Chapter 39 Section five

As mentioned earlier, a temple fair for the Bodhisattva of the Kongkongzang was held that night in the area of ​​the Nagaigawa signal station, next to the crossing to the south, and a tent was set up to perform the guarding task.I also mentioned that the guards in the tent had testified that Akama had not been seen walking there that night. At that time, in addition to the two signal lights in the tent, there was also a 60-candle open-air light outside, illuminating the usually dark crossing.So as long as Akama and the others pass by there, the three guards will notice.In particular, Akama had worked for the National Railways before, so he was a familiar face.

However, the tent was not guarded all night.According to the testimony of the guards, the time to stop the guard was around 12:10 or 15:00.After this, the lights outside were turned off, the tents were removed, and the warning lights in the tents were of course also extinguished.After that, the crossing was dark again.But the defendant Akama confessed that he had seen the tent—that is to say, the time he passed should be before the tent was removed.According to his statement, the time elapsed was shortly before the tent was evacuated. The prosecutorial authority and the verdict insisted that, according to Akama's confession, the line sabotage squad traveled back and forth along the railway as indicated in the picture, passing through the southern crossing on the way.Then, the guards of the tent must have seen Akama and the others.Since they didn't see it, it means that Akama and other defendants didn't walk along that railway.In other words, either the confession was fabricated from the start, or they went the other way.

Speaking of another road, there is only the Luyu Highway east of the sidewalk along the railway.Although there are hills in the middle, the road is generally parallel to the railway.A distance of about 20 meters to the north of the rollover site is the Asakawa Crossing, where the road and railway cross and lead to Matsukawa Town (see the previous picture).However, Akama's confession did not mention the passing of the Luyu Highway at all, and the procuratorial authorities did not consider the Luyu Highway as a problem.