SANGUINARY COMBAT IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1188, 5 September 1874, Page 3

SANGUINARY COMBAT IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE.

A disagreeable occui'rence took place the other day in a railway carriage on the Valley Road, Pennsylvania. A large number of raftsmen entered the train at Pittsburg, and behaved in siich a violent and unseemly manner that, although the other passengers were seriously annoyed, the conductor and brakesmen were afraid to interfere. Having some whisky among them, the raftsmen grew more quarrelsome as their journey continued, and at last a fight began which ended in one of them, smaller in stature than the others, being set upon by his companions. The small raftsman was, however, equal to the occasion, for he managed to wriggle himself into a corner of the car, and, drawing a dirk-knife, warned the others not to molest him further. His warning being dis^ regarded, the small raftsman showed that his threat was not an idle menace, for on one of the assailants making a rush at him he let the dirk fall, inflicting a fearful gash, and felling his antagonist to the floor. Others who had the temerity to beard the small raftsman in his corner met with the same fate ; the dirk was used with terrible effect, and not until the raftsmen had been severely stabbed and gashed was peace restored in the car. The wounded men at the next station were placed under the doctor's care, and met with every attention. " The man who did the carving," or in other words, the small raftsman, came on to Oil City, where he took the next train up the river with a little carpet bag in his hand. The fight, it was stated, was a very desperate one — the floor of the car was drenched with blood, and the other passengers were by no means comfortable during the journey.