N&W in 1904 -- Burning

[NW Mailing List]

BURNING A BOX CAR NOT PUNISHABLE OFFENSE
------
However, Negro Who Set Fire to Moving Freight Train was Punished
------
    On Wednesday William Johnson, colored, claiming Chicago as his home, set fire to a box car in a moving Norfolk and Western freight train, causing its entire destruction, endangering other cars and delaying traffic for several hours.
    Johnson was beating his way from Radford to Bluefield in the local freight.  He was in an empty car and lighted a cigarette, throwing the match on the floor, which was covered with grease and straw.  Immediately the flames spread and it was with difficulty the trainmen could save other cars.
    Johnson was arrested and taken to Christiansburg, Va., for trial, when it was discovered there was no law to punish such an offense.  The law provides against burning nearly every thing else except a railroad car.
    The justice, however, found enough law to send the prisoner to jail for three months.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
January 22, 1904

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20080225/2d351d4e/attachment.htm>