Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

When he came in in the morning he brought in his work and he had made rather a better fac-simile than mine. I asked him the number of blows used, which he gave me, and which I now forget.

“ Now,” said I, “suppose that by some sudden jar this crack had been started in the axle under the tender and had gone on until it broke, would not the broken end look exactly as it does now and as the one you have made with the hammer?”

He said he did not see why it would not.

“First the circumference of the wheel we know as so much,” I continued. “Now, the cracked surface of the axle would receive a blow at least every time the wheel revolved in running the distance of two and one half miles. Won't you take your pencil and calculate and tell us whether it would not receive more blows in going that distance than it took you to smooth down the end of the axle which I gave you?”

He started back after he got through his calculation, saying: “I never thought of this before; I shall have to take back my answer about how long it would take to put

Engraved from a life-size bust in General Butler's library.

I then put on my own testimony upon the matter and showed that some quarter less blows were used in preparing the end of the other axle than the broken axle received in going the distance from the frog in Andover to where the derailment took place. I then put on the testimony of my engineer and fireman, who gave their evidence in a very straightforward, honest manner. I also put on my man who said he tapped the wheels, but after he left the stand I told the