February 21, 1861; The New York Herald
(From the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal, Feb. 18.)
We were on Saturday night placed in possession of the astounding information that an attempt was made, on Monday last, to wreck the train bearing the President elect and suite, about one mile west of the State line. The particulars as given us by Mr. Rich, of the Toledo and Western Railroad, are that a short time before the train was due at State line, an engineer who was preparing to take out a train, found it necessary to run out to the wood yard for fuel. Running at a moderate speed, he noticed an obstruction on the track, and stopping his engine, found that a machine for putting cars on the track had been fastened upon the rails in such a manner that if a train at full speed had struck it, engine and cars must have been thrown off and many persons killed. It is almost impossible to think that any one is so thoroughly depraved as to attempt so damnable a deed, but we are assured by our informant that his information comes from undoubted authority. The matter would have been made public before, but it was hoped that the perpetrators of the dastardly outrage could be detected and brought to justice. The whole thing was admirably planned – the obstruction so near a station and on a straight track, where it would not be deemed necessary to exercise any great degree of caution.