran off uponthe small side line so easily that the jolting of the points appears tohave been entirely unnoticed by the two travellers.
"Our plan had been that Smith, the stoker, should chloroform JohnSlater, the driver, so that he should vanish with the others. In thisrespect, and in this respect only, our plans miscarried--I except thecriminal folly of McPherson in writing home to his wife. Our stoker didhis business so clumsily that Slater in his struggles fell off theengine, and though fortune was with us so far that he broke his neck inthe fall, still he remained as a blot upon that which would otherwisehave been one of those complete masterpieces which are only to becontemplated in silent admiration. The criminal expert will find inJohn Slater the one flaw in all our admirable combinations. A man whohas had as many triumphs as I can afford to be frank, and I thereforelay my finger upon John Slater, and I proclaim him to be a flaw.
"But now I have got our special train upon the small line twokilometres, or rather more than one mile, in length, which leads, orrather used to lead, to the abandoned Heartsease mine, once one of thelargest coal mines in England. You will ask how it is that no one sawthe train upon this unused line. I answer that along its entire lengthit runs through a deep cutting, and that, unless someone had been onthe edge of that cutting, he could not have seen it. There WAS someoneon the edge of that cutting. I was there. And now I will tell youwhat I saw.
"My assistant had remained at the points in order that he mightsuperintend the switching off of the train. He had four armed men withhim, so that if the train ran off the line--we thought it probable,because the points were very rusty--we might still have resources tofall back upon. Having once seen it safely on the side line, he handedover the responsibility to me. I was waiting at a point whichoverlooks the mouth of the mine, and I was also armed, as were my twocompanions. Come what might, you see, I was always ready.
"The moment that the train was fairly on the side line, Smith, thestoker, slowed-down the engine, and then, having turned it on to thefullest speed again, he and McPherson, with my English lieutenant,sprang off before it was too late. It may be that it was thisslowing-down which first attracted the attention of the travellers, butthe train was running at full speed again before their heads appearedat the open window. It makes me smile to think how bewildered theymust have been. Picture to yourself your own feelings if, on lookingout of your luxurious carriage, you suddenly perceived that the linesupon which you ran were rusted and corroded, red and yellow with disuseand decay! What a catch must have come in their breath as in a secondit flashed upon them that it was not Manchester but Death which waswaiting for them at the end of that sinister line. But the train wasrunning with frantic speed, rolling and rocking over the rotten line,while the wheels made a frightful screaming sound upon the rustedsurface. I was close to them, and could see their faces. Caratal waspraying, I think--there was something like a rosary dangling out of hishand. The other roared like a bull who smells the blood of theslaughter-house. He saw us standing on the bank, and he beckoned to uslike a madman. Then he tore at his wrist and threw his dispatch-boxout of the window in our direction. Of course, his meaning wasobvious. Here was the evidence, and they would promise to be silent iftheir lives were spared. It would have been very agreeable if we couldhave done so, but business is business. Besides, the train was now asmuch beyond our controls as theirs.
"He ceased howling when the train rattled round the curve and they sawthe black mouth of the mine yawning before them. We had removed theboards which had covered it, and we had cleared the square entrance.The rails had formerly run very close to the shaft for the convenienceof
loading the coal, and we had only to add two or three lengths ofrail in order to lead to the very brink of the shaft. In fact, as thelengths would not quite fit, our line projected about three feet overthe edge. We saw the two heads at the window: Caratal below, Gomezabove; but they had both been struck silent by what they saw. And yetthey could not withdraw their heads. The sight seemed to haveparalysed them.
"I had wondered how the train running at a great speed would take thepit into which I had guided it, and I was much interested in watchingit. One of my colleagues thought that it would actually jump it, andindeed it was not very far from doing so. Fortunately, however, it fellshort, and the buffers of the engine struck the other lip of the shaftwith a tremendous crash. The funnel flew off into the air. Thetender, carriages, and van were all smashed up into one jumble, which,with the remains of the engine, choked for a minute or so the mouth ofthe pit. Then something gave way in the middle, and the whole mass ofgreen iron, smoking coals, brass fittings, wheels, wood-work, andcushions all crumbled together and crashed down into the mine. Weheard the rattle, rattle, rattle, as the debris struck against thewalls, and then, quite a long time afterwards, there came a deep roaras the remains of the train struck the bottom. The boiler may haveburst, for a sharp crash came after the roar, and then a dense cloud ofsteam and smoke swirled up out of the black depths, falling in a sprayas thick as rain all round us. Then the vapour shredded off into thinwisps, which floated away in the summer sunshine, and all was quietagain in the Heartsease mine.
"And now, having carried out our plans so successfully, it onlyremained to leave no trace behind us. Our little band of workers atthe other end had already ripped up the rails and disconnected the sideline, replacing everything as it had been before. We were equally busyat the mine. The funnel and other fragments were thrown in, the shaftwas planked over as it used to be, and the lines which led to it weretorn up and taken away. Then, without flurry, but without delay, weall made our way out of the country, most of us to Paris, my Englishcolleague to Manchester, and McPherson to Southampton, whence heemigrated to America. Let the English papers of that date tell howthroughly we had done our work, and how completely we had thrown thecleverest of their detectives off our track.
"You will remember that Gomez threw his bag of papers out of thewindow, and I need not say that I secured that bag and brought them tomy employers. It may interest my employers now, however, to learn thatout of that bag I took one or two little papers as a souvenir of theoccasion. I have no wish to publish these papers; but, still, it isevery man for himself in this world, and what else can I do if myfriends will not come to my aid when I want them? Messieurs, you maybelieve that Herbert de Lernac is quite as formidable when he isagainst you as when he is with you, and that he is not a man to go tothe guillotine until he has seen that every one of you is en route forNew Caledonia. For your own sake, if not for mine, make haste,Monsieur de ----, and General ----, and Baron ---- (you can fill up theblanks for yourselves as you read this). I promise you that in thenext edition there will be no blanks to fill.
"P.S.--As I look over my statement there is only one omission which Ican see. It concerns the unfortunate man McPherson, who was foolishenough to write to his wife and to make an appointment with her in NewYork. It can be imagined that when interests like ours were at stake,we could not leave them to the chance of whether a man in that class oflife would or would not give away his secrets to a woman. Having oncebroken his oath by writing to his wife, we could not trust him anymore. We took steps therefore to insure that he should not see hiswife. I have sometimes thought that it would be a kindness to write toher and to assure her that there is no impediment to her marryingagain."