Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1869 — The Carr Rock Horror-confession of John Bowen. [ARTICLE]

The Carr Rock Horror-confession of John Bowen.

*1 .*•>. ,«.rt rs... >« -« . j v s IknftN is an Eufrlilflnnwh,fay birth* about 04years of age, and itas lived ip this cmWftry'9B-JTSra; He’ ll«s?resNlM ! ntaT Port sfolvft RfiJl ht'lMsft’s ‘Stylfch it ‘ridmberwits'lpfuferly in the etnJim KTtftroad 'but wus &iH tu jilfl tIY thupi on a charge of fursjpff Below is the Confession, hejlajftfraflfe j*"', ** r lit .County. I have read flic Bible and prayed lately, aud hope to get.gpijao'pf tuy slits' pardoned. I nitty not live long aud tiem’i like to die with so raucli oil my conscience. I wish to lighten it. a little. About bcUvofi* summer and fall, three years agfif w tiff Erie railway, between the D.ebiwitTe bridge, at tja tvutiti (llJ r l.brttl going alond £,TH»SESH«S!K«M.» of the road to the edge agaiuat thu.chair; there it lodged. I'didu'l think it would do any damagghbut it did ; it started two JBldfc'Jtffllthc track. Some timy in February, r one vear ago, thcru«m crooitOdtMll Vnt IlfaS* S*rlttb, near the chair. I took,a pioeteof irpitaiul ptishecl the rail out of thechair £tnd raised it up-und-puta spike -under’ it at the bonded place on tluk tie. I shoved it back ilfj.l* tn* chair; but it wouldn't go in withotij SOWthpig .heavy to fofw inn: I left it at 1 that, and 1 along eanunn frtdgdt tridn antl iJipke itJ oft; and the train ran off down, J»i\|u About the 15th,'nr Veftr nf'er last" March (April), at 3 o'clock in the morning, Icanie down tlitj track,. il .left my place early) and had tlMn at Lafkawaxen. I went to sce about a silver mine I had burning oWtthth’c. T dropped a Strtrie odi my ftxft, wliieli hart me.so j walked slnwly dpwn the track untft.l,cinne to" (jarr s Hock, .A freight-train fiftssetl rfte fft'ere,'' going wf-st, I stepped itfith;’ till itpnsaod. I saw (on tjie river sidt-j a rail fcrooked! which was working tip and down as the train passed; I took-a }>ieoeof the«ap of « rtdlami tried to. tix it as well as I. conW,» I slioved the rail out of the chair,* addyilft a bldcik iiiuTer it, to raise it. I put a spike under the quarter lief irt ordefi to make it como straigli( Jo itaplacc’again.; I didn't think I was going,to do tiny damage ai aft. t travoltal tm from lmlf a mile to tltree-quar-ters, dowu the track, then I heard a great noise. I thought it was the stones slipped dowii into the water. Instead of thTTStones,' it was a train govtg;«net» auft tin two or tliree days I lieartnt was the tfain instead of stones,: tXhat Was tfio-, Carr’s Hock’ calauflly'! I left twy- sorry from* that time to t bisi 1 Sihch T- hftVd Lthen here P don’t sleep nights. I was not tlien in the employ of the Erie cotgpanv. Before any of the occurrences » Jtldjltfen diseltarged by the company tpid* sent to jail by the compfofty .tibdoif- a chafptii of.ftirfeeryc' 1 knew wbat I put tjtq sptkc.undgr, thc.ruil if a ItCaVyHram eaMtl uphn that raifAfterwartWtH mtMi btfedktHat rßHfbUttfid tfSftrJ had crmje gust. iLvvpuld have, drove It'doWn., I didn't Tthow'tfonl which way the next train whs Uemiiig; : >

JOHN BOWEN.