Professor Fordney, on his way to investigate a case of blackmail, was musing on the perversity of human nature when a jar threw him into the aisle as the train came to a sudden stop. Jumping off, he rushed ahead of the engine, where he found a small crowd gathered about the mutilated body of a man hit by the train. He was identified by a card in his pocket as John Nelson, an important figure in railroad labor circles.
‘How did it happen?’ inquired Fordney.
‘Well,’ replied Morton, the engineer, ‘I was running twelve minutes late when I hit him. There are several miles of straight-away along here and I was beating it along at sixty miles trying to make up time. Didn’t see him until we were about ten yards away, right on top of him. I jammed on the brakes, of course, but it was too late.’
‘Did you leave New York on time?’
‘Yes, sir. One-thirty exactly.’
‘Why were you running late?’
‘We were held in a block for about fifteen minutes outside of New Haven.’
‘What was your fireman doing when you hit this man?’
‘Stoking the boiler.’
‘You say it was just a few seconds after four-ten when you hit him?’ demanded the Professor.
‘That’s right,’ agreed Morton.
‘Did you know this man by any chance?’
‘Yes, slightly—he was an officer in my union,’ replied the engineer, with a worried look.
‘Well,’ said Fordney, ‘I don’t know your object in telling such a story, or how you hoped to get away with it—you won’t.’
What justified Fordney in recommending Morton’s arrest?
