Posted on 07/15/2004 8:26:56 PM PDT by kristinn
While investigators continue to be tight-lipped regarding the investigation into the death of an Argonia teen, news of the death and circumstances surrounding it are reaching far and wide.
Jacob "Jake" Allen, 19, was found dead during the early morning hours of July 5 after being struck by a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train on Bluff Road near Milan.
News reports from Kansas City to Houston, Texas, are reporting details about the death.
Investigators have steadfastly refused comment on any of the details that the Associated Press reported last week it had confirmed. But it is the Internet that has fueled much of the skeptical speculation surround the death of Allen. A search of the Internet shows dozens of postings related to Allen's death.
Sumner County Sheriff Gerald Gilkey said this morning that there was nothing new to report on the case.
Kansascitychannel.com reports a BNSF crew told investigators they thought the object lying on the railroad tracks looked like a traffic cone someone had thrown onto the line. The members of the train crew asked each other, "What is that?"
The Web site reports that they certainly didn't think it was a human being. It was the sound of the impact. It didn't sound like it came from a traffic cone. The train screeched to a stop. Its crew searched the tracks.
The most vocal postings regarding Allen's death were found at freerepublic.com, a Web site dedicated to news and activism. Those sharing information at the site are known as "freepers."
"What a sick, sick, sad world," one person writes after learning of Allen's death.
"What a nightmare. And almost certainly, in a small town place like that, it will turn out to be a person or persons the victim knew well," a mother writes.
The Web site reports BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg saying: "I grew up in rural America. You still tend to think of it as a place where there are still solid values and people look out for one another and care for one another -- and this flies in the face of that, this shocks that sentiment."
"God bless this poor boy's family!" another writes. "I can't imagine what the parents are going through."
"And God bless the locomotive crew," one message reads. "There wasn't a thing in the world they could do to stop the tragedy, but they will still have to live with it."
It was a train crew that found what is being reported as "the nude body of Allen, lying more than 10 feet from the tracks. His black sweatshirt and red sweat pants were found further down the line."
The 19-year-old -- who in May graduated as Argonia High School's valedictorian -- had apparently been tied with baling wire to the tracks, some news sources report.
Some of the details of that night were first reported by the Mid-America News Network, based on an unnamed source at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The Associated Press says it has since confirmed those details and pieced the rest of the story together through various railroad and law enforcement sources connected with the case.
Allen's family has declined comment.
Eleven postings at the free.republic site simply say, in reference to Allen's death: "I'm speechless."
Many "freepers" postings speculate as to the other possible causes, conspiracies or motives in Allen's death. Others talk about a case in Arkansas in 1987 when two teens accidentally witnessed a drug transaction and were killed in a similar manor as Allen.
Lassiter related?
Others talk about a case in Arkansas in 1987 when two teens accidentally witnessed a drug transaction and were killed in a similar manor as Allen.
That's the case that came immediately to mind. Sad.
That poor child! May Jacob Allen rest in God's peace. (And prayers and condolences for his parents; they must be devastated!)
Sound like perfectly reasonable responses to me.
What do they expect us to say -- "Bush Knew"?
This kid was tied to tracks with baling wire...
Where is the editor at the Wellington Daily News?
'Manor' = 'manner'
The editor is a product of public schools and relies on a word processing dictionary for spelling.
Yeah, but he still has to pick the right word from the option list...oh excuse me, you said public schools. Nevermind.
Ivey and Hughes I think their names were...and yeah Lassiter related
It was a tragedy. I hope they find who tied him to the tracks and tie them to the tracks.
Thanks for the ping.
Ping...
It looks like this reporter couldn't get any information from the authorities and decided to stroll FR for quotes.
That's my take, too.
Hello reporter: Thank You we LOVE you too!!
Smart guy. Probably a freeper hizself.
Interesting. I've always thought of Free Republic as a new genre of media. This reporter actually used the thread as a source of information. Mostly, I'm surprised that the reference to FR was not negative, but actually makes us look good.
anybody have the "clinton chronicles" anymore?///
a mole in the media?
we need to use this mole and others to get our thoughts to the people. First we would need their cooperation to kidnap their editors and publishers and replace them with Freeper Clones.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.