an idiot, pure and simple; and their detectives, Scott and Sterling, were clumsy bunglers. Had they been in the employ of the Pinkerton Agency, they would have been discharged at once for their awkward work. Scott committed a serious indiscretion in asking engineer Rush to designate a good place for derailing the train.
The tip that the engineer got as to the impending catastrophe, clearly demonstrates that it was the object of the Mine Owners' Association to humiliate and discredit the Federation, but not to cause a wreck and loss of life. The fact that the rail was unspiked at the very place suggested by engineer Rush to Detective Scott, indicates that either Scott did the work himself or instructed some one else to do it. The evidence of Victor Maher, who was an eye witness to the unspiking of the rail, proves conclusively that Detective D. C. Scott with another man, possibly Detective Sterling, actually did the work.