Syracuse Courier, Friday, Dec. 1, 1871

A Diabolical Attempt To Throw a Train Off The Track. - The completion of the track of the Southern Central Railroad to its northern terminus of Fair haven on Lake Ontario, was made the occasion of a local celebration at the village of Fair Haven on Wednesday, November 29th.
A train comprising of three passenger, one baggage and several box cars left Auburn at 9:30 A.M. with about 200 passengers, men, women and children, invited to join with the people from stations along the route in the grand jubilee of the day.

  As the train approached Martville, a signal of danger was seen and the train stopped. On coming to a stand still it was found that two rails had been removed from the track for the purpose of wrecking the train and causing a most heartrending calamity, by which scores of innocent people might have been killed or maimed.
To perpetrators of this fiendish attempt at wholesale slaughter were at once pointed out by residents of the neighborhood, who had been witnesses to the act, and in a few minutes, Justice E. Q. Dutton, of Ira, who was on hand, organized a court, issued his warrants, and the guilty parties, Wm. Van Wie and his sons Jacob and Jerome, were promptly arrested by Deputy Sheriff A.S. Archer, of Martville, who was sent back with a posse of men from the station after the train had crossed the break.
Witnesses on the spot swore to the fact that Van Wie had hitched their team to the rails and drawn them off, placing them across he track, to ensure the working of their plot. The father, it seems, had taken offense of being obliged to give the right of way across his land as at a price much below what he claimed, and the witnesses had heard him threaten to wreck the first train that should pass.
    In accordance with the testimony taken the younger Van Wie was discharged, on the ground of having given the danger signal, while the father and the other son were committed to Auburn jail to await the action of the grand jury. Accordingly Deputy Archer brought them to Auburn yesterday morning, and the precious pair are now snug in jail.