o the yards from among the freight cars,
watched him approach the engine Blackwings and talk with the engineer.
He could not make out all that passed, but knew that the men had
quarrelled. He had seen the prisoner stoop down and fumble about the
air-pump on the engineer's side of the engine. He then rose and as he
moved off made some threat against the life of the engineer and about
"ditching" the train.

Being asked to repeat this important part of his testimony, the witness
admitted that he could not repeat the threat exactly, but he was
positive that the prisoner had threatened the life of the engineer of
the Denver Limited. He was positive that the last words uttered by the
prisoner as he left the engine were these: "This train, by this time,
ought to be in the ditch." The witness followed the statement with the
explanation that the train was then nearly two hours late. "This," said
the witness, still addressing the court, "was found in the prisoner's
inside coat pocket," and he held up a murderous looking stick of
dynamite. After landing the would-be dynamiter safely in jail the
detective had hastened back to the locomotive, which was then about to
start out on her perilous run, and had found a part of the fuse, which
had been broken, attached to the air brake apparatus. This he exhibited,
also, and showed that the piece of fuse found on the engine fitted the
piece still on the dynamite.

It looked like a clear case of intent to kill somebody, and even the
prisoner's friends began to believe him guilty. Three other witnesses
were called for the prosecution. The company's most trusted detective,
and a Watchem man testified that the prisoner had, up to now, borne a
good reputation. He had been one of the least noisy of the strikers and
had often assisted the police in protecting the company's property. The
master-mechanic under whom Dan Moran had worked as a locomotive engineer
for twenty years took the stand and said, with something like tears in
his voice, that Dan _had been_ one of the best men on the road. Being
questioned by the company's attorney he gave it as his opinion that no
dynamite was attached to the air-pump of Blackwings when she crossed the
table, and that if it was there at all it must have been put there after
the engine was coupled on to the Denver Limited. Then he spoiled all
this and shocked the prosecuting attorney by expressing the belief that
there must be some mistake.

"Do you mean to sa