NP, CW 9/9/1861

From the Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, N. C.)
 
September 9, 1861
  
Lincoln Men Tear Up a Railroad Track and Are Compelled to Relay it
   On Saturday last, a train came out from Louisville, on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, containing forty laborers, with instructions to tear up a portion of the railroad track a short distance this side of Franklin, Kentucky. They began the performance of their mean mission near Sharp' Branch, three miles this side of Franklin. They destroyed about sixty yards of the track, and loaded the train with the crossties and rails. Having accomplished this object, they started on their return to their masters. But they were destined to a sore disappointment. A large crowd of infuriated Kentuckians had assembled at Franklin, properly prepared to arrest the return trip of the destruction train. They did arrest it, and at the peril of the life of each man on it, compelled them to return to the scene of their violence, where, under a sufficient guard, the poor scoundrels were forced to relay every cross-tie and rail they had torn up.
   They found the work of relaying much more tedious and difficult than was the labor of tearing up, but the determined, earnest faces of their attendants, and rifles, muskets and pistols, in the hands of these justly incensed attendants, said the track must be reconstructed by the destroyers, or forty graves dug right there for immediate use.  The track was rapidly reconstructed, and is now in better condition than it was before being molested. This work being finished, the guard took the laborers and the train to the Warren county (Ky.) line, where they put the miserable tools off, and told them to take the Walker line for home. The train was brought back to Franklin. 
   Gentlemen who were present and witnessed these deeply interesting scenes informs us that the people of Franklin and the country surrounding secessionists and Union men alike, are greatly exasperated by this and other high-handed outrages of the Lincoln authorities at Louisville. They earnestly and boldly protest against the attempt to shut off the trade with Tennessee, and declare their determination to right the wrong, even if they have to resort to force of arms.
Nashville Gazette, 26th

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